Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct | Michael McCullough

Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct | Michael McCullough | A call to compassion and caring, a better world

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Beyond Revenge: Th...

	Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct Michael McCullough Jossey-Bass, 2008 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Why is revenge such a pervasive and destructive problem? How can we create a future in which revenge is less common and forgiveness is more common? Psychologist Michael McCullough argues that the key to a more forgiving, less vengeful world is to understand the evolutionary forces that gave rise to these intimately human instincts and the social forces that activate them in human minds today. Drawing on exciting breakthroughs from the social and biological sciences, McCullough dispenses surprising and practical advice for making the world a more forgiving place.

Michael E. McCullough (Miami, Florida), an internationally recognized expert on forgiveness and revenge, is a professor of psychology at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where he directs the Laboratory for Social and Clinical Psychology.

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A deep and penetrating analysis of the roots of forgiveness

There is a surface structure to forgiveness and a deep structure. The surface structure approach emphasizes the importance of practicing forgiveness and suggests strategies for its cultivation. The deep structure approach attempts a comprehensive understanding of the roots of forgiveness and the personal and cultural conditions that either enable or obstruct it. This profound book is of the latter variety. Geared toward the intellectually curious, McCullough analyzes and elaborates on three basic scientifically revealed truths: (1) The desire for revenge is built in to the human species; (2) The capacity for forgiveness is similarly hard-wired; and (3) Modifying social environments will facilitate less revenge and more forgiveness. McCullough wants us to understand where the capacity for forgiveness and the propensity for revenge come from and what the implications are for improving our lot in life. As you are reading, McCullough's insights will cause you to pause, reflect, and say to yourself "I've never thought of that before." We owe him significant gratitude for causing us to think more deeply about the nature of forgiveness and its vicissitudes.

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A call to compassion and caring, a better world

Revenge and forgiveness are two behaviors that get lots of attention in modern society. On one end, popular movies and books (at least from Western cultures) glorify vengeful behavior. Protagonists succeed by using violence that is morally justifiable. On the other hand, there is much public interest in forgiving others and living the good life. This is a common topic in the realm of talk shows and self-help books. The fact that humans are fundamentally social animals makes these behaviors critical to understand for the sake of our survival. Yet, the cultural dialogue on these behaviors is limited and unable to go beyond this simple dichotomy of prescribing revenge to correct for injustices and forgiveness to nurture your health and soul. McCullough's book is refreshing because it elevates our understanding of these two behaviors and illustrates a way to bring about a more forgiving and healthy world, all while it entertains and captivates.

"Beyond Revenge" effortlessly weaves together examples from recent news and history with evidence from such fields as psychology, anthropology, criminal justice, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology to describe the unique social functions that revenge and forgiveness serve for humans but also for other social species. There are not only references to many societal challenges, like violence in the schools and inner cities to the warring factions in Iraq, but there are also many keen observations sprinkled throughout based on the thoughts of prominent writers and philosophers. This masterful work will make you think seriously about -- maybe even rethink -- how friends, family members, communities, and even nations can build peace and lasting well-being. With each chapter, McCullough takes the reader on a journey through both ordinary and extraordinary cases of vengeance and forgiveness with an eye toward bringing scientific insight to bear on the greater social forces at play. By the end, the reader is surprised to learn that, no matter how great differences and conflicts get between people, humans have an amazing capacity that has not been fully utilized. True to the title, the challenge set forth in this book is for society to harness the will and creativity to bring social conditions in line with our ability to be constructive and caring beings. McCullough has provided a compelling plan for putting this capacity into action.

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Evolution of Forgiveness

The "Nature" versus "Nurture" debate is a perennial topic. In Beyond Revenge, McCullough suggests that both revenge and forgiveness are hard-wired into us as social primates. In doing so, he manages to distinguish his claims that such human behaviors are natural from fatalistic conclusions, because "natural" does not connotate a justification for vengeful actions, nor does it suggest that natural behaviors are unavoidable.

It's a compelling argument that McCullough makes, and a difficult task to balance a presentation of the science with readability for reaching a broad audience. That is, his descriptions of behavioral studies in humans, primates, and game theory modeling seem to lose their potency in the course of the storytelling. Large parts of it come across as just what McCullough seeks to avoid: adaptationalist "just-so" stories. His argument is well-written and persuasive nonetheless.

For instance, his description of Robert Axelrod's work on game theory modeling and cooperation is extremely insightful and resounding proof that natural selection actually leads to a *nicer* world in the long run. Primate studies, as he describes them, also suggest that the standard response - and healthy - mechanism of closure to an act of aggression is forgiveness and reconciliation. Human psychology studies back this up, and identify the components of apologies that elicit forgiveness the best.

And in the next-to-last chapter, he debunks the notion that religion is the shortcut to forgiveness and compassion. True, as McCullough notes, religious individuals often forgive more readily - *if* the offender is part of the same social network, and particularly if the offender is part of the same religion. Moveover, devoutly religious individuals are more likely to exhibit more intolerant and vengeful attitudes towards offenders who are outsiders, on the margins of society, etc.

The last interesting item that struck me, reading Beyond Revenge, was something that I don't think McCullough stressed enough considering his argument that revenge and forgiveness are natural behaviors. That is, the differences between revenge and retaliation - revenge requires planning and forethought as provided by the pre-frontal cortex (something that our primate relatives lack compared to us). A similar difference exists for forgiveness and reconciliation, which McCullough mentions but does not elaborate on. These concept pairs are related though, and despite the role of our mighty pre-frontal cortex, are all part of our primitive emotional drives.

So I liked the book. In a world of suicide bombers and pre-emptive invasions, it is an important book. We can influence the cycle of retaliation that exists in a harsh world by considering the psychological factors that activate "the forgiveness instinct."

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