Caperton Forgiveness Style Inventory (CFSI) – Revised

Abstract

The Caperton Forgiveness Style Inventory (CFSI)- Revised is a psychological scale developed by Duane Caperton in 2008/2009 to assess the diverse styles individuals employ when responding to interpersonal offenses. This instrument moves beyond simply measuring the presence or absence of forgiveness, focusing instead on the behavioral and cognitive strategies used. It comprises 21 items distributed across four distinct factors: Interpersonal, Easy Going, Grudge Holder, and Humility, providing a nuanced profile of an individual’s approach to resolving grievances and maintaining relational health.

Keywords

Forgiveness, Forgiveness Styles, Psychological assessment, Interpersonal relations, Grudge, Humility, Psychological scale, CFSI-R

Authors

Duane Caperton

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Caperton Forgiveness Style Inventory (CFSI)- Revised is to provide researchers and practitioners with a nuanced psychological assessment tool capable of identifying distinct patterns in how individuals approach and execute the process of forgiveness following an offense. The scale is designed to capture the complexity of forgiveness, viewing it not as a unitary trait but as a set of learned or habitual behavioral and cognitive responses.

The instrument aims specifically to differentiate between active, reflective styles (such as Interpersonal engagement and Humility) and passive or destructive non-forgiveness styles (Easy Going and Grudge Holding). This distinction allows for a more comprehensive understanding of individual differences in conflict resolution and relational dynamics.

Construct

The CFSI-R measures the overarching construct of Forgiveness Style, which is operationalized through four primary dimensions. These dimensions represent distinct cognitive and behavioral orientations recalled by the individual when reflecting upon actual past acts of forgiveness or non-forgiveness.

• Interpersonal Style: Characterized by active engagement with the offender, focusing on dialogue, mutual understanding, and direct communication of hurt and resolution. This style emphasizes shared responsibility and communicative closure.
• Easy Going Style: Represents a non-forgiveness style based on a perceived lack of need for forgiveness, often characterized by minimizing the offense or exhibiting a generally passive, unbothered demeanor, suggesting offenses do not register significantly.
• Grudge Holder Style: Defined by the active retention of negative feelings, inability to release hurt, and potentially using the offense as leverage or ammunition in future interactions.
• Humility Style: Involves self-reflection, recognizing one’s own imperfection, and avoiding self-righteousness, thereby facilitating the release of judgment toward the offender and promoting empathic understanding.

Validity

The validity of the CFSI-R was extensively investigated during its development, forming the basis of Caperton’s doctoral dissertation (2008). The initial research focused on establishing both content and construct validity, ensuring that the 21 items accurately represent the theoretical dimensions of the identified forgiveness styles. The empirical evidence derived from the factor analysis provided supporting evidence for the measure’s internal structure and construct validity.

Further studies typically confirm criterion-related validity by examining correlations between the CFSI-R subscales and external measures of related psychological constructs, such as empathy, personality traits, and established measures of forgiveness outcomes, ensuring the scale accurately captures the intended behavioral patterns.

Reliability

The reliability of the CFSI-R was a core focus of the foundational study, intended to ensure the stability and consistency of the measurement. Internal consistency, assessed primarily using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, was calculated for the total scale and separately for the four underlying subscales (Interpersonal, Easy Going, Grudge Holder, and Humility). Acceptable to high reliability values were reported, affirming that the items within each style consistently measure the same latent construct.

Factor Analysis

The scale structure was determined through comprehensive Factor Analysis conducted during the validation phase. This analysis confirmed the presence of the four hypothesized factors, which correspond to the primary forgiveness styles identified by the author: Interpersonal, Easy Going, Grudge Holder, and Humility. The results of the factor analysis provided the empirical justification for the grouping of the 21 items into these distinct subscales.

This empirical factorization supports the theoretical assertion that individuals utilize multiple, separable strategies when dealing with offenses, thereby allowing the CFSI-R to capture a multidimensional view of forgiveness behavior.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire

Format: 21 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 4 (I frequently do this) to 0 (I never do this).

Language Available: English

Population Group: General adult population

Age Group: Adults (18+)

Population Details: Initial validation was conducted primarily on university and community samples.

Test Methodology: Respondents are asked to reflect on times they have actually forgiven people and rate how often they engaged in the listed cognitive and behavioral actions.

Keywords

Psychometrics, Scale development, Interpersonal conflict, Conflict resolution, Likert scale, Self-report measure

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Correspondence Address: Duane Caperton, Indiana State University (Affiliation at time of thesis)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Caperton Forgiveness Style Inventory was developed and validated in 2008, with the core psychometric findings published in 2009. The instrument is available publicly through the author’s doctoral thesis documentation. Information regarding formal permissions for commercial use or associated fees is not provided in the source material, but the scale is typically available for non-commercial research use via contact with the author.

Reference’s

Caperton, D. (2009). An investigation of the reliability and validity of the Caperton Forgiveness Styles Inventory. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, Vol 70(5-B), 3215.

Caperton, Duane. (2008). An investigation of the reliability and validity of the Caperton forgiveness styles inventory. Thesis (Ph.D.) – Indiana State University. The original thesis instrument can be found on pages 86-87. Available online at: http://scholars.indstate.edu/handle/10484/110

Caperton, Duane. (2009). An investigation of the reliability and validity of the Caperton forgiveness styles inventory. ProQuest, UMI Dissertation Publishing.

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Items of the Caperton Forgiveness Style Inventory (CFSI)- Revised

Recalling times when I have actually forgiven people, these are things I have actually done:

The scoring guide is as follows: 4=I frequently do this, 3=I often do this, 2=I sometimes do this, 1=I rarely do this, 0=I never do this.

Items 13-18 are double coded. Items 19, 20, and 21 are reverse coded.

Interpersonal Style Items (Part 1/2):

1. I realize I have done similar things.
2. I learn why the offender did what he or she did.
3. I see how I contributed to the problem.
4. I realize the offense was not personal.
5. I imagine what the offender was thinking.
6. I remind myself how similar I am to the offender.

Interpersonal Style Items (Part 2/2):

7. I choose to offer forgiveness to the offender in person.
8. I need to talk with the offender.
9. The offender needs to know how much I was hurt.
10. I talk with the offender face-to-face.
11. I need to hear the offender’s side of the event.
12. The offender needs to see my reaction.

Easy Going Style Items:

13. I do not forgive other people because I have never needed to.
14. I do not forgive other people because I am easy-going.
15. I do not forgive other people because I am not bothered by what other people say and do.

Grudge Holder Style Items:

16. I do not forgive other people because I hold grudges.
17. I do not forgive other people because I like to have something to use against other people in the future if the need arises.
18. I do not forgive other people because I cannot let go of the feelings associated with being hurt.

Humility Style Items:

19. I realize I am not perfect.
20. I remind myself that I am still growing as a person.
21. I remind myself that I should not be self-righteous.