Published May 30, 2014
Dr. Christopher Mapp, assistant professor of communication and holder of the McCrory
1st Amendment Endowed Professorship, at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, presented
research on romantic relationships at the International Communication Association
Conference in Seattle, Wash.
The study is titled 鈥淭he Relationship between Forgiveness, Imagined Interactions,
Empathy and Relational Satisfaction among Romantic Couples.鈥�
Mapp鈥檚 paper, which was co-authored by Dr. James Honeycutt of Louisiana State University,
was presented as part of a panel titled 鈥淔orgiveness, happiness, mindfulness and clarity.鈥�
The study surveyed 183 people in romantic relationships. The findings suggest that
people who spend more time having imagined interactions and taking the perspective
of their romantic partner are also more forgiving of them.
Imagined interactions occur when people daydream about communicating with significant
others. Empathy occurs when people recognize another鈥檚 emotion and feel it, too, Mapp
said.
Mapp鈥檚 work on forgiveness and imagined interactions is part of a larger program of
research that studies long-distance romantic relationships.
鈥淚t鈥檚 likely that when we imagine ourselves in someone else鈥檚 shoes, we鈥檙e better
at understanding their motivations and actions. We can also understand how much we鈥檇
desire forgiveness if we were in the same situation,鈥� Mapp said. 鈥淏efore we can forgive
someone, typically we have to imagine wanting that forgiveness, too.鈥�
Mapp, who also serves as the director of 四色AV鈥檚 Student Publications, received his
master鈥檚 degree in public relations at the University of Southern Mississippi. He
received his doctorate in interpersonal communication at Louisiana State University.
