Robert Enright
Biography
Professor Enright has pioneered the scientific study of forgiveness, which now claims over 1,000 researchers worldwide. He has been honored with a Vilas Associateship Award, the Dean’s Club Faculty Achievement Award, and the campus-wide Hilldale Award in the Social Studies Division for his research on forgiveness. His National Conference on Forgiveness was the first of its kind on any university campus. His various research grants have centered on moral development. One of the most gifted teachers on campus, Dr. Enright is a recipient of the Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award and the Wisconsin Student Association Teaching Award. He teaches courses in moral development with an emphasis on the psychology of forgiveness. He is a popular speaker on the moral development of forgiveness, with his work appearing in such outlets as Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and ABC’s 20/20. He is a former member of the editorial board of Child Development and is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of Early Adolescence.
Research Interest
My research interests center on moral development, particularly the development of forgiveness. There are four primary research projects concerning forgiveness on which students and I are working. One is a Forgiveness Therapy process model that postulates a series of steps involved in one person forgiving another. Forgiveness Therapy reduces anger in people treated unjustly by others and as the anger decreases, psychological well-being is enhanced. My students and I are currently developing a series of interventions on forgiveness aimed at youth and adults who have suffered from various kinds of interpersonal injustice. Areas of interest for such interventions include bullying in schools, people in prisons, women who have suffered from gender-based violence in various parts of the world, and patients facing serious physical illnesses. The intervention approach is described in my book with the psychiatrist, Dr, Richard Fitzgibbons, Forgiveness Therapy (2015) and the book, The Forgiving Life (2012) both published by the American Psychological Association.
