Internet Addiction as a Moderator of the Relationship between Cyberhate Severity and Decisional Forgiveness

Justyna Mróz and Kinga Kaleta
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Justyna Mróz: Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce, Department of Psychology, 25-029 Kielce, Poland
Kinga Kaleta: Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce, Department of Psychology, 25-029 Kielce, Poland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 10, 1-9

Abstract: (1) Background: Cyberhate is becoming increasingly prevalent, just as Internet addiction. One way to deal with hate speech may be to make a decision to forgive the offence. However, addiction to the Internet, due to cognitive changes caused, can play a role in the making of this decision. (2) Methods: A total of N = 246 participants completed the Online Cognitive Scale (OCS), Decision to Forgive Scale (DTFS), and a single-item scale to assess cyberhate severity. In our cross-sectional study, we tested the moderating role of Internet addiction in the relationship between the severity of cyberhate and decisional forgiveness. (3) Results: The results of our study show an inverse correlation between cyberhate severity and decisional forgiveness. We found that Internet addiction moderated the relationship between the perceived severity of cyberhate and forgiveness. In case of a high level of Internet addiction, the transgression severity–forgiveness link is not significant. (4) Conclusions: These results are in accordance with the studies that showed the negative effects of Internet addiction on cognitive processes.

Keywords: internet addiction; cyberhate; forgiveness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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