Forgiveness is an important characteristic of a healthy relationship. Several factors have been shown to be connected to forgiveness, but other factors may play a significant role in the forgiveness process. Little is known about how humility affects forgiveness in the context of an interpersonal conflict. Expressive writing, when combined with humility, may help counselors and other mental health providers in understanding how to better foster forgiveness among individuals and help them cope with stressful events and relational problems. The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether expressive writing involving humility regarding a minor offense leads to increased forgiveness compared to expressive writing that does not involve humility. The theoretical framework was based on the REACH model of forgiveness and Pennebaker's writing paradigm. The focus of the primary research question was on what role, if any, humility plays in forgiveness-based expressive writing. A randomized experimental design involving 4 groups was used. Each group received slightly different instructions, with 1 group having a humility (self-criticism) aspect. Forgiveness was measured using the TRIM-12 item questionnaire. Planned contrasts within a 1-way ANOVA were conducted along with a t test for analysis. The results of this research study were non-significant regarding the role of humility in increasing forgiveness in expressive writing. Regarding positive social change, this study adds to the literature by providing knowledge concerning what factors do not affect forgiveness in expressive writing and supports the need for future research on humility and forgiveness.

Humility is widely accepted as a character strength or virtue, yet very little research has been done as to its development or benefits, partly due to the lack of a reliable and valid explicit measure or scale. Since to date no such scale has been published, the current study investigates the importance and nature of humility and develops a measure to be analyzed as to its reliability and validity. Potential scale items were derived from participants’ recollection of humbling experiences and Tangney’s (2000) definition of humility. Principal Components Analysis revealed four humility subscales: openness, self-forgetfulness, accurate self-assessment, and focus on others. Results suggest that the derived 13-item scale has good concurrent and divergent validity, and that three of the four principal components have acceptable reliability. Researchers can use information from the Humility scale to better understand how it relates to other concepts of positive psychology and how increasing humility might be advantageous to interpersonal relationships.

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This thesis investigates the Medicean ability to present divergent messages to different audiences through the manipulation of art and architecture of the Palazzo Medici. I examine several works of art commissioned and authored by the Medici. First, Donatello’s bronze David, located in the Medici Courtyard, is interpreted through the traditional Christian perspective as seen by the vicini, making the Medici appear pious, reverent, and religiously devout. This work is also interpreted from the amici point of view using ancient and contemporary authors to trace the development of ideas amongst the circle of Classically educated friends of the Medici. Second, Donatello’s bronze Judith and Holofernes, located in the adjacent Medici Garden, is examined in the same way to highlight the divergent message of humility juxtaposed with pride. This exercise shows the Medici had the ability to use one piece of art to set the stage for several different messages. Each type of visitor would view the same piece of art and come away with a different message specifically tailored to them, which allowed the family to increase support for their political faction and maintain their status as de facto rulers of Florence. The Medici family’s success is undisputed amongst scholars, but Cosimo’s use of the Augustan model and his use of the palace as propaganda is a subject that has been left scarcely examined. Much research has been conducted on the exterior due to what is extant, but how those in the Medici faction viewed it is non-existent. This work builds upon F.W. Kent’s position that Renaissance palace were built with several groups in mind. Through this examination of the Medici’s use of polyvalent messaging, a new understanding of the Medici emerges, which shows they were masters of propaganda and can explain why the Palazzo Medici became the model for palaces through Florence, the Italian Peninsula, and eventually greater Europe.

This dissertation advances a critical appropriation of Thomas Aquinas's thought on the virtue of humility. Humility has received relatively little scholarly attention since early modernity, and the attention it has received has been largely negative, due to humility's association with religiously inspired attitudes that diminish the human drive for excellence. In recent decades a small number of philosophical and religious ethicists and political theorists have argued that humility, properly understood, is indeed a virtue. However, these accounts have not paid sufficient attention to the way various forms of oppression force a shift in thinking about what humility is and why it is of value. Feminist thought illuminates the social and psychological dynamics of oppression, but it has almost completely ignored the topic of humility. Where humility has been discussed by feminists, it has generally been dismissed as supportive of patriarchy and thus destructive of women's well-being. Humanity is in need of a new account of humility that answers to important criticisms. This dissertation offers such an account by critically appropriating Aquinas's thought on humility. It argues that humility is crucial to the realization of relational selfhood, and it definitely promotes the common good, but only if its operations are coordinated with the exercise of courage and justice.

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Introduction: Alcohol misuse is a major public health concern, resulting in an estimated 88,000 deaths annually in the U.S. Negative religious coping (NRC) is a known risk factor for alcohol misuse; yet, research has not examined potential protective factors that might weaken this linkage. Forgiveness and humility are commonly-studied spiritual factors linked to positive health-related outcomes, but they have not been explored in the context of NRC and alcohol misuse. In our study, we assessed the potential protective role of forgiveness and humility in the association between NRC and alcohol misuse, among religious believers and non-believers. Methods: Participants in this IRB-approved study were recruited online via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and self-identified as religious believers (n = 146) or non-believers (n = 120). After providing informed consent, participants completed self-report surveys including the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Brief RCOPE, Heartland Forgiveness Scale (Forgiveness of Others), and a single item measure of humility. Results: At the bivariate level, for religious non-believers, humility was positively associated with forgiveness (r = .27, p < .01) and negatively associated with NRC (r = -.20, p < .05) and AUDIT scores (r = -.17, p < .05). Forgiveness was negatively associated with NRC (r = -.18, p < .05) and NRC was positively associated with AUDIT scores (r = .28, p < .01). For religious believers, humility was positively associated with forgiveness (r = .25, p < .01) and negatively associated with AUDIT scores (r = -.17, p < .05). Forgiveness was negatively associated with NRC (r = -.29, p < .01) and AUDIT scores (r = -.20, p < .01) and NRC was positively associated with AUDIT scores (r = -.22, p < .01). At the multivariate level, for religious believers, forgiveness moderated the relation between NRC and AUDIT scores (R2Δ = .04, p = .01), but humility did not. For religious non-believers, humility moderated the relation between NRC and AUDIT scores (R2Δ = .07, p < .01, but forgiveness did not. Conclusions: Negative religious coping is a significant risk factor for alcohol misuse among religious believers and non-believers. In the context of NRC, positive psychological constructs may provide a novel approach to reducing alcohol misuse. Forgiveness of others was protective against alcohol use problems for religious believers engaging in NRC, whereas humility was protective for religious non-believers. As a tenet of most religions, forgiveness of others may be particularly significant for religious believers in resolving NRC, of which a feature is feeling abandoned by other religious believers. For non-believers, NRC may manifest as questioning the existence of God, and humility may promote a sense of comfort in their uncertainty. Positive psychology interventions such as forgiveness therapy or the PROVE humility intervention may be effective interventions for alcohol misuse, in the context of NRC.

In the counseling profession, clinical supervision is utilized to facilitate the personal and professional development of counselors in training (Bernard and Goodyear, 2014). Within this supervisory relationship, supervisors must adhere to the 2015 ACA Code of Ethics, which describes the need for infusing cultural competence into both counseling and supervision practices. This emphasis is warranted; as the population of the United States is growing more diverse and cultural sensitivity in counseling will be needed in order to best serve clients. Both qualitative and quantitative research in various allied fields and settings suggest that supervisor cultural competence positively impacts the supervision working alliance (i.e., Ladany, Brittan-Powell and Pannu, 1997; Ancis and Marshall, 2010; Wong, Wong and Ishiyama, 2013). However, research conducted from the perspective of supervisors working in community settings is limited. This study sampled 78 community supervisors to address the dearth in the counselor education literature concerning the relationships between supervisor cultural competence and the working alliance. Results indicated an overall positively correlated relationship between supervisor multicultural competence and the working alliance. Additionally, the results suggested that supervisor cultural knowledge and supervisor cultural skills are the greatest predictors of a strong working alliance, while supervisor multicultural relationship and supervisor multicultural awareness accounted for some additional variance. The results support the trend away from a competency-based model of cultural sensitivity and attention in counseling and toward a model of cultural humility. / Ph. D.

The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between adult attachment style, humility, and relationship satisfaction in college student couples. Attachment style--given its significant role in predicting how individuals feel, think, and behave in relationships--was expected to be an important predictor of humility, although this possibility has rarely been studied empirically. The current study found that: (a) attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were significant, negative predictors of total humility, (b) attachment anxiety (but not attachment avoidance) was a significant, negative predictor of both intrapersonal and interpersonal humility, (c) a romantic partner's attachment avoidance (but not attachment anxiety) was a significant, negative predictor of a target person's relationship satisfaction, and (d) a romantic partner's perceived level of humility was a significant, positive predictor of a target person's relationship satisfaction.

This dissertation contributes to the literature on resiliency and character strengths. College students (N = 223) were administered questionnaires to determine the hassles they experienced in the last month, as well as their levels of life satisfaction, resiliency, and the four character strengths of Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, Gratitude, Humility/Modesty, and Love. Reponses to the Ego Resiliency Scale were used to divide students into the following three groups: resilient, moderate-resilient, and low-resilient. Self-reported levels of life satisfaction, Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, Gratitude, Humility/Modesty, and Love were compared across the three groups to determine whether they were significantly related to resiliency. The results indicate that Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, Gratitude, and Humility/Modesty had a significant relationship with resiliency, but that Love did not. Resilient students' levels of Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence as well as Gratitude were significantly higher than those of low-resilient students. However, resilient students' levels of Humility/Modesty were significantly lower than those of low-resilient students. Although Love was not significantly related to resiliency, the levels of Love for resilient students were relatively higher than those of low-resilient students. Life satisfaction also was significantly related to resiliency. Resilient students' levels of life satisfaction were significantly higher than those of low-resilient students. Gratitude and Love predicted students' levels of life satisfaction. Therefore, Gratitude seems to be the essential character strength related to both resiliency and life satisfaction among college students.