Washington, Jan 28 (ANI): A person who prays for someone else makes them more forgiving, at least towards the person they are praying for, says a new study.

The research suggests that the person doing the praying feels increased levels of forgiveness toward the person being prayed for.

And forgiveness, as the researchers note, is a vital element in maintaining close relationships.

To reach this conclusion, Florida State University psychologist Nathaniel Lambert and colleagues conducted two experiments.

In the first, they had a group of men and women pray one single prayer for their romantic partner’s well being. Others-the experimental controls-they simply described their partner, speaking into a tape recorder.

Then they measured forgiveness. The scientists defined forgiveness as the diminishing of the initial negative feelings that arise when you’ve been wronged.

Their results showed that those who had prayed for their partner harboured fewer vengeful thoughts and emotions: They were more ready to forgive and move on.

In a second study, the researchers had a group of men and women pray for a close friend every day for four weeks. Others simply reflected on the relationship, thinking positive thoughts but not praying for their friend’s well-being. They also added another dimension.

They used a scale to measure selfless concern for others-not any particular person but other people generally. They speculated that prayer would increase selfless concern, which in turn would boost forgiveness and that’s just what they found.

The study appears in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. (ANI)