Abstract: Large amount of research has been conducted on the relationship between forgiveness and such factors as social cognition, empathy, personality, interpersonal relationship, mental health, culture and aggressive events, and also on the application of these research results and valid clinical intervention style. This paper reviewed the research on the related factors of forgiveness, and the development of the measuring tool for Chinese people and the investigation of short and long effect of forgiveness on the individual and society should be paid great attention to.

Key words: forgiveness, social cognition, personality, mental health, aggressive events