Abstract We examined Colombian people's determinants of willingness to forgive. A sample of 104 adults was presented with 24 scenarios depicting a situation in which a medical error resulted in severe consequences for a patient.

Four factors were manipulated in the scenarios:

(a) the severity of consequences of the error (e.g., extremely severe, including the risk of death), (b) the degree of negligence associated with the physician's act, (c) apologies or contrition for the act from the physician (e.g., direct apologies at the bed of the patient), and (d) the patient's current health status (e.g., consequences fully canceled). Through cluster analysis, four qualitatively different positions were found: (a) never forgive, irrespective of circumstances (15% of the sample), (b) depends on the circumstances of the offense (55%), (c) almost always forgive (24%), and (d) undetermined (5%). As regards forgiveness, therefore, Colombians' views and practices were similar to people from other cultures' ones. If most participants in previous studies on Colombians' willingness to forgive expressed extreme positions -- either never forgive or always forgive, irrespective of circumstances, it was because they deliberately wished to express strong opinions regarding the proper treatment that, in their view, the violent people depicted in the scenarios - paramilitary, guerillas, and members of drug cartels - deserved.