Personality Traits and Self-Forgiveness: Exploring the roles of Authentic and Hubristic Pride

Abstract

Whilst the empirical exploration of forgiveness has grown extensively over the past 30 years, the study of self-forgiveness remains a relatively new topic of interest. Furthermore, few studies have sought to explain how individual difference variables relate to dispositional self-forgiveness. The aim of the present study was to explore how the two facets of pride (authentic and hubristic) relate to and predict our current understandings of self-forgiveness. A secondary aim of this study was to confirm previous findings on shame and guilt-proneness and determine whether pride is still related to self-forgiveness after controlling for these two variables. A convenience sample of 206 participants aged between 18 and 50+ years were recruited from the University of Adelaide first-year psychology pool and through advertising on Facebook and the Relationships Australia database. Participants completed an online questionnaire that measured self-forgiveness and various personality variables. Quantitative analysis involved Pearson’s correlations and conducting three hierarchical multiple regressions. Results indicated that hubristic pride was a significant predictor of genuine self-forgiveness, with authentic pride approaching the borderline of significance. Both pride variables explained an additional 2.90% of the variation in genuine self-forgiveness, with authentic pride being positively related and hubristic pride being negatively related. The results of the present study highlight the impact of dispositional pride as a useful explanatory concept for understanding how individuals perceive, reflect, and move towards the process of genuine self-forgiveness after committing a transgression.