Placing Dispositional Forgiveness Within Theories of Adult Personality Development
Abstract
Compared to the longstanding literature on the process of forgiveness or state forgiveness, relatively less research has focused on how to develop a dispositional tendency to forgive others, known as forgivingness. This holds particularly true with respect to adulthood, which has been typically viewed as a period of personality consistency rather than change. In the current paper, we begin by discussing forgivingness and its potential for promoting adult well-being. Next, we describe three literatures that help us understand possible influences on forgivingness development in adulthood, which focus on (a) how adults respond to their changing societal roles, (b) the choices they make with respect to social and emotional regulation, and (c) their relationship attachment models. Finally, we conclude by presenting important questions for the future research on this personality trait.
References
1969). Object relations, dependence, and attachment: A theoretical review of infant-mother relationship. Development Psychology, 40, 969–1025.
(1978). Patterns of attachment. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2010). Forgivingness: Relationships with conceptualizations of divine forgiveness and childhood memories. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 20, 187–200.
(2008). Age differences in forgivingness: The role of future time perspective. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1137–1147.
(2007). The role of trait forgiveness and relationship satisfaction in episodic forgiveness. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 26, 199–217.
(2012). Forgivingness and subjective well-being in adulthood: The moderating role of future time perspective. Journal of Research in Personality, 46, 32–39.
(2008). Forgivingness and action orientation. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 762–766.
(2008). Entwicklung und Validierung einer Skala der Bereitschaft zu verzeihen (SBV)
([Development and validation of a measure of willingness to forgive] . Diagnostica, 54, 71–84.2010). Verzeihen und Selbstverzeihen über die Lebensspanne: Gegenwärtiger Forschungsstand und Forschungsperspektiven
([Forgiveness and self-forgiveness across the lifespan: Present state of research and research perspectives] . Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie, 42, 63–78.2012). Situation-specific forgiveness and dispositional forgiveness: A lifespan perspective. In , Justice psychology and conflicts: Theoretical and empirical contributions (pp. 361–375). New York, NY: Springer.
(1996). Social cognitive conceptualization of attachment working models: Availability and accessibility effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 94–104.
(2010). Conscientiousness and forgivingness: A meta-analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 259–263.
(2011). Relating trait self-control and forgiveness within prosocial and proselfs: Compensatory versus synergistic models. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 1090–1105.
(2004). Intervention studies on forgiveness: A meta-analysis. Journal of Counseling and Development, 82, 79–90.
(2005). Families and forgiveness. In , Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 227–241). New York, NY: Routledge.
(2005). Forgivingness, vengeful rumination, and affective traits. Journal of Personality, 73, 183–225.
(2001). Dispositional forgivingness: Development and construct validity of the transgression narrative test of forgivingness (TNTF). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1277–1290.
(2004). Age differences in emotion-regulation strategies in handling everyday problems. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 59, P261–P269.
(2004). Religion, forgiveness, and adjustment in older adults. In , Religious influences on health and well-being in the elderly (pp. 163–186). New York, NY: Springer.
(1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. New York, NY: Basic Books.
(2011). Forgiveness and relationship satisfaction: Mediating mechanisms. Journal of Family Psychology, 25, 551–559.
(1995). Dimensions of adult attachment, affect regulation, and romantic relationship functioning. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 267–283.
(2003). Measuring individual differences in the tendency to forgive: Construct validity and links with depression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 759–771.
(2007). Fundamentalism and forgiveness. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 1437–1447.
(2009). Insecure attachment and depressive symptoms: The mediating role of rumination, empathy, and forgiveness. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 276–280.
(2007). Attachment working models and trait forgivingness: The mediating role of angry rumination. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 1585–1596.
(2012). Flying the unfriendly skies? The role of forgiveness and race in the experience of racial microaggressions. The Journal of Social Psychology, 152, 639–653.
(2006). The influence of a sense of time on human development. Science, 312, 1913–1915.
(2001). Age-related differences and change in positive and negative affect over 23 years. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 136–151.
(2008). Age differences in forgiveness: The role of future time perspective. Psychology and Aging, 23, 676–680.
(2002). Psychosocial vulnerability from adolescence to adulthood: A prospective study of attachment style differences in relationship functioning and partner choice. Journal of Personality, 70, 965–1008.
(2004). Working models of attachment: New developments and emerging themes. In , Adult Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications (pp. 196–239). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
(2001). The development of commitment and attachment in dating relationships: Attachment security as relationship construct. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 401–415.
(2006). Dispositional and state forgiveness: The role of self-esteem, need for structure, and narcissism. Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 371–380.
(2006). Developmental changes in personal goal orientation from young to late adulthood: From striving for gains to maintenance and prevention of losses. Psychology and Aging, 21, 664–678.
(1994). Piaget on the moral development of forgiveness: Identity or reciprocity? Human Development, 37, 63–80.
(1992). Forgiveness: A developmental view. Journal of Moral Education, 21, 99–114.
(1980). Identity and the life cycle. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
(2004). Too proud to let go: narcissistic entitlement as a barrier to forgiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 894–912.
(2010). The road to forgiveness: A meta-analytic synthesis of its situational and dispositional correlates. Psychological Bulletin, 5, 894–914.
(2005). “Til lack of forgiveness doth us part”: Forgiveness in marriage. In , Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 207–225). New York, NY: Routledge.
(2010). It takes two to tango: Why older people have the best relationships. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 172–176.
(2002). Attachment stability from infancy to adulthood: Meta-analysis and dynamic modeling of developmental mechanisms. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 123–151.
(2004). A dynamical systems approach to conceptualizing and studying stability and change in attachment security. In , Adult Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications (pp. 86–132). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
(2008). Attachment theory and its place in contemporary personality theory and research. In , Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (pp. 518–541). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
(1998). Selection, optimization, and compensation as strategies of life management: Correlations with subjective indicators of successful aging. Psychology and Aging, 13, 531–543.
(2000). The orchestration of selection, optimization and compensation: An action-theoretical conceptualization of a theory of developmental regulation. In , Control of human behavior, mental processes, and consciousness: Essays in honor of the 60th birthday of August Flammer. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2004). Personality correlates of the disposition towards interpersonal forgiveness: A Chinese perspective. International Journal of Psychology, 39, 305–316.
(2009). Benefits of negative social exchanges for emotional closeness. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 64B, 612–621.
(1997). Propensity to forgive in adolescents, young adults, older adults, and elderly people. Journal of Adult Development, 4, 209–220.
(1993). Forgiveness: An exploratory factor analysis and its relationships to religious variables. Review of Religious Research, 34, 333–347.
(1997). Emotion and aging: Experience, expression, and control. Psychology and Aging, 12, 590–599.
(2008). The moral mind: How five sets of innate intuitions guide the development of many culture-specific virtues, and perhaps even modules. In , The innate mind, volume 3: Foundations and the Future (pp. 367–391). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
(2005). Self-forgiveness: The stepchild of forgiveness research. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 621–637.
(2008). The temporal course of self-forgiveness. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 27, 174–202.
(1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511–524.
(2007). Contextualized personality: Traditional and new assessment approaches. Journal of Personality, 75, 1229–1254.
(2002). The growing evidence for personality change in adulthood: Findings from research with personality inventories. Journal of Research in Personality, 36, 287–306.
(1984). Personality and patterns of adherence and nonadherence to the social clock. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 1079–1096.
(1990). Is the traditional role bad for women?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 311–320.
(2001). Three paths of adult development: Conservers, seekers, and achievers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 995–1010.
(2010). Forgivingness and adult patterns of individual differences in environmental mastery and personal growth. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 245–250.
(2011). Gratitude, forgivingness, and well-being in adulthood: Tests of moderation and incremental prediction. Journal of Positive Psychology, 6, 397–407.
(2012). Explaining the link between conscientiousness and forgivingness. Journal of Research in Personality, 46, 497–503.
(2010). Forgivingness and identity development: Tests of basic relations and mediational pathways. Personality and Individual Differences, 49, 497–501.
(2010). Collegiate purpose orientations and well-being in adulthood. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31, 173–179.
(2010). Propositions for the study of moral personality development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 380–383.
(2011). Forgiveness by God and human forgivingness: The centrality of religiosity makes the difference. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 33, 115–134.
(2012). Personality trait development and social investment in work. Journal of Research in Personality, 46, 334–344.
(2008). Looking while unhappy: Mood-congruent gaze in young adults, positive gaze in older adults. Psychological Science, 19, 848–853.
(2012). Can an old dog learn (and want to experience) new tricks? Cognitive training increases openness to experience in older adults. Psychology and Aging, 27, 286–292.
(2004). The tendency to forgive in dating and married couples: The role of attachment and relationship satisfaction. Personal Relationships, 11, 373–393.
(2001). Forgivingness: A Congo-France comparison. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 504–511.
(2011). Maintaining harmony across the globe: The cross-cultural association between closeness and interpersonal forgiveness. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 443–451.
(2003). When forgiving enhances psychological well-being: The role of interpersonal commitment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 1011–1026.
(2002). Time counts: Future time perspective, goals, and social relationships. Psychology and Aging, 17, 125–139.
(1998). Perspectives on socioemotional selectivity in late life: How personality and social context do (and do not) make a difference. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 53B, P21–P30.
(2006). The forgiving personality: Describing a life well-lived? Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 1009–1020.
(2003). A change of heart: Cardiovascular correlates of forgiveness in response to interpersonal conflict. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 26, 373–393.
(2006). The role of adult attachment style in forgiveness following an interpersonal offense. Journal of Counseling and Development, 84, 493–502.
(2013). Age and gender differences in motivational manifestations of the Big Five from age 16 to 60. Developmental Psychology, 49, 365–383.
(2007). Social investment and personality: A meta-analysis of the relationship of personality traits to investment in work, family, religion, and volunteerism. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11, 68–86.
(2007). Identity and personality: The Big Five and narrow personality traits in relation to sense of identity. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 7, 51–70.
(2010). The doormat effect: When forgiving erodes self-respect and self-concept clarity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 734–749.
(2006). The personality-identity interplay in emerging adult women: Convergent findings from complementary analyses. European Journal of Personality, 20, 195–215.
(2005). Forgiveness and happiness. The differing contexts of forgiveness using the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6, 1–13.
(1992). The measurement of forgiveness: Preliminary research. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 11, 170–180.
(2002). The grateful disposition: A conceptual and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 112–127.
(2001). Is gratitude a moral affect? Psychological Bulletin, 127, 249–266.
(2009). Forgiveness. In , Handbook of positive psychology (2nd ed.). (pp. 427–435). New York, NY: Oxford.
(2002). The psychology of forgiveness. In , Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 446–458). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
(2010). Forgiveness increases the likelihood of subsequent partner transgressions in marriage. Journal of Family Psychology, 24, 787–790.
(2011). The dark side of forgiveness: The tendency to forgive predicts continued psychological and physical aggression in marriage. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 770–783.
(2012). Beyond positive psychology? Toward a contextual view of psychological processes and well-being. American Psychologist, 67, 101–110.
(1991). Attachment style and the structure of romantic love. British Journal of Social Psychology, 4, 273–291.
(2007). Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
(2003). Modeling intraindividual change in personality traits: Findings form the Normative Aging Study. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58, P153–P165.
(2007). Personality change influences mortality in older men. Psychological Science, 18, 371–376.
(2003). Religious involvement and the forgiving personality. Journal of Personality, 71, 1–19.
(1998). “Forgivingness”: Factor structure in a sample of young, middle-aged, and elderly adults. European Psychologist, 3, 289–297.
(2005). Personality and its effects on resentment, revenge, forgiveness, and self-forgiveness. In , Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 159–182). New York, NY: Routledge.
(2005). Forgivingness and the paranoid personality style. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 765–772.
(2005). Forgiveness, self-respect, and the value of resentment. In , Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 33–40). New York, NY: Routledge.
(2007). Forgiveness, personality and gratitude. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 2313–2323.
(2005). Marital quality, forgiveness, empathy, and rumination: A longitudinal analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 368–378.
(2009). Measuring offence-specific forgiveness in marriage: The Marital Offence-Specific Forgiveness Scale (MOFS). Psychological Assessment, 21, 194–209.
(2007). Forgivingness: Similarities and differences between Buddhists and Christians living in China. International Journal of the Psychology of Religion, 17, 289–301.
(2010). What it takes to forgive: When and why executive functioning facilitates forgiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 119–131.
(1995). Forgivingness. American Philosophical Quarterly, 32, 289–306.
(2000). The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: A quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 3–25.
(2006). De-investment in work and non-normative personality trait change in young adulthood. European Journal of Personality, 20, 461–474.
(2008). The development of personality traits in adulthood. In , Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3th ed.). (pp. 375–398). New York, NY: Guilford.
(2005). Evaluating Five Factor Theory and social investment perspectives on personality trait development. Journal of Research in Personality, 39, 166–184.
(1989a). Beyond Ponce de Leon and life satisfaction: New directions in quest of successful ageing. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 12, 35–55.
(1989b). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1069–1081.
(1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719–727.
(2008). Trait forgiveness and traitedness within the HEXACO model of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 389–394.
(1990). Influence of attachment styles on romantic relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 971–980.
(2003). Stability and change in adult personality over 6 years: Findings from the Victoria Longitudinal Study. The Journals of Geronotology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58, P166–P176.
(2011). Stability and change on personality across the life course: The impact of age and major life events on mean-level and rank-order stability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 862–882.
(2011). Age differences in forgivingness: The role of transgression frequency and intensity. Journal of Research in Personality, 45, 670–678.
(2012). Do agreeableness and neuroticism explain age differences in the tendency to forgive others? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 441–453.
(2007). Who forgives others, themselves, and situations? The roles of narcissism, guilt, self-esteem, and agreeableness. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 259–269.
(2007). Effect of culture on forgivingness: A Southern Asia-Western Europe comparison. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 513–523.
(2005). Dispositional forgiveness of self, others, and situations. Journal of Personality, 73, 313–359.
(2011). Forgive to live: Forgiveness, health, and longevity. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 35, 375–386.
(2005). Theoretical and empirical connections between forgiveness, mental health, and well-being. In , Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 207–226). New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
(2010). Conceptualizations of forgiveness and forgivingness among Hindus. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 20, 255–266.
(2005). Psychometric and rationalization accounts for the religion-forgiveness discrepancy. Journal of Social Issues, 61, 785–805.
(2001). Changes in women’s assertiveness in response to status and roles: A cross-temporal meta-analysis, 1931–1993. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 133–145.
(2010). Emotion regulation in older age. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 352–357.
(2005). But do they work? A meta-analysis of group interventions to promote forgiveness. In , Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 423–439). New York, NY: Routledge.
(2004). Differing conceptions of moral exemplarity: Just, brave, and caring. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 629–647.
(2004). Personality and forgiveness: A Nepalese perspective. The Journal of Social Psychology, 144, 539–540.
(2010). Forgiveness, health, and problematic drinking among college students in Southern Appalachia. Journal of Health Psychology, 15, 1257–1266.
(2006). Dispositional forgiveness and adult attachment styles. Journal of Social Psychology, 146, 509–512.
(2008). Clinical correlates of dispositional forgiveness. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38, 2495–2517.
(2005). Handbook of forgiveness. New York, NY: Routledge.
(2004). Forgiveness is an emotion-focused coping strategy that can reduce health risks and promote health resilience: Theory, review, and hypotheses. Psychology and Health, 19, 385–405.
(2007). Forgiveness, health, and well-being: A review of evidence for emotional versus decisional forgiveness, dispositional forgiveness, and reduced unforgiveness. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 30, 291–302.
(2001). Self-regulation of normative and non-normative developmental challenges. Human Development, 44, 264–283.
(2007). Rumination: Bridging a gap between forgivingness, vengefulness, and psychological health. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 1573–1584.
(