THE IMPACTS OF PERSONALITY ON VENGEANCE AND FORGIVENESS IN YOUNG ADULTHOOD: A QUANTITATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This study aim is to examine whether personality traits have any effect or not on the likelihood to vengeance and forgiveness among young adults and utilize Five-Factor Model as a theoretical construct in the study. A cross-sectional study of the 500 university students, aged 18-25 was completed with the help of Big Five Inventory (BFI), Vengeance Scale and Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS). The results showed that agreeableness and conscientiousness proved to be significantly higher in the prediction of forgiveness and lower in vengeance whereas neuroticism predicted exactly the opposite direction thereof. There was also a consideration of gender whereby females scored more on forgiveness, but males scored higher on vengeance. The hypotheses of the study were confirmed through Pearson correlation and multiple regressions analysis which explained 48% of the variance in forgiveness and 44% in vengeance. These results support the role of individual differences in relation to moral-emotional reactions and possibly have some practical applications of emotional development and affective interventions concerning the personality type. The psyche of Pakistani people is supplemented with cultural and gender dimensions that enhance the comprehension of these psychological processes.