Trait forgiveness and traitedness within the HEXACO model of personality

The current study aimed to establish how trait forgiveness relates to broad personality factors as defined by the HEXACO model of personality, as opposed to the Big Five/Five-Factor models of personality. Since the HEXACO model differs from the Big Five model, different correlations were predicted to emerge, thus highlighting the importance of specific content in predicting trait forgiveness. Secondly, it was proposed that isolating cross-situationally consistent forgivers would lead to stronger correlations between forgiveness and various traits traditionally associated with trait forgiveness. The results found that Honesty–Humility, Agreeableness, and Emotionality, as well as various facets of the Extraversion and Conscientiousness factors, were related to trait forgiveness. Due to differences in content between the HEXACO and the Big Five, specific content relating to trait forgiveness could be identified. However, isolating consistent forgivers did not yield stronger correlations between personality and trait forgiveness.