The dark triad and forgiveness: The mediating role of anger rumination

Abstract

Previous studies indicated that the Dark Triad, anger rumination, and forgiveness are interrelated, but their interplay received limited attention. Therefore, we examined whether anger ruminations could mediate the Dark Triad relationship with forgiveness in a community sample of 629 participants. Machiavellianism and psychopathy showed a consistent pattern of positive correlations with anger ruminations and negative with forgiveness. In contrast, narcissism exhibited a low negative correlation only with anger rumination related to thoughts of revenge. The path analysis indicated that the effects of Machiavellianism and psychopathy on the absence of negative thoughts, feelings, and behavior toward wrongdoers are mediated through three anger rumination dimensions (angry afterthoughts, angry memories, thoughts of revenge) partially and fully, respectively. Machiavellianism and psychopathy associations with the presence of positive thoughts, feelings, and behavior toward a wrongdoer were fully mediated via thoughts of revenge. Overall, our study highlights the important mediating role of anger rumination in relationships between dark traits and forgiveness.