Latent Profile Analysis of Moral Foundations: Emotional and Decisional Forgiveness Approaches to Models of Morality

Abstract

This study delves into the intricate relationship between morality and episodic forgiveness (i.e. emotional and decisional), guided by moral foundations theory. Survey data were collected from 927 English-speaking Canadians, aged 18–57, using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, Decision to Forgive Scale, and Emotional Forgiveness Scale. Employing latent profile analysis, the research revealed three distinct moral foundation profiles—high moralists, individuators, and neutrals—each linked to different levels of decisional and emotional forgiveness. Further analysis using MANOVA and follow-up ANOVAs indicated that the high moralist group exhibited higher scores in both forgiveness dimensions compared to the individuator and neutral groups, whereas the individuator group reported higher emotional forgiveness than the neutrals. These findings illuminate the significance of moral development in forgiving and underscore the utility of moral profiling based on moral foundations theory in predicting episodic forgiveness.