This study categorizes perfectionism into personal standards perfectionism and self-critical perfectionism, and subdivides self-forgiveness into genuine self-forgiveness, pseudo self-forgiveness, and self-punitiveness to examine the relationship between these variables. Furthermore, the study investigates how moral emotions (shame and guilt) and conciliatory behavior mediate and moderate the relationship between perfectionism and self-forgiveness. For this purpose, correlation analysis was conducted on 279 adults (20 years old and above), and both sequential and moderated mediation effects were verified. Results indicated that personal standards perfectionism promoted conciliatory behavior through guilt, leading to genuine self-forgiveness. These findings verify that genuine self-forgiveness is achieved not simply by reducing negative emotions, but by objectively acknowledging one's faults through guilt and practicing responsible conciliatory behavior. Conversely, self-critical perfectionism was associated with pseudo self-forgiveness or self-punitiveness. Specifically, when self-critical perfectionists experienced guilt and engaged in conciliatory behavior, the likelihood of pseudo self-forgiveness decreased. However, when they experienced shame, it led to a higher probability of self-punitiveness. Guilt moderated the detrimental effect of shame on self-punitiveness among self-critical perfectionists. This study contributes to refining the understanding of moral development by identifying the psychological mechanisms through which perfectionists achieve recovery through self-forgiveness amidst psychological conflict.