Citation

Miller K, Kelly A. Can. J. Behav. Sci. 2020; 52(2): 159-170.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Canadian Psychological Association, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1037/cbs0000150

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Self-compassion is associated with various emotional and physical benefits, making it important to investigate the social contexts that facilitate it. This study was the first to examine whether exposure to another person's display of self-compassion affects the listener's state level of self-compassion. One hundred and 19 female university students listened to a self-compassionate, self-esteem enhancing, or neutral reaction to an academic failure; wrote about their failure; and then completed measures of state self-compassion and affect.

RESULTS showed that after recalling a personal academic failure, hearing a self-compassionate reaction caused higher state self-compassion based on self-report and coded written responses, and lower negative affect than hearing a factual reaction whereas hearing a self-esteem enhancing reaction did not. Hearing a self-compassionate reaction did not yield significantly different outcomes in comparison to hearing a self-esteem enhancing reaction. These findings are the first to suggest that self-compassionate behaviour in others may influence how compassionately one feels and behaves toward oneself. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Keywords

Contagion; Coping Behavior; Emotional Responses; Emotions; Listening (Interpersonal); Self-Compassion; Self-Esteem; Social Facilitation; Social Interaction; Test Construction