Whether self-compassion predicts compassion for others : the moderating roles of collectivism and individualism

Abstract

Compassion has always been a key focus in psychological research, especially due to its benefits on individuals’ well-being. Compassion can be divided into self-compassion and compassion for others. In gist, self-compassion refers to a nonjudgmental, kind, and supportive attitude towards oneself in times of suffering, and compassion for others refers to the emotion that emerges when observing someone else's distress, which motivates alleviation of that suffering and provision of assistance to others. Existing research has suggested mixed findings regarding the relationship between self-compassion and compassion for others (in particular, whether the higher the self-compassion, the higher the compassion for others), which calls for examination of potential moderating factors. Collectivism and individualism may be relevant moderators – with collectivism valuing interconnectedness and individualism drawing a clearer boundary between self and others, they may influence how one extends compassion from self to others differently. The significance of the current study is to provide a better understanding on how self-compassion and compassion for others interact with each other, as well as how individualism and collectivism might affect such interaction. The current study investigated the relationship between self-compassion and compassion for others, and whether collectivism and individualism would have any moderation effect with regards to such a relationship. Based on existing literature, the study hypothesizes that, first, self-compassion would likely positively predict compassion towards others; second, collectivism would strengthen the predictive relationship between self-compassion and compassion towards others; and third, individualism would unlikely strengthen the predictive relationship between self-compassion and compassion towards others. A cross-sectional only survey was conducted on a sample of 100 adult participants, measuring their levels of self-compassion, compassion for others, individualism and collectivism. Aligning with the first and third hypotheses, the regression analysis results of this study revealed that a higher level of self-compassion would indeed likely predict a higher level of compassion for others, and the moderation analysis revealed that individualism was not a significant moderator. However, contrary to the second hypothesis, the moderation analysis revealed that collectivism was not a significant moderator. While causal inferences cannot be drawn due to the cross-sectional nature of the study, it nevertheless provided implications that self-compassion might be a possible factor in predicting higher compassion for others. Furthermore, the lack of moderation effect of individualism and collectivism may call for further research to be done in the future on identifying other potential moderators regarding the relationship between self-compassion and compassion for others.