Self-Compassion in an Interpersonal Context: The Effect of Belongingness
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Date
2017-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
This experiment examined the relational benefits of self-compassion. Self-compassion
emphasizes kindness and compassion toward oneself when one encounters difficulties or
failures. Recent evidence has suggested that self-compassion has adaptive benefits for
psychological functioning. However, self-compassion also has interpersonal benefits; for
example, it associates positively with compassionate goals. Because most previous findings were
correlational, the current study tested the causal link between repeated self-compassionate
exercises and increased compassionate goals by asking participants to write letters to themselves
imagining they were their own friends. I hypothesized that the self-compassion exercise would
increase compassionate goals through increased belongingness. A longitudinal survey study
recruited undergraduate students (N=147) and randomly assigned them to one, three, or five
sessions of the self-compassion exercise. The results showed that more sessions of the self
compassion exercise increased belongingness without affecting self-compassion. The increased
belongingness predicted participants’ compassionate goals, forgiveness, self-esteem, and positive
affect, and lowered participants’ self-criticism, loneliness and negative affect in the moment.
Thus, self-compassion indirectly predicted improved interpersonal and intrapersonal well-being
by increasing belongingness. The results suggest that self-compassion exercises might be an
effective tool to increase belongingness.
Description
Undergraduate Research Scholarship by Arts and Sciences Honors Program: received $5,500 scholarship for honors thesis proposal
Keywords
self-compassion, belonging, friendship, interpersonal goals