Are Compassionate and Self-Image Goals Comparable across Cultures?

• Authors: Dariusz Kuncewicz , Yu Niiya , Jennifer Crocker
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This study tested whether compassionate goals to support others and self-image goals to maintain and defend desired self-images: 1) are equivalent constructs across three cultures (U.S., Japan, Poland); 2) overlap with interdependent self-construal; and 3) predict relationships and growth measures similarly in each country. We re-analyzed data from American (n = 130) and Japanese (n = 203) students, reported in Niiya et al. (2013), along with new data from Poland (n = 246). Single and multiple group confirmatory analyses showed that the two-factor structure holds across the three cultures. Interdependence correlated with compassionate and self-image goals only in Japan. In all three samples, compassionate goals correlated with non-zero-sum belief, feeling close, growth-seeking, self-compassion, and learning from failures, whereas self-image goals correlated with defensive responses to conflicts and validation-seeking. Our results suggest that compassionate and self-image goals may serve similar functions in relationships and growth across cultures.

Keywords

EN

compassionate goals; self-image goals; cultures

• Publisher: Committee for Psychological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Polish Psychological Bulletin
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 46
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 513-522

Dates

published

2015-12-01

online

2015-11-26

Contributors

author

Dariusz Kuncewicz

• Department of Psychology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Chodakowska Street 19/31, 03-815 Warsaw, Poland

author

Yu Niiya

• Department of Global and Interdisciplinary Studies, Hosei University, 2-17-1 Fujimi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8160, Japan

author

Jennifer Crocker

• Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, 1835 Neil Ave, Columbus, OH 43210, USA

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/ppb-2015-0058