Psychological Development and Education ›› 2024, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (3): 324-334.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2024.03.03

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Love Yourself, Love Others More: The “Altruistic” Mechanism of Self-compassion

CHANG Baorui1,2,3, HUANG Jiangxi1, LIN Peitian1, FANG Jiandong1,2,3   

  1. 1. School of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004;
    2. Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Applied Psychology, Guilin 541004;
    3. Guangxi Ethnic Education Development Research Center, Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences in Guangxi Universities, Guilin 541004
  • Published:2024-05-15

Abstract: To explore the “altruistic” mechanism of self-compassion, In study 1, 538 college students were surveyed by Self-compassion Scale, Meaning in Life Scale, Psychological Resilience Scale and Prosocial Behavior Scale. The results showed that:(1) Self-compassion, meaning in life, resilience and prosocial behavior were positively correlated, and self-compassion positively predicted prosocial behavior; (2) Meaning in life played an independent mediating role between self-compassion and prosocial behavior; (3) Psychological resilience played an independent mediating role between self-compassion and prosocial behavior; (4) Self-compassion can influence prosocial behavior through the chain mediating effect of meaning in life and psychological resilience. Further, we used the intervention method to intervene participants’ self-compassion for 7 days in study 2.The results showed that with the increase of self-compassion level, participants’ prosocial behavior also improved significantly. In conclusion, this study reveals the underlying psychological mechanism of self-compassion and prosocial behavior, and has some implications for the social benefits of self-compassion.

Key words: self-compassion, meaning in life, psychological resilience, prosocial behavior

CLC Number: 

  • B844
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