The aim of our study was to explore the first three associations for the following two stimulus words: compassion and self-compassion. In addition, we were interested in whether the participants would conceptualise these words more in terms of emotions, cognitions, or behaviours. The sample consisted of 151 psychology students. A consensual qualitative research approach was adopted. Three members of the core team and an auditor analysed the free associations of compassion and self-compassion. The data showed that there were four domains (...) for both compassion and self-compassion: the Emotional, Cognitive, Behavioural and Evaluative Aspects of compassion/self-compassion. The only domains that differed were the Biological Aspect of compassion and the Situational Aspect of self-compassion. The most frequently represented domain for both compassion and self-compassion was the Emotional Aspect, while both more positive as well as negative emotions were associated with self-compassion than was the case with compassion. The findings of our study show that the participants perceived compassion as mainly consisting of empathy; the emotions of love, sadness and remorse; cognitive understanding; and behavioural displays of help, physical or mental closeness. Compassion was seen as being mainly directed at those close to them, such as family and friends, and at vulnerable people. Compassion occurs in situations of loss or any other kind of suffering. The participants viewed self-compassion primarily in terms of the positive emotions of love and calmness; the negative emotions of unhappiness, sadness and remorse; cognitive understanding; and behavioural displays of self-help through the provision of self-support and self-assurance. Self-compassion is triggered mainly in situations involving internal suffering caused by criticism or externally as a response to a difficult situation. Self-compassion is evaluated in both negative (because of its misuse) as well as positive terms (because of its connection to virtues). The findings of our qualitative study support the idea that compassion is a multidimensional construct consisting of emotional, cognitive, and behavioural aspects. (shrink)

Although the research on compassion is growing, there is a lack of knowledge about how non-expert people perceive compassion. Therefore, the aim of the study was to explore compassion from the perspective of non-experts. Our sample consisted of 56 non-expert participants in 10 focus groups and we conducted a Consensual Qualitative Research analysis with two members of a core team and one auditor. In general, compassion was described as a mixture of non-specified positive emotions and specified negative emotions. Compassion was (...) related to empathy. In terms of behaviours, compassion was revealed to help, support, favour, mental closeness, and interest. Compassion is displayed mainly to people close to us in situations of suffering. However, people tend to evaluate beforehand whether the situation and person deserve compassion. Moreover, people are cautious about being exploited through compassion. To sum up, our findings support a multidimensional definition of compassion. (shrink)

Criticism and self-criticism have far reaching impacts on wellbeing and emotional balance. In order to create better interventions for criticism and self-criticism, more in-depth knowledge about these two constructs is required. The goal of our study was to examine three associations for criticism and self-criticism. The data were collected from a sample of 151 psychology students: 114 women and 37 men (Mean age 22.2; SD 4.4). We were interested in the associations participants would produce in relation to criticism and self-criticism, (...) whether participants conceptualized these two concepts in the same categories and whether the categories were equally important for each concept. The data were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative research (CQR). The team consisted of four core members and one auditor. Separately all four members analyzed the data multiple times and then discussed it until all the researchers including the auditor reached a consensus. We identified four domains common to both criticism and self-criticism. These were – Emotional Aspects, Cognitive Aspects, Behavioral Aspects, and Preconditions. For both stimulus words, the most saturated domain was Behavioral Aspects. These findings suggest that both concepts – criticism and self-criticism – are multidimensional constructs consisting of Behavioral Aspects, Cognitive aspects, Emotional Aspects, and Preconditions. Further research on this topic would be beneficial. (shrink)