Self-compassion facilitates responsiveness to existential threat: A brief report

Abstract

Terror management theory posits that validation of worldview and self-esteem are primary defense mechanisms in keeping mortal concerns at bay, although potentially leading to the devaluation of others. Self-compassion is considered a more inclusive defense mechanism. Drawing on preliminary research, we extended a previous investigation regarding the buffering role of self-compassion within the Terror management theory paradigm. We embedded within a dot-probe task a continuous death priming together with abstract and concrete threat images. We confirmed among 126 university students that following death priming, self-compassion facilitated attentional attraction toward concrete threat and avoidance of abstract threat. These findings demonstrate the contribution of self-compassion in coping simultaneously with different types of attentional threat and has potential to spawn future innovative research.