Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Cottrell, Catherine

Keywords

Risk Behaviors, Self-Compassion, Self-Esteem, Self-Preservation, Human Behavior

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

The current study explored how self-compassion influenced risk-attitude in relation to positive and negative risk behaviors across five different content domains (financial, recreational, health/safety, social, and ethical). It was hypothesized that individuals who participated in a self-compassion induction task would have higher self-compassion, increased likelihood of positive risk-taking (social and recreational decisions), and decreased likelihood of negative risk-taking (financial, health/safety, and ethical decisions) than individuals who did not undergo self-compassion induction. It was also predicted that a participant’s willingness to fail and desire for self-preservation would explain the increase in risk-attitude for positive risks and decrease in risk-attitude for negative risks. 51 undergraduate students participated, with 25 being sorted into the experimental condition, where self-compassion was temporarily induced, and 26 into the control condition. Both conditions completed relevant writing tasks, followed by a questionnaire measuring self-compassion, risk-attitude, state self-esteem, willingness to fail, and desire for self-preservation. The results did not support the hypotheses, finding no effects of the self-compassion condition on the different risk domains. Possible explanations and future research opportunities are discussed.

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