Document Type : Research Article
Authors
1 Salman Farsi University
2 Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities Sciences, Lorestan University, Iran
3 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Lorestan University, Khoramabad, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction
Compassion has been valued as a virtue in most religious and spiritual traditions for centuries. It has also been considered in the social psychology literature, along with related constructs such as empathy, altruism, and prosocial behavior. However, the existing research literature suggests that compassion benefits psychological, physiological, and behavioral health, reduces negative emotions, and improves interpersonal and social skills.
Existing research literature has confirmed attachment as an important antecedent of fear of compassion; however, not much attention has been paid to the variables that act as mediators between these two structures. Because attachment provides a platform for the formation of cognitive structures such as basic beliefs about self, others, and the world, and on the other hand, the cognitive perspective can become the underlying factor of fear of compassion, Therefore, the current study seeks to answer the question of whether the cognitive triad can mediate the relationship between parental attachment and fear of compassion.
Method
The current research can be considered a correlational study in terms of the research method. The statistical population of the research included all the students of Salman Farsi University of Kazeroon who were studying in the academic year 2022-2023 and the data was collected online based on available sampling. Research tools included the Fear of Compassion Scale (FCS), Parental Attachment Recognition Scale (PARS), and Cognitive Triad Inventory (CTI). In this model, the general parental attachment recognition variable is considered as an exogenous variable, the latent variable of fear of compassion is considered as an endogenous variable, and the latent variable of the cognitive triad (negative) is considered as a mediating variable of the model. Research data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling method and SPSS-22 and AMOS-24 software.
Results
The assumed model was fitting in the research community. The results of the analysis showed that the mediating role of the cognitive triad in the relationship between parental attachment recognition and fear of compassion is significant and the proposed model explains 50% of the variance of fear of compassion. Also, the direct effects of parental attachment with cognitive triad, parental attachment with fear of compassion, and cognitive triad with fear of compassion were significant.
Discussion
This finding will lead to a better understanding of the process that leads to fear of compassion among Iranian students. Because it shows that there is a major mechanism for the effect of parental attachment recognition on the fear of compassion, which is a person's negative outlook towards self, the world, and the future. It can be said that the impact of the attachment created during childhood with parents on the feeling of fear of compassion through the negative cognitive triad returns to the lack of confidence, a hesitant and critical view that a person has internalized due to the experience of an environment without warmth and safety and it has led to a negative evaluation of self, the surrounding world or the future. It seems that the positive outlook of securely attached individuals is due to a stable mental representation that stems from their secure base and their optimistic outlook. One could say that a secure base is an internal resource that promotes optimistic and constructive attitudes and a lower tendency to engage in cognitive distortions about themselves, the world, and the future. Internalized negative evaluation leads to less self-acceptance, lower self-confidence, and self-criticism, lack of trust in others, the world, and herself and it provides a basis for the emergence and expansion of the fear of self-compassion, compassion for others, and receiving compassion from others. In other words, a person who has a negative view of themselves does not see themselves as worthy of compassion from others and therefore responds with fear and apprehension to expressions of compassion from others, or even shows a fear of compassion towards themselves through pathological self-criticism and self-judgment.
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