Date of Award

Winter 12-2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial/Organizational Psychology (PhD)

Department

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

First Advisor/Committee Member

Paul Yost

Second Advisor/Committee Member

Robert B. McKenna

Third Advisor/Committee Member

Stephanie Lopez

Keywords

self-compassion, failure, learning from failure, attribution theory

Abstract

Although failure can be rich sources of learning, research has shown that experiences of failure also tend to coincide with strong psychological reactions. The negative emotions and isolation one feels may cause one to discount or dismiss one’s failures. In doing so, individuals may be unable to properly appraise their shortcomings and fail to identify what they might learn. Previous research suggests that self-compassion (self-kindness, a sense of common humanity, and mindfulness) may impact experiences of failure in important ways. However, research has yet to empirically examine the impact of self-compassion on lessons learned from a past failure experience. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of induced self-compassion on lessons learned. Additionally, this study sought to extend attribution theory by exploring the types of attributions people make about the lessons. After describing a past failure, an American sample of 354 Prolific Academic participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions: (a) a self-compassion induction, or (b) a control condition. Following manipulations, participants completed a measure of self-compassion and then reflected on lessons learned by writing the lesson that was most significant to them. Participants then rated the attributional dimensions for that lesson (e.g., locus of causality, personal controllability etc.,). As hypothesized, results from this study showed that those in the self-compassion condition had higher levels of self-compassion when compared with individuals in the control group (β =.315, t(354) = 4.03, p < .001). However, results did not support the hypotheses that those in the self-compassion group attributed their lessons learned as more internal (β =.08, t(354) = .38, p=.71), personally controllable (β =.01, t(354) = .03, p=.98), stable (β = -.14, t(354) = -.82, p=.41), global (β = -.12, t(354) = -.69, p=.49), universal (B= - .456, t(354) = -1.25, p=.21), or less externally controllable (β = -.09, t(354) = -.35, p=.73), when compared with individuals in a control group. Mediation analyses revealed an indirect effect of condition on personal controllability through self-compassion (β = .13, 95% CI [.026, .251]). This result supported the hypothesis that participants would rate their lessons learned as more personally controllable through the process of self-compassion. However, results did not support the additional hypotheses that self-compassion would also mediate the relationship between induced self-compassion and locus of causality (β = .05, 95% CI [-.047, .159]), external controllability (β = .10, 95% CI [-.012, .242]), stability (β = -.06, 95% CI [-.155, .010]), universality (β = -.02, 95% CI [-.096, .048]), and globality (β = -.06, 95% CI [-.153, .031]). Future implications and research are suggested to further explore the impact of self-compassion on learning from failure.

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