Assessing Self-Compassion’s Influence on Performance-Avoidance in Graded Tasks

Abstract

Performance-avoidance goal orientation tendencies have been shown to be maladaptive in academic settings. Self-compassion is a relatively new form of intervention that demonstrates promising effects in the reduction of symptoms associated with performance-avoidance. This study aimed to investigate whether self-compassion would be effective in reducing performance avoidance tendencies related to grade-based assessments. Sixty-seven participants from Cape Breton university were recruited for the present study (9 males, 58 females). They completed various measures assessing both demographic and baseline information. They were then informed of a difficult test to be completed, indicative of intelligence and academic capabilities. Following this information, they completed one of two conditions (a self-compassion condition or a control condition). It was hypothesized that the self-compassion exercise would lead to a decrease in performance-avoidance tendencies. Unfortunately, the results were non-significant, and did not support the hypothesis. Potential reasons for the non-significant result are discussed