THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE COMPASSIONATE: COMPASSION SHAPES EMOTIONAL AND PROSOCIAL REACTIONS TO THE SUFFERING OF NEGATIVELY PERCEIVED TARGETS

Harsh reactions toward transgressors reinforce behaviors in line with laws and social norms, thus reducing collective suffering. But punitive measures do not come without a cost. Bystanders often fail to acknowledge or show concern for the pain experienced by people who have previously transgressed. In this project, we aimed at testing the role of compassion in counteracting this tendency. Studies 1a, 1b, and 1c had the preliminary aim to explore in depth the construct of dispositional compassion. First, we validated in Italian two recent multidimensional scales assessing dispositional compassion, finding substantial support for their original factor structure. Second, we employed network analysis to identify which facets of the two scales stand at the core of dispositional compassion. Third, we provided support for the convergent and discriminant validity of both scales, and examined their different correlation patterns. Studies 2, 3a, and 3b were aimed at understanding whether dispositional compassion buffers people’s tendency to react poorly to the suffering of negative targets who act transgressively. Results of Study 2 showed that, contrary to our hypothesis, highly compassionate participants experienced fewer compassionate emotions and prosocial reactions for a suffering target who previously committed an egoistic transgression, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Starting from this result, Studies 3a and 3b compared different violations of moral norms (vs. positive behaviors) to explore whether this happens only when a target violates a norm related to taking care of others and protecting their collective well-being. Results partially confirmed our hypotheses: as predicted, when the target violated (vs. behaved in line with) a norm related to taking care of others, highly compassionate participants reported fewer prosocial intentions toward him, whereas this difference did not occur for participants low in dispositional compassion. Differently, highly compassionate participants reported fewer compassionate reactions for the negative (vs. positive) target, regardless of the moral norm violated. Additionally, we found that different cognitive and emotional factors mediate the effect of the target’s behavior (transgressive vs. not) on the reactions to his suffering. Studies 4 and 5 tested the effects of different short compassion trainings in increasing compassionate and prosocial reactions toward targets behaving transgressively at the interpersonal and at the collective level. Results of the studies proved the effectiveness of different compassion trainings, and especially of a compassion training based on the love for relatives and close others. In Study 5, we also showed that the trainings work regardless of participants’ levels of dispositional compassion. These findings expand current socio-psychological research on compassion by providing a novel perspective on the construct – both at the trait-like and state-like level – and showing how it shapes emotional and prosocial reactions to the suffering of negatively perceived targets.