Abstract Objectives Compassion, a social mentality, is shaped by social context. Social roles may facilitate or hinder compassionate motivations directed to others, received from others, or expressed to oneself. As such, cultural differences may emerge in compassion competencies and fears of compassion. However, current research has been limited in understanding such cultural differences in compassion competencies and fears of compassion, and the relationships among them. The current study aimed to explore cultural differences between Australians (as an example of a loose/individualistic culture) and Singaporeans (as an example of a tight‐collectivist culture) on compassion competencies and fears of compassion, and whether the relationships between compassion competencies and fears of compassion, and the relationships between compassion variables and psychological outcomes, differ. Method In a cross‐sectional design, a total of 435 participants took part in this study, were allocated to their self‐identified culture (Australians and Singaporeans), and completed self‐report measures of compassion competencies, fears of compassion, psychopathology and positive affect. Results There were significant differences on compassion competencies and fears of compassion between Australians and Singaporeans. There were also significant differences between Australians and Singaporeans in the inter‐correlations among the flows of compassion and fears of compassion, however the relationships between the compassion variables and psychological outcomes did not significantly differ across culture in general. Conclusions Tight/collectivist cultural norms may hinder expression of compassion towards others, but may facilitate increased self‐compassion as compared to loose cultural norms. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

中文翻译：

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跨文化比较同情心：澳大利亚人和新加坡人的异同

摘要 目的 同情心是一种社会心态，是由社会背景塑造的。社会角色可能会促进或阻碍针对他人、从他人那里获得或表达给自己的同情动机。因此，文化差异可能会出现在同情能力和对同情的恐惧中。然而，目前的研究在理解同情能力和对同情心的恐惧以及它们之间的关系方面的这种文化差异方面是有限的。目前的研究旨在探讨澳大利亚人（作为松散/个人主义文化的一个例子）和新加坡人（作为紧密集体主义文化的一个例子）在同情能力和对同情的恐惧方面的文化差异，以及同情能力和对同情心的恐惧，同情变量和心理结果之间的关系不同。方法 在横断面设计中，共有 435 名参与者参加了这项研究，被分配到他们自我认同的文化中（澳大利亚人和新加坡人），并完成了同情能力、同情恐惧、精神病理学和积极心理的自我报告测量。影响。结果澳大利亚人和新加坡人在同情心能力和同情心恐惧方面存在显着差异。澳大利亚人和新加坡人在同情心流动和对同情心的恐惧之间的相互关系方面也存在显着差异，但同情变量与心理结果之间的关系总体上在不同文化中没有显着差异。结论 严格/集体主义的文化规范可能会阻碍对他人的同情表达，但与宽松的文化规范相比，可能会促进自我同情。讨论了未来研究的临床意义和方向。