The Differential Effects Fallacy in the Study of Self-compassion: Misunderstanding the Nature of Bipolar Continuums

This brief commentary highlights the faulty reasoning underlying claims that selfcompassion should not be conceptualized or measured as a unitary construct because compassionate self-responding (CS) and uncompassionate self-responding (UCS) are differential predictors of psychological outcomes. The Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) is a well-validated measure that has been used in thousands of studies on selfcompassion.Self-compassion forms a bipolar continuum ranging from UCS (selfjudgment, isolation, and over-identification) to CS (self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness), so that higher SCS scores represent increased CS and reduced UCS. Several scholars have argued that because CS and UCS display different strengths of association with various psychological outcomes, that CS and UCS should be examined separately and a total SCS score is invalid. This conclusion is assumed to be self-evident. However, there is no known logical, scientific or psychometric principle that supports the view that opposite ends of a bipolar continuum must have the same strength of association with outcomes in order to operate as a unitary construct. In fact, it is common for opposite ends of a continuum to be differential predictors of outcomes (e.g., coldness is a stronger predictor of frostbite than warmth).Unfortunately, this unexamined assumption has spread widely in the field of selfcompassion research, setting the field back and muddying the waters for researchers.This commentary sheds light on this false premise in the hope of clearing up confusion.