Self-compassion means being gentle towards oneself in the face of hardship or perceived insufficiency and involves accepting that mistakes, pain, and insufficiencies are part of being human (Neff, 2003b; Neff et al., 2007). It has been put forward firstly by Neff (2003a, b) as a three-dimensional construct: (a) Self-judgment vs. self-kindness, (b) Isolation vs. Awareness of common humanity, and (c) Over-identification vs. mindfulness (to be aware of hurtful experiences without over-identifying with them). The first dimension, self-kindness, requires being understanding toward oneself in difficult times. If individuals with  self-kindness  notice  a  negative  feature about themselves, they use soft and supportive emotional tone of language (Neff, 2009). The second dimension of self-compassion, awareness of common humanity, is perceiving one’s both delighted and hurtful experiences as not personal, but as all people. This kind of awareness contains accepting that all human beings are imperfect and that they may make failures (Neff, 2009). Mindfulness, the last dimension of self-compassion, helps individual recognize their stressful and hurtful feelings without being taken with them (Gunaratana, 1993; Neff, 2003a; Nisker, 1998; Martin, 1997; Rosenberg, 1999). Despite  the  phenomenological  level, these aspects of self-compassion are experienced differently, they interact so as to conjugately improve and constitute one another (Neff, 2003a). For example, when people accept and tolerate their negative and painful experiences and when they are gentle toward themselves, they may abstain from denying or repressing these experiences. Thus, when they are aware that these negative experiences are something that all human beings experience, they are not entrapped by over-identification (Neff et al., 2005).

Studies mostly revealed that self-compassion is a powerful predictor of psychological health in various aspects for instance cognitive templetes, achievement, social connections, and affect. In these studies self-compassion was found linked positively to psychological well-being (Ak?n, 2008a), self-deception (Ak?n, 2011), social support (Ak?n et al., 2011), life satisfaction, social relatedness (Neff, 2003b), self-determination, emotional intelligence, social relationship (Neff, 2003a), affective and reflective wisdom, exploration and curiosity, personal initiative, positive affect, optimism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion (Baker and McNulty, 2011; Neff et al., 2007), relational-interdependent self construal (Ak?n and Eroglu, 2013), and learning-approach goals (Ak?n, 2008b). In contrast, in some other studies have revealed that self-compassion is negatively linked to loneliness (Ak?n, 2010b), submissive behavior (Ak?n, 2009), automatic thoughts (Ak?n, 2012), performance-approach/avoidance goals (Ak?n, 2008b), thought suppression, anxiety, depression, rumination, (Neff, 2003b), interpersonal cognitive distortions (Ak?n, 2010a), internet addiction (Iskender and Ak?n, 2011), neuroticism (Neff et al.,  2007), fear of negative evaluation, and social anxiety, (Werner et al., 2012).

The concepts of entitlement and deservingness, as main similar concepts of beliefs about justice, were interchangeably used in social psychology literature (Feather, 1999). Hence, the term of psychological entitlement, differed from the old use of entitlement and as a stand-alone and relatively new construct, has taken an incremental amount of scientific attention in recent years. Psychological entitlement is a basic facet of narcissism, which includes feelings that the self deserves fine things, compliment, and social status, and beliefs about the self as highly superior, attractive, and intelligent (Campbell et al., 2006; Campbell et al., 2004; Emmons, 1987; Hammond et al., 2013; Miller and Campbell, 2010; Morf and Rhodewalt, 2001). Even though the term of entitlement as a personality dimension was used by Ruskin and Terry (1988), it was conceptualized as psychological entitlement by Campbell et al. (2004) as a unique individual difference variable with its own interpersonal consequences. They defined psychological entitlement briefly as the “pervasive sense that one deserves more and is entitled to more than others” (p. 31) and  stated  that  psychological  entitlement is steady in time, and additionally is likely to be steady across situations.

Snow, Kern, & Curlette (2001) stated that psychological entitlement can be considered as a personality construct with a total influence on a person’s behaviors and thoughts. Although Boyd and Helms (2005) suggested that almost every healthy individual have at least some level of psychological entitlement, the people with a higher psychological entitlement level (in other words, chronic entitled individuals) have beliefs that they should hold preferred treatment with few considerations of actual deservingness (Naumann et al., 2002; Snow et al., 2001). They behave in efforts to gain status, esteem, and resources (Campbell et al., 2006; Hammond et al., 2013; Morf and Rhodewalt, 2001) and have superficially confident, charming, and energetic approach to social interactions (Foster et al., 2006; Paulhus, 1998). These individuals are typically taking personal commitment for successes and ascribing failures to external basis (Chowning and Campbell, 2009; Rhodewalt and Morf, 1998), and acting egocentrically to assure material acquisitions even exploiting others (Bush, Brunell, & Shelton, 2005; Campbell et al., 2004; Campbell, Hammond et al., 2013; Morf and Rhodewalt, 2001).

Studies proved that psychological entitlement was positively related to a dismissive attachment style, self-centered behaviors, self-esteem, exhibitionism, sense of superiority, vanity, narcissism, authority (Campbell et al., 2004), autonomy, perfectionism, self-criticism (Rose and Anastasio, 2014), lack of self-control, need for power, aggression, observed hostility, and dominance (Raskin and Terry, 1988). Psychological entitlement is also positively associated with the likelihood of experiencing increased positive affect following downward social comparisons (Bogart, Benotsch, & Pavlovic, 2004), behaving aggressively in response to an insult (Campbell et al., 2004), and the expression of assaultiveness in a laboratory aggression task (Reidy et al., 2008). Psycho-logical entitlement has demonstrated negative relations with forgiveness (Exline et al., 2004), diminished need for cognition (Harvey and Martinko, 2009), perspective taking, loyalty, empathy toward romantic partners (Campbell et al., 2004).

The present study

Despite an escalatory amount of research related to the self-compassion is promotive, no empirical study has investigated whether self-compassion predicts psycho-logical entitlement. The aim of this research, therefore, was to examine the predictive role of the self-compassion on psychological entitlement. Mindfulness, common humanity, and self-kindness, a healthy dimension of self-compassion, require being aware of both positive  and negative emotions and feelings in a balanced way (Raes, 2010). On the other hand, people who have higher levels of psychological entitlement continuously think that they deserve everything (such as; fine things, compliment, and social status) and believe that they are highly superior, attractive, and more [D1] intelligent than others (Campbell et al., 2004). Lack of self-control and these [D2] characteristics cause that they do not approach to themselves in a balanced manner. Even though centrality of others is one privilege characteristics of these people, they also show a controversial emergence of depending on others with the demand for independence (Rose and Anastasio, 2014).  Moreover, mindfulness, common humanity, and self-kindness are associated negatively and psychological entitlement is associated positively with self-criticism and narcissism. Depending upon the relationships of self-compassion and psychological entitlement stated above, it was hypothesized that mindfulness, common humanity, and self-kindness, adaptive dimensions of self-compassion, would be associated negatively with psychological entitlement. It was also hypothesized that over-identification, isolation, and self-judgment, maladaptive dimensions of self-compassion, would be related positively to psychological entitlement.

Participants

Participants were 331 university students (205 women, 126 men) enrolled in various undergraduate programs at Sakarya University Faculty of Education, Turkey. These programs were computer and instructional technology education (n=79), science education (n=85), social science education (n=63), primary school education (n=61), and Turkish education (n=43). Eighty participants were freshmen, 91 were sophomore, 86 were junior, and 74 were senior students. Their ages ranged from 17 to 26 years old (M = 20.5, SD = 1.57) and GPA scores ranged from 1.78 to 3.84.

Instrumentation

Self-compassion scale: Self-compassion was measured by using Self-compassion scale (Neff, 2003b) after adaptation into Turkish by Ak?n et al. (2007). The scale has six sub-scales; self-judgment, self-kindness, isolation, common humanity, over-identification, and mindfulness with 26 self-report items. Items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree). Correlations between English and Turkish forms were .94, .94, .89, .87, .94, and .92 for six subscales, respectively. Results of confirmatory factor analysis proved that the model was well fit. The goodness of fit index values of the model were X² = 779.01, SD= 264, P= 0.00) RMSEA=.056, NFI=.95, CFI=.97, IFI=.97, RFI=.94, GFI=.91, and SRMR=.059. The internal consistency coefficients were .77, .72, .72, .80, .74, and .74 and the test-retest reliability coefficients were.59, .69, .60, .66, .56, and .69, for six subscales, respectively.

Psychological Entitlement Scale: Psychological entitlement was measured  using  the Turkish  version  of  the psychological entitlement scale (Campbell et al., 2004). Turkish adaptation of this scale was done by Kaya et al. (2011). The psychological entitlement scale is a 9-item self-report inventory. Each item was rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1=Strongly agree to 5= Strongly disagree). This scale is a summative scale that higher scores would indicate a greater incidence of psychological entitlement. Results of factor analysis indicated that the uni-dimensional psychological entitlement model was well fit to Turkish population (X²=40.55, DF=24, P=0.01863, RMSEA=.045, NFI=.98, CFI=.99, IFI=.99, RFI=.97, GFI=.97, AGFI=.95, and SRMR=.030). Cronbach’s Alpha internal consistency reliability coefficient of the scale was .88.

Data analysis

In this study, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression analysis were used to examine the relationships between self-compassion and psychological entitlement. The variables which were included in multiple regression analysis were calculated by summing the items of each scale. These analyses were carried out via SPSS 11.5.

Descriptive data and inter-correlations

Table 1 shows the means, standard deviations, inter-correlations, and internal consistency coefficients of the variables used. 

Table 1 shows that Self-kindness (r=-.40, p<.01), common humanity (r=-.29, p<.01), and mindfulness (r=-.40, p<.01) were found to be negatively correlated whereas self-judgment (r=.18, p<.01), isolation (r=.39, p<.01), and over-identification (r=.36, p<.01) were found to be positively correlated with psychological entitlement. There were also significant correlations between dimensions of self-compassion.

Multiple regression analysis

Multiple regression analysis was performed in which the dependent variable was psychological entitlement and the independent variables were dimensions of self-compassion (Table 2). 

In the research the variables that predict psychological entitlement were tested within five models as seen in Table 2. In model one, common humanity predicted significantly and negatively psychological entitlement (β= -.29 p<.01), and in model two, mindfulness predicted negatively psychological entitlement (β= -.37 p<.01). When mindfulness entered to the model, the level of prediction of common humanity increased from -.29 to -.05.

In model three, in which isolation entered the equation, mindfulness significantly and negatively (β= -.27, p<.01), and      isolation predicted positively psychological entitlement (β=.28, p<.01). however, common humanity did not predict psychological entitlement (β=.-.05, p<.01). When isolation entered to the model, the level of prediction of mindfulness increased from -.37 to -.27 (Table 2).

In model four, in which self kindness entered the equation, mindfulness significantly and negatively (β= -.18, p<.01), isolation predicted positively psychological entitlement (β=.26, p<.01), and self kindness predicted negatively (β= -.20, p<.01), but common humanity did not predict psychological entitlement (β= .03, p<.01). When self kindness entered to the model, the level of prediction of mindfulness increased from -.27 to -.18, and the level of prediction of isolation decreased from .28 to .26 (Table 2).  

In model five, in which self judgement entered the equation, mindfulness significantly and negatively (β= -.17, p<.01), isolation predicted positively psychological entitlement (β=.37, p<.01), self kindness predicted negatively (β= -.24, p<.01), and self judgement negatively predicted psychological entitlement (β= -.18, p<.01), but common humanity did not predict psychological entitlement (β= .04, p<.01). When self judgement entered to the model, the level of prediction of mindfulness did not changed, the level of prediction of isolation increased from .26 to .37, and the level of prediction of self kindness decreased from -.20 to -.24 (Table 2).  

In model six, in which over-identification entered the equation, mindfulness significantly and negatively (β= -.16, p<.01), isolation predicted positively psychological entitlement (β=.30, p<.01), self kindness predicted negatively (β= -.23, p<.01), self judgement negatively predicted psychological entitlement (β= -.26, p<.01), and over-identification predicted positively psychological entitlement (β= .19, p<.01). When over-identification entered to the model, the level of prediction of mindfulness  increased  from  -.18  to  -.16,  the   level   of prediction of isolation decreased from .37 to .30, the level of prediction of self kindness increased from -.24 to -.23, and the level of prediction of self judgement decreased from -.18 to -.26 (Table 2).

As seen in Table 2, despite the initial regression design included common humanity explained .08 of the total variance of psychological entitlement, the last model, including isolation, self-kindness, self judgement, and over-identification, explained .27 of total variance of psychological entitlement.

So they have more accurate self-perceptions (Leary et al., 2007) and establish more correct self-appraisals (that is, without self-enhancement or self-deprecation) than those lacking (Leary et al., 2007). Conversely, psycho-logical entitlement perceptions are based on unstable appraisements of reciprocity (Naumann et al., 2002) and high levels of entitlement may lead deterioration and overly egocentric behavior, suggesting that people with psychological entitlement act in ways that do not express their true self as person’ or ‘the real me' (Harter et al., 1996). Therefore, they may be engaged in false self behaviors and aware little knowledge of their accurate self (Sippola et al., 2007). Thus, the opposite associations between mindfulness, self-kindness, and psychological entitlement are not surprising.

As anticipated, in the current research, psychological entitlement could be predicted by over-identification, isolation, and self-judgment, maladaptive dimensions of self-compassion positively. Individuals who have higher level of over-identification, isolation, and self-judgment deny their own thoughts and emotions, ruminate on their defects (Barnard and Curry, 2011; Neff et al., 2007), feel embarrassed from their mistakes and failures (Neff, 2003a), become identified with and carried away by painful experiences (Neff and Vonk, 2009), and frequently fall  into  psychological  disorders  and  problems  (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991). Individuals with lower self-compassion scores cannot ameliorate their distressful feelings and vulnerable to more negative emotions such as hostility, distress, or irritability (Neff et al., 2007). More importantly, they do not tend to have resilient self-appraisals and do not rate their abilities more accurately (Barnard and Curry, 2011). Likewise, people with higher psychological entitlement expect that they should hold desirable treat-ment with little consideration of actual deservingness, have a coherently positive view of themselves and more self-serving attributions, and demand being treated as unique or special in social contexts (Naumann et al., 2002; Snow et al., 2001). To keep their positive self-images in the presence of contradictory evidence, people with psychological entitlement frequently deflect their perceptions of reality in such a way that a desired self-view can be sustained (Martinko and Gardner, 1987; Zuckerman, 1979). Ultimately, they will develop a perception of false self which is linked to alienation from any sense of a real or validated core self (Sippola et al., 2007). This may clarify the positive associations between psychological entitlement and self-judgment, isolation and over-identification.

There are several limitations of this study that should be taken into account when assessing the findings. First, the sample was consisted of university students and replication of this study for targeting other samples should be made in order to generate a more research-based relationship among the constructs examined in this research, because generalization of the results is somehow limited. However, no claims can be made about causality. And third, the data reported here for self-compassion and psychological entitlement is limited to self-reported data and did not include any observations of participants’ behavior.

Nevertheless, the present study provides preliminary information about the predictors of psychological entitle-ment. An increment in over-identification, isolation, and self-judgment will increase psychological entitlement. Also encouraging the development of individuals’ self compassion is possible by assisting them to withstand ruinous self-critical inclinations and cope with their nega-tive emotions with greater clarity and equanimity (Neff, 2003a). Clearly, however, more research is needed to understand how self-compassion is linked to functioning. 

The author has not declared any conflict of interests.