Compassion Fatigue as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
People’s compassion response often weakens with repeated exposure to suffering, a phenomenon known as compassion fatigue. Why is it so difficult to continue feeling compassion in response to others’ suffering? One possibility is that the capacity to feel compassion in these situations is explained by people’s belief that compassion is a limited resource and that feeling compassion can result in fatigue. We propose that mindsets about compassion as limited result in a self-fulfilling prophecy that reinforces compassion fatigue. If so, then inducing the mindset that compassion is nonlimited should enable people to continue to feel compassion in the face of suffering. Across three studies, we show that there is variability in people’s compassion mindsets, that these mindsets can be altered through information supporting one view or the other, and that limited-compassion mindsets are associated with lower feelings of compassion, less helping, and more fatigue. This research not only identifies a novel factor predicting compassion fatigue; it also supports the idea that people’s beliefs about the nature of emotions affect how emotions are experienced. Together, this research contributes to developing a strategy for increasing people’s capacity to feel compassion and their prosocial behavior.
Julia Lee Cunningham
Julia Lee Cunningham is an Associate Professor of Management and Organizations at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.
Julia’s research focuses on the psychology of narratives, mindsets, and behavioral ethics, with a particular interest in understanding the ways in which narratives shape objective reality and how they can be leveraged to promote thriving in the workplace. Her research has been published in numerous leading academic journals in the fields of management and psychology, and has been featured in a variety of media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, National Geographic Magazine, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and Harvard Business Review.
Julia enjoys developing highly immersive and experiential pedagogy for students and executives and brings cutting-edge academic research to the classroom and the organizations she works with. She teaches a negotiation course to MBA students and lectures in several executive education programs on leadership development, managing global teams, negotiation, and decision-making at Michigan Ross and Harvard. In 2020, she was recognized as one of the Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors by Poets and Quants.
In addition to her work in the business school, Julia is dedicated to applying her expertise in behavioral science to address pressing societal challenges. She has extensive experience advising corporations, start-ups, non-profit organizations, and government agencies, and currently serves as a Governing Board Member of the Behavioral Science & Policy Association. Previously, she was a Lab Fellow in Institutional Corruption at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, and a Research Fellow in Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University. In 2018, she was selected as a Fellow at National Geographic Society.