Compassionate and Self-Image Goals in the United States and Japan

In American samples, compassionate goals to support others enhance relationships, whereas self-image goals to construct and defend desired self-images undermine relationships. But do these goals exist as separate factors, and do they predict similar outcome variables in Japan? How much do compassionate goals overlap with having an interdependent self-construal? We examined the factor structure of compassionate and self-image goals scale among American undergraduates, Japanese undergraduates, and Japanese adults and obtained similar correlated two-factor solutions in all three samples. In all three samples, compassionate goals were associated with non-zero-sum belief, growth-seeking, and self-compassion, whereas self-image goals were associated with validation-seeking and defensive responses to conflicts. Although compassionate goals correlated with interdependence in Japan, controlling for interdependence did not affect the above associations.