Vulnerable and Fine with It: Self-Compassion but Not Self-Esteem or Neuroticism Attenuates Self–Other Differences in the Evaluation of Showing Vulnerability.

People tend to be more critical of their own than others’ vulnerability displays (beautiful mess effect). In three studies we found evidence for the hypothesis that self-compassion—but not its correlates self-esteem and neuroticism—reduces these self–other differences and buffers against such misperceptions of one’s own vulnerabilities.