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Promoting altruism through meditation: An 8-week randomized controlled pilot study

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Author

Summary, in English

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a Buddhist meditation intervention on empathy, perceived stress, mindfulness, self-compassion, and of particular interest, the dispositional tendency to feel empathic concern rather than personal distress when perceiving another as in need, termed altruistic orientation. Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 20) or a waiting list control group (n = 22). Results indicated a trend towards increases in altruistic orientation in the intervention group—an increase that significantly correlated with meditation time, decreases in perceived stress, and increases in self-compassion and mindfulness. Additionally, compared to the controls, significant increases in mindfulness and self-compassion and a significant decrease in perceived stress were obtained for the intervention group.

Publishing year

2013

Language

English

Pages

223-234

Publication/Series

Mindfulness

Volume

4

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Psychology

Keywords

  • Empathy
  • Altruism
  • Stress
  • Mindfulness
  • Self-compassion
  • Meditation

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1868-8535