The effects of loving-kindness and compassion meditation on altruistic behavior and its cognitive neural mechanisms
Advances in Psychological Science April 22, 2020 Guomin Jin, Dan Li
Loving-kindness and compassion meditation, specifically Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM) and Compassion Meditation (CM), can promote altruistic behaviors. These practices appear to work by enhancing empathetic responses to others' distress, improving emotion regulation, and increasing prosocial motivation. Future research should use more ecologically valid measures of altruism, investigate the dynamic neural processes involved, and apply these practices to clinical populations.