Brief Mindfulness Meditation Promotes Prosocial Driving Behaviour: Evidence From Virtual Reality.
International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie December 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1002/ijop.70130 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Brief mindfulness meditation training |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Prosocial driving behaviour Virtual reality |
| Key findings | Brief mindfulness meditation training increased prosocial driving behavior in a virtual reality environment, and the effect was maintained throughout the experiment. |
Abstract
Several studies have shown that mindfulness positively correlates with people's prosocial behaviours. However, all of these studies were almost conducted in the context of a laboratory environment that required to be generalised to real-life situations. Thus, this study constructed an urban traffic scene through virtual reality technology to observe the effects of brief mindfulness meditation training on individuals' prosocial driving behaviour. We endeavoured to explore whether the effect of mindfulness on prosocial driving behaviour was real and occurred through the participants' responses. We found the improvement of mindfulness allows individuals to engage in more prosocial behaviours in the virtual driving environment, and this positive effect has been maintained throughout the process. This result demonstrates the effectiveness of brief mindfulness training and supports the claim that mindfulness promotes prosocial behaviour. Through this experiment, we extend the prosocial boosting effect of mindfulness to a more specific practical application scenario, where brief mindfulness training can make people friendlier while driving. This experiment sheds light on future research, observing responses in virtual reality to predict what might happen in real life to increase awareness of the positive effects of mindfulness.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cites 16
- The effect of mindfulness meditation on sleep quality: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences December 21, 2018
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction as a Stress Management Intervention for Healthy Individuals Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine July 22, 2014
- Mindfulness and Compassion: An Examination of Mechanism and Scalability PLoS One February 17, 2015
- The Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory: Extensions, Applications, and Challenges at the Attention–Appraisal–Emotion Interface Psychological Inquiry October 2, 2015
- Mindfulness increases prosocial responses toward ostracized strangers through empathic concern. Journal of Experimental Psychology General 2018
and 11 more in the library