The limited prosocial effects of meditation: A systematic review and meta-analysis
U. Kreplin, M. Farias, I. Brazil
Scientific Reports February 5, 2018 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-20299-z (opens in new tab) via Semantic Scholar
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials in healthy adults found that meditation interventions moderately increased prosociality overall, but the effect depended on the type of prosocial behavior and study quality. Meditation improved compassion and empathy, but did not affect aggression, connectedness, or prejudice. Compassion only increased when the meditation teacher was also a study co-author and when a passive waiting-list control group was used instead of an active control. The results challenge the common belief that meditation reliably boosts prosocial behavior.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Systematic review and meta-analysis Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Healthy adults |
| Intervention | meditation interventions |
| Keywords | Medicine Psychology |
| Key finding | Meditation interventions increased compassion and empathy but not aggression, connectedness, or prejudice, and effects on compassion depended on teacher involvement and control group type. |
Abstract
Many individuals believe that meditation has the capacity to not only alleviate mental-illness but to improve prosociality. This article systematically reviewed and meta-analysed the effects of meditation interventions on prosociality in randomized controlled trials of healthy adults. Five types of social behaviours were identified: compassion, empathy, aggression, connectedness and prejudice. Although we found a moderate increase in prosociality following meditation, further analysis indicated that this effect was qualified by two factors: type of prosociality and methodological quality. Meditation interventions had an effect on compassion and empathy, but not on aggression, connectedness or prejudice. We further found that compassion levels only increased under two conditions: when the teacher in the meditation intervention was a co-author in the published study; and when the study employed a passive (waiting list) control group but not an active one. Contrary to popular beliefs that meditation will lead to prosocial changes, the results of this meta-analysis showed that the effects of meditation on prosociality were qualified by the type of prosociality and methodological quality of the study. We conclude by highlighting a number of biases and theoretical problems that need addressing to improve quality of research in this area.