Compassionate Dictators? The Effects of Loving-Kindness Meditation on Offers in a Dictator Game
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial |
|---|---|
| Population | Participants in a dictator game (not further specified) |
| Interventions | Loving-kindness meditation Neutral visualization exercise |
| Dose | 8 min |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Participants who engaged in an 8-minute loving-kindness meditation gave more of a SGD10 resource to their counterpart than those who did a neutral visualization, and this effect was fully mediated by positive feelings toward the other party. |
Abstract
How to encourage people in positions of absolute power to show compassion to others is a topic of high practical and theoretical significance. Building on recent research that examines the influence of loving-kindness meditation (LKM) in fostering positive emotions and positive relations with others, we examined whether engaging in LKM would increase allocations to counterparts in a dictator game. In this game, allocators, or dictators, can unilaterally allocate any part of a given resource to the receiver, without any fear of reprisal. We found that participants who engaged in a short (8 min) LKM meditation before the dictator game gave more of the resource (SGD10) to the other party than participants who engaged in a neutral visualization exercise. Further, we found that this experimental effect was fully mediated through positive feelings towards the other party.