How does brief guided mindfulness meditation enhance empathic concern in novice meditators?: A pilot test of the suggestion hypothesis vs. the mindfulness hypothesis

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Current Psychology

ISSN

10461310

Publisher

Springer

School

Exercise Medicine Research Institute

RAS ID

35211

Comments

Miyahara, M., Wilson, R., Pocock, T., Kano, T., & Fukuhara, H. (2022). How does brief guided mindfulness meditation enhance empathic concern in novice meditators?: A pilot test of the suggestion hypothesis vs. the mindfulness hypothesis. Current Psychology, 41, 3958–3969. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00881-3

Abstract

© 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Despite the widespread popularity of mindfulness meditation for its various benefits, the mechanism underlying the meditation process has rarely been explored. Here, we present two preliminary studies designed to test alternative hypotheses: whether the effect of brief guided mindfulness meditation on empathic concern arises from verbal suggestion (suggestion hypothesis) or as a byproduct of an induced mindfulness state (mindfulness hypothesis). Study 1 was a pilot randomized control trial of sitting (breath-and-body) meditation vs. compassion meditation that provided preliminary support for the mindfulness hypothesis. Study 2 was set up to rule out the possibility that the meditation effects observed in Study 1 were the effects of repeated measures. An inactive control group of participants underwent the repeated measures of empathic concern with no meditation in between. The pre-post comparison demonstrated no significant changes in the measures. Thus, the results of two studies supported the mindfulness hypothesis. Limitations of the present study and future research directions are discussed.

DOI

10.1007/s12144-020-00881-3

Access Rights

free_to_read

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