How strong is your urge to “do the right thing”?
Whether we’re talking about the small-but-good deed of returning your shopping cart to its proper place at the
grocery store, or something a little more impactful like volunteering at the local soup kitchen, conscience plays a role.
So is there a way to give it a boost?
Paul Condon, a PhD candidate from Northeastern University, designed a clever study to see if mindfulness meditation could make a difference in moral behavior.
Subjects were assigned to either the experimental group or a wait-list control.
After 9 weeks of either meditation classes or life as usual, the subjects were brought back to the lab under the guise of “cognitive testing.”
Here’s where the researchers used a little dose of deception to garner results.
Each subject was asked to sit in a waiting room with only three chairs. Two of the chairs were occupied by actors, leaving the subject to sit in the only chair available.
Then, a third actor, using crutches and wearing a cast, entered the room. She wobbled over to the chairs, audibly wincing in pain, found that there was nowhere to sit, sighed in discomfort, and leaned against the wall.
Here the subjects had a choice: they could either offer their chair to the person who was in obvious pain, or keep their seat. After two minutes, if they had not given up their chair, an experimenter entered the room and brought them in for “cognitive testing.”
So what did researchers conclude from this experiment?
Well, the results were striking. Only 15 percent of the non-meditating group offered up their seat, while 50 percent of the subjects in the meditation group did.
Also worth noting: both groups were exposed to the “bystander effect,” which would diminish the chance of a compassionate act because none of the other people in the waiting room offered their seat to the person in discomfort.
Now, because of the wait-list design, we can’t say for sure that mindfulness was, in fact, the cause of heightened moral behavior among participants. Perhaps the change wasn’t due to mindfulness, but a difference in how much attention the groups received. Maybe it was the lack of attention and intervention in the wait-list group that caused the differing results.
But despite these limitations, the study suggests that mindfulness can encourage compassion, and may even lead to more virtuous behavior.
If you’d like to read the full study, it’s currently in press in the journal Psychological Science.
To find out more about how mindfulness can boost empathy and improve health and happiness, check out our mindfulness courses.
How has mindfulness influenced your (or your clients’) behavior? Please share your experience in the comment section below.
I am 78 years young and I have a painful hip and back. I have discovered that everywhere I go people go out of their way to be helpful, offering a seat on the bus or help with carrying a bag athough i don’t ask. I have taken this as the law of attraction or resonance. I am practise compassion with people and find they treat me in like manner.
I remember when I was very pregnant how surprised I was that people didn’t offer me a seat on a crowded bus or rain, especially when falling or bumping into something is quite a risk. Fourtunately, I would just ask for a seat, and noon ever denied, some looked a bit like they were sorry or not offering. But I think an earlier comment about not wanting to offend is warranted as many people do recover assistance as a ‘I can handle it on my own’ attitude is encouraged. I wonder what an experiment looking at ‘requesting and accepting help’ and mindfulness would bring forth? Perhaps a bigger percentage than 50%?
Whoa, things just got a whole lot eaiesr.
May be the test just shows that more socially aware people also choose to explore their own spiritual growth paths through programmes such as mindfulness. Which comes first the chicken or the egg?
A more accurate test would be to take those people who didn’t offer their seat and give them a course then evaluate if they had improved their social consious.
Mindfulness practice has helped me be more present in my day to day life as its calming effect has given me the space to have a better relationship with myself and become more self compassionate.
I have noticed that I am more patient and resilient than I was before I started practicing mindfulness. I thought this experiment was interesting!
50 % is not shocking, we are forgetting a cultural component. I live in Europe now and have to say that the help to visibly, physically impaired is much more common. Interestingly, people here are more rude toward each other in general. In my opinion, people are afraid to offer help in the States and Canada because they don’t want to hurt feelings of the needy person. It happened to me on several occasion, while living in Bay Area, CA that my offered help was strongly rejected. For example: ” I will ask for help when I need it” or thank you I don’t need your help, or I am fine, I am fine, thank you!”.
Only 9 weeks to have already such a result is not bad !
Imagine you do it a life time?
Always curious to know and to learn from other people how they could get a better result in less than 9 weeks? Suggestions?
Sure,it would be better ,we didn’t need the 9 weeks.Maybe we should look at ourselves to see if we give the good example.
Education at home,in school…is important to prevent such behaviour,I think.
If we could learn our kids to do things in live with a good intention and learn that they are responsible for all their actions ,the good ,the bad ones….already from an early age….maybe then they are used to do so …when they become adults?
I like what SW from Edmonton said here below
It is of course distressing that only 15% of the one group would consider giving up their seat. However, you are correct to underscore the “bystander effect.” It is the case that we often take our cue about what to do from others, or resist doing what we might know is right for fear of standing out or risking judgement by others. As one modern day philoshper stated, “When courage is absent, all other virtues remain by chance.” The effect of mindfulness training then might be two fold, 1) to heighten sensitivity to others needs and compassion for them and, 2) to heighten a clearly individuated sense of self which is capable of independent thought and action.
Well said!
50% of the “Mindful” trained – ONLY ? ? No great recommendaiton for their minds.
Would be complicated, I assume, but there was no opportunity to assess the experimental group prior to the mindfulness sessions, then post mindfulness sessions, so there is really no assurance that change happened for them despite having a control group. I speculate that numbers were relatively small.
However Fran, they were randomly assigned. We should have stated that in our post.
I am 80 years old and was on a train between stops at the airport and a young woman with a new baby came on board and I was the only one who stood up and gave her my seat–It was hard because I am conscious that falling on a moving train was not good for me–I was stunned that not one single man offered her a seat!! What a world
I think it’s shocking that only 50% of the “mindful” people gave up their seats… 50% is still incredibly low.