Helping People by Being in the Present: Mindfulness Increases Prosocial Behavior

While mindfulness originated in Buddhist teachings, the variant studied by Western psychologists and taught in corporations has been secularized. One might suspect that secularized mindfulness - a version of mindfulness from which prescriptions for how to treat others have been removed - would not be effective for promoting prosocial behavior. It is important to explore whether this is the case or not. Secular mindfulness is characterized by focused, nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment and can be cultivated via meditation. The present research tested whether secular mindfulness increases prosocial behavior. Study 1 was a field experiment in India. Employees who had been randomly assigned to engage in a focused breathing meditation were more willing to donate to a coworker in financial distress. Study 2 was a longitudinal field experiment at a US insurance company. Employees who were randomly assigned to a five (5) day brief mindfulness training intervention reported more helping behaviors quanti...