Frontiers in Psychology
November 3, 2015
Xianglong Zeng, Cleo P. K. Chiu, Rong Wang et al.
256 citations
Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) effectively enhances positive emotions, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis of 24 empirical studies involving 1,759 participants. The analysis found medium effect sizes for LKM interventions on daily positive emotions in both wait-list controlled randomized trials and non-randomized studies, and small to large effect sizes for immediate positive emotions from ongoing practice. Interventions focused specifically on loving-kindness produced medium effects, while compassion-focused interventions yielded small effects. The length of interventions and meditation time did not influence outcomes, but studies without didactic components showed small effects. Individual differences and the nature of positive emotions also affected results. More research is needed to identify active intervention components and applicability in clinical populations.
International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie
April 1, 2025
Rong Wang, Jingyi Zhou, Yang Zhang et al.
3 citations
Appreciative joy—taking delight in others' happiness—and gratitude are related but distinct emotions. A cross-sectional survey of adults found a moderate positive correlation between the two, and gratitude partly explained how appreciative joy relates to subjective well-being. A randomized controlled trial tested four weeks of appreciative joy meditation training. At a one-month follow-up, the training increased both appreciative joy and gratitude, and changes in gratitude were driven by changes in appreciative joy. Although subjective well-being improved immediately after the training, the data did not confirm that appreciative joy or gratitude caused that improvement. The findings clarify how Buddhist meditation practices may boost well-being through gratitude.
Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
March 4, 2024
Quan Tang, Jing Han, Xianglong Zeng
3 citations
Adding background music to loving-kindness meditation can increase low-arousal and pro-social positive emotions without making the practice harder. In a five-day intervention, 200 participants were randomly assigned to six groups that experienced meditation with music containing only harmony, music with both harmony and melody, or no music on different days. Music boosted low-arousal and pro-social positive emotions compared to silence, but there was no difference between the two types of music. Music did not affect difficulties such as lack of concentration or lack of pro-social attitudes. Practice over days influenced medium-arousal positive emotions and concentration difficulty, though results varied across groups.
BMC psychology
April 26, 2025
Yanhe Deng, Taoyuan Du, Xianglong Zeng et al.
1 citation
People are less interested in cultivating kindness than in boosting their own happiness, even when signing up for loving-kindness and compassion meditation training. Two studies—one with 583 university students and another with 1,075 participants in a four-week online training—found that kind attitudes were the least desired outcome among potential trainees. Higher interest in meditations focused on subjective well-being predicted increases in personal happiness. The findings suggest that a hedonic bias, prioritizing personal happiness over kindness, is reinforced by trainees themselves, raising philosophical and ethical questions for modern positive psychology.