Child Development Perspectives
April 23, 2012
Richard J Davidson, John Dunne, Jacquelynne S Eccles et al.
320 citations
A set of mental skills and socio-emotional dispositions—including self-regulation of emotion and attention, self-representations, and prosocial traits like empathy and compassion—are central to 21st-century education. These qualities can be strengthened through systematic contemplative practice, which induces plastic changes in brain function and structure, supporting prosocial behavior and academic success in young people. The authors call for focused programmatic research to determine which forms and frequencies of practice are most efficacious for which children and adolescents, and to document the neural changes induced.
The Journal of Positive Psychology
March 24, 2015
Hooria Jazaieri, Ihno A. Lee, Kelly Mcgonigal et al.
90 citations
A nine-week compassion meditation program reduced mind wandering to neutral topics and increased self-directed caring behaviors among 51 adults. More frequent meditation practice was linked to less mind wandering to unpleasant topics and more mind wandering to pleasant topics, and both changes were associated with increased caring behaviors for oneself and others. Overall, mind wandering did not mediate the relationship between meditation frequency and caring behaviors when all topics were combined, but topic-specific mind wandering did play a role.
Behaviour research and therapy
April 1, 2024
Eric L. Garland, Thupten Jinpa
4 citations
A randomized clinical trial compared Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) with supportive psychotherapy for people with both chronic pain and opioid misuse. Participants who received MORE showed greater increases in self-transcendence during a mindfulness task, which led to stronger feelings of universal love. Those increased feelings of love, in turn, predicted lower opioid craving and reduced odds of opioid misuse over follow-ups up to nine months. The findings suggest that mindfulness practices may work partly by fostering self-transcendent experiences that enhance love and compassion, with potential benefits for reducing addictive behavior.