{"id":26052,"date":"2021-07-12T00:51:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T00:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=26052"},"modified":"2021-07-14T15:35:01","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T15:35:01","slug":"mindfulness-meditation-can-make-some-americans-more-selfish-and-less-generous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/mindfulness-meditation-can-make-some-americans-more-selfish-and-less-generous\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindfulness meditation can make some Americans more selfish and less generous"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michael J. Poulin<\/a>, University at Buffalo<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Japanese chef Yoshihiro Murata travels<\/a>, he brings water with him from Japan. He says this is the only way to make truly authentic dashi<\/a>, the flavorful broth essential to Japanese cuisine. There\u2019s science to back him up<\/a>: water in Japan is notably softer \u2013 which means it has fewer dissolved minerals \u2013 than in many other parts of the world. So when Americas enjoy Japanese food, they arguably aren\u2019t getting quite the real thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This phenomenon isn\u2019t limited to food. Taking something out of its geographic or cultural context often changes the thing itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take the word \u201cnamaste.\u201d In modern Hindi, it\u2019s simply a respectful greeting<\/a>, the equivalent of a formal \u201chello\u201d appropriate for addressing one\u2019s elders. But in the U.S., its associations with yoga have led many people to believe<\/a> that it\u2019s an inherently spiritual word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another cultural tradition that has changed across time and place is the practice of mindfulness<\/a>. Mindfulness is a nonjudgmental expansive awareness of one\u2019s experiences, often cultivated through meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A range of studies have found mindfulness to be beneficial for the people who practice it in a number of ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, very little research has examined its effects on societies, workplaces and communities. As a social psychologist at the University at Buffalo<\/a>, I wondered if the growing enthusiasm for mindfulness might be overlooking something important: the way practicing it might affect others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A booming market<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In just the past few years, the mindfulness industry has exploded in the U.S. Current estimates put the U.S. meditation market<\/a> \u2013 which includes meditation classes, studios, and apps \u2013 at approximately US$1.2 billion. It\u2019s expected to grow to over $2 billion by 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hospitals<\/a>, schools<\/a> and even prisons<\/a> are teaching and promoting mindfulness, while over 1 in 5 employers<\/a> currently offer mindfulness training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The enthusiasm for mindfulness makes sense: Research shows mindfulness can<\/a> reduce stress, increase self-esteem and decrease symptoms of mental illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given these findings, it\u2019s easy to assume that mindfulness has few, if any, downsides. The employers and educators who promote it certainly seem to think so. Perhaps they hope that mindfulness won\u2019t just make people feel better, but that it will also make them be better. That is, maybe mindfulness can make people more generous, cooperative or helpful \u2013 all traits that tend to be desirable in employees or students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mindfulness migrates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But in reality, there\u2019s good reason to doubt that mindfulness, as practiced in the U.S., would automatically lead to good outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, it may do the opposite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s because it\u2019s been taken out of its context. Mindfulness developed as a part of Buddhism<\/a>, where it\u2019s intimately tied up with Buddhist spiritual teachings and morality. Mindfulness in the U.S., on the other hand, is often taught and practiced in purely secular terms. It\u2019s frequently offered simply as a tool for focusing attention and improving well-being, a conception of mindfulness some critics have referred to as \u201cMcMindfulness<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
In Asian cultures, mindfulness is deeply intertwined with Buddhism. The Print Collector\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not only that, mindfulness and Buddhism developed in Asian cultures in which the typical way in which people think about themselves differs from that in the U.S. Specifically, Americans tend to think of themselves most often in independent terms<\/a> with \u201cI\u201d as their focus: \u201cwhat I want,\u201d \u201cwho I am.\u201d By contrast, people in Asian cultures more often think of themselves in interdependent terms<\/a> with \u201cwe\u201d as their focus: \u201cwhat we want,\u201d \u201cwho we are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cultural differences in how people think about themselves are subtle and easy to overlook \u2013 sort of like different kinds of water. But just as those different kinds of water can change flavors when you cook, I wondered if different ways of thinking about the self might alter the effects of mindfulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For interdependent-minded people, what if mindful attention to their own experiences might naturally include thinking about other people \u2013 and make them more helpful or generous? And if this were the case, would it then be true that, for independent-minded people, mindful attention would spur them to focus more on their individual goals and desires, and therefore cause them to become more selfish?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Testing the social effects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I floated these questions to my colleague at the University at Buffalo, Shira Gabriel<\/a>, because she\u2019s a recognized expert<\/a> on independent versus interdependent ways of thinking about the self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She agreed that this was an interesting question, so we worked with our students Lauren Ministero, Carrie Morrison and Esha Naidu to conduct a study in which we had 366 college students come into the lab \u2013 this was before the COVID-19 pandemic \u2013 and either engage in a brief mindfulness meditation or a control exercise that actually involved mind wandering<\/a>. We also measured the extent to which people thought of themselves in independent or interdependent terms. (It\u2019s important to note that, although cultural differences in thinking about the self are real, there is variability in this characteristic even within cultures<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the study, we asked people if they could help solicit donations for a charity by stuffing envelopes to send to potential donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results<\/a> \u2013 which have been accepted for publication in the journal Psychological Science \u2013 detail how, among relatively interdependent-minded individuals, the brief mindfulness meditation caused them to become more generous. Specifically, briefly engaging in a mindfulness exercise \u2013 as opposed to mind wandering \u2013 appeared to increase how many envelopes interdependent-minded people stuffed by 17%. However, among relatively independent-minded individuals, mindfulness appeared to make them less generous with their time. This group of participants stuffed 15% fewer envelopes in the mindful condition than in the mind-wandering condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the effects of mindfulness can be different for people depending on the way they think about themselves. This figurative \u201cwater\u201d can really change the recipe of mindfulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, water can be filtered, and likewise, how people think about themselves is fluid: We\u2019re all capable of thinking about ourselves in both independent and interdependent ways at different times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, there\u2019s a relatively simple way to get people to shift their thinking about themselves. As the researchers Marilynn Brewer and Wendi Gardner discovered<\/a>, all you have to do is have them read a passage that is altered to have either a lot of \u201cI\u201d and \u201cme\u201d statements or a lot of \u201cwe\u201d and \u201cus\u201d statements, and ask people to identify all of the pronouns. Past research shows<\/a> that this simple task reliably shifts people to think of themselves in more independent versus interdependent terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our research team wanted to see if this simple effect could also shift the effects of mindfulness on social behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, we conducted one more study<\/a>. This time, it was online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we used the same exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, however, we had people complete the pronoun task mentioned above. Afterwards, we asked people if they would volunteer to contact potential donors to a charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our results were striking: Engaging in a brief mindfulness exercise made people who identified \u201cI\/me\u201d words 33% less likely to volunteer, but it made those who identified \u201cwe\/us\u201d words 40% more likely to volunteer. In other words, just shifting how people thought of themselves in the moment \u2013 filtering the water of self-related thoughts, if you will \u2013 altered the effects of mindfulness on the behavior of many of the people who took part in this study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attention as a tool<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The take-home message? Mindfulness could lead to good social outcomes or bad ones, depending on context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard said as much when he wrote<\/a> that even a sniper embodies a type of mindfulness. \u201cBare attention,\u201d he added, \u201cas consummate as it might be, is no more than a tool.\u201d Yes, it can cause a great deal of good. But it can also \u201ccause immense suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If practitioners strive to use mindfulness to reduce suffering, rather than increase it, it\u2019s important to ensure that people are also mindful of themselves as existing in relation with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This \u201cwater\u201d may be the key ingredient for bringing out the full flavor of mindfulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Explore the intersection of faith, politics, arts and culture.<\/em> Sign up for This Week in Religion.<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael J. Poulin<\/a>, Associate Professor of Psychology, University at Buffalo<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael J. Poulin, University at Buffalo When Japanese chef Yoshihiro Murata travels, he brings water with him from Japan. He says this is the only way to make truly authentic dashi, the flavorful broth essential to Japanese cuisine. There\u2019s science to back him up: water in Japan is notably softer \u2013 which means it has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":26053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293,8025],"tags":[518,1830,3916,5681,5522,176,3804,6315,2970,3050,364,6610,209,9629,10155],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26052"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26078,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26052\/revisions\/26078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}