The Influence of Meditation Practices on Prosocial Orientations and Person-Centered Supportive Communication

This study examines whether meditation practices can increase prosocial orientations (i.e. compassion, empathic concern), as well as the processing and provision of person-centered supportive messages. Participants (N = 217) were randomly assigned to either one of two week-long meditation practices (loving kindness or concentration) or to a no-meditation condition. Meditation practitioners scored higher on empathic concern than people in the no-meditation condition. Loving kindness meditators provided supportive messages that were of higher quality than non-meditators. Compassion also partially mediated associations between concentration meditation and both person-centered message processing and provision. These findings demonstrate that meditation can cultivate prosocial orientations and may, in turn, facilitate person-centered supportive communication.