Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The association of mindfulness and prosocial behavior is not stronger among highly ethical individuals

  • Published:
Current Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Some scholars contended that mindfulness practice without explicit ethical instruction may have no or even harmful effects on wholesome actions, while others say the opposite. This study was designed to throw new light on this controversy. Using 709 undergraduates as participants, we constructed mediated moderation models to examine the mindfulness-prosociality association among participants with higher or lower levels of ethical dispositions and/or prosocial values/beliefs. The results showed that the association of mindfulness and prosociality via empathy was significant regardless levels of the participants’ ethical dispositions. And the associations were even stronger among participants’ who have lower relative to higher levels of moral identity and prosocial value. That is, less ethical individuals may benefit more from mindfulness training. This indicates that mindfulness along is sufficient to cultivate prosociality. Findings of this study support the proposition that the benefit of mindfulness is universal and independent of Buddhist traditions. However, this study does not indicate that Buddhist ethics are dispensable, especially when advanced wisdom and virtues are expected to be cultivated.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

Data and research materials are available on our OSF project page: https://osf.io/sy63a/files/.

References

  • Aquino, K., & Reed, A. (2002). The self-importance of moral identity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1423–1440.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baer, R. A. (2015). Ethics, values, virtues, and character strengths in mindfulness-based interventions: A psychological science perspective. Mindfulness, 6(4), 956–969.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006). Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment, 13(1), 27–45.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bartholomaeus, J., & Strelan, P. (2019). The adaptive, approach-oriented correlates of belief in a just world for the self: A review of the research. Personality and Individual Differences, 151, 109485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bayot, M., Vermeulen, N., Kever, A., & Mikolajczak, M. (2018). Mindfulness and empathy: Differential effects of explicit and implicit Buddhist teachings. Mindfulness, 11(1), 1–13.

  • Bekkers, R., & Wiepking, P. (2011). A literature review of empirical studies of philanthropy: Eight mechanisms that drive charitable giving. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40(5), 924–973.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berry, D. R., Cairo, A. H., Goodman, R. J., Quaglia, J. T., Green, J. D., & Brown, K. W. (2018). Mindfulness increases prosocial responses toward ostracized strangers through empathic concern. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(1), 93–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bibeau, M. D., Dionne, F., & Leblanc, J. (2016). Can compassion meditation contribute to the development of psychotherapists’ empathy? A review. Mindfulness, 7(1), 255–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blasi, A. (1980). Bridging moral cognition and moral action: A critical review of the literature. Psychological Bulletin, 88(1), 1–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Block-Lerner, J., Adair, C., Plumb, J. C., Rhatigan, D. L., & Orsillo, S. M. (2007). The case for mindfulness-based approaches in the cultivation of empathy: Does nonjudgmental, present-moment awareness increase capacity for perspective-taking and empathic concern? Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 33(4), 501–516.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blumenthal, J. (2009). Toward a Buddhist theory of justice. Journal of Global Buddhism, 10, 321–349.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(4), 822–848.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cameron, C. D., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2015). Mindfulness facets predict helping behavior and distinct helping-related emotions. Mindfulness, 6(5), 1211–1218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caprara, G. V., Kanacri, B. P. L., Gerbino, M., Zuffiano, A., Alessandri, G., Vecchio, G., et al. (2014). Positive effects of promoting prosocial behavior in early adolescence: Evidence from a school-based intervention. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 38(4), 386–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, S., & Jordan, C, H. (2020). Incorporating ethics into brief mindfulness practice: Effects on well-being and Prosocial behavior. Mindfulness, 11(1), 1–12.

  • Cialdini, R. B., Brown, S. L., Lewis, B. P., Luce, C., & Neuberg, S. L. (1997). Reinterpreting the empathy–altruism relationship: When one into one equals oneness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(3), 481–494.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Condon, P. (2019). Meditation in context: Factors that facilitate prosocial behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology, 28, 15–19.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Condon, P., Desbordes, G., Miller, W. B., & DeSteno, D. (2013). Meditation increases compassionate responses to suffering. Psychological Science, 24(10), 2125–2127.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crossan, M., Mazutis, D., & Seijts, G. (2013). In search of virtue: The role of virtues, values and character strengths in ethical decision-making. Journal of Business Ethics, 113, 567–581.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalbert, C. (1999). The world is more just for me than generally: About the personal belief in a just world scale's validity. Social Justice Research, 12(2), 79–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M. H. (1983). The effects of dispositional empathy on emotional reactions and helping-a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality, 51(2), 167–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dekeyser, M., Raes, F., Leijssen, M., Leysen, S., & Dewulf, D. (2008). Mindfulness skills and interpersonal behaviour. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(5), 1235–1245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deng, Y., Li, S., Tang, Y., Zhu, L., Ryan, R. M., & Brown, K. W. (2012). Psychometric properties of the Chinese translation of the mindful attention awareness scale (MAAS). Mindfulness, 3(1), 10–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donald, J. N., Sahdra, B. K., Van Zanden, B., Duineveld, J. J., Atkins, P. W., Marshall, S. L., & Ciarrochi, J. (2019). Does your mindfulness benefit others? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the link between mindfulness and prosocial behaviour. British Journal of Psychology, 110(1), 101–125.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Zhou, Q., & Koller, S. H. (2001). Brazilian Adolescents' Prosocial moral judgment and behavior: Relations to sympathy, perspective taking, gender-role orientation, and demographic characteristics. Child Development, 72(2), 518–534.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R, A., & Spinrad, T, L. (2006). Prosocial development. In N. Eisenberg, W. Damon, & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Social, emotional, and personality development, (pp 646–718). John Wiley & Sons, Inc..

  • Feng, L., & Guo, Q. (2017). Beneficial effect of altruism on well-being among Chinese college students: The role of self-esteem and family socioeconomic status. Journal of Social Service Research, 43(3), 416–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, M. T., & Mitra, J. L. (2015). From mindfulness to right mindfulness: The intersection of awareness and ethics. Mindfulness, 6(1), 74–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo, Q., Sun, P., Cai, M., Zhang, X., & Song, K. (2019). Why are smarter individuals more prosocial? A study on the mediating roles of empathy and moral identity. Intelligence, 75, 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hafenbrack, A, C., Cameron, L, D., Spreitzer, G, M., Zhang, C., Noval, L, J., & Shaffakat, S. (2020). Helping people by being in the present: Mindfulness increases Prosocial behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 159, 21–38.

  • Hanley, A. W., Baker, A. K., & Garland, E. L. (2017). Self-interest may not be entirely in the interest of the self: Association between selflessness, dispositional mindfulness and psychological well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 117, 166–171.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, A, F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (2nd ed.). New York: The Guilford Press.

  • Heim, E., Steinmetz, H., Zeigenfuse, M. D., Maercker, A., & Margraf, J. (2018). The circular structure of values: The case of China. International Journal of Psychology, 53(5), 339–348.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hertz, S. G., & Krettenauer, T. (2016). Does moral identity effectively predict moral behavior?: A meta-analysis. Review of General Psychology, 20(2), 129–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, P. L., Mitchell, M. S., & Hannah, S. T. (2015). The moral self: A review and integration of the literature. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36, S104–S168.

  • Jiang, H., Chen, G., & Wang, T. (2017). Relationship between belief in a just world and internet altruistic behavior in a sample of Chinese undergraduates: Multiple mediating roles of gratitude and self-esteem. Personality and Individual Differences, 104, 493–498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. New York, NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 144–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kabat-Zinn, J. (2011). Some reflections on the origins of MBSR, skillful means, and the trouble with maps. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(1), 281–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keown, D., & Keown, J. (1995). Killing, karma and caring: Euthanasia in Buddhism and Christianity. Journal of Medical Ethics, 21(5), 265–269.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Khoury, B., Sharma, M., Rush, S. E., & Fournier, C. (2015). Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 78(6), 519–528.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leary, M. R., & Tate, E. B. (2007). The multi-faceted nature of mindfulness. Psychological Inquiry, 18(4), 251–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lim, D., Condon, P., & DeSteno, D. (2015). Mindfulness and compassion: An examination of mechanism and scalability. PLoS One, 10(2), e0118221.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lindahl, J. R. (2015). Why right mindfulness might not be right for mindfulness. Mindfulness, 6(1), 57–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindsay, E. K., & Creswell, J. D. (2015). Back to the basics: How attention monitoring and acceptance stimulate positive growth. Psychological Inquiry, 26(4), 343–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lipkusa, I. M., Dalbert, C., & Siegler, I. C. (1996). The importance of distinguishing the belief in a just world for self versus for others: Implications for psychological well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22(7), 666–677.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luberto, C. M., Shinday, N., Song, R., Philpotts, L. L., Park, E. R., Fricchione, G. L., & Yeh, G. Y. (2018). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of meditation on empathy, compassion, and Prosocial behaviors. Mindfulness, 9(3), 708–724.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Monteiro, L. M., Musten, R., & Compson, J. (2015). Traditional and contemporary mindfulness: Finding the middle path in the tangle of concerns. Mindfulness, 6(1), 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, A. (2016). Mindfulness-based therapy in modern psychology: Convergence and divergence from early Buddhist thought. Contemporary Buddhism, 17(2), 275–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oda, R., Dai, M., Niwa, Y., Ihobe, H., Kiyonari, T., Takeda, M., & Kai, H. (2013). Self-report altruism scale distinguished by the recipient (SRAS-DR): Validity and reliability. Shinrigaku kenkyu: The Japanese Journal of Psychology, 84(1), 28–36.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pandey, A., Chandwani, R., & Navare, A. (2018). How can mindfulness enhance moral reasoning? An examination using business school students. Business Ethics: A European Review, 27(1), 56–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Purser, R. E. (2015). Clearing the muddled path of traditional and contemporary mindfulness: A response to Monteiro, Musten, and Compson. Mindfulness, 6(1), 23–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Purser, R. E., & Milillo, J. (2015). Mindfulness revisited a Buddhist-based conceptualization. Journal of Management Inquiry, 24(1), 3–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rāhula, W. (1974). What the Buddha taught. New York: Grove Press

  • Rest, J. R. (1983). Morality. Handbook of child psychology, 3, 556–629.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruedy, N., & Schweitzer, M. (2010). In the moment: The effect of mindfulness on ethical decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 95, 73–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schindler, S., Pfattheicher, S., & Reinhard, M. A. (2019). Potential negative consequences of mindfulness in the moral domain. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49(5), 1055–1069.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H. (1994). Are there universal aspects in the structure and contents of human values? Journal of Social Issues, 50(4), 19–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H. (2003). A proposal for measuring value orientations across nations. Questionnaire Package of the European Social Survey, 259(290), 261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H., Melech, G., Lehmann, A., Burgess, S. M., Harris, M., & Owens, V. N. (2001). Extending the cross-cultural validity of the theory of basic human values with a different method of measurement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32(5), 519–542.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H., Cieciuch, J., Vecchione, M., Davidov, E., Fischer, R., Beierlein, C., et al. (2012). Refining the theory of basic individual values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(4), 663–688.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sevinc, G., & Lazar, S. W. (2019). How does mindfulness training improve moral cognition: A theoretical and experimental framework for the study of embodied ethics. Current Opinion in Psychology, 28, 268–272.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, S. L., Jazaieri, H., & Goldin, P. R. (2012). Mindfulness-based stress reduction effects on moral reasoning and decision making. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(6), 504–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, S., Mercer, S., Simpson, R., Lawrence, M., & Wyke, S. (2018). Mindfulness-based interventions for young offenders: A scoping review. Mindfulness, 9(5), 1330–1343.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Siu, A. M., & Shek, D. T. (2005). Validation of the interpersonal reactivity index in a Chinese context. Research on Social Work Practice, 15(2), 118–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Small, C., & Lew, C. (2019). Mindfulness, moral reasoning and responsibility: Towards virtue in ethical decision-making. Journal of Business Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04272-y.

  • Thomas, J., Furber, S. W., & Grey, I. (2017). The rise of mindfulness and its resonance with the Islamic tradition. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 20(10), 973–985.

  • Vago, D. R., & David, S. A. (2012). Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): A framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 296.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wallmark, E., Safarzadeh, K., Daukantaitė, D., & Maddux, R. E. (2013). Promoting altruism through meditation: An 8-week randomized controlled pilot study. Mindfulness, 4(3), 223–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, X., Chen, Z., Poon, K., Teng, F., & Jin, S. (2017). Self-compassion decreases acceptance of own immoral behaviors. Personality and Individual Differences, 106, 329–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, J. (2014). Mindful America: The mutual transformation of Buddhist meditation and American culture. New York: Oxford University Press.

Download references

Funding

Postgraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project 2019 of GXNU (SA1900000403).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, 541004, China

    Qingke Guo & Jianli Lu

  2. Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, China

    Qingke Guo, Bingqing Ma, Jie Leng & Zhifei Wang

  3. Zaozhuang Mental Health Center, Jinan, 277000, China

    Zhifei Wang

Authors
  1. Qingke Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bingqing Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jie Leng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhifei Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jianli Lu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

QG and BM designed the research and wrote the manuscript, JL collected and analyzed the data, ZW and JL revised the manuscript. All authors made substantial contributions to this work and approved its publication.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Qingke Guo or Zhifei Wang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the academic committee at Shandong Normal University and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Consent to Participate

Informed consent was obtained. The participants know every aspect of their participation and permit to use their data with anonymity.

Consent for Publication

Not applicable.

Code Availability

Not applicable.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

In this study we deleted the participants who did not respond to all the questionnaire items from our dataset. Outliers were not handled because they may be caused by potential moderators (Leys, Delacre, Mora, Lakens, & Ley, 2019).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Guo, Q., Ma, B., Leng, J. et al. The association of mindfulness and prosocial behavior is not stronger among highly ethical individuals. Curr Psychol 41, 7166–7176 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01261-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01261-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation