Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Meditation – Neuroscientific Approaches and Philosophical Implications pp 175–198Cite as

Meditation Effects in the Social Domain: Self-Other Connectedness as a General Mechanism?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Studies in Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality ((SNCS,volume 2))

Abstract

Recent theories and findings in psychology and neuroscience suggest that self and other are interconnected, both on a conceptual and on a more basic bodily-affective representational level. Such self-other connectedness is supposed to be fundamental to empathy, social bonding and compassion. Meditation techniques – in particular mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation – have been found to foster these social capacities. Therefore, this contribution brings together both fields of research. In a first step, we examine self and other from the perspective of psychology and neuroscience, integrating findings from these fields into a dimension of mental functioning anchored to self-centeredness and self-other-connectedness, respectively. In a second step, we explore how mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation may act differentially upon this dimension. Finally, by referring to a recent experiment from our lab, it is illustrated how research hypotheses can be derived from this framework. Such investigations could help to comprehend meditation effects in the social domain, and more generally, further the scientific understanding of self and other.

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

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    For a comparison of Eastern and Western concepts of the ‘self’ see also the chapter by Edge in this volume.

  2. 2.

    “Unextended in time” is meant here in opposition to accounts of the self on the conceptual level, which also involve the notion of being an autobiographically extended self. However, as phenomenologists have pointed out, also the moment-to-moment subjective experience does involve temporality, in the sense of being aware of the immediate past and future (Zahavi 2006).

  3. 3.

    In this respect the Buddhist approach to the self resembles the view of cognitive science, however, it takes another step and tries to transform the everyday experience of a “real” self through meditative practice, an endeavor not approached by Western science (cf. Varela et al. 1991).

  4. 4.

    Several authors have approached these states of advanced or even complete spiritual transformation from a scientific stance. However, they differ in their scientific approach and in the phenomenologies assumed to be present in these states (for examples, see Albahari 2011; and chapters by Austin and Edge in this volume).

  5. 5.

    Across Buddhist traditions, several techniques exist which are aimed at cultivating compassion and loving-kindness (e.g. Rinpoche and Mullen 2005). We focus on an account from Theravada Buddhism, which is based on the Mettā Sutta of the Pali Canon and taught in the modern Vipassana movement (Buddharakkhita 1995; Salzberg 1995). Beginning research on these practices is reviewed in (Hofmann et al. 2011).

References

  • Albahari, M. 2011. Nirvana and ownerless consciousness. In Self, no self?: Perspectives from analytical, phenomenological, and Indian traditions, ed. M. Sidertis, E. Thompson, and D. Zahavi. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alicke, M.D., D.L. Breitenbecher, T.J. Yurak, and D.S. Vredenburg. 1995. Personal contact, individuation, and the better-than-average effect. Journal of Personality 68(5): 804–825.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aron, A., E.N. Aron, M. Tudor, and G. Nelson. 1991. Close relationships as including other in the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60(2): 241–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aron, A., E.N. Aron, and D. Smollan. 1992. Inclusion of other in the self scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 63(4): 596–612.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aron, A., T. McLaughlin-Volpe, D.J. Mashek, G. Lewandowski, S. Wright, and E.N. Aron. 2004. Including others in the self. European Review of Social Psychology 15(1): 101–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashton-James, C., R.B. van Baaren, T.L. Chartrand, J. Decety, and J. Karremans. 2007. Mimicry and me: The impact of mimicry on self-construal. Social Cognition 25(4): 518–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Avenanti, A., I. Minio-Paluello, I. Bufalari, and S.M. Aglioti. 2009. The pain of a model in the personality of an onlooker: Influence of state-reactivity and personality traits on embodied empathy for pain. NeuroImage 44(1): 275–283.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bargh, J.A. 1982. Attention and automaticity in the processing of self-relevant information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 43(3): 425–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnard, L.K., and J.F. Curry. 2011. Self-compassion: Conceptualizations, correlates, & interventions. Review of General Psychology 15(4): 289–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartel, C. 2009. Self-compassion: Ein Neues Konzept Positiver Selbstzuwendung. Eine Deutsche Adaptierung Der “Self Compassion Scale”. Diplomarbeit, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birnie, K., M. Speca, and L.E. Carlson. 2010. Exploring self-compassion and empathy in the context of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Stress and Health 26(5): 359–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Block-Lerner, J., C. Adair, J.C. Plumb, D.L. Rhatigan, and S.M. Orsillo. 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 

  • Brefczynski-Lewis, J., A. Lutz, H.S. Schaefer, D.B. Levinson, and R.J. Davidson. 2007. Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104(27): 11483–11488.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, M.B., and W. Gardner. 1996. Who is this “we”? Levels of collective identity and self representations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 71(1): 83–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, J.A., P.D. Worhunsky, J.R. Gray, Y.-Y. Tang, J. Weber, and H. Kober. 2011. Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108(50): 20254–20259.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buber, M. 1923/2009. Ich und Du (Text). Ditzingen: Reclam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buddharakkhita, A. 1995. Metta: The philosophy and practice of universal love. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cahn, B.R., and J. Polich. 2009. Meditation (Vipassana) and the P3a event-related brain potential. International Journal of Psychophysiology 72(1): 51–60.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, W.K., and C. Sedikides. 1999. Self-threat magnifies the self-serving bias: A meta-analytic integration. Review of General Psychology 3(1): 23–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chartrand, T.L., and J.A. Bargh. 1999. The chameleon effect: The perception-behavior link and social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 76(6): 893–910.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, S., H.C. Boucher, and M.P. Tapias. 2006. The relational self revealed: Integrative conceptualization and implications for interpersonal life. Psychological Bulletin 132(2): 151–179.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Christoff, K., A.M. Gordon, J. Smallwood, R. Smith, and J.W. Schooler. 2009. Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106(21): 8719–8724.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cialdini, R.B., S.L. Brown, B.P. Lewis, C. Luce, and S.L. Neuberg. 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 

  • Coats, S., E.R. Smith, H.M. Claypool, and M.J. Banner. 2000. Overlapping mental representations of self and in-group: Reaction time evidence and its relationship with explicit measures of group identification. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 36(3): 304–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colzato, L.S., H. Zech, B. Hommel, R. Verdonschot, W.P.M. van den Wildenberg, and S. Hsieh. 2012. Loving-kindness brings loving-kindness: The impact of Buddhism on cognitive self-other integration. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 19(3): 541–545.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Comerchero, M.D., and J. Polich. 1999. P3a and P3b from typical auditory and visual stimuli. Clinical Neurophysiology 110(1): 24–30.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crocker, J., and L.E. Park. 2011. Seeking Self-Esteem. In Handbook of self and identity, 2nd ed, ed. M.R. Leary and J.P. Tangney. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cross, S.E., P.L. Bacon, and M.L. Morris. 2000. The relational-interdependent self-construal and relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78(4): 791–808.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cross, S.E., M.L. Morris, J.S. Gore, R. Kruger, N.D. Katter, J. Neal, et al. 2002. Thinking about oneself and others: The relational-interdependent self-construal and social cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82(3): 399–418.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cross, S.E., J.S. Gore, and M.L. Morris. 2003. The relational-interdependent self-construal, self-concept consistency, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85(5): 933–944.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio, A.R. 2010. Self comes to mind: Constructing the conscious brain. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dambrun, M., and M. Ricard. 2011. Self-centeredness and selflessness: A theory of self-based psychological functioning and its consequences for happiness. Review of General Psychology 15(2): 138–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M.H. 1983. Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 44(1): 113–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M.H., L. Conklin, A. Smith, and C. Luce. 1996. Effect of perspective taking on the cognitive representation of persons: A merging of self and other. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 70(4): 713–726.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M.H., T. Soderlund, J. Cole, E. Gadol, M. Kute, M. Myers, et al. 2004. Cognitions associated with attempts to empathize: How do we imagine the perspective of another? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 30(12): 1625–1635.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Waal, F.B.M. 2008. Putting the altruism back into altruism: The evolution of empathy. Annual Review of Psychology 59: 279–300.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Decety, J., and T. Chaminade. 2003. When the self represents the other: A new cognitive neuroscience view on psychological identification. Consciousness and Cognition 12(4): 577–596.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Decety, J., and C. Lamm. 2006. Human empathy through the lens of social neuroscience. The Scientific World Journal 6: 1146–1163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Decety, J., and J.A. Sommerville. 2003. Shared representations between self and other: A social cognitive neuroscience view. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7(12): 527–533.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, S. 1973. The self-concept revisited. Or a theory of a theory. The American Psychologist 28(5): 404–416.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Farb, N.A.S., Z.V. Segal, H. Mayberg, J. Bean, D. McKeon, Z. Fatima, et al. 2007. Attending to the present: Mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 2(4): 313–322.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, C. 2005. Compassion: Listening to the cries of the world. Berkeley: Rodmell Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, G., J. Greeson, and J. Senville. 2010. Differential effects of mindful breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and loving-kindness meditation on decentering and negative reactions to repetitive thoughts. Behaviour Research and Therapy 48(10): 1002–1011.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, M.D., A.Z. Snyder, J.L. Vincent, M. Corbetta, D.C. Van Essen, and M.E. Raichle. 2005. The human brain is intrinsically organized into dynamic, anticorrelated functional networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102(27): 9673–9678.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fredrickson, B.L., M.A. Cohn, K.A. Coffey, J. Pek, and S.M. Finkel. 2008. Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95(5): 1045–1062.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fresco, D.M., M.T. Moore, M.H.M. van Dulmen, Z.V. Segal, S.H. Ma, J.D. Teasdale, et al. 2007. Initial psychometric properties of the experiences questionnaire: Validation of a self-report measure of decentering. Behavior Therapy 38(3): 234–246.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Galinsky, A.D., and G.B. Moskowitz. 2000. Perspective-taking: decreasing stereotype expression, stereotype accessibility, and in-group favoritism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78(4): 708–724.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Galinsky, A.D., G. Ku, and C.S. Wang. 2005. Perspective-taking and self-other overlap: Fostering social bonds and facilitating social coordination. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations 8(2): 109–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallagher, S. 2000. Philosophical conceptions of the self: Implications for cognitive science. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 4(1): 14–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gallese, V. 2003. The manifold nature of interpersonal relations: The quest for a common mechanism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 358: 517–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geller, V., and P. Shaver. 1976. Cognitive consequences of self-awareness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 12(1): 99–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, N.J., and R.B. Cialdini. 2007. The spyglass self: A model of vicarious self-perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92(3): 402–417.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, H., N. Ambady, W.T. Lowenthal, and P. Deldin. 2004. P300 as an index of attention to self-relevant stimuli. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 40(2): 216–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwald, A.G. 1980. The totalitarian ego: Fabrication and revision of personal history. American Psychologist 35(7): 603–618.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gusnard, D.A., E. Akbudak, G.L. Shulman, and M.E. Raichle. 2001. Medial prefrontal cortex and self-referential mental activity: Relation to a default mode of brain function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98(7): 4259–4264.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Han, S., L. Zhang, and Z. Ying. 2011. The relation between the self and others: A transcultural neuroimaging approach. In Culture and neural frames of cognition and communication, ed. S. Han and E. Pöppel, 77–91. Heidelberg: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hein, G., and T. Singer. 2008. I feel how you feel but not always: The empathic brain and its modulation. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 18(2): 153–158.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hein, G., G. Silani, K. Preuschoff, C.D. Batson, and T. Singer. 2010. Neural responses to ingroup and outgroup members’ suffering predict individual differences in costly helping. Neuron 68(1): 149–160.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heine, S.J. 2001. Self as cultural product: An examination of East Asian and North American selves. Journal of Personality 69(6): 881–906.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heine, S.J., D.R. Lehman, H.R. Markus, and S. Kitayama. 1999. Is there a universal need for positive self-regard? Psychological Review 106(4): 766–794.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Higgins, E.T. 1996. The “self digest”: Self-knowledge serving self-regulatory functions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 71(6): 1062–1083.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hofmann, S.G., P. Grossman, and D.E. Hinton. 2011. Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: Potential for psychological interventions. Clinical Psychology Review 31(7): 1126–1132.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Husserl, E. 1950/1991. Husserliana (1): Cartesianische Meditationen und Pariser Vorträge. Dordrecht: Nijhoff.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutcherson, C.A., E.M. Seppala, and J.J. Gross. 2008. Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. Emotion 8(5): 720–724.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jabbi, M., M. Swart, and C. Keysers. 2007. Empathy for positive and negative emotions in the gustatory cortex. NeuroImage 34(4): 1744–1753.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • James, W. 1890. The principles of psychology. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Klimecki, O.M., S. Leiberg, C. Lamm, and T. Singer. 2013. Functional neural plasticity and associated changes in positive affect after compassion training. Cerebral Cortex 23(7): 1552–1561.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kristeller, J.L., and T. Johnson. 2005. Cultivating loving kindness: A two-stage model of the effects of meditation on empathy, compassion, and altruism. Zygon 40(2): 391–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakin, J.L., and T.L. Chartrand. 2003. Using nonconscious behavioral mimicry to create affiliation and rapport. Psychological Science 14(4): 334–339.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lamm, C., C.D. Batson, and J. Decety. 2007. The neural substrate of human empathy: Effects of perspective-taking and cognitive appraisal. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 19(1): 42–58.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lau, M.A., S.R. Bishop, Z.V. Segal, T. Buis, N.D. Anderson, L.E. Carlson, et al. 2006. The toronto mindfulness scale: Development and validation. Journal of Clinical Psychology 62(12): 1445–1467.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Laurent, S.M., and M.W. Myers. 2011. I know you’re me, but who am I? Perspective taking and seeing the other in the self. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 47(6): 1316–1319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leary, M.R., and J.P. Tangney. 2011. The self as an organizing construct in the behavioral and social sciences. In Handbook of self and identity, 2nd ed, ed. M.R. Leary and J.P. Tangney, 3–14. New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leiberg, S., O. Klimecki, and T. Singer. 2011. Short-term compassion training increases prosocial behavior in a newly developed prosocial game. PLoS One 6(3): e17798.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lutz, A., J. Brefczynski-Lewis, T. Johnstone, and R.J. Davidson. 2008. Regulation of the neural circuitry of emotion by compassion meditation: Effects of meditative expertise. PLoS One 3(3): e1897.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Markus, H.R., and S. Kitayama. 1991. Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review 98(2): 224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mead, G.H. 1934. Mind self and society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist. Chicago: University of Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meltzoff, A.N. 2007. ‘Like me’: A foundation for social cognition. Developmental Science 10(1): 126–134.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meltzoff, A.N., and M.K. Moore. 1989. Imitation in newborn infants: Exploring the range of gestures imitated and the underlying mechanisms. Developmental Psychology 25(6): 954–962.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, M.L., C.L. Masten, Y. Ma, C. Wang, Z. Shi, N.I. Eisenberger, et al. 2012. Empathy for the social suffering of friends and strangers recruits distinct patterns of brain activation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. doi:10.1093/scan/nss019.

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mezulis, A.H., L.Y. Abramson, J.S. Hyde, and B.L. Hankin. 2004. Is there a universal positivity bias in attributions? A meta-analytic review of individual, developmental, and cultural differences in the self-serving attributional bias. Psychological Bulletin 130(5): 711–747.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mischel, W., and C.C. Morf. 2003. The self as a psycho-social dynamic processing system: A meta-perspective on a century of the self in psychology. In Handbook of self and identity, 2nd ed, ed. M.R. Leary and J.P. Tangney, 15–43. New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moray, N. 1959. Attention in dichotic listening: Affective cues and the influence of instructions. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 11(1): 56–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murray, R.J., M. Schaer, and M. Debbané. 2012. Degrees of separation: A quantitative neuroimaging meta-analysis investigating self-specificity and shared neural activation between self- and other-reflection. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 36(3): 1043–1059.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neff, K.D. 2003a. The development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and Identity 2: 223–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neff, K.D. 2003b. Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity 2: 85–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neff, K.D. 2008. Self-compassion: Moving beyond the pitfalls of a separate self-concept. In Transcending self-interest: Psychological explorations of the quiet ego, ed. J. Bauer and H.A. Wayment, 95–106. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neff, K.D., and E. Pommier. 2013. The relationship between self-compassion and other-focused concern among college undergraduates, community adults, and practicing meditators. Self and Identity 12: 160–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neisser, U. 1988. Five kinds of self-knowledge. Philosophical Psychology 1(1): 35–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olendzki. 2006. The transformative impact of non-self. In Buddhist thought and applied psychological research: Transcending the boundaries, ed. D.K. Nauriyal, M.S. Drummond, and Y.B. Lal, 250–261. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orzech, K.M., S.L. Shapiro, K.W. Brown, and M. McKay. 2009. Intensive mindfulness training-related changes in cognitive and emotional experience. The Journal of Positive Psychology 4: 212–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oyserman, D., and S.W.S. Lee. 2008. Does culture influence what and how we think? Effects of priming individualism and collectivism. Psychological Bulletin 134(2): 311–342.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oyserman, D., H.M. Coon, and M. Kemmelmeier. 2002. Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin 128(1): 3–72.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Polich, J. 2007. Updating P300: An integrative theory of P3a and P3b. Clinical Neurophysiology 118(10): 2128–2148.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Preston, S.D., and F.B.M. de Waal. 2002. Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate bases. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 25(1): 1–72.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Preston, S.D., and A.J. Hofelich. 2012. The many faces of empathy: Parsing empathic phenomena through a proximate, dynamic-systems view of representing the other in the self. Emotion Review 4(1): 24–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qin, P., and G. Northoff. 2011. How is our self related to midline regions and the default-mode network? NeuroImage 57(3): 1221–1233.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Raichle, M.E., A.M. MacLeod, A.Z. Snyder, W.J. Powers, D.A. Gusnard, and G.L. Shulman. 2001. A default mode of brain function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98(2): 676–682.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rinpoche, R.T., and K. Mullen. 2005. The Buddhist use of compassionate imagery in mind healing. In Compassion: Conceptualisations, research and use in psychotherapy, ed. P. Gilbert, 403. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salzberg, S. 1995. Lovingkindness. The revolutionary art of happiness. Bosten: Shambala.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salzberg, S. 2011. Mindfulness and loving-kindness. Contemporary Buddhism 12(1): 177–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, S. 2004. Mindfulness and healing intention: Concepts, practice, and research evaluation. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10(1): 7–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuster, R. 1979. Empathy and mindfulness. Journal of Humanistic Psychology 19(1): 71–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sebanz, N., G. Knoblich, and W. Prinz. 2003. Representing others’ actions: Just like one’s own? Cognition 88(3): 11–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sedlmeier, P., J. Eberth, M. Schwarz, D. Zimmermann, F. Haarig, S. Jaeger, et al. 2012. The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin. doi:10.1037/a0028168.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, S.L., L.E. Carlson, J.A. Astin, and B. Freedman. 2006. Mechanisms of mindfulness. Journal of Clinical Psychology 62(3): 373–386.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, E.R., and S. Henry. 1996. An in-group becomes part of the self: Response time evidence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 22(6): 635–642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, E.R., S. Coats, and D. Walling. 1999. Overlapping mental representations of self, in-group, and partner: Further response time evidence and a connectionist model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 25(7): 873–882.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sprecher, S., and B. Fehr. 2005. Compassionate love for close others and humanity. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 22(5): 629–651.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stel, M., R.B. van Baaren, and R. Vonk. 2008. Effects of mimicking: Acting prosocially by being emotionally moved. European Journal of Social Psychology 38: 965–976.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Symons, C.S., and B.T. Johnson. 1997. The self-reference effect in memory: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin 121(3): 371–394.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tacikowski, P., and A. Nowicka. 2010. Allocation of attention to self-name and self-face: An ERP study. Biological Psychology 84(2): 318–324.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S.E. 1988. Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin 103(2): 193–210.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, V.A., V. Daneault, J. Grant, G. Scavone, E. Breton, S. Roffe-Vidal, et al. 2013. Impact of meditation training on the default mode network during a restful state. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 8(1): 4–14.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, E. 2001. Empathy and consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies 8: 1–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M. 1993. The interpersonal origins of self concept. In The perceived self: Ecological and interpersonal sources of self knowledge, ed. U. Neisser, 174–184. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, J. 1986. The significance of the social identity concept for social psychology with reference to individualism, interactionism and social influence. British Journal of Social Psychology 25: 237–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Baaren, R.B., W.W. Maddux, T.L. Chartrand, C. de Bouter, and A. van Knippenberg. 2003. It takes two to mimic: Behavioral consequences of self-construals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84(5): 1093–1102.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Baaren, R.B., R.W. Holland, K. Kawakami, and A. van Knippenberg. 2004. Mimicry and prosocial behavior. Psychological Science 15(1): 71–74.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van der Meer, L., S. Costafreda, A. Aleman, and A.S. David. 2010. Self-reflection and the brain: A theoretical review and meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies with implications for schizophrenia. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 34(6): 935–946.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Varela, F.J., E. Thompson, and E. Rosch. 1991. The embodied mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, B.A. 2001a. Buddhism with an attitude: The Tibetan seven-point mind-training. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, B.A. 2001b. Intersubjectivity in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. Journal of Consciousness Studies 8(5–7): 209–230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Way, B.M., J.D. Creswell, N.I. Eisenberger, and M.D. Lieberman. 2010. Dispositional mindfulness and depressive symptomatology: Correlations with limbic and self-referential neural activity during rest. Emotion 10(1): 12–24.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wayment, H.A., and J.J. Bauer. 2008. Transcending self-interest: Psychological explorations of the quiet ego. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinstein, N.D., and E. Lachendro. 1982. Egocentrism as a source of unrealistic optimism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 8(2): 195–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitfield-Gabrieli, S., J.M. Moran, A. Nieto-Castañón, C. Triantafyllou, R. Saxe, and J.D.E. Gabrieli. 2011. Associations and dissociations between default and self-reference networks in the human brain. NeuroImage 55(1): 225–232.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, N., and N. Cowan. 1995. The cocktail party phenomenon revisited: How frequent are attention shifts to one’s name in an irrelevant auditory channel? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 21(1): 255–260.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zahavi, D. 2006. Subjectiviy and selhood: Investigating the first-person perspective. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, K., J. Yuan, Y. Zhong, Y. Peng, J. Chen, L. Zhou, et al. 2009. Event-related potential correlates of the collective self-relevant effect. Neuroscience Letters 464(1): 57–61.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, K., Q. Wu, H.D. Zimmer, and X. Fu. 2011. Electrophysiological correlates of visually processing subject’s own name. Neuroscience Letters 491(2): 143–147.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, A., Z. Shi, P. Zhang, P. Liu, W. Han, H. Wu, et al. 2010. An ERP study on the effect of self-relevant possessive pronoun. Neuroscience Letters 480(2): 162–166.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, Y., and L. Zhang. 2002. An experimental study on the self-reference effect. Science in China Series C: Life Series 45(2): 120–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, Y., L. Zhang, J. Fan, and S. Han. 2007. Neural basis of cultural influence on self-representation. NeuroImage 34(3): 1310–1316.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute of Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany

    Fynn-Mathis Trautwein

  2. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    José Raúl Naranjo & Stefan Schmidt

Authors
  1. Fynn-Mathis Trautwein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. José Raúl Naranjo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Stefan Schmidt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fynn-Mathis Trautwein .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Stefan Schmidt

  2. Institute for Transcultural Health Scien, European Universtiy Viadrina, Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

    Harald Walach

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Trautwein, FM., Naranjo, J.R., Schmidt, S. (2014). Meditation Effects in the Social Domain: Self-Other Connectedness as a General Mechanism?. In: Schmidt, S., Walach, H. (eds) Meditation – Neuroscientific Approaches and Philosophical Implications. Studies in Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01634-4_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation