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

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Meditation – Neuroscientific Approaches and Philosophical Implications

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.

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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).

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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

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  1. Fynn-Mathis Trautwein
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  2. José Raúl Naranjo
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  3. Stefan Schmidt
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Correspondence to Fynn-Mathis Trautwein .

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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

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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

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