The media tell us that mindfulness (a form of meditation where you focus on being present in the moment) is good for us. Luckily, there is evidence to support this claim. For instance, a meta-analysis of 209 studies by Bassam Khoury and colleagues (2013) showed that mindfulness-based therapy is effective at reducing depression, stress and anxiety.
But might there be costs to others if we practise mindfulness? This is what Andrew Hafenbrack and colleagues (2022) concluded when they explored the relationship between mindfulness meditation and pro-social reparative behaviours (i.e. attempting to repair harm we have caused to others). Specifically, they asked participants to recall a time when they had treated someone badly. The authors found that participants who engaged (versus those who did not engage) in mindfulness meditation experienced less guilt about their past behaviour, which in turn made them less willing to make reparations to the person they had wronged.
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