Mindful Attention as a Skillful Means toward Intergroup Prosociality

Abstract

Objectives: Training in mindfulness has been found to have practical benefits for a range of interpersonal outcomes including prosocial action and emotion. Recently, theory has posited that mindfulness and contemplative trainings that include mindfulness practices may enhance intergroup compassion. Method: Here, we conduct a selective narrative review, drawing on the Buddhist concept skillful means to ask if mindful attention deployment presents an optimal starting point for intergroup compassion and action.Results: We report an interdisciplinary theoretical framework suggesting that mindfulness dismantles common intrapsychic challenges to intergroup prosociality. We describe empirical research on the effects of experimentally manipulated mindfulness in intergroup contexts. Specifically, mindfulness promotes basic social cognitive processes that allow intergroup prosociality to flourish.Conclusions: While this research is promising, we note that research to date has been limited to individual-level outgrowths of mindfulness practice. Discussion focuses on skillful means that might “bring out the best” in mindfulness training for the promotion of intergroup prosociality on a larger scale – that is, the societal level. We present big questions for the future of mindfulness research in intergroup prosociality and call for an integrative approach situating mindfulness within social psychological interventions to enhance intergroup compassion

Brief Mindfulness Instruction Predicts Anonymous Prosocial Helping of an Ostracized Racial Outgroup Member

“…Consistent with this, mindfulness was not related to empathic distress or empathic anger, two self-oriented emotions. These findings also support mindfulness theory (Brown & Berry, 2017;Berry et al, 2022;Davidson & Harrington, 2002), and empirical work (e.g., Lueke & Gibson, 2016) indicating that mindfulness promotes prosocial action. Most importantly, brief mindfulness instructions promoted empathic concern and prosocial action toward a racial outgroup member in contexts with relatively higher anonymity.…”

“…Here we discuss three possible mechanisms of the effect of mindfulness on interracial prosociality. First, as a receptive attention to what one is presently experiencing, mindfulness may reduce automatic activation of implicit biases and automatic affective responses to racial outgroup members (Berry & Brown, 2017;Berry et al, 2022;Kang et al, 2014). Incipient research has shown that brief training in mindfulness reduces automatic activation of implicit race bias (Lueke & Gibson, 2015).…”

“…For example, dominant group members may feel empathy paternalistically (Schneider et al, 1996) or to appear unprejudiced (Richeson & Shelton, 2003), while non-dominant group members may not trust dominant group members' intentions (Kunstman et al, 2016) or fear rejection by dominant group members (Shelton & Richeson, 2005). Berry et al (2022) have provided some direction for testing the broader range of theories on racism and intergroup prosociality within contemplative science. Specifically, they suggest that including contemplative practices into intergroup dyadic interactions could inform about the mutual benefits (or lack thereof) of contemplative practices for members from different social groups.…”