Can mindfulness make you selfish? An in-depth analysis of a recent study.

Recent studies have shed light on the holistic impact of mindfulness, and potential negative side-effects. As a proliferator of mindfulness, I am compelled to share my perspective and spur more conversation on the topic.

As a quick side note, I started MindfulText when my father passed away in 2018 from an auto-immune disease and shortly after, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. I outline the experience here. In summary, mindfulness and its practices were instrumental for me and my family of 7 in going through these life events.

In this post, I deep dive into the article "Mindfulness can make you selfish" and share more context to further inform readers interested in how the science of mindfulness can benefit them and their companies.

"Mindfulness can make you selfish"

A recent study from Michael Poulin, PhD, an associate professor of psychology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences, worked on a research paper that got picked up by media sources leading with the eye-catching headline that mindfulness can make you selfish.

It is also important to note that the actual title of the research paper is "Minding your own business? Mindfulness decreases prosocial behavior for those with independent self-construals."

Eye-catching titles are useful in getting messages to more people. The downside to this is that it is misleading. The reality is that the research is complex, just like human emotion and interaction.

Looking at the actual research paper's title, you can get a better sense of the true findings of the article: Mindfulness decreases prosocial behavior for those with independent self-construals. Let's dive into the definitions:

1. What is prosocial behavior? According to ScienceDirect, a platform for peer-reviewed literature, it is defined as follows: "Prosocial behavior is a broad class of behavior defined as involving costs for the self and resulting in benefits for others."
2. What are independent self-construals? According to the American Psychological Association, it is defined as: "a view of the self (self-construal) that emphasizes one’s separateness and unique traits and accomplishments and that downplays one’s embeddedness in a network of social relationships."
3. What are interdependent self-construals? "Those with an interdependent self-construal, in contrast, view their close relationships, social roles, and group memberships as central to their sense of self."

With this context, readers have a more informed conclusion from the study - selfish behavior may arise for practitioners of mindfulness that view themselves as independent. Even with this context, more questions arise, so let's dive into those questions and the relevant facts.

Commentary on the Methodology

There are some important data points to take into account from this study. Here is the context:

• To measure levels of selfishness, the first study asked participants to help their university request financial support from alumni by stuffing envelopes.
• In Study 2, "rather than being asked to stuff envelopes to contact donors, participants were told that they could sign up for time slots to chat online with potential alumni donors to request their financial support for the charity."
• The average age of the participants was 19 years old.
• The majority of participants were white (53%).
• Participants practiced a specific type of mindfulness meditation: mindful breathing

Looking at these facts, we might come to similar questions:

1. Could there have been a better measure of selfishness? Perhaps asking students to perform a job that directly benefits the brand of the university is not a great measure of a person's ability to be selfless. Instead, how about acts of kindness to others?
2. Would the outcomes of the study differ for another age group? Well, there is evidence to suggest the idea that we become more selfless as we age.
3. How does the perception of culture play into the study? Some cultures are more accepting of children coming back to live at home after college while other cultures promote a more independent view of life after college. These thoughts provide more clues as to how these practices may impact cultures differently.
4. From body-scanning to guided visualizations, there are a wide variety of practices to help individuals leverage mindfulness practices. Would another type of mindfulness practice provide different results?

What did the research actually conclude?

"Mindfulness led to decreased prosocial behavior for individuals with independent self-construals, but increased prosocial behavior for those with interdependent self-construals."

Stated in the research paper, yes, mindfulness can make you selfish with the caveat of having independent self-construals. You may have higher levels of independent self-construals if you overly identify as independent.

The study also mentions that mindfulness led to unselfish behavior for those with interdependent self-construals - this loosely means that one identifies as dependent and connected to their communities.

So, an equally valid title and focus for this study may have stated: Mindfulness Makes You Altruistic. In fact, there are other research studies that support this.

What can you safely take away?

A leader in the mindfulness space, Jon Kabat-Zinn defined mindfulness meditation as “the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally”. This awareness gives us the ability to see and acknowledge when and if one becomes "too selfish," for example.

Furthermore, mindfulness can be used a powerful tool to influence behavior. If you intend on using it to increase prosocial behavior, it is possible. The opposite is also suggested to be true.

At MindfulText, this gives us direction on how to best structure our team, content, and programs. With this top-of-mind, we know that our culture, mission, and intentions for the use of mindfulness are important. We aim to provide the highest good for all involved.

We would love to continue the conversation. Do you have any thoughts? Have you read the research? Let me know.

P.S. Learn more about MindfulText here.