Fredrickson et al., 2008: Practicing love-kindness meditation increased well-being, feelings of social support, and positive emotions among adults over fifteen months
Reference:
Fredrickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Pek, J., & Finkel, S. M. (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.
Download PDFSummary:
Teaching people to practice loving-kindness mediation—a contemplative practice designed to increase feelings of warmth and caring for the self and others—in 6 hour-long sessions over 7 weeks caused increases in positive emotions, which mediated an increased sense of purpose in life, increased feelings of social support, and reduced illness symptoms. This in turn predicted increased life satisfaction and fewer depressive symptoms. Fifteen months after the program ended, about one in three participants reported continuing to mediate and those who did continued to report more positive emotions (Cohn & Fredrickson, 2010).
Psychological Process:
Need
Need to BelongWhat Desired Meaning is At Stake?
What is the Person Trying to Understand?
To Feel Connected, Included, Respected, and Valued by OthersHow?
Psychological Question Addressed
Am I connected to others?Am I connected to others?Bolstering beliefs about social connectednessPsychological Question Addressed
Am I connected to others?Psychological Process 2:
Psychological Process 3:
Heading
Am I connected to others?Social Area:
Health; Well-being
Intervention Technique:
Active reflection, on a positive aspect of self