Lkm - Loving Kindness Meditation

1225 Words5 Pages
Loving kindness meditation is an act in which one engages in compassionate pro-social meditation that regulates your emotions and sense of empathy with others. In this study, scientists have guided a focus towards specifying whether or not feelings of social connection and positivity toward others can be increased by loving-kindness meditation exercises. These scientists have hypothesized that LKM visualization and meditation exercises help self-generate pro-social emotional empathy towards others (even neutral strangers) and can help regulate one’s grasp on personal sentiment. The question of this study asks whether routine use of LKM administers an increase in positive social emotions or a decrease in social isolation. For centuries pro-social orientation through meditation has been at the core of some Eastern philosophies and it has been practiced by Buddhist traditions in order to cultivate connection and love towards one another. Nonetheless, little is known of LKM empirically. This is a quantitative correlational study, and multiple factors play a key role in understanding LKM and the effect it has on social connectedness. There were 93 participants in the study, fifty seven percent of which were female, the other forty three male. The average age of the participants collectively was 23.6 years, and if one had reported meditating for more than thirty minutes a day, they were excluded. The scientists conducting the study also assessed participant’s moods through another exercise called neutral imagery induction (IMAGERY). The two groups of participants (LKM and IMAGERY) were directed through both explicit (open) and implicit (contained) responses toward each other through guided procedures. For the LKM group, participant’s responses to five photographs of people were measured and evaluated before AND Fahey 2 after their sessions of meditation (the
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