SynthesisScientific reports2018
The limited prosocial effects of meditation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06136676 (From the Heart Multi-Centre Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 56 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
From the Heart Multi-Centre Study: Comparing the Effects of Spiritual and Secular Meditation on Psychophysiology, Cognition, Mental Health, and Social Functioning in Healthy Adults
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Meta-analysis and dose-response analysis of low-temperature stress effects on rice yield and physiological responses.Frontiers in plant science · 2026Pooled it
- Yoga interventions and randomized controlled trials: key issues and the centered impact on sedentary lifestyle-associated cardiometabolic disorders.Frontiers in clinical diabetes and healthcare · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions on empathy: A meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- The Empirical Status of Mindfulness-Based Interventions: A Systematic Review of 44 Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials.Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2022Pooled it
- Mindfulness-based programmes for mental health promotion in adults in nonclinical settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.PLoS medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Lonelier people feel less empathic despite intact neural empathy responses after meditation training.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2026Trial
- Assessing the effect of Loving-Kindness Meditation on pain and social well-being using a randomized controlled trial design.PloS one · 2026Trial
- Impact of meditation on brain age derived from multimodal neuroimaging in experts and older adults from a randomized trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Meditation training and non-native language training both reduce older adults loneliness in the age-well randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Effects of brief mindfulness meditation on compassion and personal distress using the socio-affective video task.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Effects of a group-based compassion microintervention compared to cognitive reappraisal training on cardiovascular, self-reported, and behavioral stress reactivity among young adults: A cluster randomized controlled trial.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2025Trial
- The relational dimension in mindfulness intervention effects: results of a randomized controlled trial of mindfulness-based childbirth and parenting.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Trial
- Getting closer: compassion training increases feelings of closeness toward a disliked person.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Efficacy of mHealth aided 12-week meditation and breath intervention on change in burnout and professional quality of life among health care providers of a tertiary care hospital in north India: a randomized waitlist-controlled trial.Frontiers in public health · 2023Trial
- Effects of compassion training on brain responses to suffering others.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2021Trial
- Effectiveness of providing university students with a mindfulness-based intervention to increase resilience to stress: 1-year follow-up of a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2021Trial
- Higher mindfulness and lower self-absorption predict greater compassion within romantic relationships.Communications psychology · 2026Article
- The Effect of Meditation on Depression and Psychological Well-being Among Active Smokers.Annals of neurosciences · 2026Article
- The Child's Perspective on the School-Based Mindfulness Programme, Paws b.Journal of child and family studies · 2025Article
- (State) empathy: how context matters.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many individuals believe that meditation has the capacity to not only alleviate mental-illness but to improve prosociality. This article systematically reviewed and meta-analysed the effects of meditation interventions on prosociality in randomized controlled trials of healthy adults. Five types of social behaviours were identified: compassion, empathy, aggression, connectedness and prejudice. Although we found a moderate increase in prosociality following meditation, further analysis indicated that this effect was qualified by two factors: type of prosociality and methodological quality. Meditation interventions had an effect on compassion and empathy, but not on aggression, connectedness or prejudice. We further found that compassion levels only increased under two conditions: when the teacher in the meditation intervention was a co-author in the published study; and when the study employed a passive (waiting list) control group but not an active one. Contrary to popular beliefs that meditation will lead to prosocial changes, the results of this meta-analysis showed that the effects of meditation on prosociality were qualified by the type of prosociality and methodological quality of the study. We conclude by highlighting a number of biases and theoretical problems that need addressing to improve quality of research in this area.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.