IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v14y2013i4p1113-1126.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enhancing Compassion: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Compassion Cultivation Training Program

Author

Listed:
  • Hooria Jazaieri
  • Geshe Jinpa
  • Kelly McGonigal
  • Erika Rosenberg
  • Joel Finkelstein
  • Emiliana Simon-Thomas
  • Margaret Cullen
  • James Doty
  • James Gross
  • Philippe Goldin

Abstract

Psychosocial interventions often aim to alleviate negative emotional states. However, there is growing interest in cultivating positive emotional states and qualities. One particular target is compassion, but it is not yet clear whether compassion can be trained. A community sample of 100 adults were randomly assigned to a 9-week compassion cultivation training (CCT) program (n = 60) or a waitlist control condition (n = 40). Before and after this 9-week period, participants completed self-report inventories that measured compassion for others, receiving compassion from others, and self-compassion. Compared to the waitlist control condition, CCT resulted in significant improvements in all three domains of compassion—compassion for others, receiving compassion from others, and self-compassion. The amount of formal meditation practiced during CCT was associated with increased compassion for others. Specific domains of compassion can be intentionally cultivated in a training program. These findings may have important implications for mental health and well-being. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Hooria Jazaieri & Geshe Jinpa & Kelly McGonigal & Erika Rosenberg & Joel Finkelstein & Emiliana Simon-Thomas & Margaret Cullen & James Doty & James Gross & Philippe Goldin, 2013. "Enhancing Compassion: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Compassion Cultivation Training Program," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 1113-1126, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:14:y:2013:i:4:p:1113-1126
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-012-9373-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10902-012-9373-z
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-012-9373-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Antoine Lutz & Julie Brefczynski-Lewis & Tom Johnstone & Richard J Davidson, 2008. "Regulation of the Neural Circuitry of Emotion by Compassion Meditation: Effects of Meditative Expertise," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(3), pages 1-10, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aino I Saarinen & Dacher Keltner & Henrik Dobewall & Terho Lehtimäki & Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen & Mirka Hintsanen, 2021. "The relationship of socioeconomic status in childhood and adulthood with compassion: A study with a prospective 32-year follow-up," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-16, March.
    2. Ericson, Torgeir & Kjønstad, Bjørn Gunaketu & Barstad, Anders, 2014. "Mindfulness and sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 73-79.
    3. Andrew McVicar & Ann Pettit & Pamela Knight‐Davidson & Adelle Shaw‐Flach, 2021. "Promotion of professional quality of life through reducing fears of compassion and compassion fatigue: Application of the Compassionate Mind Model to Specialist Community Public Health Nurses (Health ," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1-2), pages 101-112, January.
    4. Melikşah Demir & Andrew Haynes & Marlyn Sanchez & Jennifer C. Parada, 2019. "Personal Sense of Uniqueness Mediates the Relationship Between Compassion for Others and Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(6), pages 1751-1773, August.
    5. Angélica López & Robbert Sanderman & Ans Smink & Ying Zhang & Eric van Sonderen & Adelita Ranchor & Maya J Schroevers, 2015. "A Reconsideration of the Self-Compassion Scale’s Total Score: Self-Compassion versus Self-Criticism," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-12, July.
    6. Hannah Matthaeus & Malvika Godara & Sarita Silveira & Martin Hecht & Manuel Voelkle & Tania Singer, 2024. "Reducing Loneliness through the Power of Practicing Together: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Online Dyadic Socio-Emotional vs. Mindfulness-Based Training," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(5), pages 1-14, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniel Lim & Paul Condon & David DeSteno, 2015. "Mindfulness and Compassion: An Examination of Mechanism and Scalability," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(2), pages 1-8, February.
    2. Lina Rådmark & Linda L Magnusson Hanson & Eva Bojner Horwitz & Walter Osika, 2017. "Prevalence of mind and body exercises (MBE) in relation to demographics, self-rated health, and purchases of prescribed psychotropic drugs and analgesics," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, September.
    3. Zoe Moula & Nicola Walshe & Elsa Lee, 2021. "Making Nature Explicit in Children’s Drawings of Wellbeing and Happy Spaces," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(4), pages 1653-1675, August.
    4. Chirag Dagar & Ashish Pandey & Ajinkya Navare, 2022. "How Yoga-Based Practices Build Altruistic Behavior? Examining the Role of Subjective Vitality, Self-transcendence, and Psychological Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 191-206, January.
    5. Hao Chen & Chao Liu & Xinyi Cao & Bo Hong & Ding-Hau Huang & Chia-Yi Liu & Wen-Ko Chiou, 2021. "Effects of Loving-Kindness Meditation on Doctors’ Mindfulness, Empathy, and Communication Skills," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-14, April.
    6. Raquel De la Fuente-Anuncibay & Ángela González-Barbadillo & Jerónimo González-Bernal & Esther Cubo & Juan P PizarroRuiz, 2019. "Mediating effect of mindfulness cognition on the development of empathy in a university context," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-12, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:14:y:2013:i:4:p:1113-1126. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.