The nondiscriminating heart: Lovingkindness meditation training decreases implicit intergroup bias.

All except one of the studies where the intervention was taught by a person used a meditation teacher who was a named author in the study (information unavailable for two studies).

“All except one of the studies41, where the intervention was taught by a person, used a meditation teacher that was a named author in the study (information unavailable for two studies24,25).”

Only rarely do studies try to look at underpinning mechanisms, such as the role of meditation in increasing empathic accuracy or in decreasing psychological stress.

“Only rarely do studies try to look at underpinning mechanisms, such as the role of meditation in increasing empathic accuracy43 or in decreasing psychological stress41.”

Another study engaged an external instructor who was not connected to the study in any other way.

“and another study engaged an external instructor who was not connected to the study in any other way41.”

The research literature tends to swiftly reference the health benefits of meditation and/or mention the alleged prosocial effects of meditation in the Buddhist tradition.

“The research literature tends to swiftly reference the health benefits of meditation and/or mention the alleged prosocial effects of meditation in the Buddhist tradition36,38,41.”

The results either failed to show that the mechanism in question played any significant role or it only worked partially (reducing psychological distress when dealing with prejudice regarding homeless but not Black people).

“However, the results either failed to show that the mechanism in question played any significant role or it only worked partially (reducing psychological distress when dealing with prejudice regarding homeless but not Black people)41.”

All 7 low-risk studies that measured observable prosocial outcomes reported improvements following meditation.

“There were 7 low-risk studies that measured observable pro-social outcomes and all of them reported improvements following meditation (Kang, Gray, & Dovidio, 2014; Kemeny et al., 2012; Mascaro, Riling, Negi, & Raison, 2013; Rosenberg et al., 2015; Schonert-Reichl et al., 2015; Weng et al., 2013; Weng, Fox, Hessenthaler, Stodola, & Davidson, 2015).”

Six of these studies conducted formal mediation analyses.

“Six of these studies conducted formal mediation analyses (Ashar et al., 2016; Hutcherson et al., 2008; Kang et al., 2014; Oman et al., 2010; Kok et al., 2013; Shapiro et al., 1998).”

Three low-risk studies did not find support for subjective improvements.

“Three low-risk studies did not find support for subjective improvements (Kang et al., 2014; Keefe, 1979; Rosenberg et al., 2015).”

Decreased stress mediated the effect of LKM on bias.

“decreased stress mediated the effect of LKM on bias (Kang et al., 2014);”

Some studies directly tested self-focused emotional mechanisms as mediators of meditation training on prosocial outcomes and found significant indirect effects, suggesting that meditation leads to improvements in individuals' own socio-emotional functioning and, thereby, improvements in prosocial outcomes.

“Some studies directly tested self-focused emotional mechanisms as mediators of meditation training on pro-social outcomes and found significant indirect effects, suggesting that meditation leads to improvements in individuals own socio-emotional functioning and, thereby, improvements in pro-social outcomes (Ashar et al., 2016; Hutcherson et al., 2008; Kang et al., 2014; Kok et al., 2013; Shapiro”