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Cited by 259Mindfulness and Compassion InterventionsPsychological Well-being and Life SatisfactionReligion, Spirituality, and Psychology

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The effect of loving-kindness meditation on positive emotions: a meta-analytic review

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Zeng, Xianglong, Chiu, Cleo P. K., Wang, Rong, Oei, Tian P. S., Leung, Freedom Y. K.·2015·Frontiers in Psychology
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01693PMC PMC4630307
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Abstract

While it has been suggested that loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is an effective practice for promoting positive emotions, the empirical evidence in the literature remains unclear. Here, we provide a systematic review of 24 empirical studies (N = 1759) on LKM with self-reported positive emotions. The effect of LKM on positive emotions was estimated with meta-analysis, and the influence of variations across LKM interventions was further explored with subgroup analysis and meta-regression. The meta-analysis showed that (1) medium effect sizes for LKM interventions on daily positive emotions in both wait-list controlled RCTs and non-RCT studies; and (2) small to large effect sizes for the on-going practice of LKM on immediate positive emotions across different comparisons. Further analysis showed that (1) interventions focused on loving-kindness had medium effect size, but interventions focused on compassion showed small effect sizes; (2) the length of interventions and the time spent on meditation did not influence the effect sizes, but the studies without didactic components in interventions had small effect sizes. A few individual studies reported that the nature of positive emotions and individual differences also influenced the results. In sum, LKM practice and interventions are effective in enhancing positive emotions, but more studies are needed to identify the active components of the interventions, to compare different psychological operations, and to explore the applicability in clinical populations.

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Crossref · 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01693

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FIGURE 1 Flowchart for the literature search.
FIGURE 1 Flowchart for the literature search.CC BY · PubMed Central
FIGURE 2 Randomized control trail (RCT) studies on daily PE, comparison with waitlist control group. The highest estimation was based on high arousal positive (HAP) emotion in Koopmann-Holm et al. (2013). Subgroup analysis compared LKM on loving-kindness and LKM on compassion.
FIGURE 2 Randomized control trail (RCT) studies on daily PE, comparison with waitlist control group. The highest estimation was based on high arousal positive (HAP) emotion in Koopmann-Holm et al. (2013). Subgroup analysis compared LKM on loving-kindness and LKM on compassion.CC BY · PubMed Central
FIGURE 3 RCT studies on daily PE, comparison with waitlist control group. The lowest estimation was based on low arousal positive (LAP) emotion in Koopmann-Holm et al. (2013). Subgroup analysis compared LKM on loving-kindness and LKM on compassion.
FIGURE 3 RCT studies on daily PE, comparison with waitlist control group. The lowest estimation was based on low arousal positive (LAP) emotion in Koopmann-Holm et al. (2013). Subgroup analysis compared LKM on loving-kindness and LKM on compassion.CC BY · PubMed Central
FIGURE 4 Non-RCT studies on daily PE. The highest estimation was based on frequency of happiness (Freq) in Alba (2013), unactivated positive emotion (Unactivate) in Kearney et al. (2014) and modified Differential Emotions Scale (mDES) in Johnson et al. (2011). Subgroup analysis compared LKM with course and without course.
FIGURE 4 Non-RCT studies on daily PE. The highest estimation was based on frequency of happiness (Freq) in Alba (2013), unactivated positive emotion (Unactivate) in Kearney et al. (2014) and modified Differential Emotions Scale (mDES) in Johnson et al. (2011). Subgroup analysis compared LKM with course and without course.CC BY · PubMed Central
FIGURE 5 Non-RCT studies on daily PE. The lowest estimation was based on long-term happiness (Trait) in Alba (2013), activated positive emotion (Activate) in Kearney et al. (2014), day reconstruction method (DRM) in Johnson et al. (2011). Subgroup analysis compared LKM with course and without course.
FIGURE 5 Non-RCT studies on daily PE. The lowest estimation was based on long-term happiness (Trait) in Alba (2013), activated positive emotion (Activate) in Kearney et al. (2014), day reconstruction method (DRM) in Johnson et al. (2011). Subgroup analysis compared LKM with course and without course.CC BY · PubMed Central
FIGURE 6 RCT studies for PE from on-going practice, comparison with neutral visualization. The highest estimation was based on prosocial positive emotion (OtherFocus) in Seppala et al. (2014).
FIGURE 6 RCT studies for PE from on-going practice, comparison with neutral visualization. The highest estimation was based on prosocial positive emotion (OtherFocus) in Seppala et al. (2014).CC BY · PubMed Central
FIGURE 7 RCT studies for PE from on-going practice, comparison with neutral visualization. The lowest estimation was based on self-focused positive emotion (SelfFocus) in Seppala et al. (2014).
FIGURE 7 RCT studies for PE from on-going practice, comparison with neutral visualization. The lowest estimation was based on self-focused positive emotion (SelfFocus) in Seppala et al. (2014).CC BY · PubMed Central
FIGURE 8 RCT studies for PE from on-going practice, comparison with memory training.
FIGURE 8 RCT studies for PE from on-going practice, comparison with memory training.CC BY · PubMed Central

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Cites

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Fredrickson, 2008, Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources., J. Pers. Soc. Psychol., 95, 1045, 10.1037/a0013262 · DOI · Paper page
  2. Hedges, 1985, Statistical Models for Meta-analysis.
  3. Sujiva, 2007, Loving-Kindness Meditation.
  4. Wheeler, 2014, Brief compassion meditation and recall of positive-emotion words., J. Artic. Support Null Hypothesis, 11, 12

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Metadata

Authors
Zeng, X., Chiu, C. P. K., Wang, R., Oei, T. P. S., & Leung, F. Y. K.
Affiliations
  • Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
  • Nanjing Forestry University (CN)
  • The University of Queensland (AU)
Corresponding author
Zeng, Xianglong
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Psychology
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2015-11-03
Volume
6
Pages
1693-1693
ISSN
1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01693
PMC
PMC4630307
OpenAlex
W2213657943
Cited by
258
References
50
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 44 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 60 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 4
FWCI
1.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ResearchOnline at James Cook University (James Cook University) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • James Cook University
  • Nanjing University
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
  • Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
Keywords
loving-kindness meditation, positive emotions, compassion-focused interventions, meditation intervention, intervention components, individual differences, mindfulness-based interventions

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