Can 10 minutes make you more empathetic?: Exploring The Impact of a Brief Compassion Meditation on Empathy & Counter-Empathy

Abstract

Empathy supports social connection and well-being while counter-empathy can weaken relationships and promote conflict. Compassion-based interventions such as loving-kindness meditation (LKM) have been shown to increase feelings of social connectedness and reduce self-focus. However, the impact of LKM on both empathy (measured through both positive and negative empathy) and counter-empathy (measured through schadenfreude and gluckschmerz) remains unexplored. The present study explored whether a brief, 9-minute LKM could increase empathy and reduce counter-empathy compared to a neutral visualization meditation. Forty-two undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either the LKM or control condition. As an implicit measure of empathy and counter-empathy, participants rated how good or bad they felt in response to 32 everyday scenarios both before and after the meditation. These ratings captured four outcomes: positive empathy, negative empathy, schadenfreude, and gluckschmerz. Results showed the LKM group experienced significantly greater increases in both positive and negative empathy compared to the control condition. Although both groups showed reductions in counter-empathy (both schadenfreude and gluckschmerz), these changes did not differ significantly amongst the groups. Exploratory analyses suggested that greater focus and adherence during meditation may be linked to lower counter-empathy. These findings demonstrate the efficacy of a brief loving-kindness meditation on significantly increasing empathy. Future research should explore how to best tailor loving-kindness meditations to effectively reduce counter-empathy.

Keywords: empathy, counter-empathy, loving-kindness meditation, schadenfreude, gluckschmerz, compassion intervention