The Social Aspect of Mindfulness

Much mindfulness research has focused on the effects of mindfulness on the self - how mindfulness relates to our emotions, our body, our brains, and our wellbeing. In addition to how mindfulness impacts our individual selves, mindfulness can also impact our relationships and how we interact with others.

A series of studies published in the Journal of Personality ad Social Psychology propose the concept of social mindfulness, which they describe as both the skill and motivation to make other-regarding choices. Their first series of studies found that people with more other-oriented mindsets acted more prosocially, measured by their likelihood of leaving others with more choices, and thus with more personal control over their situation. Further studies discovered that people who were more socially mindful were viewed more favorably by others, and that people displayed more social mindfulness to strangers with more trustworthy faces. The trait of social mindfulness was also related to other personality traits, including Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness, Empathy, and prosocial value orientation.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader