Abstract
How to encourage people in positions of absolute power to show compassion to others is a topic of high practical and theoretical significance. Building on recent research that examines the influence of loving-kindness meditation (LKM) in fostering positive emotions and positive relations with others, we examined whether engaging in LKM would increase allocations to counterparts in a dictator game. In this game, allocators, or dictators, can unilaterally allocate any part of a given resource to the receiver, without any fear of reprisal. We found that participants who engaged in a short (8 min) LKM meditation before the dictator game gave more of the resource (SGD10) to the other party than participants who engaged in a neutral visualization exercise. Further, we found that this experimental effect was fully mediated through positive feelings towards the other party.
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