Meditators have been shown to be able to uncouple negative emotional reactions from their behavior
In the Ultimatum Game, people report increases in emotions like anger and disgust when they feel that the other side is not āplaying fair.ā Meditators have been shown to behave more altruistically in these scenarios, willingly accepting more unfair offers than nonmeditators. Ulrich Kirk and colleagues provided some insight into this phenomenon by measuring participantsā brain activity while they were playing the Ultimatum Game. They looked at the anterior insula in particular. Activity in this region has been shown to predict whether an unfair offer will be rejected. Kirk found that meditators showed decreased activity in the anterior insula compared to nonmeditators.
The researchers suggested that this lower degree of activation āenabled them to uncouple negative emotional reactions from their behavior.ā Perhaps they could more easily see their emotions arising and clouding their judgment (that is, leading them to fall into the āfairnessā subjective bias). The results of an action can disincentivize us to perform that action in the future, and by seeing the lack of inherent reward in punishing the other participant, they decided not to follow through on the behavior. They could step out of the āIām going to stick it to you!ā habit loop because it wasnāt as rewarding for them as other responses. The costs of retributive response may indeed outweigh the benefits. Fairness aside, it is more painful to be a jerk than to be nice to one.
References
- Brewer, Judson. (2017). The Craving Mind Chapter 8. Learning to Be Meanāand Nice (Location 2269). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Metadata
Type:š“ Tags: Psychology / Neuroscience / Yoga / Philosophy / Ethics Status:āļø