Mindfulness and people

Prosocial behavior may be hampered by mindfulness among highly intelligent people.

Numerous studies have found a connection between mindfulness and acting in ways that are intended to help others, but is this true for everyone? According to a study that appeared in Scientific Reports, those with higher IQs who are more mindful may be less likely to exhibit prosocial behavior.

Prosocial behavior is generally understood as acts that are intended to benefit others, such as lending a hand, cooperating, providing comfort, and more. Prosocial behavior has been linked to a wide range of positive outcomes, including improved IQ and heightened empathy.

Additionally, evidence suggests that dispositional mindfulness and intellect may combine to influence one's propensity for prosocial behavior. A person's innate propensity to practice mindfulness in daily life is referred to as dispositional mindfulness. It stands for a person's propensity to be conscious of and attentive to their current experiences.

The current study aimed to better understand how mindfulness can potentially modulate the association between prosocial behavior and empathy as well as the relationship between intellect and empathy.

Qiangke Guo and colleagues used 759 college students in China as their sample in their study. The average age of the 477 female participants was 22.03 years old. For their participation, participants received extra credit in a psychology course. They completed self-report questionnaires on their IQ, empathy, prosocial behavior, and dispositional mindfulness.

Results revealed a positive, substantial association between prosocial behavior and intellect, which is consistent with earlier studies. Increased empathy may be somewhat to blame for this. To put it another way, those who are smarter also tend to be more empathic, and empathy is linked to prosocial behavior.

According to the study, "high intelligence individuals have a stronger executive function and theory of mind abilities, which makes it easier for them to put themselves in other people's shoes and offer assistance when witnessing others suffer."

Prosocial behavior was also shown to be moderated by mindfulness, with prosocial behavior being higher in intelligent persons who report low levels of mindfulness and lower in clever people who report high levels of mindfulness. This went against the researcher's theory. This went against the researcher's theory.

Additionally, mindfulness drastically weakened the link between prosocial behavior and empathy. Even though empathy and prosocial behavior are positively correlated at both mindfulness levels, they are dramatically diminished at high levels of mindfulness. This may imply that awareness in some way prevents prosocial feelings from manifesting as prosocial actions.

This study made significant progress in clarifying the connection between prosocial behavior and mindfulness. This study made significant progress in clarifying the connection between prosocial behavior and mindfulness. Despite this, there are some drawbacks to be aware of. The fact that all measures were self-report and thus susceptible to social desirability bias is a notable disadvantage. Additionally, the use of just undergraduate students who took part for additional credit could restrict generalizability.

This study might have demonstrated mindfulness's limitations. The researchers concluded that mindfulness may discourage prosocial behavior in those with high IQs because it weakens the link between intelligence and prosociality.

The cause may be because high IQ people are less likely to act to achieve a desirable condition (such as helping a victim get rid of difficulties) due to diminished excitement caused by present-moment knowledge and acceptance of the status quo. To put it another way, highly intelligent people are hesitant to take action to achieve a desired condition because they are more likely to achieve serenity and relaxation by concentrating on the present. This study might be useful in exposing the limitations of conventional mindfulness training.This study might be useful in exposing the limitations of conventional mindfulness training.