University of Madison Wisconsin
22 May 2013
Until now, Little was known scientifically about the human potential to cultivate compassion. – the emotional state to care for people who are suffering, in a way that motivates altruistic behavior.
A new study by researchers at the Healthy Minds Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Waisman Center shows that adults can be trained to be more compassionate.. The report, recently published in the journal Psychological Science, is the first to investigate whether training adults in compassion can lead to greater altruistic behavior and related changes in the neural systems underlying compassion..
“Our fundamental question was: '¿Can compassion be exercised and learned by adults? ¿We can be more supportive, If we practice that way of thinking?'”, dice Helen Weng, lead author of the study and graduate student in clinical psychology. “The evidence points to yes.”
in the studio, Researchers trained young people who participated in compassion meditation, through a traditional Buddhist meditation technique to increase feelings of care for those who are suffering. in meditation, the participants were briefly visualizing someone who was suffering, and then they wanted their suffering to be relieved. Phrases were repeated to help them focus on compassion, tales como "Que seas libre del sufrimiento. May you have joy and well-being."
The participants practiced with four different categories of people. First of all, They focused on sending compassionate thoughts to someone they easily felt compassion for., like a dear friend or family member. In second place, They practiced compassion and forgiveness towards themselves. Third, They focused on a random stranger or a group of people who were suffering.. Finally, They practiced compassion for someone with whom they had a conflict or whom they considered a “difficult person.”, such as a problematic coworker or roommate.
“It's like weight training”, dice Weng. “Using this systematic approach, We found that people can build 'muscle’ of compassion and responding to the sufferings of others with care and a desire to help.”
Compassion training was compared to a control group, who learned a technique for cognitive reappraisal, where people learn to reframe their thoughts to feel less negative. Both groups listened to the guided audio instructions, via the Internet during 30 minutes every day, for two weeks. “We wanted to investigate whether people could begin to change their emotional habits in a relatively short period of time.”, dice Weng.
The real test to know if compassion could be exercised, was to see if people could be more altruistic –still helping people they had never met before. This was accomplished by asking participants to play a game called the “Redistribution Game.”” in which they were given the opportunity to spend their own money to help someone in need.
Participants played the redistribution game over the Internet, with two anonymous players: one was called “Dictator”” and the other “Victim”. The players watched as “Dictator” shared an unfair amount of money (only $1 decade $10) with “Victim”. So, they decided how much of their own money they would give (from $5) in order to equalize the unfair division and redistribute “Dictator” funds” and "Victims".
“We found that people trained in compassion were more likely to altruistically give their own money to help someone who was treated unfairly than those who were trained in cognitive reappraisal.”, dice Weng. “We wanted to see what has changed inside the brains of people who gave the most to someone in need.”. ¿And if they are responding to suffering differently now, how?” Weng asks..
The study showed changes in the brain structure of compassion meditation participants. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after training. In the fMRI scanner, participants viewed images depicting human suffering, like the cry of a child or a burn victim, and how they generate feelings of compassion towards people, using your skills that have been trained. The control group was exposed to the same functional magnetic resonance images., and were asked to recast the images in a more positive way with cognitive reappraisal.
The researchers measured how much the amount of brain activity had changed from the beginning to the end of the training., and they found that the people who found themselves most altruistic after compassion training were the ones who presented the greatest amount of changes in the brain when seeing human suffering.. In particular, It has been found that activity increased in the inferior parietal cortex, a region involved in empathy and understanding of others.
Compassion training also increased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the extent that it communicated with the nucleus accumbens., brain regions involved in emotion regulation and positive emotions.
"La gente parece estar más sensible al sufrimiento de los demás, but this is an emotional challenge. Ellos aprenden a regular sus emociones para que se acerquen sufrimiento de la gente con cuidado y con ganas de ayudar en vez de alejarse", explica Weng.
Compassion, as well as physical and academic skills, It seems to be something that is not fixed, but it can be improved with training and practice.
“The fact that alterations in brain function were observed after a total of seven hours of training is notable”, explains the professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Richard J. Davidson, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, founder and president of the Center for Healthy Minds Research and lead author of the article.
“There are many possible applications of this type of training”, dice Davidson. “Compassion and kindness training in schools can help children learn to be in tune with their own emotions and those of others.”, what can reduce bullying (school bullying). Compassion training can also benefit people who have social problems, such as social anxiety or antisocial behavior.”
Weng is also excited about how compassion training can help the general population.. “We studied the effects of this training with healthy participants, which showed that this can help the average person. I would love for more people to have access to the training and try it for a week or two -¿What changes might you see in your own lives??"
Both compassion and reappraisal training are available on the website (only in english) from the “Healthy Minds” Research Center. “I think we are only scratching the surface of how compassion can transform people's lives.”” dice Weng.
Other authors of the article were Andrew S. Fox, Alexander J. Shackman, Diane E. Barn, Jessica Z. K. Caldwell, Matthew C. Olson y Gregory M. Rogers.
The work was supported by funds from the National Institutes of Health, for a Hertz Award to the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, by the Fetzer Institute, the John Templeton Foundation, the Impact Foundation, the JW Kluge Foundation, Mental Insight Foundation, the Mind and Life Institute, and also by donations from Bryant Wanguard, Ralph Robinson, y Keith y Arlene Bronstein.
-Jill Ladwig
Spanish translated by Lorena Wong
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