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Journal for Re Aach Therapy and Developmental Diversies
eISSN: 2589-7799
2023 September; 6 (9s): 1707-1709
1707 hps://jrtdd.com
Loving Kindness Meditation And Its Impact On Intergroup Anxiety
Suman Grigary Thomas1* and Shanmukh V. Kamble2
1*Research Scholar, Post Graduate Department of Studies and Research in Psychology, Karnatak University Dharwad,
Karnataka.
2 Professor, Post Graduate Department of Studies and Research in Psychology, Karnatak University Dharwad, Karnataka.
Received: 07-06-2023 Revised: 14-07-2023 Accepted: 01-08-2023
Abstract
Loving Kindness meditation is an age-old practise which has a lot of potential benefits for the practitioners. The present
study was conducted to assess the impact of 30-days practice of Loving Kindness Meditation in reducing intergroup
anxiety of college students. The study included an initial sample of 300 college students who were administered with
Intergroup Anxiety Scale Short Form. 80 students (Men= 36, Women =44), who scored low on the scale were randomly
allotted to either an experimental group (Loving Kindness Meditation group) or a control group; where the former received
treatment for 30 days while the latter did not receive any. The hypotheses were tested using paired t-test and the results of
the study suggested that there was a significant decrease in the intergroup anxiety among the participants of experimental
group post the treatment while similar change was not identified among the participants of control group.
Keywords: Loving Kindness Meditation, Intergroup Anxiety, College Students
INTRODUCTION
Loving Kindness Meditation, with its roots in Buddhist tradition is a special type of meditation practice that aims to
cultivate perspectives of unfailing kindness towards oneself and others. Despite the fact that the precise operations vary
among the various Buddhist traditions, the main psychological operation in Loving Kindness Meditation is to constantly
generate one's good intentions towards particular targets. Usually, those who practice this form of mediatation, recite
certain words or phrases to targets, such as "may you be happy" or "may you be free from suffering." Some cultures
encourage people to visualize their intentions or the light of their hearts shining outward towards others. (Zeng et al.,
2015, Sujiva, 2007).
According to numerous research studies (Diener et al., 2006; Zeng et al., 2013), loving kindness meditation has a positive
effect on positive emotions and has the capacity to cultivate or foster positive emotions. Additionally, it has been
discovered that practising loving kindness meditation can help build the practitioner's personal resources in addition to
enhancing positive emotion. This can lead to greater life satisfaction and fewer depressive symptoms (Fredrickson et al.,
2008). Also, there is research evidence suggesting that Loving Kindness Meditation is actually helpful in reducing
prejudice towards others (Parks, Britel & Crisp, 2014; Berger, Bernick & Tarrasch, 2018).
Intergroup Anxiety is a highly related concept to prejudice, where one experience anxiety in anticipation or actual
interaction with outgroup members (Stephen,2014). This anxiety is quite different from social anxiety, as the person
experience anxiety only on the presence of outgroup members and not in any other social circumstances (Pa olini et al.,
2006) and this can lead to prejudice and negative behaviors towards the members of other groups. In the present study,
we are trying to understand whether Loving Kindness Meditation is an effective method in bringing down the intergroup
anxiety among the people.
Method
Objective
To find out if Loving Kindness Meditation is effective in reducing Intergroup anxiety of college students.
Hypotheses
H1: There is a significant improvement in the intergroup anxiety of college students in the Loving Kindness Meditation
group
H2: There is no significant improvement in intergroup anxiety of college students in the control group
Participants
Journal for Re Aach Therapy and Developmental Diversies
eISSN: 2589-7799
2023 September; 6 (9s): 1707-1709
1708 hps://jrtdd.com
The participants of the present study included 300 students within the age range 19-25, studying in various colleges in
Kerala. From the initial sample, 80 (Men=36, Women=44) students who scored low in forgiveness and subjective well-
being were randomly allotted to either an experimental group or a control group.
Sampling Design
A purposive sampling method was utilised where data was collected from 300 students from various colleges of Kerala
and a random allotment method was employed to allot students to experimental and control groups.
Instrument Used
Intergroup Anxiety Scale Short Form developed by Paolini et al. (2004), which consisted of 6 items was used to assess
the intergroup anxiety of the participants and the scale constituted a 4-point Likert Scale ranging from 1 to 4.
Procedure
300 students from various colleges in Kerala State, India, constituted the primary source of data for the study. The
researcher contacted the college principles to ask for permission to collect data from the students. After explaining the
study's goals to the participants, the researcher later got their informed consent. The students were administered with
Intergroup Anxiety Scale -Short Form and 80 students (Men=36, Women=44) who scored high in the scale were then
randomly allotted to Loving Kindness Meditation group (N=40; Men=19, Women=21) and control group (N=40; Men=17,
Women=23). The participants in the Loving Kindness Meditation group received training for 30 days while the control
group did not receive any. Then the Intergroup Anxiety scale was readministered to the participants in the two groups and
the pre-test and post-test scores were compared and contrasted.
Data Analysis
With the help of SPSS 25, the statistical operation of Paired t-test was utilized to compare and contrast the pretest scores
of the participants.
Results and Discussion
Table 1 shows the Mean, SD and t-value of Loving Kindness Meditation group on Intergroup Anxiety
N
Mean
SD
t-value
Intergroup
Anxiety
Pretest
40
19.97
1.60
21.66**
Post-test
40
10.47
2.05
**p<0.01, Highly Significant
Table 1 displays the Intergroup Anxiety pre- and post-test results for the Loving Kindness Meditation intervention group.
In contrast to their average pre-test score of 19.97, the participants' average post-test intergroup anxiety score was 10.47.
The pre-test score's corresponding SD was 1.60, and the post-test score's was 2.05. After receiving the loving kindness
meditation training, the t-value was found to be 21.66, which was highly significant (p< 0.01) and indicated a significant
decrease in intergroup anxiety with a large effect size of 3.65.
The findings showed that there was a decline in the participants' prejudice towards those who belonged to the out-group,
i.e., there was a decrease in their negative attitudes towards them. The findings of Parks, Birtel, and Crisp (2014), who
found that brief loving kindness meditation increased positive affect and the intention to make contact with members of
the other group and reduced intergroup anxiety, were consistent with the findings of the current study. They have also
found that practising mindfulness techniques such as loving kindness meditation helped to lessen intergroup anxiety
towards a primary outgroup that was immediately present as well as negative attitudes towards an outgroup that was
secondary.
Table 2 shows the Mean, SD and t-value of Control group on Intergroup Anxiety
N
Mean
SD
t-value
Intergroup
Anxiety
Pretest
40
18.35
1.40
-1.43
Post-test
40
18.40
1.39
The results of the control group's pre- and post-tests on intergroup anxiety are shown in the table. In contrast to their
average pre-test score of 18.35, the participants' average post-test intergroup anxiety score was 18.40. Pre-test scores had
an SD of 1.40, and post-test scores had an SD of 1.39. The obtained t-value of -1.43,was not statistically significant and
indicated that there had been no significant change in intergroup anxiety among the participants in the control group.
Journal for Re Aach Therapy and Developmental Diversies
eISSN: 2589-7799
2023 September; 6 (9s): 1707-1709
1709 hps://jrtdd.com
The current finding can be explained by the fact that the control group of students did not receive any kind of intervention
that encouraged intergroup harmony. Similar findings were obtained in the study by Page -Gould, Mendoza-Denton, and
Tropp (2008), in which the treatment group received a cross-group friendship-promoting intervention, which led to an
improvement in cross-group friendships and a decrease in intergroup anxiety, but not in the control group.
CONCLUSION
The goal of the current study was to determine whether loving kindness meditation was effective in reducing college
students' intergroup anxiety. The findings showed that practicing loving kindness meditation significantly reduced the
anxiety when they were interacting with outgroup members, which was consistent with earlier research.
IMPLICATIONS
Traditional meditation techniques like Loving Kindness Meditation, which have positive effects on practitioners' lives,
should be incorporated into contemporary psychotherapy. It can benefit both academic and personal outcomes as it helps
to foster positive qualities in the practitioners. It also benefits the practitioners' relationships and enables them to lead
more fulfilling lives.
LIMITATIONS
The current study's reliance on self-report measures is a major drawback. The results would have been more accurate and
significant if they had been based on behavioral metrics and reports from outside sources that evaluated factor like
Intergroup Anxiety.
SUGGESTIONS
Future research can examine the benefits of loving kindness meditation in treating psychiatric symptoms and promoting
related traits like tolerance, self-control, and social connectedness. Additionally, the efficacy can be compared to other
treatments based on the positive psychology philosophy.
REFERENCES
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positive emotions: a meta-analytic review. Frontiers in psychology,6, 1693, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01693.
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