May you be happy and well. Meditation and pro-environmental choice.
(A2019-8330)

AUTHORS

Carlos Martínez de Ibarreta, Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid; Carmen Valor, Universidad Pontificia Comillas; Isabel Carrero, Universidad Pontificia Comillas; Amparo Merino, Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid; Raquel Redondo, Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid; Ana Gómez, Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid

KEYWORDS

Meditation; mindfulness; sustainable behaviour

ABSTRACT

Taking into account past evidence, this paper defends that loving-kindness meditation may be a powerful intervention to drive sustainable choices. This type of meditation enhances ego-transcendence and social connectedness which have been proven key antecedent of sustainable habits. In an experimental setting, this paper tests whether loving kindness meditation is more effective than mindfulness meditation in driving a sustainable choice. The paper finds confirmation for this hypothesis only among naive meditators. However, experienced meditators choose the pro-environmental product to a greater extent than naive meditators, regardless of the type of meditation. This is the first paper to conduct an experimental study to assess the effectiveness of meditation on pro-environmental choice. The findings guide the design of meditation-based interventions that are more likely to lead to sustainable choices.