Mindfulness can make you selfish, finds study

A recent study has suggested that mindfulness can make a person selfish. It's within the area of prosocial behaviours that a new paper by University at Buffalo researchers demonstrates the surprising downsides of mindfulness while offering easy ways to minimize those consequences -- both of which have practical implications for mindfulness training. Mindfulness and meditation are associated with reducing stress and anxiety while increasing emotional well-being. Plenty of scholarship supports these benefits. But how does mindfulness affect the range of human behaviours -- so-called prosocial behaviours -- that can potentially help or benefit other people? What happens when the research looks outwardly at the social effects of mindfulness rather than inwardly at its personal effects?