Brief Mindfulness Instruction Predicts Anonymous Prosocial Helping of an Ostracized Racial Outgroup Member

Two experiments tested whether brief instruction in mindfulness increased helping behavior toward an ostracized racial outgroup member by enhancing empathic concern. In Study 1, brief mindfulness instruction, relative to active and inactive control conditions, increased helping behavior toward an ostracized racial outgroup member in a private (but not in a public) context. In Study 2, which involved greater anonymity, mindfulness instruction increased both private and public helping behavior toward an ostracized racial outgroup member relative to the two control conditions. Importantly, measured empathic concern accounted for a portion of the variance in the causal relation between mindfulness and interracial helping behavior in Study 2. Together these studies suggest that brief mindfulness training increases interracial prosocial responsiveness in a digitally mediated context, particularly when personal anonymity was greater.