Presentation title: Impact of Brief Loving Kindness and Mindfulness Meditation Inductions on Self-Other Related Mind Wandering Thoughts and Wellbeing: A Randomized Control Trial

Mind-wandering, described as task-irrelevant thoughts, is often self-focused and associated with negative affect (Andrews-Hanna et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2018). This presentation will report preliminary findings from a study which investigated whether the self-focused aspect of mind-wandering can be reduced by Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM) that invites other-related positive thoughts in contrast to mindfulness meditation that is more self-focused. Both types of meditation were expected to reduce negative affect in comparison to a control attention induction condition and changes in state wellbeing were also investigated. The study builds on a recently developed wellbeing theory, that expands the scope of wellbeing from self-focus to caring and compassionate other-focus (Dorjee, 2021), and on a recently proposed notion of humanity-oriented trait, a positive personality trait of loving-kindness, compassion, and intention to give and receive love (Wang & Dorjee, 2021). Implications of this work for cultivating wellbeing in education and workplace will be discussed.