So-called ‘befriending meditation’ could be used to help bridge the culture-war gap between Brexiteers and Remainers, a study has suggested.
In a world defined by polarised politics and partisan piss-taking, one group of researchers believe they may have stumbled on a potential solution to our societal division: ‘befriending meditation’.
Led by researcher Dr. Otto Simonsson, the group now believes that such guided meditation could be used to ease the level of division between Brexiteers and Remainers if such a remedy could be applied at scale, with older research finding that the same method could also work to bridge the divide between Democrats and Republicans.
According to the paper titled “Bridging the (Brexit) divide: Effects of a brief befriending meditation on affective polarization”, one meditation session led to an immediate and noticeable drop in “affective polarization” for test subjects from both pro and anti-Brexit camps, a finding the researchers consider to be significant.
“The findings in this study suggest that a brief befriending meditation can very modestly decrease affective polarization between Remainers and Leavers, with the effects mediated by perceived commonality between the self and the political outgroup,” the study’s discussion section reads.
“Moreover, the fact that even small effects were detected from a recorded meditation practice supports the possibility of delivery at scale,” the study also claims. “Future studies could examine effects of existing meditation-based [smartphone] apps that include similar practices to befriending meditation (e.g., Headspace) on measures of affective polarization.”
Commenting on the study’s results, Dr. Simonsson noted that meditation had already been rolled out within the British parliament, and that the methods he examined could be used to tighten in group relationships in places such as the workplace.
“The European Union Brexit referendum has divided the British electorate with high levels of animosity between those who affiliate with the Remain and Leave side of the debate” digital newspaper The London Economic reports the researcher as saying.
“These findings suggest an audio-guided befriending meditation could help boost perceived commonality between opposing political groups, and thereby reduce affective polarisation,” he went on to say.
This is not the first time Dr. Simonsson has suggested using meditation to heal political divides, with the researcher suggesting in a paper published last year that the same “befriending meditation” has a similar capability for healing the divide between U.S. Republicans and Democrats.
“Across two studies, we found evidence that a brief befriending meditation reduces affective polarization between Democrats and Republicans by increasing positive feelings and trait perceptions relatively more for the political outgroup than the political ingroup,” the paper, titled “Love thy (partisan) neighbor: Brief befriending meditation reduces affective polarization”, reads.
“While exploratory analyses found varying effects of the befriending meditation across measurements of affective polarization, the effects did not differ between Democrats and Republicans,” it continued. “Taken together, the findings in the present study are the first to identify a causal relationship between a brief befriending meditation and affective polarization.”
Meanwhile, the European Union also seems to be experimenting with meditation, with the bloc enrolling its climate crazy staff in “mindfulness” courses in the hopes of curbing their anxieties somewhat.
While how effective these courses are exactly for those within the EU largely remains unknown, the person running the sessions — which reportedly sometimes involve walks in the Belgian woods and trying to feel compassion for trees and various woodland critters — has said that “there is less eco-anxiety” amongst participants.
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