Differentiate Four Immeasurables
SM 1
Supplemental Material for
The four immeasurables meditations: differential effects of appreciative joy and compassion meditations on emotions
This file includes:
Meditation Guidance
Facial Pictures of Female Strangers
Additional Measurement of Interpersonal Attitude
Additional Measurement of Difficulty during Meditation
Table S1
Table S2
Table S3
Table S4
Table S5
Table S6
Table S7
References
Meditation Guidance
The meditation guidance was translated from Cantonese.
Meditation for Friends
AJM Group
Introduction on screen prior to meditation:
In the following, there will be a recording that guides a 6-minute imagination exercise. You need to visualize a best friend who shares a similar age and the same gender as you. You will imagine your friend is joyful and happy and then give your blessing to your friend, such as “Wish you always get what you want. Wish you remain happy and joyful every day”.
Please notice: (1) The exact wording or phrases of the blessing are not important. You may paraphrase the sentences in a way that fits you well. It will be crucial to make a sincere wish for your friend to bless your friend to be happy and joyful. (2) You may think of the reasons why your friend is feeling happy. However, the reasons for this happiness should not be emphasized. All you need to do is give your blessing, but not congratulate your friend on the happiness. (3) You may imagine your friend’s expression when she receives your blessing. However, do not imagine the outcome of staying happy in the future. You should emphasize the blessing, but not the reasons or the outcome. (4) If you are distracted during the exercise, please do not feel worried and continue your imagination. (5) You do not need to bless aloud, only close your eyes and focus on your imagination.
Script of the record:
0:00 In the following, make yourself comfortable and close your eyes. Listen to the recording and start your imagination.
0:10 Now imagine your best friend is sitting in front of you. Your friend is joyful at this moment. This joyfulness may be a result of a lovely surprise or being in luck, a significant achievement at study or work, or a happy life with her partner. Try to imagine the way she is sitting in front of you. Visualize the joyfulness and happiness that your best friend expresses.
1:29 In your own words, give your best wishes to your friend, “Wish you always get what you want. Wish you remain happy and joyful every day.”.
2:17 Visualize your language and emotions as a stream or a light beam that flows from your heart to your best friend, “Wish you always get what you want. Wish you remain happy and joyful every day.”.
2:54 Maintain your imagination. Let your sincere emotions flow freely with your heart, “Wish you always get what you want. Wish you remain happy and joyful every day.”.
3:29 “Wish you always get what you want. Wish you remain happy and joyful every day.”
3:54 Think about your friend’s facial expression when she receives the blessing. Maintain your blessing, “Wish you always get what you want. Wish you remain happy and joyful every day.”.
4:29 “Wish you always get what you want. Wish you remain happy and joyful every day.”
4:54 “Wish you always get what you want. Wish you remain happy and joyful every day.”
5:19 Bless your friend with your words, a light beam, or a stream, “Wish you always get what you want. Wish you remain happy and joyful every day.”.
5:49 “Wish you always get what you want. Wish you remain happy and joyful every day.”
6:14 “Wish you always get what you want. Wish you remain happy and joyful every day.”
6:39 The imagination ends at this stage. Please open your eyes. The following instructions will be presented on the screen.
CM Group
Introduction on the screen prior to meditation:
In the following, there will be a recording that guides a 6-minute imagination exercise. You need to visualize a best friend who shares a similar age and the same gender as you. You will imagine your friend is in pain or sheer desperation and then give your blessing to your friend, such as “Wish you stay away from pain. Wish you become happy.”.
Please notice: (1) The exact wording or phrases of the blessing are not important. You may paraphrase the sentences in a way that fits you well. It will be crucial to make a sincere wish for your friend to bless your friend to be free of pain or sadness. (2) You may think of the reasons why your friend is feeling sad. However, the reasons for this sadness should not be emphasized. All you need to do is to give your blessing, but not convince or advise your friend. (3) You may imagine your friend’s expression when she receives your blessing. However, do not imagine the outcome of getting away from the sadness. You should emphasize the blessing, but not the reasons or the outcome. (4) If you are distracted during the exercise, please do not feel worried and continue your imagination. (5) You do not need to bless aloud, only close your eyes and focus on your imagination.
Script of the record:
0:00 In the following, make yourself comfortable and close your eyes. Listen to the recording and start your imagination.
0:10 Now imagine your best friend is sitting in front of you. Your friend is in great pain at this moment. This pain may be a result of illness or injury, suffering a major setback in the study or career, having a conflict with her partner or other unforeseen happenings. Try to imagine the way she is sitting in front of you. Visualize the sadness and pain that your best friend expresses.
1:29 In your own words, give your best wishes to your friend, “Wish you stay away from pain. Wish you become happy.”.
2:17 Visualize your language and emotions as a stream or a light beam that flows from your heart to your best friend, “Wish you stay away from pain. Wish you become happy.”.
2:54 Maintain your imagination. Let your sincere emotions flow freely with your heart, “Wish you stay away from pain. Wish you become happy.”.
3:29 “Wish you stay away from pain. Wish you become happy.”
3:54 Think about your friend’s facial expression when she receives the blessing. Maintain your blessing, “Wish you stay away from pain. Wish you become happy.”.
4:29 “Wish you stay away from pain. Wish you become happy.”
4:54 “Wish you stay away from pain. Wish you become happy.”
5:19 Bless your friend with your words, a light beam, or a stream, “Wish you stay away from pain. Wish you become happy.”.
5:49 “Wish you stay away from pain. Wish you become happy.”
6:14 “Wish you stay away from pain. Wish you become happy.”
6:39 The imagination ends at this stage. Please open your eyes. The following instructions will be presented on the screen.
Neutral Visualization Group
Introduction on the screen prior to meditation:
In the following, there will be a recording that guides a 6-minute imagination exercise. You need to visualize a best friend who shares a similar age and the same gender as you. Imagine your friend is sitting quietly in front of you and then carefully observe her face. For example, recall her facial characteristics in detail, “Are the ears well balanced? Are they in an upper or lower position compared with others?”.
Please notice: (1) the recording is going to guide part of your imagination only. You may choose your own way how to observe your friend. (2) To facilitate the imagination, you will visualize your friend sitting in front of you. However, you do not have to interact with her. All you need to do is observe, but not speak to your friend. (3) Your friend is sitting right here without facial expressions or emotions. You do not have to imagine what she is doing or thinking. You should emphasize the clarity of your observation, but not the other content. (4) If you are distracted during the exercise, please do not feel worried and continue your imagination. (5) You do not need to bless aloud, only close your eyes and focus on your imagination.
Script of the record:
0:00 In the following, make yourself comfortable and close your eyes. Listen to the recording and start your imagination.
0:10 Now imagine your best friend is sitting in front of you. Your friend is sitting quietly right here without expressions. She simply sits on the chair not doing anything. You two do not have an interaction. Your friend does not notice someone looking at her. Try to imagine the way she is sitting in front of you. Visualize her face in detail.
1:29 Carefully look at her face, of which all the details now become clearer. “How is her face shaped? Long or short? Oval or square? Are the features distinctive or chiseled?” You may use your own questions.
2:17 You may ask different questions to recall her face in detail. “Is her entire face clear? Are her facial features clear as well?”
2:54 Maintain your imagination. Visualize as many details as possible. “What is the shape of her nose? How is the length and width of her nose? Is her nose bridge high or low?”
3:29 “Are her ears well balanced? Are they in an upper or lower position?”
3:54 Now look at her face at a greater distance and visualize her entire face in detail. “Are her cheekbones prominent? Is the forehand domed?”
4:29 “How are the relative positions of the eyebrows? How are the relative positions of the lips?”
4:54 “What color are her lips? Is her upper lip or lower lip thicker?”
5:19 Take a closer look at her face and focus on the details of the characteristics. Maintain your observation. “How is the shape of her eyebrows? How long and brushy are the eyebrows?”
5:49 “How is the shape of her eyes? Does she have slanted eyes or down-slanted eyes?”
6:14 “Are her pupils large compared with the white of the eye?”
6:39 The imagination ends at this stage. Please open your eyes. The following instructions will be presented on the screen.
Meditation for Strangers
All three groups use the same introduction on the screen prior to the meditation: “Next, you have to go through the imagination exercise again. The only difference is that you should imagine the stranger, as shown on the screen, instead of your close friend. The flow and the instruction of the imagination are exactly the same. The imagination will also be guided by the recording. Please note that you should have your eyes closed during the imagination. The photo of the stranger will be concealed soon. Now please look at the photo carefully and try to memorize her face. The imagination exercise will start after 30 seconds.”
Regarding the scripts of the records, all sentences are same with the corresponding sentences used for meditation for friends, with “your friend” replaced by “the stranger”.
Facial Pictures of Female Strangers
Six female facial pictures were selected from the Chinese Facial Affective Picture System (Gong, Huang, Wang & Luo, 2011). These pictures were presented in grey, without hair and neutral in emotion. It is notable that these facial pictures were divided into two groups of three pictures and were used in the measurements for additional interpersonal attitudes before and after the meditation practice (see “Additional Measurement of Interpersonal Attitude” section). The facial picture used in the meditation for strangers was used in the measurement only after the meditation practice; thus, the influence from the measurement before the meditation was minimal.
Additional Measurement of Interpersonal Attitude
Methods
The measurements for interpersonal attitudes were measured before and after the practice measurements. The measurements comprised three aspects, and each aspect had 3 items: (1) subjective positive attitudes: “To what extent do you feel connected (similar/ positive) towards her?”, α = .808; (2) perceived happiness: “By intuition, do you think she goes well in (is satisfied with/ feels happy in) her life?”, α = .902; and (3) perceived kindness: “By intuition, do you think she is kind-hearted (trustworthy/ easy to get along with)?”, α = .875. All 9 items were rated with 1-9 points (1=not at all, 9=extremely strong, adjusted for items) and are presented in a randomized order.
The materials included the six female facial pictures introduced above. These pictures were divided into two groups of three pictures. The pictures were counterbalanced across the participants, and one group of pictures was used before the practice measurement, whereas the other group was used after the practice measurement. The target face of the meditation practice for strangers comprised one of the latter group, and the pictures of both groups were presented in a random order.
Results
The evaluations for three pictures before the practice were used to calculate the relationships between the three aspects of the evaluations. The correlations between subjective positive attitudes and perceived kindness range from .64 to .73, the correlations between perceived kindness and perceived happiness range from .55 to .66, and the correlations between subjective positive attitudes and perceived happiness range from .45 to .64.
Similar to the self-reported emotions, we conducted 3 Group × 2 Time ANOVAs with Time as the repeated measure to analyze the interpersonal evaluations for the targets in the practices, and daily measurements were used as the covariance. As shown in Tables S4 and S5, there were no significant Group × Time interactions. Simple effects indicated that AJM and CM had a medium size increase in subjective positive attitudes; however, their differences compared with the control group did not reach a significant level. The perceived kindness in CM had a significant increase and was significantly increased compared with the control group, with a small effect size. AJM only exhibited a trend towards a similar pattern; however, it did not reach significance.
The evaluations for two non-target faces were averaged and used in the same analysis as previously described (Tables S5 and S6). Subjective positive attitudes or perceived kindness had no Group × Time interaction and no significant between group difference existed. In contrast, the Group × Time interaction was significant for Perceived happiness, with a small effect size, and the simple effect indicated the perceived happiness in CM increased and was significantly increased compared with the control group with a small effect size. The influences of the covariates are presented in Table S7.
Additional Measurement of Difficulty during Meditation
Methods
The difficulty during the meditation practice for strangers was included among the after practice measurements (refer to main documents). Only the difficulty during the practice for strangers was measured because the items described affects and were assessed at the end of the experiment to avoid an expectancy effect.
We generated 16 items to assess the difficulty during the practice for strangers, including 8 items for an attentional aspect (e.g., “I felt it was difficult to focus my attention on the imagination I should do”, α = .891) and 8 items for an attitudinal aspect (e.g., “I did not feel obvious affect.”, α = .867). The scale was rated from 1 (not at all agree) to 5 (totally agree) points.
Results
ANCOVAs with daily measurements serving as covariates were conducted for two aspects of the difficulties during the practice for strangers. The results indicated there was no significant result in the aspects of difficulty.
Table S1
Zero-order correlations between self-reported emotions in meditations
OFPE / SFPE / HGS / LAPE / SGS / INE / Activated / PleasantOFPE / .488** / .711** / .518** / .163 / -.048 / .378** / .403**
SFPE / .474** / .636** / .318** / -.083 / .102 / .412** / .447**
HGS / .588** / .641** / .532** / -.157 / -.003 / .361** / .623**
LAPE / .457** / .349** / .617** / -.163 / -.201 / .111 / .518**
SGS / -.003 / -.223* / -.431** / -.265* / .402** / -.132 / -.499**
INE / -.045 / .063 / -.225* / -.186 / .367** / -.183 / -.417**
Activated / .460** / .336** / .369** / .263* / -.201 / -.163 / .336**
Pleasant / .443** / .481** / .763** / .586** / -.516** / -.360** / .391**
Note: The left-down triangle presents the data regarding the meditation for friends; the upper-right triangle presents the data for the meditation for strangers. * indicates p < .05, ** indicates p <.01.
Table S2