How Meditation Affects Ethical Reasoning and Ethical Behavior

_.. ._ .._ editation Affects Ethical ~=- and Ethical Beha~=-r 167 ·' to diagnose an outlook on ~. 'an serve as [Abstract] How Meditation Affects Ethical Reasoning and Ethical Behavior r. happiness of Kin Cheung 'lOg Moravian University just one ern Buddhist Early research on mindfulness, lovingkindness and compassion meditation investigates eras and their effects on ethical reasoning and ethical behavior. Unfortunately, when these studies eon (Zen ) are cited, improving ethical reasoning or awareness or judgment is too often conflated with dern Korea } increasing ethical behavior. However, empirical evidence from Experimental Philosophy nl y by their shows a key gap between reasoning and behavior. Later studies on meditation and ethics r respecti vc acknowledge that there are mitigating factors that influence changing ethical behavior. This ­ new era ami paper argues for the need for more multidisciplinary work to combine insights from the "actice an d discipline of philosophy and the field of religious studies in order to inform psychological haracterized research on meditation and changing ethical behavior. P\y r .Jstified frorr; 168 2023 o~g. ~;r.il ~ CH~ "'- -"- - ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_. How Meditation Affects Ethical Reasoning and Ethical Behavior and ethical Kin Cheung Moravian University neoliberal \' have impl ic ' I have \\T i Abstract Early research on mindfulness, lovingkindness and compassion meditation investigates contexts, 2 their effects on ethical reasoning and ethical behavior. Unfortunately, when these studies understood are cited, improving ethical reasoning or awareness or judgment is too often conflated \Ni l~ increasing ethical behavior. However, empirical evidence from Experimental Philosop hy This pap r reasomng shows a key gap between reasoning and behavior. Later studies on meditation and ethics acknowledge that there are mitigating factors that influence changing ethical behavior. Thi5 paper argues for the need for more multidisciplinary work to combine insights from the whether discipline of philosophy and the field of religious studies in order to inform psychological on the effe . research on meditation and changing ethical behavior. (TM) and i]/~ p ethics im'ol . Introduction Studi es infl uence Since the very beginning of scientific research on the effects of meditation in the early twentieth century, the overwhelming majority of studies investigate whether or not the broad range of such practice s produce health benefits or improve cognitive functi on (e .g., concentration, focused attention, memory, etc.).1 ) In the twenty­first century, a ne\\' direc tion in re search inquired whether or not meditation practices affect ethical reasoning ('1 mechanisms area of inqu • persist ab m.! Increase pre_ readings. H. pro social be 1) See Cheung 2016 for an overview of the scientific research on medita tion and how philosophical conceptions of health underlie changing trends in resear h. Though the majori ty of research provides evidence that meditation practices improve cognitive function, some studies suggest mindfulness meditation can lead to higher susceptibility LO aniliciaJ ly ­induced false­memories CRosenstreich 2016. Wilson et al. 2015), See Cheung 20 17, 33 ­ ­l0 for a summary of meta­analyses of the positive effects of mindfulness­based meditation. 2) See Ch w _ alongsi de h 3) See Dagar e 4) Cheung 201 5) Condon 2 0 ~ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ How ­ ­Meditation ­ ~ ~avior _._......__ Affects Ethical Reasoning and Ethical Behavior ............ ... . 169 and ethical behavior. Thi s is directly relevant to recent debates between l wo vocal camps. On one side, there are cri ti cs who depict mindfulness programs as "MclVlindfulness," or fast Kin Cheung food meditation withouL spiriLual nutrition­i.e., without ethics­that reinforces harmful ran University neoliberal values. On the other side are defend ers who argue that mindfulness programs have implicit ethics presenL and thus, explicit ethical guidelin es are not nee ded. Elsewhere, I have ,vritten on how lhe de bate framed by th ese two positions present simplistic rhetorical broad strokes of the relationship between ethics and human nature, usually ignoring the historical precedent for analogous debates within and without Buddhist nYestigate s se studi es contexts.2) In real ity, ethics and human nature is much more complex and better understood al ong a spectrum . .. i1 ated with This paper provides an overview of the research on if and how meditation affects ethical Philosophy reasoning (along 'vvith ethical awareness and ethical judgment) and ethical behavior­two and ethics related, yet distinct effects. Meditation is not one thing. Regarding research on specific ·ayior. This forms of meditation and ethics, I have been unable to find peer­reviewed studies on from Lhe whether qigong or ta/jiqll3n ilffect et bic (ll reasoning or behavior. There are limited studies yc hological on the effects of yoga on ethical behavior. 3 ) The studies on Transcendental Meditation (TM) and ethics are qu estionable.4 ) The overwhelming bulk of research on meditation al1d ethics involve mindfulness, lo vi ngkindness, and compassion meditation. Studies show mindfulness , lovingkindness, and compa ssion mc(tilaLi on may indeed influence ethical bch<lvior. }(esearchcrs offer only te ntative suggest ions for the possible in the early .' or not the ~t ion £'.lr y. (e .g .. a ne\\' .al reasonin mechanisms that underlie, or reasons that explain, such change in behavior. This is still an area of inquiry in the field, as Condon's 2019 revi ew on this topic indicates, "questions persist about the mechanisms and contexts through which meditation increases or fails to increase prosocial behavior. "5) Condon's review provides 50 references and recommending readings. He ends with two conclusions: certain types of meditation training increases prosocial behavior and this increase depends on "the ethical context, the relational context, ,­hilosophical uIch provides mind fulness .'Lreich 201 5 iti\'e effect 2) See Cheung 20 18 for an overrielY of this contemporary debate on mindfulness and ethics situated alongside hi storical Buddhi st and Confucian debates on ethics and human nature . 3) See Dagar et al. 2020. \ lladhu and Krishnan 200 5 show mixed results of yoga on ethical behavior. 1) Cheung 2017, 16n41. .3) Condon 201 9, 15. 170 2023 .-- o~g £!g ­~ ~ ­ ­JjI~qQ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ .- .-.... .....~ .......­­ ­.­ ,- - - - - and pre­existing personal dispositions."6) No te that he distinguishes the prosocial­a term to in the domain of psychology indicating behavior intended to benefit another or promote good social relations, or actions that are generally positive, helpful and promoting social acceptance and friendship­from the ethical. psychol og) Examples of prosocial behavior that meditation purports to influence include sharing, giving up one's seat to someone who seems more to charity, increasing concern except wI-, to who shou l be suffering or in need of the seat, donating towards ostracized strangers, . Return . IncreaSll1g environmentally­friendlY or green habits, reducing the use of hot sauce to punish transgressors, e tc. For Condon , prosocial behavior is one type of ethical outcome. He does not define ethical in his review as that is outside the scope of the publication in a psychology journal. Ethics is a term in the domain of philosophy. The earliest philosophers in millennia past have debated, and they continue today to rigorously argue over gray areas in ethics. There is a misconception that studying ethics is merely memonZIng ethical or moral behavior. In other words, ethical education is learning that to murder is wrong, to save lives is good, to lie is wrong, and to be hones t is the right thing to do. In actuality, to study medi ta Lion meditation lead to to murder, or to tell a lie? Is it ever ethically permissible, or even an ethical obligation, to not save a life or not tell the truth? If you think you have an obvious answer to any of these questions, know that there are plenty of intelligent, thoughtful, caring people who believe in the opposite answer as obvious, intuitive, or correct after meticulous consideration. For this paper: III to help \.. 1 ' v\'hich car, combi ned val ues ;m r can recluc p ethical b ~ with other ethics is to ask: when is it, if ever, ethically permissible, or even an ethical obligation, to lie in order to save a life? Is it ever ethically permissible , or even an ethical obligation, i l1~ Howe\"er behavior i the mec ha" importanc weight un '" 2018 syS[ prosocial evidence I simply take ethics as the English word Ivith a Greek origin, and morality, with a Latin origin. to refer to the same thing: the concern for be havior or character as good or bad, and the distinction between right and wrong. Some have posited sp ecial distinctions between ethics and morality, with the former reserved for how an individu al ought to live , and the latter concerning how one ought to treat others. However , there does not seem to be enough agreement on this distinction, or how 7) Cheung _ For mor ' karmic c 9) Tang et 2 _ 10) Scientis.s 8) public 6) Ibid , 17. a L ~ Franco egenerale __ _ ___ How Meditation Affects Ethical - - ------------_. _ ._ .._ ,ocial-a term ...... Reasoning and Ethical Beh;:!VIor ..•.•. .. ... ..•.. 171 to separate th e domains of ethi cs and morality. Another common practice is to use them int erc hange ably, but I will stick with the terms ethics and ethical for this paper 7J r or promote moting social ... except when citing others or referring to the convention of the fi eld of study, such as moral psychology. It is outside the scope of this paper to address the metaethical ques ti ons of .Iude sharing, -eat, donating increasing . e to punish me . He do es lication in a =>. philosophers r gray areas who should or gets to dec ide if an action is (more or less) ethica1. 8 ) Returning to the question of the mechanisms that underlie how certain typ es of meditation may affect ethical behavior, researchers propose a few possible reasons. Some meditation training improves self-awareness and increases empathy, both of whi d1 can lead to more ethical behavior when cmpathy for others and self- awareness of one's \ralue to help others is in alignnwl1 L. Additionally, mcdiwli on l11iiY improve cogni tive fun ction . \vhich can help in rlividuals think morc clearly aml make morc reasoned deci sions. Thi combined with increased self- cl\vareness can help individua ls be more aware of Uwir own value'S ;.mel the potenti al impact of their ilClions on oL hers. There is evidence that meditatiol1 ~ ;::-al or moral .0 save lives .lY, to study '1bligation, to can reduce negative emotions such as anger and aggression, and this may lead to more ethical behavior. 9 ) Finally, meditation may lead to a greater sense of interconn ectedn ess with others, which can encourage ethical behavior. However, it is important to note that the relationship between meditation and e thical behavior is complex and not fully understood. More research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms by which meditation may influence ethical behavior. I note here the swer to any peop le who meticulous importance of meta-studies and meta-analyses and the need to avoid placing too much weight on any individual study as definitive proof or strong evidence.1 0 ) Kreplin et al.'s 2018 systematic revi ew and meta - analysis shows only a moderate and limited increase in prosocial behavior after meditati on interventions. Nevertheless, moderate and limited evidence still should be take n seri ously as promising areas of investigation. a Latin origin, the distinction 7) Cheung 2015, 378. morality, with 8) For more on the difficul ties within the Budd hist context of ethical action and skillful means, in terms of karmic consequences for the agent. see Cheung 2015 9) Tang et al. 2007. 10) Scientists acknowl edge the impcnaI1! problems of the replication criSI S in sc ientifi c studies and publication bias affe cting i ndi vi du.~j studies. See Shrout and Rodgers 2018, Loken and Gelman 2017, Franco et al. 2014. and Thorton and Lee 2000. Studi es are also retracted, but their retracti on does not generate the same influence Q puiar media reports of such studies' results. ow one ought Ethical Reasoning is Not Equivalent to Ethical Behavior emotional With this background eSLablished, I \vant to funher explain the difference between change in ethical reasoning (and its related terms ethical awareness and ethical judgment) des, Il1 \ lI from change in ethical behavior. "Shapiro, lazaieri, and Goldin's 2012 study asserted then mindfulness meditation leads to increased ab ility for ethical reasoning, However, there is still a gap between increased ability for ethical reasoning and change in ethical behavior (although they are linked, that link must be addressed),"ll) This gap can be illustrated with no eviclen empirical data, Ethicists are Hmvever. _ philosophers who are professional experts m ethical reasomng, Nevertheless, the studies in Experimental Philosophy conducted by Schwitzgebel and his collaborators found that professional ethicists do not behave significantly more or less ethical than other professors,12) They have compared behaviors that range from the trivial to the consequential, incl uding: these user_ Awarer. example. awarenes:, Nutritioni the gener" voting in public elections, calling one's mother, eating the meat of mammals, donating to charity. the super littering, disruptive chatting and door slamming during philosophy presentations, responding to Yet, that student emails, attending conferences without paying registration fees, organ donation, blood dietary ba ~ donation, theft of library books, overall moral evaluation by one's departmental peers, honesty in responding to survey questions, and joining the Nazi Party in 1930s Germany,l:l) front of a when I n Even though ethicists were much more likely to have higher ethicaJ standards, such as healthier being more likely than the general public to judge that eating meat is unethical or Converse. recommend giving a higher percentage of one's income to charity, ethicists do not, on exercise ; ~ average, eat less meat or give more to charity compared to others around them, a scre en. Related to ethical reasoning is ethical awareness. McGuire's 2020 article examines Return i Buddhist-inspired mobile phone applications. that claim to promote or "develop greater behavior;:,. 11) Cheung 2018, 318, emphasis in the originaL 'Additionally. Purser (2015) noted that the flaws in this study include its reliance on self-reported data fro m a scale and questionnaire that are recently called into question and its basis "on an extremely small sample size of 25 , mostly Caucasian women, lacking both randomized and ac tive control group s" (ibid) . 12) Schwitzgebel 2019, 21-32. 13) Schwitzgebel 2019, 23. Cor, or _ 14) McGlJI[ 15) Ibid, -::; How Meditation Affects Ethical Rf'..asomng and Ethical Behavior 173 emotional and ethical awareness" for users.1 4 ) One such app, Mitra, which was :e between : judgment) rted that r. there is designed and developed by the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics an d Transformative Values at NIIT in partnership with Hope Lab (hltPs://hopelab.org/), was inspired by Buddhist notions of a "virtuous friend" (Sanskrit kalY3J)a-mitra)'. By helping users identify their core va lues, cultivate emotional awareness , and align their emotions with their values, they hope that users can "positive ly transform the mind" so that it becomes "a better friend and allY,"l ,) _al behavior (ra ted wi th However, a similar gap remains bet\vepn ethical awareness and ethical behavior. There is no evidence to indicate users of such apps behave more ethically. Although the hope is for reasonmg. _ bel and hi s .....re or less the trivial these users to change behavior, there is no evidence of such change. Awareness of what is ethical does not translate into ethical action . To give a relatable example, most of us know what are better or healthier habits. But this knowledge, awareness, judgment, or rationale is not enough to alter habits such as diet or exercise. Nutritionists understand this is as an important problem and issue to overcome in order for the general public to develop better eating habits. I have the knowledge and awareness that :,:0:; to charity, ~I's pondig to :lalion, blood -;;. honesty in the super sweet, fatty, or salty ultra-processed junk fo od I like to consume is bad for me. Yet, that does not translate into eating less junk food. It takes more for me to change my di etary habits than simply re asoning or awareness. This is not about eating mindlessly in front of a screen, shoving food in my mouth without thought or care. This is to say even when I mindfully eat ice cream or potato chips, I am still fully aware that there are much --ds, such as healthi er snack alternativE's that I choose not to consume over my favorite junk foods. ne thical or Conversely, I have full awareness and kn owledge of the reasoning behind why regul ar o not, on exercise is better for my body and health than sitting for hours uninterrupted in fr ont of m. a screen . Nevertheless, it takes more than judgment of healthier habits to alter such habits. exammes lop greater fl aws in this cently called men, lacking Returning to ethical reasoning and behavi or, there are experiments that do show behavioral differences between meditation practitioners and control populations. Condon, Desbordes, Mill er . and DeSteno's (20 13 ) stud y state d th at after 8 weeks of mindfulness or compassion meditation , practi tione rs exhibit ed increased ethical behavior compared to 14) JvlcGuire 2020. 43. 15) Ibid, 45. 174 2023 o~:;g ~lqf ----------------------------------------------- non -meditators. Briefly . their experiment tesl d -ubjects I\-ho med itated against subjects \I'ho did not and found that meditators were five times more likely than non-meditators to act in a situation where they were able to all evi ate someone who appeared to be suffering in pain. That same core group of researchers in t\ortheastern [University J conducted anot her stud y to inves tigate hOI\" In other , to better iTlsufficien' exactly docs compassion meditation lead to in creas s ethical beha\·ior. Lim , Condon, and DeSteno's (2015) find ings concluded that it does not have to do with any increase ability to detec t pain or decode e motional experi ence s of other peop le. Ot her recent stud ies on compassion meditation Anoth r ethical b ' include Leiberg, Klimecki , and Singe r's (2011) study. whi ch found compassion meditation training address led to increases in prosoc ial behavior. \oVeng et al.·s (20 13) study found that comp assion show that meditation "increased altruistic redi s tri bution of fund s to a victim encountered outside of the training context" (p. 1171). In addition, rese arch has been done on how measures of increased mindfulness are correlated to increased ethical and prosoc ial behavior. Thes e st udies are not train ing subjects 111 mindfulness -based practices, rath er they measure if subjects are higher or lower on a self-reported mindfulness scale that sco res how well the individ ual is aware of his or her present experienc e and su rrounding environment ( Amel, Manning, & Scott , 2009; Brown & Kasser, 2005: "In terms recent re_ motivalior. applicalior others) re r e duc Jacob, Jovic, & Brinkerhoff, 2009 ). Howev er, co rrelation is not causation, and individual studies to may have flaws. It would take more research and detailed meta-analyse s to a ga in mean ingful changing grasp on how mindfulness-based prac ti ce s influence the individual. The researchers interested in social behavior, espe cially co ncerning sustainability and the env ironment, would benefit from foHo wing my proposed di rec tion of research for mindfulness-based practices' relation to ethical change. These studies show researchers' interest in wheth er or not , and if so how, meditative practices le ad to ethical change .16) Hopefully, this 1S a direction that researchers will continue to pursue. Furthermore, there is evidence that changes in behavior do occur when meditation 1.1 ~ reasonmg To be _. am poin ti r the gap i to high li awarene" practice is coupled with expJjcit trajnjng on knowledge of behavior biases and the process to mean c' of decision making. This is shown by or not e.-. studies that specificall y investigate the relationship betwee n mindfu lness -based practices and Changing E- behavior insi ght s training in the context of changing decision making, suc h as those by Rachel Lilley et al. and Jessica Pyke tt et al. both in 2016. Combin ing mindfu lness-based pract ices and behavior change training led participants to "in creased insight into the role of emotions and So \Vba cogniti ve biases in deci sion making."1?) 16) Cheung 2018, 318. At the time that I wrote this. I I as referring to Condon, DeSteno, and Lim making up the core of the researchers affiliated wi th ;\ortheaste rn University. As of 2023, Condon and Lim are based at other institutions . 17) Pykett et al. 2016 , 3; Li lley et al 20 16. 18) Kotera 19) Ibid. 20) Thi s E sho\I'S author!' --,-,... ' cl bjects who did ;Jet in a situation . That same core im'estigate how and DeSteno's "1 , detect pain or ·sion meditation Affects Ethical Reasoning and _ , '- - - - - - -H - -1editation -- ,- -,- - - - - -".. .. Ethical Behavior 175 , In other words, assumi ng that the empirical evidence that some meditative practices lcad to better ethical reasoni ng and inc reased ethical avvareness is valid, these changes are still insufficient for changing ethical behayior. Another related term in mindfulness research is ethical judgment. In the context of ethical behavior in running businesses and corporations, busine ss schools have tried to it 31ion training address unethical behavior by increasing ethics training or education. However, studies lat compassion show that increased ethical training, unsurprisingly, does little to change ethical behavior. ,utside of the are correlated subje cts in "In terms of understancling how business students formulate and apply ethical judgements, recent research findings indicate that other factors likely to play an important role are motivation and self-compassion."lS) Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation affects the lower on a r her present application of ethical judgments. "A compassionate outlook (whether towards oneself or Kasser, 2005; others) relates to ethical judgement because it is associated with less egoistic bias, leading l:viclual studies to reduced acceptance of an individual's own unethical conduct."19) This is to say that "ain meaningful changing ethical behavior requires more than training or education in ethical judgment, 'i •. I rc: int erested in benefit from reasomng, or awareness. ion to ethic al To be clear, I do not wish to conflate reasoning \vith awareness or judgment. Rather, I ,\', meditative am pointing out the gap between each of the above and behavior. I am also not saying that the gap is not ackno\vledged by researchers conducting the specific studies. \Vbat I wish to highlight is that when specific studies on meditation's effects on ethical reasoning, - meditation awareness, or judgment are cited, others take those studies as evidence for ethical change (he process to mean changing ethical behavior. 20 ) This is especially re 'levant to the debate on whether or not explicit ethical training is needed in minclfulness programs. > raetices and Changing Ethical Behavior . se by Rachel practices and emotions and .J Lim making 1don and Lim So what does lead to change in ethical behavior? Elsewhere, I have argued for an 18) Kotera et a!. 2018, 1134 . 19) Ibid. 20) This is especially the case \"hen Shapiro et 81. 2012 is cited, As of January 6, 2023, Google Scholar shows this article has been ci ted over 240 times. A cursory glance of the papers citing it show many authors conflating reason ing with behavior. 176 2023 o ~§g ~;(l!q ------------------------------------- understanding of a difficult passage in the \\TIUn"S of the thirteenth century Japanese Zen in terven lio monk Dagen Ubt:; 1200-1253 ).21) This passage can be illuminated by understanding how religious e ~ change in ethical behavior could be a result of a changing sense of self. scholars (f Ethical philosophy in the West is mainl y concern ed with normative ethics and metaethics, with growing atte ntion to applied e thics. Less attention is paid towards exac tl y how or why an agent's ethical values undergo change, Charles E. Harris .II'. and John T. Noonan Jr. point out how new experi enc es, mentioning Catholi c religious experience, can lead to ethical change. Charles Hirschkind's recent anlhropological study of IV!uslims in Ca iro listening to casse tte tapings of sermons as a form of et hi cal self-cultivation is a step in this direction. Thomas Csordas has fi eld of m field of el Combinir future r written on religious experiences of Catholic Charismatic healing in l'\evv England and its role in al.'s 2022 (re)constructing the self, into a ·sacred self." It is another voice that echoes the assertion of how behavior. religious experiences affects the (re)constru ction and transformation of the sense of self. Although work ha s been done on religious experien ce s, and cha nge in sense of se lf in relation to asking: et hical change, explicit linking of the two is lacking. Carol Gilligan pre sents how change in sense of self affects change in ethical judgment , suggesting change in et hi cal values. yet what I have explored is not a change in values per se. The issue addressed here is not psYchological, not about motivati ons for ethical change, but rath er. the process that leads to change in behavi or. Thus, ethical judgment need not compl icate th e picture. Ethi cal val ues ne ed not change, as the value to not do evil or harm oneself is constant. but the sense of self changes, to encompass other beings, such that one is unable to do evil to the ot her, as that other is no longer see n as fully other. An interesting consequence of this is that change in ethical value or judgment is not ne cessary for change in ethical behavior, that is if ethical value and behavior can be meaningfully separated ... For instance a person can think he or she values an ethical principle in theory, yet in practice \\11a ans\ sens is " mora jud in J corr wit... slr:. does not act on such principl es. If a maj or concern of ethics is to affect decision making (say , by creating clear principles or guidelines). then how behavior is changed, specifically by religious In other experience, should be taken into account. 22 ) to consid reasomn , Therefore, research on meditation and ethi cal change can benefit from paying attention to religi ous experience during or resulting fr om meditative practices. The main difficulty for research to be conducted on religi ous experiences from meditative practices is due to high number of hours of practice correlated with significant religious experience s. In other words, the commonly studied eight-week meditation 21) Cheung 2017, 124-155. 22) [bid, 148-150. componen. map onto with an a vjpassana: ~ 4) apply-i r. 23) Dhaka -- __ How Meditation Affects Ethical Reasoning and Ethical Behavior 177 - - - - - - - - - - - -.- .- .. ............. ...... ........................-.-. _. intervenLions are rarely rnough hours of meditation experience that lead to meaningful religious experiences. Furthermore, not only would researchers of meditation benefit from collaboration with scholars of religious studies, but they would also gain from partnership with experts in the thi es, with an agent's field of moral psychology-yvhich is more interested in studying ethi cal change than the field of ethical philosophy. Combining insights from moral psychology and religious studies would be fruitful for tapings of _50rdas has future research. For instance, like the results of some studies mentioned above, Dhaki1 et it s role in al.'s 2022 article recognizes the multiple components required for change in ethical -un of how behavior. They begin their study on Buddhist mindfulness meditation at the workplace by of self. rr lation to 'udgment, 1,-\'hat must happen psychologically for ethical actions to take place? Moral psychology literature per se. blll rather, sensitivity, moral reasoning, moral motivation, and moral courage CRest, 1994). "Moral sensitivity" licate the is the fir st sub-process that involves becoming aware that an ethical probl em exi sts, By becoming E.'S ~ asking: answers this question by highlighting the sub-processes underlying ethical behavior: moral constant, morally sensitive, individuals can understand how their actions might affect others. "Moral Jo evil' to judgment" is the second step where an individual determines the morally correct course of action ne cessary correct action. "Moral courage" involves carrying out the morally correct action even when faced 'eparated with opposition, fatigue, and distractions while developing and implementing sophisticated in a given context. "Moral motivation" refers to an individual's drive to follow the chosen morally n prac tice strategies to reach one's goals. 23 ) -;: ( say, by religious In other words, what many of the earlier studies on meditation and ethics failed to do is to consider other necessary components for change in ethical behavior in addition to ethical ntion to . e s from nifcat~ meditation reasoning, awareness, or judgment. Bre<lking down the necessary requirements into four components, Dhab et a!., delineate vipassana practice into component elements in order to map onto change in ethical behavior. They found in their sample of fourteen meditators with an average of 14.1 years of meditation experience that there are six elements of vipassana: 1) developing a\\arcness: 2) practicing equanimity: 3) noticing impermanence: 4) applying the moral fri1mework: S) cultivating loving-kindness: and 6) making continuous 23) Dhaka et al. 2022, 2, - --_ .. .. _ - ",.. . diversity of h.• ' ur .hermo re, Dhaka et a!. proposes that th ese six factors contribute in various ways tv mechanisms for ethical behavior: 1) pursuing a spiritual life; 2) maintaining inner ny: and 3) becoming kind. Their use of the gerund for the elements and mechanism. .i " L lb sixth element of continuous effort. In other 'vvords, changing ethical behavior not examine practi ces? Ul . inves ti gation . "t1 . ps constant vigilance and diligence. scholars of r van tage poi L nelusion thi pape r, I provided an overview of research on how mindfulness, lovingkindness . ompassion meditation, affect ethical reasoning (along with ethical awareness and •_aI judrrment) and ethical behavior. I explained why improving ethical reasoning or _. aJ awareness is not suffici ent (and my Dogen example explains why it is neithc:' ,t> sar y ) for altering ethical behavior. Some researchers are investigating mechanisms d change in ethical behavior. However, this gap between ethical reasoning and ethica: -nor is woefully under-acknowl edged in clinical research in psychology and in ethical philosophy . ere is promise that meditation may influence ethical behavior when coupled with other aLing factors that include: contexts (ethical and relational), personal dispositions, liciL training in how emotions and cognitive biases affect decision -making, and :i uaus explicit effort in improving ethical behavior. '::":mpared to the 14.1 years of average meditation experience 111 the sample population XCIIiined by Dhaka et al.'s study, novice meditators, who complete popular and highly . d eight-week training programs, are on a comple tely different level. The questi on for r .:earchers to investigate is if combining eight-week meditation programs with explicit :uems and mechanisms for changing ethical behavior would create a bigger effect or er lasting change compared to other active interventions. Or, as researchers have found nen measuring hea'lth benefits of mindfulness, would such bene fits be indistinguishable - m taking tennis lessons or engaging in art therapy? Perhap s some populations would fit more or less from meditation compared to other active interventions as the ___ editation Affects Ethical Reasoning and Ethical Behavior 179 - -----_ ... .. .•. diversity of human beings sho\\ again and again that one size does not fit all. Neither does '"'ous ways to one type of meditation \york for all. There should be research done to compare mindfulness 3lnmg mner with lovingkindness with compas sion meditati on on ethical behavior. Why stop there, why mechanisms not examine qjgong, tar!i, D/I, yoga , and the rich diversity of Buddhist meditative behavior practices? Ultimately, this is a multidisciplinary research project and promising area of ):31 investigation that would benefit from collaboration among psychologists, philosophers, and scholars of re ligion as all three groups are interested in ethi cal change from different vantage points. -ngkindness, are ness and ""'asonll1g or • is neither mechanisms .: and ethical ology and j with other Ji spositions, - ~ a king , and ,~ population l1f and highly uestion for ,\i th explici', r effe ct or ~ have foun [ingui shable ;:tions wou l . ns as thF' '80 2023 D~£l.g ~A1tH:2j ----------------------------HealII: _ References Dagar, Ch' sustainable behavior: Pondering attention and awareness as means for increasing greer. Build . Sclf­ - behavior. Ecopsychology, l( 1), 14-25. 191­2 Ame!, Elise. L., i'vTanning, Christie. M., & Scott, Britain. A. 2009. Mindfulness and Dhaka, Hi..... Brown, Kirk. W., & Kasser, Tim. 2005. Are psychological and ecological well-being compatible? 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