Individual behaviour change and political measures are required to solve pressing global environmental crises such as climate change. Identification with an ingroup that includes all humanity (i.e., a global identity) was positively related to pro-environmental engagement in various studies, but little is known about how to foster a global identity. We argue that meditation with a focus on cultivating compassion might increase global identity because connectedness with people all over the world is a traditional goal of such practice. In a randomised controlled intervention study with pre-post design ( = 164, Germany), participants received an app-based 7-day meditation course. Controlling for pre-survey levels, compared to the waiting control group, the meditation group reported stronger changes in global identity and pro-environmental behaviour but not climate policy support. We found that participating in the meditation course indirectly predicted changes in pro-environmental behaviour through a strengthened global self-investment, as one dimension of global identity. Moreover, we also found stronger changes in nature connectedness in the meditation group compared to the control group. Hence, a 7-day app-based compassion meditation course indeed seems to cultivate connectedness – with both humans and the broader natural world. Future research should compare different course curricula. Moreover, it should aim at diverse samples, longitudinal assessments, and investigate reasons for self-selecting in and dropping out of meditation-related studies.

中文翻译：

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培养联系：基于应用程序的同情冥想课程对全球身份、自然联系和环保行为变化的影响

解决气候变化等紧迫的全球环境危机需要采取个人行为改变和政治措施。在各种研究中，对包括全人类在内的内部群体的认同（即全球身份）与环保参与呈正相关，但对于如何培养全球身份却知之甚少。我们认为，专注于培养同情心的冥想可能会增加全球认同，因为与世界各地的人们建立联系是这种练习的传统目标。在一项采用前后设计的随机对照干预研究中（= 164，德国），参与者接受了基于应用程序的 7 天冥想课程。控制调查前的水平，与等待对照组相比，冥想组报告了全球认同和亲环境行为的更强变化，但没有气候政策支持。我们发现，参加冥想课程可以通过加强全球自我投资（作为全球认同的一个维度）间接预测亲环境行为的变化。此外，我们还发现，与对照组相比，冥想组的自然联系发生了更强的变化。因此，为期 7 天的基于应用程序的同情冥想课程似乎确实可以培养与人类和更广泛的自然世界的联系。未来的研究应该比较不同的课程。此外，还应针对不同的样本，进行纵向评估，并调查自我选择和退出冥想相关研究的原因。