How to develop empathy?

Want to become a more compassionate person or leader?

The obvious advice from the world of wellbeing and positivepsychology would be: Practice mindfulness.

But here’s the real question: Does it matter what kind of mindfulness practice you choose?

👉 Research says: Yes, it matters - a lot.

A major study from Tania Singer’s ReSource Project explored this exact question:

Is paying attention to your breath or doing a body scan enough to make you kinder?

Or do you need to explicitly train qualities like care and warmth?

Here’s what they found:

✔ Three months of attention-based mindfulness training (like Presence modules) did NOT increase compassion.

✔ Only participants who practiced the Affect module - training focused on care-based, social, and emotional qualities - became more compassionate.

Bottom line: Not all mindfulness techniques are equal. If you want more compassion, use practices that explicitly target it.

Mindfulness (or any other training) isn’t one-size-fits-all - it’s about choosing the right tool for the outcome you want.

Originally published on LinkedIn.