Enhancing Workplace Well-being: Integrating Buddhist Appreciative Joy and Positive Empathy for Prosocial Growth

The article investigates the potential benefits of combining appreciative joy, a concept from Buddhism, with positive empathy, a psychological concept, in promoting workplace well-being and fostering prosocial growth. Appreciative joy, one of Buddhism's four noble truths, involves cultivating feelings for others through meditation. In contrast, positive empathy, as defined in psychology, pertains to empathizing with others' experiences. The article reviews two studies examining the distinctions and possible synergies between these two concepts in a professional context.

To gauge the relationship between appreciative joy and positive empathy, Oei and Zeng (2017) developed three hypotheses. The first hypothesis suggests that appreciative joy may be more closely related to altruism in daily life and meditation-induced prosocial emotions than positive empathy (Zeng et al., 2017). The second hypothesis posits that since appreciative joy and envy are opposing responses to another's emotions, envy would have a stronger negative correlation with appreciative joy than with positive empathy. Lastly, the third hypothesis asserts that appreciative joy would have a closer connection to subjective well-being due to previously reported associations with life satisfaction (Zeng et al. 2016).

The hypotheses were tested using two approaches. Study 1 employed an online survey to assess the connections between appreciative joy, positive empathy, prosociality, social bonding, and daily life. The results revealed that appreciative joy is directly related to prosocial intentions, whereas positive empathy is not (Zeng et al., 2017). Moreover, envy was found to be closely associated with appreciative joy, rendering the second hypothesis unsupported. Given the self-reported nature of these results, a second experimental study was conducted to clarify the findings.

Study 2 was carried out in a laboratory environment, enabling a direct comparison between the two concepts in a controlled setting. This method mitigates the potential unreliability of self-reported survey outcomes. The findings from Study 2 supported the hypothesis that appreciative joy tends to generate other-focused emotions, while positive empathy elicits emotions similar to those of the target (Zeng et al., 2017). This outcome demonstrated that the kinds of positive emotions produced were distinct, leading to the conclusion that appreciative joy and positive empathy, despite their similarities, are separate concepts.

In the context of workplace well-being, this article suggests that integrating both appreciative joy and positive empathy can create a more holistic understanding of employee well-being, leading to improved prosocial growth within the organization. Managers and team leaders may find it beneficial to promote the cultivation of these concepts to foster a more supportive and empathetic work environment.

References

Zeng, X., Chan, V. Y. L., Oei, T. P. S., Leung, F. Y. K., & Liu, X. (2017). Appreciative joy in Buddhism and positive empathy in psychology: How do they differ? Mindfulness, 8(5), 1184–1194. https://doi-org.ezproxy.utpb.edu/10.1007/s12671-017-0690-5

Zeng, X., Ran, L., Zhang, R., Oei, T., Yao, Z., Leung, F., & Liu, X. (2016). Development of the Appreciative Joy Scale. Mindfulness. doi:10.1007/s12671-016-0599-4.