That’s almost exactly the stated reason the authors conducted the present study. They state in their introduction that there’s literature on positive benefits, so they wanted to examine possible negative outcomes.
The problem is, your stated benefits don’t conflict with the findings of this study. You specifically state it can increase motivation for things people want to do in life, and move towards a life worth living. That in no way conflicts with people being less motivated to do their jobs. For a sad majority of people, I’d say being motivated to live a better life would be associated with quitting their shitty job immediately. Indeed, the benefits you cite would seem to predict the outcome of the present study, rather than argue against it.
To be clear on a few additional points: I agree that most of the literature indicates that meditation can be helpful, and I see no compelling reason to doubt it. That being said, it’s easily possible that meditation is no more effective than a variety of other things, some of which may be easier to implement, so it’s important to consider. Also meditation may have negative consequences that haven’t been considered, given that most research studies are looking specifically for benefits.
Finally, critiquing the methodology behind a study is fine, but saying that it goes against established literature is problematic. A good example is research on ego-depletion. It too was highly replicated, and meta-analysis seemed to support it. File drawer issues and poor methodology don’t just go away because you’ve gathered a lot of them. As one researcher said “meta-analysis are fucked.”
ETA: In the interest of backing up my somewhat general criticisms, here’s a review of some of the issues in meditation research Has the science of mindfulness lost its mind? - PMC I could cite several other studies and such, but most of them are cited in the above, so it’d be a bit cheap of me.
Of course, I went out looking for studies that confirmed issues, because my stance is that the next person who tells me I need to take up meditation is getting punched in the throat. I imagine it’s the case that you’re a fan of meditation and, likewise, looked for confirmatory studies (though I don’t know you, so possibly not.) I’m not against meditation exactly, but I worry that it’s effects may be overstated due to the level of enthusiasm people have for it. Studies with “sexy” findings like that are often problematic, and overlooked because the researchers tend to have such enthusiasm for said findings that they can be less critical. That’s okay. Science doesn’t rely on researchers being impartial. It just relies on there being assholes like me who hate joy and want to shoot these studies down. If we can’t, then you’re on to something.
