Trait mindfulness and age, more than emotional empathy, are associated with a low-stakes charitable donation decision

The relationship between interoceptive sensibility, trait mindfulness, and empathy is theorised to underpin prosocial behaviour, yet empirical evidence remains mixed. In a cross-sectional correlational design, we tested three pre-specified hypotheses: (H1) that interoceptive sensibility and trait mindfulness would be associated with higher self-reported emotional empathy; (H2) that these traits, alongside emotional empathy, would be associated with stronger altruistic attitudes; and (H3) that they would be associated with a higher likelihood of a low-stakes charitable donation decision. One hundred sixty-four adults completed measures of interoceptive sensibility (MAIA-R), trait mindfulness (MAAS), emotional empathy, altruistic attitudes, and affective traits, and then chose whether to keep or donate their compensation (79/163, 48.5%, donated). Regarding H1, multivariable regression indicated that emotional empathy was most strongly associated with general emotionality (β = 4.08, p < .001) and age, rather than with interoceptive sensibility or mindfulness. Partially consistent with H2, altruistic attitudes were associated with emotional empathy (β = 6.70, p < .001) and age, whereas interoceptive sensibility and mindfulness did not explain additional unique variance. Regarding H3, the donation decision showed modest associations with higher MAAS scores (OR = 1.91, 95% CI [1.22, 2.98], p = .005; stable in 81.4% of subsampling iterations) and older age (OR = 1.95, 95% CI [1.29, 2.93], p = .001), but not with emotional empathy or interoceptive sensibility; overall out-of-sample discrimination was modest (ROC-AUC ≈ 0.62–0.64). Lasso-regularised models largely converged with standard regression. Together, these findings suggest a tentative distinction between self-reported prosocial motivation and low-stakes charitable action: emotional empathy was associated with altruistic attitudes, whereas MAAS-assessed trait mindfulness showed a stable though modest association with the donation decision.