A recent article in the NYTimes discusses an experiment on whether meditators might be more willing to help others.

“..[W]hat ..interested us was whether those who had been meditating would exhibit greater compassion in the face of suffering. To find out, we staged a situation designed to test the participants’ behavior before they were aware that the experiment had begun.
“Although only 16 percent of the nonmeditators gave up their seats — an admittedly disheartening fact — the proportion rose to 50 percent among those who had meditated.”
Read the full article here