Featured Topic: Mindfulness

Jon Kabat-Zinn is credited with having played a significant role in bringing mindfulness into the zeitgeist of the Western world (Harrington & Dunne, 2015), particularly through the development of his mindfulness-based stress reduction programs. Kabat-Zinn (1994) defined mindfulness as focusing only on the present moment by learning to self-regulate one’s attention to hold an open and accepting attitude to all thoughts and feelings. 

In addition to being used as a way to mitigate the harmful effects of stress and mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression, practicing mindfulness has been found to be effective for increasing well-being and positive affect. SBP authors have extended the literature in this area by examining how mindfulness can help to promote positive states like life satisfaction and self-compassion, and reduce the impact of negative states like hypocrisy and hypersensitivity.

Tan, Yang, Ma, and Yu (2016) described mindfulness as being conducive to emotional intelligence and emotion regulation, which, in turn, promote life satisfaction. This relationship was found to be mediated in part by positive core self-evaluations, entailing greater acceptance of things that cannot be changed—which aligns with the core tenets of mindfulness. Dr Tan also partnered with another group of SBP authors to further investigate the connection between mindfulness and anxiety, and undertook a comparison of how this relationship differs between Eastern and Western cultural contexts (Tan, Lo, Ge, & Chu, 2016), taking into account the Buddhist roots of the mindfulness practice. 

Taking a different focus, Jonsson, Grim, and Kjellgren (2014) asserted that a key benefit of greater mindfulness is “an improved ability to ignore distracting information” (p. 1503), which is associated with enhanced self-control. They examined how sensory deprivation through the use of flotation tank therapy can promote a state of mindfulness. Being able to filter out extraneous stimuli allows for both enhanced focus on important tasks and more effective relaxation during leisure time. As we prepare for the busy final few weeks of 2017 and anticipate taking a break over the new year period, being able to mentally relax and enjoy the present moment seems like a worthy aim!

Browse the papers below for an overview of research we’ve published on mindfulness. Additional articles on this topic can be found in our archives.

References

Harrington, A., &. Dunne, J. (2015). When mindfulness is therapy: Ethical qualms, historical perspectives. American Psychologist, 70, 621–631. https://doi.org/f7tzmq

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York, NY: Hyperion. 

The relationship between self-compassion, self-efficacy, and control belief about learning in Turkish university students – Murat Iskender, 2009, 37(5), 711–720.

Saying, but not doing: Induced hypocrisy, trivialization, and misattribution – Valerie Fointiat, Alain Somat, and Jean-Michel Grosbras, 2011, 39(4), 465–476.

Do highly sensitive persons experience more nonordinary states of consciousness during sensory isolation? – Kristoffer Jonsson, Katarina Grim, and Anette Kjellgren, 2014, 42(9), 1495–1506.

Self-esteem mediates the relationship between mindfulness and social anxiety among Chinese undergraduate students – Jianfeng Tan, Pouchan Lo, Nie Ge, and Chengjing Chu, 2016, 44(8), 1297–1304.