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Cognitive theorists describe mindfulness as a form of attention-awareness in which thoughts can be observed in non-judging, de-centered, and non-attached ways. However, empirical research has not examined associations between mindfulness and responses to negative automatic thoughts, such as the ability to let go of negative cognition. In the first study reported in this article, measures of dispositional mindfulness were negatively correlated with negative thought frequency and perceptions of the ability to let go of negative thoughts in an unselected student sample. In the second study reported, these associations were replicated in a treatment-seeking student sample, where participation in a mindfulness meditation-based clinical intervention was shown to be associated with decreases in both frequency and perceptions of difficulty in letting-go of negative automatic thoughts. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
The immediate outcomes of mindfulness meditation (MM) and loving-kindness meditation (LKM) on experimental measures of explicit and implicit self- and other-referential processing (SRP-ORP) have not been investigated previously. In this study, undergraduate students (n = 104) were randomized to a single-session practice of MM, LKM, or reading control and completed self-report measures of decentering and positive affect directed toward self and other. Participants also completed an experimental measure of valenced SRP-ORP. Practice of both meditations was associated with increased decentering and positive affect relative to reading control, although self-reported response to MM and LKM did not significantly differ. Following the meditation, whereas participants randomized to MM evidenced an expected self-positivity bias in positive affective response and reaction time during an experimental SRP-ORP task, participants randomized to LKM did not. LKM, as uniquely involving the intentional cultivation of positive emotion toward both self and other, may be associated with a relative normalization of the self-positivity bias. Individual differences in response to SRP-ORP were also examined as a function of traits related to mindfulness and loving-kindness, in addition to as a function of variability in experiential response to MM and LKM. Study limitations and future research directions are also discussed.
Background:Trait mindfulness is a multifaceted construct, although its association with measures of personality and individual differences remains poorly understood. Given that guided mindfulness meditations (MM) frequently involve focused imagery and are typically experienced as pleasant, we predicted that visual and embodied imagery vividness would mediate the association between mindful observing traits and pleasant experiences in response to guided MM. Study objectives and methods:137 undergraduate students and 371 participants from Amazon's MTurk web service completed questionnaire measures of mindfulness traits and multisensory imagery vividness. They then completed an 8-10min MM involving guided imagery of visualizing and embodying the positive characteristics of natural objects (a mountain, sun, or tree). Participants rated the level of imagery vividness they experienced in the visual and embodied modalities as well as their emotional responses to the MM. Results:Mindful “observing” correlated with increased imagery vividness, both in response to standardized questionnaire and a guided MM. As predicted, vividness of visual and particularly embodied imagery mediated the association between trait mindful observing and experienced pleasantness in response to the MM. Conclusions:Individual differences in vividness of visual and embodied imagery are a construct of relevance to understanding mindfulness both as a state and trait.