Abstract
Mindfulness is known to increase after meditation interventions. But might features of our everyday situations outside of meditation not also influence our mindfulness from moment-to-moment? Drawing from psychological research on interpersonal trust, we suggest that interacting with trustworthy people could influence the expression of mindfulness. And, extending this research on trust, we further suggest that the influence of trustworthy social interactions on mindfulness could proceed through two pathways: a particularized pathway (where specific interactions that are especially high (or low) in trustworthiness have an immediate influence on mindfulness) or a generalized pathway (where the typical level of trustworthiness a person perceives across all their interactions exerts a more stable influence on their mindfulness). To explore these two pathways, study participants (N = 201) repeatedly reported their current levels of mindfulness and their prior interactions with trustworthy leaders and teammates during their everyday situations using an experience sampling protocol ( = 3,605 reports). Results from mixed-effects models provide little support for the particularized pathway: specific interactions with trustworthy leaders and teammates had little immediate association with mindfulness. The generalized pathway, however, was strongly associated with mindfulness—and remained incrementally predictive beyond relevant individual differences and features of situations. In sum, people who typically interact with more trustworthy partners may become more mindful.
Highlights
Mindfulness has emerged as a mental state associated with positive psychological outcomes, including reduced stress and improved cognitive functioning [1,2,3]
We suggest that there are two pathways by which trustworthy social interactions could influence mindfulness: a particularized pathway driven by specific interactions and a generalized pathway driven by typical patterns of interactions
We found that whereas trustworthy interactions were not associated with either of the mindfulness components through the particularized pathway based on specific interactions, they were through the generalized pathway based on typical interactions— and most robustly so for the metacognition component of mindfulness
Summary
Mindfulness has emerged as a mental state associated with positive psychological outcomes, including reduced stress and improved cognitive functioning [1,2,3]. Scholars have good cause to consider its antecedents. What can be done to help people increase their mindfulness levels, and thereby better obtain these positive outcomes? The primary answer has been mindfulness meditation training. Does interacting with trustworthy people enhance mindfulness?. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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