Abstract
Research suggests that mindfulness can induce changes in the social domain, such as enhancing emotional connection to others, prosocial behavior, and empathy. However, despite growing interest in mindfulness in social psychology, very little is known about the effects of mindfulness on social cognition. Consequently, the aim of this study was to explore the relationship between mindfulness and social cognition by comparing meditators with non-meditators on several social cognition measures. A total of 60 participants (meditators, n = 30; non-meditators, n = 30) were matched on sex, age, and ethnic group, and then asked to complete the following assessment measures: Mindful Awareness Attention Scale (MAAS), Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire Short Form (FFMQ-SF), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), Revised Eyes Test, Hinting Task, Ambiguous Intentions and Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Screening for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry (SCIP). The results showed that meditators reported higher empathy (except for the personal distress subscale), higher emotional recognition, higher theory of mind (ToM), and lower hostile attributional style/bias. The findings also demonstrated that dispositional mindfulness (both total score assessed with MAAS and mindfulness facets using the FFMQ) was associated with social cognition, although it was not equally correlated with all social cognition outcomes, and correlation patterns differ when analyses were conducted separately for meditators and non-meditators. In addition, results showed potential predictors for each social cognition variable, highlighting non-reactivity to inner experience as a key component of mindfulness in order to explain social cognition performance. In summary, the findings indicated that the meditator sample performed better on certain qualities (i.e., empathy, emotional recognition, ToM, hostile attributional style/bias) in comparison to non-meditators and, furthermore, support the notion that mindfulness is related to social cognition, which may have implications for the design of mindfulness-based approaches for use in clinical and non-clinical settings.
Highlights
Research into mindfulness has increased over the last decade and, several interventions to promote mindfulness skills have been implemented and widely used in clinical settings (Khoury et al, 2013; Demarzo et al, 2015; Van Gordon et al, 2017)
Results from analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) and multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVA) controlling by educational attainment yielded statistically significant differences between groups in: empathy subscales [F(4,53) = 5.790; p < 0.01] [perspective-taking (F(2,57) = 18,326; p < 0.001), and empathic concern (F(2,57) = 13,271; p < 0.01)]; theory of mind (ToM) [F(2,57) = 8.597; p < 0.01]; attributional style [F(5,53) = 5.971; p < 0.001]; dispositional mindfulness (MAAS) F(2,57) = 13.215; p < 0.01, facets of mindfulness (FFMQ) [F(5,57) = 7.289; p < 0.001]; and cognitive impairment [F(2,57) = 7.973; p < 0.01]
The present study aimed to explore the role of meditation and dispositional mindfulness on social cognition
Summary
Research into mindfulness has increased over the last decade and, several interventions to promote mindfulness skills have been implemented and widely used in clinical settings (Khoury et al, 2013; Demarzo et al, 2015; Van Gordon et al, 2017). The results of their study indicated that meditators’ performance did not differ when compared with that of non-meditators (controls), except on reported lower accuracy in disgust emotion recognition in long-term meditators and lower personal distress (empathy subscale) in both long- and short-term meditators (i.e., versus non-meditators) While these findings were asynchronous with extant theory and the consensual understanding of mindfulness and social cognition, the study sample only comprised 10 non-meditators, 10 long-term meditators, and 9 short-term meditators. Social mindfulness is minding the needs and interests of others in a way that honors the idea that most people like to choose for themselves It is conceptualized in terms of other-regarding choices involving both skill (to see it, e.g., ToM, perspectivetaking) and will (to do it, e.g., empathic concern, prosocial orientation) to act mindfully toward another person’s control over outcomes. Findings from this study warrant the importance of further research on this issue, focusing on mindfulness and social cognition in order to better understand how these constructs are related
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