Beneficial Effects Of Mindfulness Research Articles

Mindfulness Makes Employees More Creative? The Mediating Role of Psychological Capital and Creative Process Engagement

ABSTRACTPrevious studies on mindfulness and creativity have focused on the beneficial effects of mindfulness on concentration. However, few have explored this from the perspective of psychological resources. Based on resource conservation theory, this study focuses on the positive psychological functions of mindfulness and how they complement the psychological resources depleted in the performance of creativity. Thus, guaranteeing the completion of creativity‐related activities. We used a three‐time lag design and analyzed reports from 404 employees and 85 supervisors to explore the impact of employees' mindfulness on their creativity and the chain‐mediating role of psychological capital and creative process engagement in the relationship between the two. The results indicated that employees' mindfulness can influence their creativity not only directly but also through the mediation of just creative process engagement as well as through the chain mediation of psychological capital and creative process. The findings revealed the psychological mechanisms through which employees' mindfulness impacts their creativity, providing a scientific basis for exploring how to effectively enhance employees' creativity and dissipating the doubts raised about the current widespread use of mindfulness in organizations.

Acceptance, and Not Its Interaction with Attention Monitoring, Increases Psychological Well-Being: Testing the Monitor and Acceptance Theory of Mindfulness

According to the influential Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT), mindfulness includes the two components of attention monitoring and acceptance, which, in conjunction, can explain its benefits on psychological well-being: monitoring alone would increase affective reactivity (MAT tenet 1b), but when combined with acceptance, it would lead to increased psycho-physical well-being (MAT tenet 2b). However, the studies cited in support to MAT are not completely consistent with the theory, Thus, we conducted a cross-sectional study to further test it. In a pool of 154 participants, we measured the two mindfulness components with the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire, while also assessing ill-being or psychological distress in terms of depression, anxiety, stress, and sleep disturbances, and psychological well-being in terms of life satisfaction and happiness. We then conducted hierarchical regression analysis on these data for assessing the role of monitoring, acceptance, and their interaction on the other psychological variables. Our results show that monitoring alone marginally predicted few ill-being variables, whereas acceptance strongly predicted both reductions in psychological symptoms and increases in well-being. Moreover, no significant interaction between monitoring and acceptance was found for any of the tested variables. The present study provides very little support for the two tested MAT tenets. On the contrary, in line with most of the available literature, our results strongly support the alternative view according to which the beneficial effects of mindfulness on psychological outcomes depend mostly on acceptance.

Mindfulness for patients with rheumatoid arthritis: systematic review

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness as a complementary therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Method: Protocol numbered CRD42017080108 on the PROSPERO platform. Manual searches and the Cochrane Collation assessment instrument were performed for systematic reviews in the databases CENTRAL, MEDLINE, PEDro, PsycoINFO, LILACS, Web of Science, clinical trials.gov, WHO-ICTRP and Open Gray. Randomized controlled trials were included without language restrictions or mindfulness temporality compared to placebo, psychotherapy or another equivalent strategy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Results: Four primary studies included (249 participants), which compared mindfulness with waiting lists, cognitive therapy and education. They presented better scores of disease activities, depressive symptoms, psychological distress, well-being, pain catastrophization, although they were classified as having a high risk of occurrence in at least one domain of the instrument used, presenting the need for robust clinical trials, proving the effectiveness of mindfulness in clinical practice. Conclusions: Beneficial effects of mindfulness in patients with rheumatoid arthritis are shown to present important results of changes in outcomes that affect the biopsychosocial dimensions in patients with. However, the evidence from the studies evaluated is of low quality, making it difficult to recommend intervention in clinical practice.

Common Factors Underlying the Five Facets of Mindfulness and Proposed Mechanisms: a Psychometric Study Among Meditators and Non-meditators

ObjectivesThis study investigated whether common factors underlie the established mindfulness facets, as assessed by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and some of the mechanisms, which have been previously proposed to explain the beneficial effects of mindfulness on mental health.MethodsMultigroup exploratory structural equation models (ESEM) were fitted to samples of non-meditators and meditators (total N = 3265) to (1) identify the number of factors that underlie the facets and mechanisms of mindfulness, (2) establish measurement invariance, and (3) conduct path analyses to determine the associations of extracted factors with psychological symptoms.ResultsFive measurement-invariant common factors were found to underlie the mechanisms and facets of mindfulness. The FFMQ facets loaded distinctly, but none of them highest, on these common factors. The common factors represented different ways of focusing, dealing with distress, and relating towards one’s own thoughts, feelings, emotions, and body sensations. Three of the common factors appeared to specifically reflect meditation experience. The FFMQ facets accounted for less variance of depression, anxiety, somatization, and stress scores than marker scales of the five common factors, all of which derived from the proposed mechanisms.ConclusionsThe common factors appear to be elements of the supporting mechanisms and psychological faculties of mindfulness. Their existence may explain the mutual interrelations between mechanisms and self-reported mindfulness but also suggests that self-reported mindfulness may not be factorially distinct from its assumed mechanisms. Longitudinal studies as well as behavioral data are needed to probe the generalizability and causality of these psychometric results.

Does self-esteem matter? A framework depicting role of self-esteem between dispositional mindfulness and impulsive buying

There is a continuum from ordinary to excessive impulsive buying tendencies (IBT), and low self-esteem appears to be one of the major underlying motivators of this behavior that needs to be explored and controlled. Based on the results of two independent studies, the present study makes a novel attempt to demonstrate the possible relation between mindfulness, self-esteem, IBT and impulse buying behavior. The present work emphasize on the beneficial effects of mindfulness in enhancing self-esteem, which can curb impulsive tendencies and behavior. The effect of mindfulness on self-esteem and IBT is corroborated with two studies (n = 344/n = 328). The results from study 1 revealed that dispositional mindfulness (measured with Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale–Revised scale) is related to IBT through self-esteem. The study 2 using serial mediation demonstrates that dispositional mindfulness (measured using Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale) relates to impulsive buying behavior through self-esteem and IBT. The findings of the present study highlight the importance of self-esteem in the relationship between mindfulness and impulse buying. This research offers a framework that can enable individuals to control their sudden urge to make impulsive purchases, using the positive effects of mindfulness and enhanced self-esteem.

Trait Mindfulness Is Associated With Lower Pain Reactivity and Connectivity of the Default Mode Network

Mindfulness-based training reduces pain in clinical and experimental settings. Evidence suggests that these beneficial effects are facilitated via an increased focus on the present moment and a reduced emotional enhancement of pain. Most of the existing literature has focused on mindfulness as a learned skill and on the neural mechanisms that underlie the acquisition of this skill. It is unknown whether similar mechanisms are associated with trait mindfulness in the absence of training and whether these mechanisms confer the ability to cope with pain. To determine this, we measured trait mindfulness and pain responsivity in 40 healthy volunteers naive to mindfulness meditation. As a feature of interest, we targeted the default mode network (DMN), a network of interacting brain regions associated with processes such as introspective thought, mind wandering, and rumination. As extant studies have implicated the DMN in the beneficial effects of mindfulness, we examined resting-state connectivity of the precuneus, a core DMN node. Higher trait mindfulness was associated with higher pain thresholds (r = .43, P < .01) and lower pain catastrophizing (r = -.51, P < .01). Consistent with the neural mechanisms of trained mindfulness, higher trait mindfulness was associated with lower connectivity between the nodes of the DMN. It was also associated with higher connectivity between the DMN and somatosensory cortices. These findings are consistent with the processes taught in formal meditation training, namely increased focus on sensory experience and a decrease in emotional appraisal processes, indicating that behavioral and neurological mechanisms described in the interventional mindfulness literature also underlie trait mindfulness prior to any formal training. PerspectiveMindfulness research mostly focuses on mindfulness as a trained skill rather than a trait. Consistent with trained-mindfulness studies, we demonstrate that mindfulness is associated with variations in neural connectivity linked to sensory and evaluative processes. These findings indicate that trait mindfulness serves as a marker for individual differences in pain coping.

The Benefits of a Mindfulness Exercise in a Performance Situation.

Background Mindfulness is a state of nonjudgmental attentiveness to moment-to-moment experiences. Interest in implementing mindfulness-based interventions is growing. Objective We investigated the benefit of a short mindfulness exercise for mindfulness novices in a performance situation. Method Participants ( N = 97) engaged in a mindfulness or relaxation exercise and subsequently worked on an achievement test. Results Participants in the mindfulness condition had fewer distracting evaluative thoughts during and experienced less negative affect after the achievement test. Participants also exerted less self-control (vagal withdrawal measured via heart rate variability) during the mindfulness exercise than on the relaxation exercise. In a subsample ( n = 84), selected on the basis of serious involvement in the exercise, mindfulness eliminated the negative association between distracting evaluative thoughts and performance. Furthermore, beneficial effects of mindfulness on distractive thoughts were found for participants low but not high in trait mindfulness. The mindfulness exercise did not influence performance. Conclusion In performance contexts, even brief mindfulness exercises may have beneficial effects for mindfulness novices and people low in trait mindfulness.

An empirical investigation into the cognitive and relational dynamics of mindfulness: Adult attachment security mediates the relationship between mindfulness and naïve dialecticalism

Both researchers on mindfulness, as well as proponents of therapy modalities that incorporate mindfulness-based skill building, typically conceptualize the stress reducing benefits of mindfulness primarily to its ability to modulate maladaptive cognitive or attentional patterns. Naïve dialecticalism (i.e., a less synthesized and integrated tolerance of apparently contradictory or ambivalent beliefs) represents an approach to cognition that is associated with greater self-criticism and inconsistency within one's global self-concept and is thus theorized to be negatively related to mindfulness. The present study investigated whether the beneficial effects of mindfulness on cognition (i.e., lower levels of naïve dialectical thinking) are in fact accounted for via the beneficial effects of mindfulness on one's relationships (i.e., enhanced perceptions of adult attachment security). Structural equation modeling demonstrated that adult attachment security in fact fully mediated the negative relationship between naïve dialectical thinking and mindfulness. These results highlight an understanding of mindfulness meditation as a practice that cultivates not only harmonious affect and cognition, but also harmonious relationships with others.

Brief relaxation training is not sufficient to alter tolerance to experimental pain in novices.

Relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing and muscle relaxation, are aspects common to most forms of mindfulness training. There is now an abundance of research demonstrating that mindfulness training has beneficial effects across a wide range of clinical conditions, making it an important tool for clinical intervention. One area of extensive research is on the beneficial effects of mindfulness on experiences of pain. However, the mechanisms of these effects are still not well understood. One hypothesis is that the relaxation components of mindfulness training, through alterations in breathing and muscle tension, leads to changes in parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system functioning which influences pain circuits. The current study seeks to examine how two of the relaxation subcomponents of mindfulness training, deep breathing and muscle relaxation, influence experiences of pain in healthy individuals. Participants were randomized to either a 10 minute deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or control condition after which they were exposed to a cold pain task. Throughout the experiment, measures of parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system activity were collected to assess how deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation alter physiological responses, and if these changes moderate any effects of these interventions on responses to pain. There were no differences in participants’ pain tolerances or self-reported pain ratings during the cold pain task or in participants’ physiological responses to the task. Additionally, individual differences in physiological functioning were not related to differences in pain tolerance or pain ratings. Overall this study suggests that the mechanisms through which mindfulness exerts its effects on pain are more complex than merely through physiological changes brought about by altering breathing or muscle tension. This indicates a need for more research examining the specific subcomponents of mindfulness, and how these subcomponents might be acting, to better understand their utility as a clinical treatment.

Modeling and Measurement of Interpersonal Attraction and Coordination in Charged Social Space-Time

A new interpretation of consciousness proposes that states of the mind and behavior may be treated as containing a net electrochemical charge. In the electrodynamic model, interpersonal interactions would exhibit attraction due to complementarily charged states. While this hypothesis remains to be verified with neuroimaging and other techniques, it is important to consider how psychology would in principle be described using charges in social space time. Extended analysis of data from a recently developed method is used to demonstrate how this would occur during optimally coordinated cognitive behavioral activity, or interpersonal “synchronicity.” In an earlier study, pairs of individuals were asked to converse for an initial period, separate, and return to talk again after making a decision about when they were ready to meet for a second conversation with their partner. In addition to the beneficial effects of mindfulness that optimized subsequent interactions, participants with similar personality traits also appeared to be aligned and returned with greater simultaneous coordination. The interaction of pairs in the study may be considered to resemble coupled particles in an EPR experiment, and is used to show how complementary simultaneous coordination can be understood within the context of “charged social space time.” Synchronistic moments of meeting are treated as coherent charge states that converge under effective conditions after an interval of time. The implication is that interpersonal attraction and bonding may create social structures that are uniquely described by fundamental electrodynamic principles. The nature of consciousness and social behavior may require a model using charge like reactions that progress as a function of biophysical energy, space, and time. Here, a method and principles for the development of a practical model of electrodynamic consciousness is detailed.

Dispositional mindfulness is associated with reduced implicit learning.

Behavioral and neuroimaging evidence suggest that mindfulness exerts its salutary effects by disengaging habitual processes supported by subcortical regions and increasing effortful control processes supported by the frontal lobes. Here we investigated whether individual differences in dispositional mindfulness relate to performance on implicit sequence learning tasks in which optimal learning may in fact be impeded by the engagement of effortful control processes. We report results from two studies where participants completed a widely used questionnaire assessing mindfulness and one of two implicit sequence learning tasks. Learning was quantified using two commonly used measures of sequence learning. In both studies we detected a negative relationship between mindfulness and sequence learning, and the relationship was consistent across both learning measures. Our results, the first to show a negative relationship between mindfulness and implicit sequence learning, suggest that the beneficial effects of mindfulness do not extend to all cognitive functions.

Investigating the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ): Construction of a Short Form and Evidence of a Two‐Factor Higher Order Structure of Mindfulness

Past research of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) lacks clear results regarding its factorial validity, item fitting, mindfulness in the general population, and on the higher order structure of mindfulness. We derived an alternative two-factor higher order structure for the FFMQ, delineating the attentional and experiential aspects of mindfulness. Data of 640 persons from the Austrian community were used for primary analyses, and data of 333 Austrian students were used for cross-validation. Confirmatory analyses and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) were utilized to investigate psychometric and structural properties. Associations with related variables and indicators of mental health were examined. Confirmatory models fitted only poorly on the full 39-item FFMQ. Fit was acceptable in an abridged 20-item version in both samples. The Nonreact scale had only weak psychometric properties. ESEM analyses suggested a good fit of two higher order factors and revealed structural differences between the samples. Beneficial effects of mindfulness appeared to be uniquely associated with the experiential aspects of mindfulness. Strategies of emotion regulation showed differential associations with the two higher order factors in the two samples. Our findings are relevant both with regard to conceptual issues on mindfulness and the assessment of mindfulness with the FFMQ. Replications in meditating samples and in patients are needed.