The Impact of Mindfulness and Perspective-Taking on Implicit Associations Toward the Elderly: a Relational Frame Theory Account (original) (raw)
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2020
Objective: This study was designed to explore the interactive effects of state and trait mindfulness in reducing implicit racial bias. Method: A 3-factor, quasi-experimental mixed design was employed. The factors were induction type, order of presentation and trait mindfulness. Post-induction implicit racism as well as explicit racism comprised the two dependent variables. Twenty-five older adults completed an Implicit Association Test on two occasions, one week apart. Results: The non-significant main effect of induction type (H1) was moderated by trait mindfulness (H2). Specifically, low trait mindful participants showed a significant reduction in implicit racism following the mindfulness induction compared with the control induction. There were no differences in implicit racism between induction conditions among high trait mindful counterparts. Explicit racism did not vary as a function of trait mindfulness (H3) and was independent of implicit racism (H4). Conclusion: A combinati...
Reducing Stereotyping Through Mindfulness: Effects on Automatic Stereotype-Activated Behaviors
Journal of Adult Development, 2008
We assessed whether mindfulness (active categorization) can prevent automatic stereotype-activated behaviors related to the elderly. Eighty participants (mean age = 24.4) were given a set of photographs to prime the dimension Old Age and were asked to categorize them multiple times, to see whether the effect of the prime could be reduced through increased mindfulness. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, where they were asked to categorize the photographs across (1) four self-generated categories; (2) four assigned categories; (3) a single category-Gender; or (4) a single category-Age. Participants' walking speed (cf. Bargh et al. 1996, Experiment 2) was then measured, as they moved between the two experimental stations. The results show that greater mindfulness predicted greater walking speed, indicating a decrease in the effect of the automatic stereotype-activated behavior.
2022
This study integrates the conceptual and empirical research on mindfulness and intergroup bias to guide a meta-analysis that examines associations between mindfulness and (a) different manifestations of bias, e.g., implicit and explicit attitudes, affect, and behavior, directed towards (b) different bias targets, e.g., outgroup or ingroup (internalized bias), by (c) intergroup orientation, e.g., towards bias or anti-bias. Of 70 independent samples, 42 (178 effect sizes; N = 3,229) were studies of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) and 30 (150 effect sizes; N = 6,002) were correlational studies. Unconditional mixed-effects structural equation models showed a large, negative effect of mindfulness on bias for intervention (d = -0.56, CI 95% [-0.72, -0.40]) and correlational (r = -0.17 [-0.27, -0.03]) studies. Effects were comparable for intergroup bias and internalized bias; the largest effects were for behavioral outcomes. We conclude by identifying gaps in the evidence base and o...
Dispositional Mindfulness and Bias in Self-theories
Mindfulness, 2013
Mindfulness is theorized to encourage a dispositional quality of nonjudgmental awareness that is incongruent with emotional and cognitive bias. Recent empirical investigations offer evidence supporting the putative negative association between dispositional mindfulness and bias. The present study aimed to test the hypothesized negative relationship between dispositional mindfulness and extreme or biased selftheories with respect to implicit beliefs about the variability of personality and intelligence. One hundred sixty-three young adults completed a measure of dispositional mindfulness followed by a self-theories implicit association test. Results indicate that respondents with less biased self-theories reported higher levels of dispositional mindfulness relative to respondents with more biased beliefs about the variability of intelligence and personality. These findings suggest that mindful individuals may adopt less biased characterizations of the self and maintain self-concepts that are less influenced by past associations or preconceived notions.
The nondiscriminating heart: Lovingkindness meditation training decreases implicit intergroup bias
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2014
Although meditation is increasingly accepted as having personal benefits, less is known about the broader impact of meditation on social and intergroup relations. We tested the effect of lovingkindness meditation training on improving implicit attitudes toward members of 2 stigmatized social outgroups: Blacks and homeless people. Healthy non-Black, nonhomeless adults (N ϭ 101) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: 6-week lovingkindness practice, 6-week lovingkindness discussion (a closely matched active control), or waitlist control. Decreases in implicit bias against stigmatized outgroups (as measured by Implicit Association Test) were observed only in the lovingkindness practice condition. Reduced psychological stress mediated the effect of lovingkindness practice on implicit bias against homeless people, but it did not mediate the reduced bias against Black people. These results suggest that lovingkindness meditation can improve automatically activated, implicit attitudes toward stigmatized social groups and that this effect occurs through distinctive mechanisms for different stigmatized social groups.
Specific Individuals Perspective Taking: Reducing Prejudice Towards General Outgroups and
Previous research has found that perspective taking improves attitudes towards outgroups. We find that taking the perspective of an outgroup member not only improves attitudes towards outgroups, but also reduces prejudice and discriminatory behavior against other specific individual members of that outgroup. Experiment 1 demonstrates that perspective-taking improves liking towards another member of the outgroup, while experiment 2 finds that the improved liking does not generalize to all outgroups, only the group to which the target of empathy belongs. Finally, experiment 3 shows that perspective taking also increases helping behavior towards another member of the outgroup. Moreover, we find evidence that perspective taking improves intergroup attitudes through the induction of empathy.
Effects of Perspective Taking and Values Consistency in Reducing Implicit Racial Bias
Universitas Psychologica, 2023
This study explored the effect of perspective taking and values consistency tasks on reducing implicit racial bias. Using a repeated measures design with a control group, 39 participants, 20 female and 19 males, 18-54 years old, who identified as White were administered the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure. All participants in the experimental group (n = 19) and control group (n = 20) completed the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, Modified Modern Racism Scale, Valuing Questionnaire, and a Likert scale. Experimental group participants completed brief values consistency and perspective taking tasks whereas the control group completed a guided task. A 2 x 4 mixed repeated measures analysis of variance ANOVA was conducted to determine whether there was any interaction effect between the group and trial types and a MANOVA to identify differences in the explicit measures between both groups. Results show that after the values work and perspective taking exercises, participants in the experimental group recorded shorter mean responses for Inconsistent-Black trial blocks versus Consistent-Black trial blocks as compared to the control group. Additionally, a statistically significant impact for interaction between condition and trial type was found for the Consistent-White trial type in the experimental group. Recommendations for future research are provided.
European Journal of Social Psychology, 2003
This research was designed to examine whether perspective taking promotes improved intergroup attitudes regardless of the extent that stereotypic perceptions of outgroups are endorsed, as well as examining the mechanisms (attributional or empathy related) by which perspective taking motivates improved intergroup attitudes. Participants were presented with an interview segment where an African American interviewee discussed the difficulties experienced as a result of his membership in a negatively stereotyped group. Materials were presented in a 2 (perspective taking: other focused or objective focused) Â 2 (target stereotypicality: confirming or disconfirming) between participants design. Findings revealed that the manipulation of target stereotypicality influenced subsequent stereotype endorsement; those exposed to a stereotype confirming target later endorsed more stereotypic perceptions of African Americans than did those exposed to a stereotype disconfirming target. However, perspective taking promoted improved intergroup attitudes irrespective of stereotypicality; those encouraged to adopt the perspective of the target later reported more favourable intergroup attitudes than did those who remained detached and objective listeners. Whereas empathy partially mediated the relation between perspective taking and intergroup attitudes, situational attributions were a stronger and more reliable mediator.
Mindfulness Reduces the Correspondence Bias
The Correspondence Bias (CB) refers to the idea that people sometimes give undue weight to dispositional rather than situational factors when explaining behaviors and attitudes. Three experiments examined whether mindfulness, a non-judgmental focus on the present moment, could reduce the CB. Participants engaged in a brief mindfulness exercise (the raisin task), a control task or an attention to detail task before completing a typical CB measure involving an attitude-attribution paradigm. The results indicated that participants in the mindfulness condition experienced a significant reduction in the CB compared to participants in the control or attention to detail conditions. These results suggest that mindfulness training can play a unique role in reducing social biases related to person perception. ; . In short, people have a tendency to think others are how they act. For example, when a person steps in front of us while we are walking, we might initially think he/she is "rude" rather than "rushing to the hospital". This error can have important consequences, as perceivers are more likely to react negatively toward people whom they directly blame for their actions . used an attitude attribution paradigm in one of the first studies to examine the CB. They wrote two speeches, one speech that was 'pro' Fidel Castro, and a second speech that was 'anti' Fidel Castro. Participants were informed they that were required to read one of the two speeches, and that the speeches had been written by fellow students. Subsequently, participants were required to rate the speechwriter's attitude toward Castro. Unsurprisingly, the researchers found that participants' rating of the speechwriter's attitude toward Castro corresponded to the speech position (pro or anti). Importantly, this occurred even when the participant was informed that a debate coach had chosen the position that the speechwriter wrote from. In other words, participants tended to overlook the situation (i.e., the speechwriter being assigned to position) and instead made dispositional attributions about the speechwriter's attitude towards Castro.