Physiological anxiety responses in transcendental meditators and nonmeditators

In Exp. I, the spontaneous GSR of seven Transcendental Meditators and seven nonmeditators was measured in a sequence of five conditions: stress (shock avoidance)--rest--meditation (meditators) or rest/eyes closed (nonmeditators)--stress (shock avoidance)--rest. In Exp. II, the spontaneous GSR of a similar group of subjects was measured in a sequence of three conditions: rest--meditation or rest/eyes closed--rest. Analysis of variance did not yield significant differences between meditators and nonmeditators although analysis did verify that the shock-avoidance task effectively produced anxiety. It was concluded that Transcendental Meditation is not an effective means of reducing autonomic responses to stress under the present testing conditions.     

Mindfulness and self-compassion as predictors of psychological wellbeing in long-term meditators and matched nonmeditators

Mindfulness training has well-documented effects on psychological health. Recent findings suggest that increases in both mindfulness and self-compassion may mediate these outcomes; however, their separate and combined effects are rarely examined in the same participants. This study investigated cross-sectional relationships between self-reported mindfulness, self-compassion, meditation experience, and psychological wellbeing in 77 experienced meditators and 75 demographically matched nonmeditators. Most mindfulness and self-compassion scores were significantly correlated with meditation experience and psychological wellbeing. Mindfulness and self-compassion accounted for significant independent variance in wellbeing. A significant relationship between meditation experience and wellbeing was completely accounted for by a combination of mindfulness and self-compassion scores. Findings suggest that both mindfulness and self-compassion skills may play important roles in the improved wellbeing associated with mindfulness training; however, longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these findings.     

Awareness of subtle emotional feelings: a comparison of long-term meditators and nonmeditators

The authors explored whether meditation training to enhance emotional awareness improves discrimination of subtle emotional feelings hypothesized to guide decision-making. Long-term meditators and nonmeditators were compared on measures of self-reported valence and arousal, skin conductance response (SCR), and facial electromyography (EMG) to masked and nonmasked emotional pictures, and on measures of heartbeat detection and self-reported emotional awareness. Groups responded similarly to nonmasked pictures. In the masked condition, only controls showed discrimination in valence self-reports. However, meditators reported greater emotional clarity than controls, and meditators with higher clarity had reduced arousal and improved valence discrimination in the masked condition. These findings provide qualified support for the somatic marker hypothesis and suggest that meditation may influence how emotionally ambiguous information is processed, regulated, and represented in conscious awareness.     

Differential item functioning on the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire is minimal in demographically matched meditators and nonmeditators

A recent study of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire reported high levels of differential item functioning (DIF) for 18 of its 39 items in meditating and nonmeditating samples that were not demographically matched. In particular, meditators were more likely to endorse positively worded items whereas nonmeditators were more likely to deny negatively worded (reverse-scored) items. The present study replicated these analyses in demographically matched samples of meditators and nonmeditators (n = 115 each) and found that evidence for DIF was minimal. There was little or no evidence for differential relationships between positively and negatively worded items for meditators and nonmeditators. Findings suggest that DIF based on items' scoring direction is not problematic when the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire is used to compare demographically similar meditators and nonmeditators.     

Goal-directed fantasy, hypnotic susceptibility, and expectancies

We conducted an initial screening session in which hypnosis was presented as a "test of imagination" and administered with other imagination measures. In a second session, we instructed high- and low-hypnotizable subjects to imagine along with suggestions but to resist responding to motoric suggestions. Subjects received either instructions to use goal-directed fantasies (GDFs) or no facilitative instructions. Sizable individual difference effects were secured. Hypnotizable subjects exhibited more suggestion-related movements and reported greater involuntariness than did low-hypnotizable subjects. With GDF instructions, low- and high-hypnotizable subjects reported equivalent GDF absorption and frequencies. However, hypnotizable subjects exhibited greater responsiveness and reported greater involuntariness than did those low in hypnotizability, even when their GDFs were equivalent. Thus, no support was generated for the hypotheses that sustained, elaborated suggestion-related imagery mediates response to suggestion (Arnold, 1946) or that absorption in suggestions is of particular importance for low-hypnotizable subjects (Zamansky & Clark, 1986). Our finding that measures of response expectancy paralelled responding and reports of nonvolition support the hypothesis that expectancies mediate the relation between imagination, involuntariness, and responding (Kirsch, 1985; Spanos, 1982). Hypnotizable imagining subjects in the study discussed here exhibited greater responsiveness than a comparable sample of subjects did in a previous countersuggestion study (Lynn, Nash, Rhue, Frauman, & Stanley, 1983) in which no attempt was made to foster an association between imagining and involuntary responding in the initial screening session.     

Unemployment,attributional style and psychological well-being

The proposition that attributional style is a risk factor for depression, with people who make external, unstable attributions for good outcomes, and internal, stable attributions for bad outcomes being particularly vulnerable, was tested in a study of employed and unemployed youngsters. Among the former, greater self-esteem was associated with internal attributions for good outcomes, and less depressive affect was associated with internal, stable attributions for good outcomes. No such relationships were observed in the unemployed. By contrast, attributions for bad outcomes were related to both depressive affect and self-esteem in the unemployed, but were related only to depressive affect in the employed. In the unemployed, lower depressive affect and higher self-esteem were both associated with unstable attributions, and lower depressive affect was associated with external attributions. In the employed lower depressive affect was associated with external, unstable attributions. Although these relationships were generally consistent with the hypothesis, attributions made three years earlier when respondents were still at school were only weakly related to subsequent measures of psychological well-being. Moreover, many changed their attributions over time, a finding that casts doubt on the assumption that attributional style can be regarded as a stable characteristic in young people.     

Self,social identity and psychological well-being

Self and social identity are key elements in the understanding of a person’s strivings for health and well-being. This review (i) examines the concepts of self, social identity, and psychological well-being; (ii) integrates empirical evidence that relates various self-aspects or social identities to psychological well-being; (iii) analyzes within a stress and coping framework the well-being consequences of socially devalued self or threatened identities, perceived discriminations, challenges of acculturation and identity management; and (iv) delineates the role of self, social identity and related psycho-social variables as moderators and mediators in pathways leading to psychological well-being. Besides listing some methodological issues and empirical deficits, major concerns for future research are also identified. An explicit self and social identity perspective of this research synthesis brings personal and social aspects together, and this interface offers exciting opportunities for research advancement.     

Religiosity and psychological well-being

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between religiosity and psychological well-being in a sample of Greek Orthodox Christians. Previous research has documented that personal devotion, participation in religious activities, and religious salience are positively associated with different criteria of psychological well-being. The sample (83 men and 280 women) with an age range from 18 to 48 years, was strongly skewed with respect to sex (77% female) and education level (95% were university students or university graduates). Religiosity was operationalized as church attendance, frequency of prayer and belief salience. In addition, a single item referring to beliefs about God was used. Depression, anxiety, loneliness, and general life satisfaction were selected as dependent variables because they reflect important dimensions of psychological well-being. Preliminary analyses showed that sex was significantly related to the three religiosity variables (church attendance, frequency of prayer, belief salience), with women being more religious than men. Consistent with previous research, correlations suggested that church attendance and belief salience were associated with better life satisfaction. The results of hierarchical regression analysis showed a significant positive association between anxiety and frequency of personal prayer. Finally, personal beliefs about God did not seem to relate to any of the psychological well-being measures. The results of the present study partially support the hypothesized association between religiosity and psychological well-being.     

Goal conflict, goal striving, and psychological well-being

Although goal conflict is an important part of classic and contemporary theories of motivation, the correlates of goal conflict are not well understood. We identify and distinguish conflicting and facilitating goals, and assess relations with goal attainment and psychological well-being in a short-term, prospective study design. Results from multilevel models demonstrated that individuals with greater conflict were less successful in attaining their goals, but the goals they failed attain were not necessarily the ones in conflict. People who experienced goal conflict tended to be ruminative and hesitant, and reported greater levels of negative affect and increases in depression, anxiety, and psychosomatization. People who experienced goal facilitation reported greater levels of positive affect, life satisfaction, and successful goal attainment. This study identifies several implications of holding conflicting and facilitating goals, but also points to a theoretical inconsistency pertaining to goal conflict. Namely, conflicting goals may not be inherently less attainable than nonconflicting goals. We argue that distinguishing between goal- and person-level factors is essential for understanding goal striving.     

Religious involvement,helping others,and psychological well-being

This study has two goals. The first goal is to see if involvement in religion is associated with providing tangible support to family members and strangers. The second goal is to see if providing tangible support to family members and strangers is associated with well-being. A conceptual model, which was developed to address these issues, contains the following core relationships: (1) individuals who go to church more often will receive more spiritual support from coreligionists; (2) those who receive more spiritual support will provide more tangible assistance to family members and strangers; and (3) people who help family members and strangers will report greater life satisfaction and higher self-esteem. Findings from a nationwide survey support all but one of these relationships. More specifically, the results suggest that providing tangible support to family members is associated with greater well-being, but providing tangible support to strangers is not associated with well-being.     

Type A behavior, age, and psychological well-being

We investigated psychological well-being among Type A and B individuals across the age span. We hypothesized that the hard-driving, achievement-oriented lifestyle exhibited by Type As would be adaptive in younger age groups, but would lead to lower well-being in later life because of increased limitations on the range and level of one's activities. By contrast, the more relaxed, easygoing style of the Type B matches better the slower pace of old age, but is not as conducive to success in younger age groups. Thus we expected older Type Bs more than younger Type Bs to exhibit greater well-being. Results confirmed these hypotheses, but indicated that psychological differences may be mediated in part by differences in physical well-being. Furthermore, experience with life events, and the structure and function of social networks, may contribute to the differences in well-being.     

Autonomous teamwork and psychological well-being

Few studies investigated the assumed positive effects of autonomous groups on individual psychological well-being. In the present study we investigated the hypotheses that (1) group autonomy is positively related to psychological well-being, (2) this relationship is mediated by individual autonomy, individual task variety, individual workload, and social support. One hundred and thirty-eight members of autonomous teams in a supermarket chain completed questionnaires about their task perceptions and psychological well-being. The hypotheses were largely supported by structural equations analyses. Results are discussed and implications proposed.     

Life history strategy, identity consolidation, and psychological well-being

Previous research has shown that individual differences in life history strategies co-vary with a large array of variables to the extent that latent variables from a number of psychological measures load on a single (Super-K) factor. Similar to research on the Super-K factor, the purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that various measures of identity would load on a single factor and that this latent variable would in turn be associated with other variables reflecting life history strategy and psychological well-being, making a Super-K factor. A sample of 248 university students were administered a variety of questionnaires related to identity, life history strategy, and psychological well-being. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed the hypothesized Super-K factor and the relationship remained even when controlling for variance in social-desirable responding. The results are discussed in terms of the association between Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development and life history theory.