This editorial introduces a collection of papers on methods and applications in theoretical and philosophical psychology, specifically focusing on research methods used to study consciousness. It discusses various approaches and perspectives for investigating consciousness within the field.
Ken Wilber, a foundational figure in transpersonal psychology who left the field in the 1990s, recommends that the subdiscipline either disband or change its name. This article presents excerpts from a 2018 conversation between Wilber and two transpersonal psychologists, Harris L. Friedman and Douglas A. MacDonald, in which Wilber explains his reasons for disavowing transpersonal psychology and pursuing integral psychology instead. The dialogue captures Wilber's critique and his suggestions for the field's future.
A reanalysis of data from a published paper claiming that loving-kindness meditation slows biological aging finds no compelling evidence for that claim. The original paper reported that telomere length decreased less in a loving-kindness meditation group than in a control group, with a mindfulness meditation group in between, but the reanalysis shows that the control group's telomere length decreased considerably over a very short time, a change unrelated to meditation. A 2×3 mixed factorial ANOVA found a significant repeated measures main effect but no significant interaction with condition, and one-way ANOVAs on pre-, post-, and change scores were non-significant. Effect sizes were consistently meager, and serious confounds existed, including control group members who meditated and unequal meditation time between the two meditation groups. The extraordinary claim lacks compelling evidence.