The Impact of Understanding and Openness on State Mindfulness Following a Brief Meditation: A Sham Controlled Study
Mindfulness August 1, 2025 Bronwen Davies, Rachel Juden, W. James Greville et al.
Higher openness to mindfulness practice leads to greater increases in state mindfulness after a brief meditation session, while understanding of mindfulness does not affect state mindfulness change. In a randomized experiment, 155 participants were assigned to either an active mindfulness meditation or a sham condition. Only those in the active condition showed significant state mindfulness increases, allowing analysis of openness and understanding. Openness significantly predicted larger gains in state mindfulness, but understanding (acceptance-based vs. control-based) did not. The findings suggest that fostering open attitudes toward mindfulness-based interventions may improve treatment outcomes, and that misconceptions about acceptance-based foundations do not reduce the effectiveness of brief meditation for eliciting mindful states.