Mindfulness
March 1, 2021
Brian P Don, Sara B Algoe, Barbara L. Fredrickson
Social approach and avoidance goals - which refer to individual differences in the desire to pursue rewards versus avoid negative experiences in social relationships - have numerous implications for the health and quality of social relationships. Although endorsement of these goals largely arises from people's pre-dispositions towards approach and avoidance, in this research we proposed that...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
October 1, 2019
Khoa D. Le Nguyen, Jue Lin, Sara B Algoe et al.
Combinations of multiple meditation practices have been shown to reduce the attrition of telomeres, the protective caps of chromosomes (Carlson et al., 2015). Here, we probed the distinct effects on telomere length (TL) of mindfulness meditation (MM) and loving-kindness meditation (LKM). Midlife adults (N = 142) were randomized to be in a waitlist control condition or to learn either MM or LKM...
Mindfulness
May 29, 2017
Barbara L. Fredrickson, Aaron J. Boulton, A. Firestine et al.
The purpose of this study was to uncover the day-to-day emotional profiles and dose-response relations, both within persons and between persons, associated with initiating one of two meditation practices, either mindfulness meditation or loving-kindness meditation. Data were pooled across two studies of midlife adults (N = 339) who were randomized to learn either mindfulness meditation or...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
November 2016
Suzannah F. Isgett, Sara B Algoe, Aaron J. Boulton et al.
Ample research suggests that social connection reliably generates positive emotions. Oxytocin, a neuropeptide implicated in social cognition and behavior, is one biological mechanism that may influence an individual's capacity to extract positive emotions from social contexts. Because variation in certain genes may indicate underlying neurobiological differences, we tested whether several SNPs...
Psychological Science
July 1, 2013
Bethany E Kok, Kimberly A. Coffey, Michael Cohn et al.
The mechanisms underlying the association between positive emotions and physical health remain a mystery. We hypothesize that an upward-spiral dynamic continually reinforces the tie between positive emotions and physical health and that this spiral is mediated by people's perceptions of their positive social connections. We tested this overarching hypothesis in a longitudinal field experiment...