Contemplative Practices and Mental Training: Prospects for American Education
Richard J. Davidson, John D. Dunne, Jacquelynne S Eccles, Adam Engle, Mark Greenberg, Patricia A. Jennings, Amishi P. Jha, Thupten Jinpa, Linda Lantieri, David E. Meyer, Robert W Roeser, David R. Vago
Child Development Perspectives April 23, 2012 DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2012.00240.x (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Contemplative practice |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 320 |
| Key points | Argues that self-regulatory skills, self-representations, and prosocial dispositions can be strengthened through contemplative practice, inducing brain plasticity that supports prosocial behavior and academic success in young people. |
Abstract
Drawing upon research in neuroscience, cognitive science, developmental psychology and education, as well as scholarship from contemplative traditions concerning the cultivation of positive development, we highlight a set of mental skills and socio-emotional dispositions that we believe are central to the aims of education in the 21(st) century. These include self-regulatory skills associated with emotion and attention, self-representations, and prosocial dispositions such as empathy and compassion. These positive qualities and dispositions can be strengthened through systematic contemplative practice. Such practice induces plastic changes in brain function and structure, supporting prosocial behavior and academic success in young people. These putative beneficial consequences call for focused programmatic research to better characterize which forms and frequencies of practice are most efficacious for which types of children and adolescents. Results from such research may help refine training programs to maximize their effectiveness at different ages and to document the changes in neural function and structure that might be induced.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 52
- Conceptual and methodological issues in research on mindfulness and meditation. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Mindfulness for Teachers: A Pilot Study to Assess Effects on Stress, Burnout, and Teaching Efficacy Mind, Brain, and Education August 16, 2013
- Promoting prosocial behavior and self-regulatory skills in preschool children through a mindfulness-based kindness curriculum. Developmental Psychology November 10, 2014
- The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists PLoS One May 24, 2017
and 47 more in the library
Cites 13
- Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience August 13, 2007
- Regulation of the Neural Circuitry of Emotion by Compassion Meditation: Effects of Meditative Expertise PLoS One March 25, 2008
- Mental Training Affects Distribution of Limited Brain Resources PLoS Biology May 4, 2007
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction for the treatment of adolescent psychiatric outpatients: A randomized clinical trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 2009
- Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence Journal of Neuroscience October 21, 2009
and 8 more in the library