An eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) workshop increases regulatory choice flexibility.
Alon Alkoby, Ruthie Pliskin, E. Halperin, Nava Levit‐binnun
Emotion June 1, 2019 DOI: 10.1037/emo0000461 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | College students |
| Intervention | Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program |
| Duration | 8-week intervention |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Participants who completed an 8-week MBSR program showed greater regulatory choice flexibility than waitlist controls, favoring reappraisal for low-intensity stimuli and distraction for high-intensity stimuli. |
Abstract
Individuals encounter a variety of emotional challenges daily, with optimal emotion modulation requiring adaptive choice among available means of regulation. However, individuals differ in the ability to flexibly and adaptively move between engaging and disengaging emotion regulation (ER) strategies as per contextual demands, referred to as regulatory choice flexibility. Greater regulatory choice flexibility is associated with greater mental health, well-being and resilience, warranting the development of interventions to increase such flexibility. We hypothesized that a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program would fulfill this goal. To test our hypothesis, we recruited college students to either participate in an 8-week MBSR workshop or join a waiting list for a later workshop (i.e., control participants). After the workshop's completion, all participants were invited to the laboratory and completed several computerized tasks examining their regulatory choice flexibility when exposed to universally emotion-laden stimuli as well as stimuli specifically related to the students' social and political environment. The regulatory choice patterns of participants who underwent MBSR training were found to be more flexible than those of participants who had not yet completed the workshop, with the former more likely than the latter to favor an engaging ER strategy (i.e., reappraisal) when faced with low-intensity stimuli and a disengaging strategy (i.e., distraction) when faced with high-intensity stimuli. The findings' importance is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Comparable studies
Other randomized controlled trials on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation Healthy employees in a work environment | 2003 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 41 |
| Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Recovered recurrently depressed patients | 2000 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 145 |
| Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Working adults | 2008 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 139 |
| Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation Undergraduate Chinese students | 2007 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 40 |
| Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: Replication and Exploration of Differential Relapse Prevention Effects. Recovered recurrently depressed patients | 2004 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 73 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 11
- Steady-state visual evoked potentials differentiate between internally and externally directed attention Neuroimage March 23, 2022
- The Costs and Benefits of Mindfulness and Reappraisal in Daily Life Affective Science February 20, 2023
- Mindfulness, acceptance, and emotion regulation: Perspectives from Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT) October 5, 2019
- Exploring the Impact of Different Mindfulness Meditation Interventions on College Students' Resilience: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Stress and Health August 1, 2025
- Integrating choice points into mindfulness training for the dissociative subtype of PTSD: A case report Psychiatry Research Case Reports March 8, 2024
and 6 more in the library
Cites 18
- The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003
- Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2004
- Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2003
- Mechanisms of mindfulness Journal of Clinical Psychology December 29, 2005
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
and 13 more in the library