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Examining The Content and Context of Meditation

Deane H. Shapiro

Journal of Humanistic Psychology October 1, 1994 DOI: 10.1177/00221678940344008 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Topics Meditation
Citations 33
Key points Argues that meditation research has disproportionately focused on stress management as a self-regulation strategy, neglecting meditation as a self-exploration strategy for psychotherapy and behavior change and as a self-liberation strategy for spiritual growth, wisdom, and compassionate service. The authors contend that removing meditation's religious and philosophical context created limitations, and that this context must be reintroduced as a variable, asking whether God is always a confounding variable in meditation research.

Abstract

Studies have primarily examined meditation's effects as a self regulation strategy for stress management. Fewer studies have examined its utility as a self exploration strategy for enhancing psychological health in psychotherapy and behavior change. And, few studies have examined meditation's effect regarding its original religious purpose as a self liberation strategy to enhance spiritual growth and wisdom, and cultivate compassionate service. This article examines the reasons underlying this differential proportion of studies on each of the above variables and details the merits and limitations of research that attempted to remove the religious and philosophical context of meditation in order to focus on its content. The article then examines why it has been necessary to reintroduce the context of meditation as a variable, whether that context be stress management, psychotherapy, or a religious perspective. Finally, based on the mentalist and cognitive revolution, this article asks: "Is God always a confounding variable in meditation research?" If the only research tool a person has is a hammer, then all questions begin to look like the head of an undriven nail. -Abraham Maslow When a pickpocket meets a saint, all he sees are pockets. Anonymous

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

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