Contemplative/emotion training reduces negative emotional behavior and promotes prosocial responses.
Margaret E Kemeny, Carol Foltz, James F Cavanagh, Margaret Cullen, Janine Giese-Davis, Patricia A. Jennings, Erika L Rosenberg, Omri Gillath, Phillip R Shaver, B Alan Wallace, Paul Ekman
Emotion December 12, 2011 DOI: 10.1037/a0026118 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 82 |
| Population | Healthy female schoolteachers |
| Intervention | Meditation/emotion regulation training |
| Duration | 8-week intensive (42 hr) intervention; assessed preassessment, postassessment, and 5 months after training completion |
| Measures | Micro-Expression Training Tool, Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), lexical decision procedure, Marital Interaction Task |
| Topics | Anxiety Depression Meditation |
| Keywords | Humans Pilot projects Adaptation, psychological Social behavior Affect Anger Expressed emotion Hostility Empathy Self concept Awareness Decision making Arousal Reaction time Personality assessment Adult Middle aged Female Self-assessment Surveys and questionnaires |
| Key findings | An 8-week meditation/emotion regulation training reduced trait negative affect, rumination, depression, and anxiety and increased positive affect and mindfulness relative to a wait-list control, while also improving emotion recognition, buffering some stress responses, and affecting hostile behavior. Most effects examined at 5-month follow-up were maintained, except positive affect, stress-task rumination, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia recovery. The authors suggest increased awareness of mental processes can influence emotional behavior. |
Abstract
Contemplative practices are believed to alleviate psychological problems, cultivate prosocial behavior and promote self-awareness. In addition, psychological science has developed tools and models for understanding the mind and promoting well-being. Additional effort is needed to combine frameworks and techniques from these traditions to improve emotional experience and socioemotional behavior. An 8-week intensive (42 hr) meditation/emotion regulation training intervention was designed by experts in contemplative traditions and emotion science to reduce "destructive enactment of emotions" and enhance prosocial responses. Participants were 82 healthy female schoolteachers who were randomly assigned to a training group or a wait-list control group, and assessed preassessment, postassessment, and 5 months after training completion. Assessments included self-reports and experimental tasks to capture changes in emotional behavior. The training group reported reduced trait negative affect, rumination, depression, and anxiety, and increased trait positive affect and mindfulness compared to the control group. On a series of behavioral tasks, the training increased recognition of emotions in others (Micro-Expression Training Tool), protected trainees from some of the psychophysiological effects of an experimental threat to self (Trier Social Stress Test; TSST), appeared to activate cognitive networks associated with compassion (lexical decision procedure), and affected hostile behavior in the Marital Interaction Task. Most effects at postassessment that were examined at follow-up were maintained (excluding positive affect, TSST rumination, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia recovery). Findings suggest that increased awareness of mental processes can influence emotional behavior, and they support the benefit of integrating contemplative theories/practices with psychological models and methods of emotion regulation.
Comparable studies
Other randomized controlled trials on anxiety, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cited by 53
- Mindfulness for Teachers: A Pilot Study to Assess Effects on Stress, Burnout, and Teaching Efficacy Mind, Brain, and Education August 16, 2013
- Effects of mindful-attention and compassion meditation training on amygdala response to emotional stimuli in an ordinary, non-meditative state Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, and Zen Meditation for Depression, Anxiety, Pain, and Psychological Distress Journal of Psychiatric Practice July 1, 2012
- A randomized controlled pilot trial of classroom-based mindfulness meditation compared to an active control condition in sixth-grade children. Journal of school psychology June 1, 2014
- Students and Teachers Benefit from Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in a School-Embedded Pilot Study Frontiers in Psychology April 26, 2016
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Cites 20
- The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003
- 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
- Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation Psychosomatic Medicine July 1, 2003
- A randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation versus relaxation training: Effects on distress, positive states of mind, rumination, and distraction Annals of Behavioral Medicine February 1, 2007
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