Psychology Commons^™

Rumination And The Gut Microbiome:Effects Of A Brief Mindfulness Intervention, Moeka Kamiya

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Recent work has found relationships between the gut microbiota—the community of organisms that inhabit an animal’s digestive tract—and psychological health. In particular, the gut microbiota of individuals with depression shows a different genetic composition to those without depression. Thus, this study explored how rumination, a predictor of depression, and gut microbiota composition are correlated to detect possible gut microbiota alterations present before depression develops. This study also examined whether a brief mindfulness mobile application intervention, which has been shown to reduce rumination, can increase beneficial bacteria abundance and decrease pathogenic bacteria abundance. Participants were 16 first-year students. They engaged in …

Impact Of Mindfulness On Test Anxiety In College Students, Lindsay Alcock

Honors Program Projects

Background

Mindfulness is defined as the state of giving full attention to a stimulus, internal or external, without inducing judgment or becoming reactional about the feelings experienced, positive or negative (Davis & Hayes, 2012). Previous studies have investigated the relationship between mindfulness techniques and the reduction of anxiety (Chambers et al., 2008; Macdonald & Olsen, 2020); a smaller number of studies have considered test anxiety (Cho et al., 2016; Sparks, 2017). Prior research has used multiple mindfulness techniques to measure the impact on test anxiety, but few have isolated mindfulness trainings to compare the relative impact of each type on …

Psychology: The Effect Of Guided Meditation And Meditation History On False Memory Susceptibility, Caroline G. Firmin, Jessica Dahm, Khalil Dabdoub, Benjamin Brown

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Meditation is a practice that has been around for thousands of years with numerous benefits ranging from stress reduction to decreases in stress and anxiety. Research also suggests there may potentially be negative consequences of meditation. However, research has not assessed how long-term practitioners of meditation differ from those with less experience. Our study looks at long-term and short-term practitioners’ susceptibility to false memories. To do this, participants were randomly assigned to either a guided meditation or a mind-wandering condition and then tested on the DRM paradigm. Meditation history was also recorded through a questionnaire.

Can State Gratitude Be Increased Through Mindfulness Practice And A Gratitude Story?, Grace Gray, Grace Harris, Gabrielle Givers, Caroline Hopper, Grabriella Gonzalez

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Abstract

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and readily showing appreciation for opportunities in life. Gratitude in an individual can be experienced on two levels: trait and state. Trait gratitude involves a predisposition, interpersonal experience that an individual holds on a daily basis. State gratitude is context based and is experienced during specific events. In past research there seems to be a relationship between meditation practice and levels of trait gratitude, but there is little literature investigating this same connection with state gratitude (Chen et al., 2017). For our research, we wanted to expand on this research and test …

Material World: The Effects Of Meditation Content On Materialistic Values, Azalia White, Katie Young, Hannah Wright, Nicole Walheim, Samantha Urban

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

In the twenty-first century, Western cultures are highly materialistic and defined by consumeristic goals to garner as much “stuff” as possible (Berger, 2015). This constant pursuit has demonstrable adverse effects on personal and social well being (Bahl et al., 2016; Wang, et al., 2017), while overconsumption also has devastating impacts on the global environment. Previous studies found a negative relationship between levels of mindfulness and levels of materialism (Nagpaul & Pang, 2015; Watson, 2019), indicating the potential for mindfulness to combat otherwise materialistic behaviors. Furthermore, previous research demonstrated gratitude interventions led to lower scores on materialism (Chaplin, et al., 2018), …

“I Can Math, Too!”: Reducing Math Anxiety In Stem-Related Courses Using A Combined Mindfulness And Growth Mindset Approach (Magma) In The Classroom, Tashana S. Samuel, Sebastien Buttet, Jared Warner

Publications and Research

Math anxiety has become an alarming social justice concern, as it results in negative academic consequences, contributes to disinterest and lack of persistence in STEM programs for underrepresented students, and limits their opportunities in STEM careers. According to research, this fear of math occurs long before students begin working on math problems. When high-math anxious students encounter math situations, anticipation anxiety consumes working memory capacity, inhibits learning, and causes them to severely underperform on mathematical tasks. However, very few studies have been conducted to embed psychological interventions in the classroom in an effort to mitigate both anticipation and execution anxiety. …

An Exploratory Analysis Of Mindfulness And Work-Life Balance During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Christine Bush

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have created a need for change in both personal and professional lives; however, due to the abrupt newness of the virus, there has been limited research. The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine mindfulness (via FFMQ), work-life balance (via WLB survey) and potential stressors among employees who have been affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic. An exploratory analysis of how mindfulness and work-life balance has played a role in employees’ adaptation to working during a pandemic will be conducted. An in-depth literature analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between mindfulness …

Reply To Nielsen Et Al.: Social Mindfulness Associated With Countries' Environmental Performance And Individual Environmental Concern, N. J. Van Doesum, R. O. Murphy, M. Gallucci, Norman P. Li, U. Athenstaedt, W. T. Au, L. Bai, R. Böhm, I. Bovina, N. R. Buchan, X. P. Chen, K. B. Dumont, J. B. Engelmann, K. Eriksson, H. Euh, S. Fiedler, J. Friesen, S. Gächter, C. Garcia, R. González

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Nielsen et al. (1) argues that Van Doesum et al (2) need to consider three points for their interpretation of a positive association between individual-level social mindfulness (SoMi) and environmental performance (EPI) at the country level (3).

Mindfulness In The Sport Academy Classroom: Exploring Benefits And Barriers Of A Low-Dose Intervention, Andrew Augustus, Sam Zizzi

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This study evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of a low-dose mindfulness program with student–athletes (SA) at a
sport academy in the USA. First, SAs were introduced to mindfulness in their health class with conceptual lessons and guided
meditations from the Headspace ‘Guide to Meditation’ series. Following each episode, SAs reflected on their experience
via guided prompts led by their teacher. The second phase shifted towards applying mindfulness within their sport through
app-based guided meditations and sport-based reflections led by teachers in their mental skills classes. Student–athlete
perceptions of these experiences were captured through the reflection exercises and a post-program evaluation …

An Analysis Of The Effectiveness And Impact Of The Provision Of Mindfulness, Emotional Intelligence And Work Readiness Modules To Irish Third Level Students, Wyndham Chalmers

Other Resources

Recently, there has been an emphasis on social-emotional learning (SEL) in educational settings and the role this may play in an individuals’ later life outcomes as well as their ability to manage stress and express and manage emotion in adaptive ways (Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), 2020). Recent research also supports a positive correlation between emotional intelligence (EI) and the development of interpersonal skills, academic attainment, memory and problem-solving skills (Boyatzis & Saatcioglu, 2008). Further research emphasises the role of emotional competencies in sustaining employment and placement in higher education (Carthy et al., 2013; Murphy, 2015). As …

Mindfulness To Manage Moral Injury: Rationale And Development Of A Live Online 7-Week Group Intervention For Veterans With Moral Injury, Michelle L. Kelley, Megan Strowger, Victoria O. Chentsova, Adrian J. Bravo, Susan A. Gaylord, Elizabeth E. Burgin, Christine Vinci, Kenneth L. Ayers, Erum Agha

Psychology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Military service puts service members at risk for moral injury. Moral injury is an array of symptoms (e.g., guilt, shame, anger) that develop from events that violate or transgress one's moral code.

OBJECTIVE: We describe adaption of in-person mindfulness training program, Mindfulness to Manage Chronic Pain (MMCP), to address symptoms of moral injury to be delivered live via the web. We discuss how we will assess benchmarks (i.e., recruitment, credibility and acceptability, completion rates, and adherence) of the Mindfulness to Manage Moral Injury (MMMI) program.

METHODS: Aim 1: To develop and then adapt the MMCP program based on …

From Me To We: A Phenomenological Inquiry Into Group Beingness, Stacey K. Guenther

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

To be human is to be a member of myriad groups. The universality of groups in our lives poses an important area of study for social scientists investigating human flourishing. Additionally, inquiring into the evolutionary potential of groups may begin to inform new ways of addressing the intractable issues we face as a human species. While most empirical studies of groups focus on group performance, or group doingness, this study explored group beingness and the experience of manifesting deep union and oneness, which is an intersubjective phenomenon that has been called coherence. Intersubjective coherence is often written about from a …

Reply To Komatsu Et Al.: From Local Social Mindfulness To Global Sustainability Efforts?, N. J. Van Doesum, R. O. Murphy, M. Gallucci, E. Aharonov-Majar, U. Athenstaedt, W. T. Au, L. Bai, R. Böhm, I. Bovina, N. R. Buchan, X. P. Chen, K. B. Dumont, J. B. Engelmann, K. Eriksson, Li, Norman P., S. Fiedler, J. Friesen, S. Gächter, C. Garcia, R. González

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Komatsu et al. (1) argue that Van Doesum et al. (2) may have overlooked the role of GDP in reporting a positive association between social mindfulness (SoMi) and the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) at country level. Although the relationship between EPI and SoMi is relatively weaker for countries with higher GDP, that does not imply that the overall observed relationship is a statistical artifact. Rather, it implies that GDP may be a moderator of the relationship between EPI and SoMi. The observed correlation is a valid result on average across countries, and the actual effect size would, at least to …