Mindfulness, Phenomenology, and Psychological Science

Summary

Current research often views mindfulness merely as a variable, which limits understanding of its personal experience. This paper advocates for a person-oriented phenomenological perspective on mindfulness, suggesting that personalized mindfulness practices can enhance health and well-being. It also highlights the potential of mindful observation in psychological research to improve phenomenological observation and foster creative thinking in psychological theory development, proposing that integrating mindfulness with phenomenology could be beneficial.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Most present-day research on mindfulness treats mindfulness as a variable that is studied in relation to other variables. Although this research may provide us with important knowledge at the population level and mechanism level, it contributes little to our understanding of the phenomenon of mindfulness as it is experienced and enacted at the person level. The present paper takes a person-oriented phenomenological perspective on mindfulness, comparing this perspective with that of von Fircks' (2023). In a first part of the paper, mindfulness is discussed as a phenomenological practice that can be studied by means of experimental phenomenology. It is argued that there is room for the development of an immense variety of personalized mindfulness practices that may serve people's health and well-being. The second part of the paper contains a brief discussion of the possible role of mindful observation and reflection in psychological research. It is argued that mindfulness skills may be important both for improving the quality of phenomenological observation and to facilitate creative thinking in connection with the development of psychological theory. A main implication is that an integration between mindfulness and phenomenology may serve as an important part of this process.

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