The Journal of Positive Psychology
April 11, 2012
Ruth A. Baer, Emily L. B. Lykins, Jessica R. Peters
391 citations
Both mindfulness and self-compassion appear to contribute independently to psychological wellbeing, and together they fully explain the link between meditation experience and wellbeing. In a cross-sectional comparison of 77 experienced meditators and 75 matched nonmeditators, most mindfulness and self-compassion scores correlated significantly with meditation experience and wellbeing. The relationship between meditation experience and wellbeing was entirely accounted for by combined mindfulness and self-compassion scores, suggesting that these skills may be key mechanisms through which mindfulness training improves wellbeing. Longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these findings.
The Journal of Positive Psychology
September 1, 2010
Michael A. Cohn, Barbara L. Fredrickson
302 citations
A 15-month follow-up of a loving-kindness meditation intervention found that many participants continued meditating, and those who did reported more positive emotions than those who stopped or never meditated. All participants maintained gains in psychological resources like resilience and social support made during the initial intervention, regardless of continued practice. Continuing meditators did not differ in resources at baseline but showed more positive emotions and a faster emotional response to the intervention. The results suggest that positive psychology interventions have lasting value beyond the intervention period.
The Journal of Positive Psychology
September 11, 2012
Shauna L. Shapiro, Hooria Jazaieri, Philippe R. Goldin
206 citations
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is associated with improvements in mindful attention, emotion, and well-being, and amount of meditation practice is linked to greater improvement in mindful attention. At a two-month follow-up, MBSR also showed improvements in moral reasoning and ethical decision making. This preliminary evidence suggests MBSR may facilitate moral reasoning and decision making in adults.
The Journal of Positive Psychology
March 24, 2015
Hooria Jazaieri, Ihno A. Lee, Kelly Mcgonigal et al.
90 citations
A nine-week compassion meditation program reduced mind wandering to neutral topics and increased self-directed caring behaviors among 51 adults. More frequent meditation practice was linked to less mind wandering to unpleasant topics and more mind wandering to pleasant topics, and both changes were associated with increased caring behaviors for oneself and others. Overall, mind wandering did not mediate the relationship between meditation frequency and caring behaviors when all topics were combined, but topic-specific mind wandering did play a role.