Mapping a Culture of Mindfulness: Lay Conceptions of Mindfulness and Why They Matter

Lay people's understanding of mindfulness varies with their level of contemplative experience. A mixed-methods study of 100 US participants (50 inexperienced college students and 50 experienced community members) identified six categories of mindfulness definitions: religious/spiritual/philosophical, attention/observing, calming and grounding, tenets of MBSR, virtue cultivation, and awareness. Experienced participants more often defined mindfulness as attention/observing and as aligned with MBSR tenets, and they more frequently endorsed that mindfulness reveals no substantive self and is a specific type of meditation. Inexperienced participants more often defined mindfulness as calming/grounding and as awareness, and they were more likely to see mindfulness as distinct from meditation. These findings suggest that prior contemplative experience shapes how people conceptualize mindfulness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Prior scholarly literature has investigated definitions of mindfulness, yet limited research has examined how contemporary mindfulness is culturally constructed among lay individuals (i.e., non-academic researchers). The present mixed-methods study sought to provide an initial mapping of the context of ideas and cultural orientations that inform lay people’s understanding of mindfulness. Further, we assessed how one’s level of contemplative experience informs qualitative definitions of mindfulness among US participants. Participants were also asked quantitative questions about their views of mindfulness and their understanding of the relationship between “mindfulness” and “meditation”. Methods Our analytic sample ( n = 100; 61.6% female) consisted of 50 inexperienced college student participants (ISPs) as well as 50 experienced community members (ECMs). Results Using qualitative content analysis, six categories were identified: (1) “Religious, Spiritual, and Philosophical,” (2) “Attention/Observing,” (3) “Calming and Grounding,” (4) “Tenets of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction,” (5) “Virtue Cultivation” and (6) “Awareness”. Based on chi-square tests, ECMs endorsed Categories 2 and 4 more frequently than ISPs, while ISPs endorsed Categories 3 and 6 more than ECMs. ECMs more often endorsed mindfulness as intended for “seeing that there is no substantive self” (vs. “cultivating an authentic self”) and that “mindfulness is a specific type of meditation” compared to ISPs. ISPs were more likely to endorse that “mindfulness is different from meditation” compared to ECMs. Conclusions Our results suggest that lay people’s preconceived ideas about what mindfulness is, and what it entails, vary based on prior contemplative experience. Further, these findings help illustrate that conceptions of mindfulness in the USA may be influenced by distinctive cultural framings. Preregistration This study was not preregistered.