Perceived discrimination based on the symptoms of covid-19, mental health, and emotional responses–the international online COVISTRESS survey

Background Despite the potential detrimental consequences for individuals’ health and discrimination from covid-19 symptoms, the outcomes have received little attention. This study examines the relationships between having personally experienced discrimination based on the symptoms of covid-19 (during the first wave of the pandemic), mental health, and emotional responses (anger and sadness). It was predicted that covid-19 discrimination would be positively related to poor mental health and that this relationship would be mediated by the emotions of anger and sadness. Methods The study was conducted using an online questionnaire from January to June 2020 (the Covistress network; including 44 countries). Participants were extracted from the COVISTRESS database (Ntotal = 280) with about a half declaring having been discriminated due to covid-19 symptoms (N = 135). Discriminated participants were compared to non-discriminated participants using ANOVA. A mediation analysis was conducted to examine the indirect effect of emotional responses and the relationships between perceived discrimination and self-reported mental health. Results The results indicated that individuals who experienced discrimination based on the symptoms of covid-19 had poorer mental health and experienced more anger and sadness. The relationship between covid-19 personal discrimination and mental health disappeared when the emotions of anger and sadness were statistically controlled for. The indirect effects for both anger and sadness were statistically significant. Discussion This study suggests that the covid-19 pandemic may have generated discriminatory behaviors toward those suspected of having symptoms and that this is related to poorer mental health via anger and sadness.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

When the dissolution of perceived body boundaries elicits happiness: The effect of selflessness induced by a body scan meditation

International audienc

Self-centeredness and selflessness: happiness correlates and mediating psychological processes

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Beyond the body/self-consciousness matrix: Scale of the physical frame of reference and self-transcendence experience.

International audienceWe hypothesised that a shift from the body/self-consciousness matrix to a larger consciousness matrix, in which individuals perceive they belong to and are part of a larger life system, would lead to both a self-transcendence experience and positive transcendent emotions. In three studies, we experimentally exposed participants to macroscopic scenes of the earth from space and of various objects of the universe or to microscopic scenes about the inner workings of the human body. These conditions were compared to various control conditions depicting scenes of typical mesoscopic environments. All constructs were assessed using self-report measures. As predicted, a transient mental state marked by decreased selfsalience, increased feelings of oneness, and transcendent emotions, such as awe, was consistently found to be significantly greater in the experimental conditions, in which the physical frame of reference was changed, than in the control condition. Study 3 provides support for a sequential mediation model in which the changes in the scale of the physical frame of reference (i.e. vastness and smallness of the self) lead to a reduction in the body self (i.e. body loss) that mediates the effects of the experimental manipulation on selftranscendence. These results provide valuable directions for the study of self-transcendence

Stanley Milgram - (1933-1984)

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Conformisme (psychologie)

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Obéissance (psychologie)

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Awareness of the passage of time and self‐consciousness: What do meditators report?

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Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Self-Transcendent States: Perceived Body Boundaries and Spatial Frames of Reference

International audienceObjectives. Mindfulness training is believed to encourage self-transcendent states, but little research has examined this hypothesis. This study examined the effects of mindfulness training on two phenomenological features of self-transcendence: (1) perceived body boundary dissolution and (2) allocentric spatial frame of reference. Methods. A sample of healthy, young adults (n= 45) were randomized to five sessions of mindfulness training or an activelistening control condition. Results. Results indicated that mindfulness training decreased perceived body boundaries (F4,172=6.010,p<.001,η2=.12) and encouraged more allocentric frames of reference (F4,168= 25 2.586,p= .039,η2= .06). The expected inverse relationship was observed between perceived body boundaries and allocentric frames of reference (β=−.58,p= .001), and path analysis revealed that the effect of mindfulness training on allocentric frames of reference was mediated by decreased perceived bodyboundaries (β=.24,se= .17, CI: 0.11 to 0.78). Conclusions Taken together, study results suggest that mindfulness training alters practitioners'experience of self, relaxing theboundaries of the self and extending the spatial frame of reference further beyond the physical body. Future studies are needed to explore the psychophysiological changes that co-occur with phenomenological reports of self-transcendence and the behavioralconsequences following self-transcendent experiences

Selflessness Meets Higher and More Stable Happiness: An Experience Sampling Study of the Joint Dynamics of Selflessness and Happiness

International audiencePrevious studies have demonstrated the existence of a positive relationship between selflessness and happiness. However, none of these studies yet contrasted the between-and within-person levels of analysis. Moreover, the Selflessness/Self-centeredness Happiness Model (SSHM) suggests that selflessness might stabilize happiness. In this experience sampling study, we explored the relationships between selflessness and happiness-baseline and stability-at both the within-and between-person levels. During five consecutive days, participants responded seven times a day to short questions about happiness and selflessness. Our results showed that more selfless individuals were happier, and that more selfless moments of an individual were happier moments. Moreover, more selfless individuals were more stable from one day to the other. Finally, when people became more selfless, their happiness gained stability for the next assessment moment and the next day. This study brings new evidence of the importance of selflessness for happiness