12 research outputs found
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Loving-Kindness Meditation and Prosocial Construct Activation
Both Buddhist and psychological theory postulate that present actions will influence future perceptions, judgments, and behaviors in a concordant manner. While Buddhists explain these effects in the context of karmic theory, psychologists consider these effects of construct activation and chronic construct accessibility. The present study sought to apply social psychological theory to Buddhist meditation practice, specifically to examine if loving-kindness meditation (LKM) increases prosocial construct accessibility over time, as compared to mindfulness meditation. University students practiced either mindfulness meditation or LKM for eight weeks. Measures were administered at baseline and after the eight weeks of practice. Although results did not demonstrate changes in prosocial construct accessibility, all participants experienced increases in mindfulness, satisfaction with life, emotional reappraisal abilities, and emotion management. These effects were also accompanied decreases in illness symptoms over time. Analyses yielded mixed results for measures of wisdom. The current experiment failed to replicate some known effects of mindfulness meditation, such as increases in attentional control and decreases in depressive symptoms. Limitations of the study and future directions are discussed
Focusing on Future Forecasts: A Comprehensive Examination of Performance Expectations
Performance expectations presumably serve to guide sound decision making and behavior. However, expectations are complex phenomena that arise from more than just situational factors and objective probabilities. Although expectations have received extensive attention from researchers, relatively few studies have focused on expectation management over time in the context of prolonged uncertainty. Among studies that have examined expectations prior to a performance or in the face of important news, it is difficult to piece together a comprehensive understanding of expectations across varied outcomes, study contexts, and populations. The current study examined the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of performance expectations as undergraduates (N = 131) prepared their first academic paper for a difficult course and awaited their paper scores. Throughout the preparation period, participants completed daily and weekly surveys documenting outcome expectations, effort toward the paper, and indicators of well-being. With the exception of effort, participants reported the same experiences during the waiting period. Among individual differences, optimistic expectations were most robustly and reliably related to dispositional optimism and grit. Expectations related to indicators of hedonic well-being, such that optimistic expectations were associated with more positive emotion, less negative emotion, and less worry. However, expectations did not share fully reciprocal relationships with emotional experiences. Expectations also related to indicators of eudaimonic well-being such that students with more optimistic expectations about their paper assignment also reported more fundamental need fulfillment, a greater sense of meaning, and more frequent flow states than their pessimistic counterparts. Furthermore, bracing shared fully reciprocal relationships with relatedness and meaning in life, and more flow at one time point predicted less bracing at the next time point. More optimistic expectations were associated with better self-reported health and less sleep disturbance, but no reciprocal relationships were observed. Expectations and effort were not reliably related. Expectations tended to shift over time, such that score estimates decreased in a quadratic fashion and bracing increased in a linear fashion. Thus, expectations are dynamic phenomena that are reliably associated with indicators of hedonic, eudaimonic, and physical well-being. The present study provides some preliminary evidence for causal relationships with the potential to inform interventions
Recommended from our members
Focusing on Future Forecasts: A Comprehensive Examination of Performance Expectations
Performance expectations presumably serve to guide sound decision making and behavior. However, expectations are complex phenomena that arise from more than just situational factors and objective probabilities. Although expectations have received extensive attention from researchers, relatively few studies have focused on expectation management over time in the context of prolonged uncertainty. Among studies that have examined expectations prior to a performance or in the face of important news, it is difficult to piece together a comprehensive understanding of expectations across varied outcomes, study contexts, and populations. The current study examined the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of performance expectations as undergraduates (N = 131) prepared their first academic paper for a difficult course and awaited their paper scores. Throughout the preparation period, participants completed daily and weekly surveys documenting outcome expectations, effort toward the paper, and indicators of well-being. With the exception of effort, participants reported the same experiences during the waiting period. Among individual differences, optimistic expectations were most robustly and reliably related to dispositional optimism and grit. Expectations related to indicators of hedonic well-being, such that optimistic expectations were associated with more positive emotion, less negative emotion, and less worry. However, expectations did not share fully reciprocal relationships with emotional experiences. Expectations also related to indicators of eudaimonic well-being such that students with more optimistic expectations about their paper assignment also reported more fundamental need fulfillment, a greater sense of meaning, and more frequent flow states than their pessimistic counterparts. Furthermore, bracing shared fully reciprocal relationships with relatedness and meaning in life, and more flow at one time point predicted less bracing at the next time point. More optimistic expectations were associated with better self-reported health and less sleep disturbance, but no reciprocal relationships were observed. Expectations and effort were not reliably related. Expectations tended to shift over time, such that score estimates decreased in a quadratic fashion and bracing increased in a linear fashion. Thus, expectations are dynamic phenomena that are reliably associated with indicators of hedonic, eudaimonic, and physical well-being. The present study provides some preliminary evidence for causal relationships with the potential to inform interventions
UCPC 2016
The University of California Personality Conference (UCPC) is a bi-annual conference designed to bring together faculty and graduate students across the UC system to discuss and present topics relating to personality psychology