Metacognition-based Mindfullness and Meditation Program (MCbM&MP)

Programa de mindfulness y meditación activ

The effect of meditation based on self-observation on cognitive responses in conflictive social interaction

Conflictive social interactions are associated with the attribution of responsibility for our negative experiences to the other, and with a distant social perception of the other. When we meditate we acquire skills related to thought that allow us to observe how we perceive and signify interaction with the other, which distances us from the response to the meaning of this perception. This way of attending to events can have a negative effect on the tendency to make dispositional attributions, which are generally more conflictive, since the person making the attribution blames the other for the unpleasant situation he or she is experiencing. For this reason, the associated practice of meditation may affect social interactions by reducing conflict. The relationship between infrequent meditation, associated to the development of self-observation, with the locus of attribution for an unpleasant event, the perception of anger with oneself, and the social distance from the outgroup was analysed using a sample of 229 individuals (118 non-meditators and 111 unspecific meditators). Results show that meditation has the effect of reducing dispositional attributions, perception of anger and social distance, and provide evidence for the moderating effect of self-observation ability

Communication and Engagement for Social Justice

From mass to interpersonal media, from citizen to governmental or corporate interactions, a communication for peaceful social change involves different screens, spaces, creative resources, means of expression and actors. All utterances, all messages, all images – both through direct experience (interpersonal communication) or through representation (mediated communication such as art, media or education) – relate together in the identities of individuals and their participation in private and collective spheres. These communication scenarios can become empowering processes when defined from the agency of individuals and geared towards social justice. The communicative action of present-day citizen movements demonstrates this point. In this light, this essay focuses on communication's role of empowering civil society's participation in transformative political peaceful actions for social justice. We explore how communication can help build awareness of social injustice and jumpstart and maintain such social action through continued engagement. On the one hand, this study aims to better understand how society can become aware of the violent and unjust effects of certain actions, their cultural and symbolic consequences and how they are connected to social injustice, especially of certain communicative behaviors. On the other hand, we promote a communicative and educative project that addresses violence and injustice by developing sensitivity to the suffering of others. We argue that it is this feeling of responsibility that leads people to act in order to eradicate such practice

Mindfulness training for interpreting students

In this work we present the results of a study aimed at increasing performance quality in conference interpreting trainees through the development of the attention–regulatory practice of mindfulness. A review of the basic concepts of attention is presented as well as a review of the role of attention in interpreting as an extremely cognitive demanding task. The authors also introduce and review the concept of mindfulness from a theoretical and empirical perspective. Stress in interpreting is also addressed as a factor that may influence performance. An experimental study is presented in which focused attention practices are compared to relaxation practices in relation to performance in interpreting trainees

Developing Moral Sensitivity Throgh Protest Scenarios in International NGDOs' Communication

This paper studies advertising campaigns of NGDOs by applying the innovative concepts of protest communication scenarios and moral sensitivity. Its main purpose is to advance current understanding on how two conceptually different communication scenarios -donor and protest- impact the social engagement of the public. The interdisciplinary methodology combines a discursive and psychological perspective with an empirical survey study designed with the support of cultural discourse analysis (Hall, 1997). The findings demonstrate that using communication models based on the need for collective help for poverty in terms of an unjust situation -what we call a protest communication model- increases moral sensitivity and, therefore, social action. These results are of interest for planning and assessing the organizational communication of NGDOs designed from their educational and social action liabilities. This research shows that utilizing these criteria increases the efficacy of their communication in awareness raising and social engagement without being detrimental to funding amounts

The effect of mindfulness training on the self-regulation of socio-moral thoughts

The change in moral attitude due to discrimination of the degree of reality of thought is an unexplored potential effect of mindfulness training. In this article we examine whether the mindfulness training of novices reduces the defensive reaction to normative transgressions when the threatening thought is salient, that is, a thought that stands out regardless of the objective reality that threatens self-survival. To test the study hypotheses, we used a bifactorial design mindfulness training (pre vs. post) x threatened thought salience (low vs high) in a sample of 115 participants. The dependent variable (punishment of social norm transgression) was measured on two different occasions: (1) pre-training (T1), (2) after training (T2). One group receives training in mindfulness in the threatened thought salience low condition (N = 47), and a second group receives the same training in the threatened thought salience high condition (N = 38). A third group did not receive training in threatening thought salience high condition (N = 30). The results show that training mindfulness reduces moral punishment with high threatening thought salience and reduces moral judgment with low threatening thought salience. The shift in reactivity (punishment) is more representative of a MT effect than the shift in moral judgment (seriousness). Implications of the results and limitations of the study are also explore

Aptitudes necesarias en la formación de intérpretes : un estudio exploratorio

El trabajo analiza las competencias que tienen una mayor influencia sobre el rendimiento en interpretación en la modalidad de traducción a la vista. Con un diseño experimental de carácter exploratorio se pone a prueba el efecto de tres componentes de la competencia para la interpretación (control de la ansiedad, memoria a corto plazo y rapidez de reflejos orales) sobre el rendimiento, a partir de una muestra de 22 sujetos. Los resultados obtenidos indican que sólo la rapidez de reflejos orales influye en el rendimiento. El análisis de comparación por grupos, muestra, por otra parte, que los sujetos cuyo índice de competencia en los tres componentes es bajo, tienen un rendimiento significativamente menor que los sujetos con índices medios o altos. Se discuten las implicaciones para la identificación de los componentes relevantes en la interpretación que pueden predecir el éxito en el rendimiento.This paper analyses the competences that influence interpreting performance measured in sight translation. The effect of three components (anxiety control, short term memory and quickness of response) on interpreting competence are tested through a pilot experimental design in a sample of 22 subjects. Results show that only quickness of response influences performance. A further comparison groups analysis indicates that subjects with a low level of competence in the three components perform significatively poorer than those subjects showing acceptable or high levels of competence. Implications for identifying relevant components of interpretation able to predict success are discussed

Personality and nonjudging make you happier: Contribution of the Five-Factor Model, mindfulness facets and a mindfulness intervention to subjective well-being

Mindful individuals are able to acknowledge mind wandering and live in the present moment in a nonjudgmental way. Previous studies have found that both mind wandering and mindfulness are associated with subjective well-being. However, the main predictor of happiness is personality; more specifically, happier people are emotionally stable and extraverted. The present study aimed to explore the contribution of the five factors of personality, dispositional mindfulness facets and a mindfulness intervention to happiness. A sample of 372 university students was assessed with the NEO-Five Factor Inventory, and another sample of 217 community adults answered the Big Five Personality Trait Short Questionnaire. Both samples, 589 participants in all, completed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and the Subjective Happiness Scale. Furthermore, 55 participants from the general population sample took a 6-week training course in meditation and developing mindfulness. The regression analyses showed that emotional stability and extraversion traits were the strongest predictors of subjective well-being. Nonetheless, the nonjudging facet, which is nonevaluative/acceptance awareness of thoughts and feelings, still remained a significant predictor of happiness when personality was accounted for. Finally, mindfulness training did not increase subjective well-being. Being nonjudgmental of one’s inner thoughts, feelings and sensations contributes to happiness even when personality is taken into account. Accordingly, it seems reasonable that mindfulness training that intends to improve subjective well-being should focus on noticing thoughts without judging the

Abrazar atenúa el miedo distal a la muerte

Hugging can be a source of health, comfort or pleasure, although these effects depend on the context in which the physical contact takes place (Ellingsen et al., 2016). The present study analyzedthe capacity of hugging, to minimize death-thought accessibility and the anxiety associated with it when the thought of death is salient. The sample consisted of 90 participants, 34 men (37.8%) and 56 women (62.2%). An experimentaldesign was used with two factors, a two condition intra-subject factor, time (Pre-condition vs Post-condition), and an inter-subjects factor (with hugging vs without hugging). Participants were randomly distributed equally by sex in the two groups, a ‘with hugging group’ (N=45)and a ‘withouthugginggroup’ (N=45). All participants initially completed the pre-condition questionnaires and 30 minutes later they were subject to the mortality salience (MS) task.The MS induction was followed by the experimental condition activity. In this session, the participants in the ‘hugging condition’ received a hug lasting 20 seconds. Subsequently they completed the questionnaires again.The participants in the ‘without hugging condition’ group completed the post-condition questionnaires at the end of the MS task, after waiting 20 seconds without doing any activity, sitting. The results suggest that hugging helps to buffer the negative emotional reaction to the death thoughts but without modifying awareness of the seriousness of the situation.Los abrazos pueden ser una fuente de salud, comodidad o placer, aunque estos efectos dependen del contexto en el que se produce el contacto físico (Ellingsen et al., 2016). En el presente estudio se analizóla capacidad del abrazo, para minimizar la accesibilidad del pensamiento de muerte y la ansiedad asociada a él cuando el pensamiento de muerte es significativo. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 90 participantes, 34 hombres (37,8%) y 56 mujeres (62,2%). Un diseño experimental con dos factoresfue utilizado, un factor intra-sujeto de dos condiciones, tiempo (Pre-condición vs Post-condición), y un factor inter-sujeto (con abrazo vs sin abrazo). Los participantes se distribuyeron aleatoriamente equitativamente por sexo en los dos grupos, un "grupo con abrazo" (N=45) y un "grupo sin abrazo" (N=45). Todos los participantes completaron inicialmente los cuestionarios de pre-condición y 30 minutos más tarde fueron sometidos a la tarea de la saliencia de la mortalidad (SM). La inducción de la SM fue seguida por la actividad de la condición experimental. En esta sesión, los participantes en la "condición de abrazo" recibieron un abrazo que duró 20 segundos. Posteriormente volvieron a completar los cuestionarios. Los participantes del grupo "sin condición de abrazo" completaron los cuestionarios de condición al final de la tarea de SM, después de esperar 20 segundos sin hacer ninguna actividad, sentados. Los resultados sugieren que el abrazo ayuda a amortiguar la reacción emocional negativa a lospensamientos de muerte, pero sin modificar la conciencia de la gravedad de la situación