Many mothers are diagnosed with anxiety or depression after childbirth. Child development and mother’s mental health are closely linked. Partners, too, are often distressed in these families. Relationship conflicts are a predictor of mother’s depression and negatively affect the child. Our goal is to explore the effect of including partners in a mindfulness program along …
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Transforming habits from the heart: From good intentions to reliable prosocial response
Good intentions are important to live a moral life, but they are not enough because people often do not act on them. Indeed, moving from thought to action often requires cognitive resources that can be elusive, in which case we rely on more automatic patterns of thinking and acting. When these automatisms are non-virtuous, individuals …
Motivating engagement with social justice issues through compassion training: A multi-method randomized control trial
Working towards social justice necessitates dominant group members’ willingness to share the feelings of oppressed outgroup members (outgroup empathy) and to engage in difficult intergroup dialogue. Nevertheless, empathic and behavioral engagement is especially avoided in social justice contexts due to the high demands/costs of such engagement. It is, however, possible to offset high demands and …
Neural and endocrine mechanisms mediating prosociality
Prosociality, an inherent part of society, ensures the thriving and success of social groups. Understanding the role of stress on empathic prosocial behaviors, like helping behavior, is important for societal well-being, and for shedding light on stress-related neuropsychiatric diseases such as depression, social anxiety, and autism. As opposed to chronic and severe stressors, there is …
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From egocentric to ecocentric: Pro-social and pro-environmental actualizations of mindfulness at an intensive monastic retreat
The present research uniquely sheds light on the practices of Humanistic Buddhism (a form of Engaged Buddhism most prevalent in modern Taiwan), which have been completely neglected in contemplative science. It also explores the social and ecological implications of contemplative practice, another under-investigated area of research. By investigating the effects of a Buddhist monastic retreat …
A community-engaged approach to contemplative neuroscience in a diverse contemplative community
We are working to increase diversity within neuroscience of meditation studies to reflect the increasingly diverse population of the United States and to improve representation of minorities. We are using community engagement and dialogue with the East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC) in Oakland, CA, one of the most diverse meditation communities in the U.S. EBMC …
Synchronizing brains through loving-kindness meditation
What enables people to connect with one another, and how may people overcome barriers to social bonds? Empathy is one critical component of social bonds; however, self-focused motivational drives can cause empathic failures. Thus, having other-focused motivations that transcend self interest may promote empathic accuracy. The current study tested whether compassion practice, compared to a …
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An ethnographic analysis of the integration of contemplatives in neuroimaging laboratories
Research into the physiological effects of meditation comprises a significant domain within neuroimaging studies. While such research studies contemplatives and their practices, the practitioners themselves have yet to be fully integrated into the research process. Appropriately, a key issue at the 2013 Mind & Life Summer Research Institute was the need to integrate contemplatives and …
Wise Climate Actions & Sacred Activism
How do we motivate people, especially young adults, to deal with climate-change issues when they are remote from its effects, leaving them unmoved, or conversely, when they are on the receiving end of a catastrophe, leaving them overwhelmed? The standard motivator for climate activism has been fear, but it cannot sustain our actions in the …
From intra- to inter-personal: Effects of MBSR on emotion regulation in social contexts
Contemplative teachings highlight the benefit of mindfulness practice to the practitioner and to those with whom they interact, yet very few studies on meditation to date have explored whether meditation training improves social interactions and relationships. Examining effects on emotion regulation in social contexts may be key to understanding meditation’s social consequences, for at least …
