Concepts: Mindfulness and Interpersonal Communications - Term Paper Example

Concepts: Mindfulness and Interpersonal Communications Introduction The following discussion will focus on the term mindfulness. Initially the definition of Bishop, Lau et al. (2004) will be presented to introduce the concept of mindfulness: The first component [of mindfulness] involves the self-regulation of attention so that it is maintained on immediate experience, thereby allowing for increased recognition of mental events in the present moment. The second component involves adopting a particular orientation toward one’s experiences in the present moment, an orientation that is characterized by curiosity, openness, and acceptance. (232) Simply put, it is attention coupled with wonder, a state often characterized also as active listening. With this initial definition of the concept of mindfulness three examples of original research that employ the concept of mindfulness will be examined. Each articles conceptualization and operationalization of the term mindfulness will be examined along with other issues relating to the term mindfulness. Subsequently, the various conceptualizations and operationalizations of mindfulness will be compared and contrasted. A final concluding section will summarize what you have learned about the interpersonal concept of mindfulness and how it functions in personal relationships. Awareness, Acceptance and Action Research by Rutledge (2005) examines AIDS stigmatizing attitudes among community leaders in Barbados. Rutledge defines stigmatizing attitudes as having two components “of perceived threats to physical health (instrumental stigma) and social welfare (symbolic stigma). (186) Further he asserts that instrumental stigma arises from “concern about the physical contagion of HIV” causing instrumental stigma while symbolic stigma arises from “cultural beliefs that conflate AIDS with homosexuality, prostitution and drug use.” (186-87) These stigmas impair the responses of health care systems and social services and of the individuals employed to deliver services to persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLHA). Therefore, Rutledge concludes that reducing the stigma is essential to improving service delivery to PLHA. This presents him with his research question. What degree of awareness do Barbadian amateur sports coaches have of their stigmatization of PLHA: Are they aware (mindful) of their own attitudes. He conceives of sport coaches as both service providers who might have PLHA on their teams and community leaders influencing attitudes amongst the wider community. Rutledge conceptualizes mindfulness as a three-step model “based on principles of mindfulness originating in Eastern philosophy,” specifically Buddhism. He describes mindfulness as “looking deeply into oneself to cultivate compassion and understanding.” (190) The first step in his three-step process of mindfulness involves acknowledging ones prejudices and fears around PLHA and around the meaning of serious illness and death. This is an inward looking step. The second phase of his conceptualization of mindfulness is outward looking, namely listening well and with acceptance: “An openness that emphasizes a readiness to suspend prior considerations and biases, and to learn from another under careful observation.” (191) The final step is the translation of the information garnered from active listening into appropriate action. In total Rutledge describes mindfulness as an Awareness/Acceptance/Action Model (AAAM). Having carefully conceptualized mindfulness Rutledge sets out to operationalize it for the purposes of his experiment. He was involved in conducting an AIDS awareness workshop for sport coaches in Barbados and they provided the sample. Operationalization in this experiment focused solely on measuring the first component of mindfulness, participants awareness of their own stigmatizing attitudes towards PLHA. The experiment used 45 men and women involved in amateur sports coaching in the Barbados who were attending an AIDS Awareness workshop and volunteered to participate in a survey regarding their attitudes to PLHA. The majority of the participants worked with children and adolescents, less than half knew a PLHA and “very few had counseled someone known to be HIV-positive.” (193) The survey was designed to measure seven domains: Warmth toward PLHA; Beliefs about IV transmission; attitudes toward PLHA; feelings toward PLHA; comfort in interactions with PLHA; and, counseling effectiveness. (194) Rutledge describes the results of his survey as uneven. Warmth was expressed towards children with HIV-AIDS but not towards adults with HIV-AIDS. Participants realized that casual transmission of HIV-AIDS was unlikely but remained highly negative in terms of attitudes, feelings and comfort interacting with PLHA. However, they believed that counseling about risky behaviors was effective and within their capabilities vis a vis their team members. Also, they supported compulsory HIV testing for expectant mothers and opposed quarantining or publishing of the names PLHA. Rutledge concludes, “even though AIDS stigma – both as fear of contagion and association with affected populations – may be high, individuals can accommodate dissonance in awareness and acceptance to move to a point of readiness for action.” That said he also notes that the high-level of stigmatization reported in terms of attitudes, feelings and comfort interacting with PLHA does not bode well for moving into the acceptance and action stages of his model of awareness. Using Mindfulness In “Using mindfulness meditation to teach beginning therapists therapeutic presence: A Qualitative Study” McCollum and Gehart (2010) state the issue that inspired their research into mindfulness succinctly: “Some of the more difficult to define aspects of the therapeutic process (empathy, compassion, presence) remain some of the most important” and “teaching them presents a challenge for therapist trainees and educators alike.” Therefore, they set out to determine if “learning mindfulness meditation as a way to help them develop therapeutic presence.” (347) They begin by defining therapeutic presence as “an availability and openness to all aspects of the clients experience, openness to ones own experience in being with the client, and the capacity to respond to the client from this experience.” They employ Bishop, Lau et al.s (2004) definition of mindfulness to conceptualize mindfulness as “the self-regulation of attention so that it is maintained on immediate experience,” and “adopting a particular orientation toward one’s experiences in the present moment, an orientation that is characterized by curiosity, openness, and acceptance.” (232) They operationalize this concept through opportunistic sampling. Namely, analysis of the daily journals of 13 marriage and family therapy (MFT) trainees under their supervision. The students journals covered all aspects of their experience as MFT trainees including their commitment and responses to instruction in mindfulness meditation and encouragement to practice mindfulness meditation for at least five to ten minutes per day. Specifically, they were asked to consider questions such as frequency of meditation and barriers to it. How they maintained focus or returned to it during meditation sessions and what insights they gained from “observing their mind”. Subsequently, the researchers both MFTs and meditation practitioners analyzed the journals of 13 students who agreed to participate in the researcher searching for insights into the connection between mindfulness meditation training and practice and learning to become a more empathetic, open and present MFT. They identified a variety of themes and subthemes itemized in the chart below. Overall, they characterized the practice of meditation mindfulness as leading to a shift in the mode of the therapist trainees. Modality, in their terms relates to two ways of experiencing the therapeutic relationship: the concept of doing therapy and doing a counseling session as opposed to the concept of being a therapist and being present and engaged in a therapy session. Further, they assert that analysis of the journals demonstrated that therapist trainees who regularly and diligently practice mindfulness meditation shift from doing therapy sessions to being present in the therapy session. They also assert that the being mode fosters openness, empathy, compassion and therapeutic presence. Therefore, they conclude that therapists that practice mindfulness meditation have greater therapeutic presence, a greater ability to be open to their clients beliefs and dilemmas, and a greater ability to respond effectively to their clients. In short, they conclude that mindfulness meditation enhances a MFT trainees therapeutic presence. Implicit in this conclusion is also the conclusion that practicing (as well as trainee) MFTs will have greater therapeutic presence and be more effective as MFTs if they engage in a regular practice of mindfulness meditation. Mindlessness Revisited Fennis and Jansens research (2010) focuses on the lack of mindfulness, a state that they define as mindlessness. Mindlessness is the antithesis of mindfulness. It is the state of not being present in the moment, of not being aware of mental and social processes ongoing. They suggest that automaticity is a suitable synonym for mindlessness. Their research focuses on how mindfulness is undermined and shut off and if an absence of mindfulness makes an individual more likely to comply with a given request that, were the recipient of the request mindful, they would not comply with. By way of illustration they use the public solicitation of charitable donations. The soliciting agent initiates a conversation with an innocuous greeting (Merry Christmas); questions the solicited about there charitable giving habits (What charities are you involved with?); and, having engaged the solicited in a general conversation about charitable giving only then introduces the pitch (Please donate to the campaign to save polar bears in Alaska). They assert that, “under these conditions of reduced mental alertness, the target is thought to fall back on habit and routine and hence will employ ‘shortcuts’ or simple heuristics to arrive at a decision and “use of these heuristics will generally increase the likelihood of compliance.” Simply put, mindfulness inclines one to not comply with unwanted requests while mindlessness inclines one to comply with unwanted requests. Thus, they conceptualize mindlessness as the opposite of mindfulness: Mindlessness is a state of lack of awareness of ones ethics, values and desires and adoption of those of a persuasive other. They operationalize the lack of mindfulness with a simple experiment that involved 56 subjects with an average age of 21.4 years. “We tested our hypotheses in a single factor design with type of influence technique (demanding vs. undemanding initial request) as between-subjects factor and self-regulatory resource depletion and compliance as dependent variables.” (Fennis and Janssen, 2010, 240) Participants were (ostensibly) asked to participate in a survey of attitudes towards education by an (ostensible) student action group. Agreeable participants were then asked to complete a brief survey. One group was surveyed in a manner designed to enhance a lack of mindfulness (a second innocuous test) and then asked to join a contact list to support further efforts by the student group. The second group was immediately asked to join a contact list to support further efforts by the student group following completion of the survey. (Fennis and Janssen, 2010, 242) Their results indicated that those who completed two surveys were more likely to comply with the request to join the contact list and more likely to indicate a willingness to support further actions by the student group. “In line with our hypothesis and previous research, the type of influence technique affected compliance rates.” (Fennis and Janssen, 2010, 244) Therefore, inducing mindlessness and undermining mindfulness increases compliance. Discussion: Conceptualization and Mindfulness In the first two experiments mindfulness was defined in similar manners as awareness, openness and active listening. However, in Rutledges experiment only the first two stages awareness was examined: The subjects awareness of their attitudes toward PLHA and their acceptance of PLHA was examined. Inferences were then drawn regarding the impact of this awareness on action but the experiment itself did not measure the action phase of mindfulness. In contrast McCollum and Ge harts experiment ope rationalized all three elements of mindfulness – awareness, acceptance and action. The experiment had subjects practicing mindfulness meditation and assessing its impact on their practice as MFTs. The research indicated that learning and practicing mindfulness meditation fostered a shift in therapeutic modality from doing to being. The third experiment focused on not mindfulness directly, but rather mindlessness, the lack of mindfulness. It indicated that if mindfulness is manipulated and undermined and a state of mindlessness is induced a subject is more likely to comply with a request. Implicit in this conclusion is the finding that mindfulness negatively correlates with compliance: A mindful individual is more aware of their needs and desires and less likely to comply with a request that they do not necessarily agree with. Conclusions Overall, these three experiments highlight in a wide variety of ways the importance of mindfulness in interpersonal communications and the damaging impact that mindlessness can have on interpersonal communication. In the first place mindlessness is detrimental to interpersonal communication. In a mindless state and individual is prone to compliance and able to be manipulated. A person lacking mindfulness is more likely to be persuaded to do something that they do not agree with. They are more likely to be persuaded by a salesman to purchase a product that is actually inappropriate or unwanted. They are also more likely to be persuaded by an acquaintance of co-worker to engage in behavior and actions that are not congruent with their ethics and mores. On the other side of the coin, McCollum and Ge harts research demonstrates that the practice of mindfulness meditation increases ones ability to listen actively and to respond with empathy. Simply put, mindfulness meditation has the potential to make a person more able to appreciate anthers point of view and a better parent, friend and co-worker. It offers positive benefits to more than just MFTs. Rutledges experiment demonstrates the important link between attitudes and actions. It demonstrates the importance of being aware of ones own attitudes and of the impact this has on their ability to accept or empathize with others and, by extension, on their ability to act in an appropriate and helpful manner. Overall, these three studies capture the essence of mindfulness as active listening. They also serve to highlight both the benefits of active listening (active listening to both oneself and ones attitudes and to others) and the negative implications of mindlessness or inactive listening. Reference List Scott R. Bishop, Mark Lau, Shauna Shapiro, Linda Carlson, Nicole D. Anderson, James Carmelo, Zinfandel V. Segal, Susan Abbey, Michael Speca, Drew Velting & Gerald Devins (2004). "Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition". Clinical Psychology: Science & Practice 11(3), 230–241. Fennis, Bob M and Loes Janssen. (2010). Mindlessness revisited: Sequential request techniques foster compliance by draining self-control resources. Current Psychology 29(3), 235-246. McCollum, Eric E. and Diane R. Gehart. (2010) Using mindfulness meditation to teach beginning therapists therapeutic presence: A Qualitative Study. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 36(3), 347–360. Rutledge, Scott Edward and Neil Abell. (2005). Awareness, Acceptance and Action: Am Emerging Framework for Understanding AIDS Stigmatizing Attitudes among Community Leaders in Barbados. AIDS Patient Care and STDs, 19(3), 186-199. Read More