Kirk Warren Brown

Kirk Warren Brown
Carnegie Mellon University | CMU · Department of Psychology

PhD

About

135
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Carnegie Mellon University

Publications

Publications (135)
Article
Full-text available
Emotional appraisals of political stimuli (e.g., videos) have been shown to drive shared neural encoding, which correspond to shared, yet divisive, interpretations of such stimuli. However, mindfulness practice may entrain a form of emotion regulation that de-automatizes social biases, possibly through alteration of such neural mechanisms. The pres...
Article
Full-text available
Discrimination in the evaluation of others is a key cause of social inequality around the world. However, relatively little is known about psychological interventions that can be used to prevent biased evaluations. The limited evidence that exists on these strategies is spread across many methods and populations, making it difficult to generate rel...
Article
Meditation is a family of ancient and contemporary contemplative mind-body practices that can modulate psychological processes, awareness, and mental states. Over the last 40 years, clinical science has manualised meditation practices and designed various meditation interventions (MIs), that have shown therapeutic efficacy for disorders including d...
Article
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For many centuries, scholars and philosophers from wisdom traditions in different cultures have reported and discussed non-self states of consciousness. These states can be both short-term (state, transitory) and long-term (trait, lasting) conditions. However, in psychology, the importance of a healthy self is usually emphasized, and some theorists...
Article
Objective: This study sought to examine how daily mind wandering is related to loneliness, felt connection to others, and school belonging among college students. Participants: Three samples (n = 209, n = 173, and n = 266) from two US campuses were recruited. Methods: Data were collected via ecological momentary assessment over the course of two ac...
Preprint
Full-text available
Meditation is a family of ancient and contemporary contemplative mind-body practices that can modulate psychological processes, awareness, and mental states. Over the last 40 years, clinical science has manualised meditation practices and designed various meditation interventions (MIs), that have shown therapeutic efficacy for disorders including d...
Preprint
Full-text available
Emotional appraisals of political stimuli (e.g., videos) have been shown to drive shared neural encoding, which correspond to shared, yet divisive, interpretations of such stimuli. However, mindfulness practice may entrain a form of emotion regulation that de-automatizes social biases, possibly through alteration of such neural mechanisms. The pres...
Article
Full-text available
Objective: Researchers and theorists studying intergroup relations have been interested in the impact of alcohol on interracial responding. Theories predict that alcohol will exacerbate expressions of racial bias by increasing reliance on stereotypes and/or by decreasing controlled processing and self-monitoring. Prior studies testing these theorie...
Article
Objective Aging is associated with increased pro-inflammatory gene expression and systemic inflammation, and psychosocial stress may accelerate these changes. Mindfulness interventions show promise for reducing psychosocial stress and extending healthspan. Inflammatory pathways may play a role. In a sample of lonely older adults, we tested whether...
Article
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Mindfulness can produce neuroplastic changes that support adaptive cognitive and emotional functioning. Recently interest in single-exercise mindfulness instruction has grown considerably because of the advent of mobile health technology. Accordingly, the current study sought to extend neural models of mindfulness by investigating transient states...
Article
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Considerable evidence supports the role of present-moment attention, a central feature of mindfulness, in subjective wellbeing maintenance and enhancement. Yet it is not clear why such a relation exists. This study examined the genetic and environmental contributions of present-moment attention to subjective wellbeing. Consistent with the “generali...
Preprint
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Many scientific papers on mindfulness and its psychological implications are published annually, yet doubts persist regarding the validity of self-report mindfulness measures, as some researchers argue that they capture established concepts instead of mindfulness itself. We explored this possibility empirically by examining the relation between two...
Preprint
Objective. This study sought to examine how daily mind wandering is related to loneliness, felt connection to others, and school belonging among college students.Participants. Three samples (n = 209, n = 173, and n = 266) on two US campuses were recruited.Methods. Data were collected via ecological momentary assessment over the course of two academ...
Article
Full-text available
In this paper, we address core insights from Buddhist psychology about mind-body phenomena and the self, and we relate such insights to the notion of the self-pattern developed in the pattern theory of self. We emphasize the dynamic, temporal and enactive characteristics of the self-pattern, consistent with the core Buddhist notion of non-self. Alt...
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Objectives Relative to the tendency to empathize with and help sociocultural in-group members, there are often social and psychological barriers to responding prosocially toward out-group members. This experiment examined the roles of mindfulness instruction and compassion instruction in fostering prosocial behavior toward an ethnic out-group (non-...
Article
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Clinical and neuroscientific evidence indicates that transdiagnostic processes contribute to the generation and maintenance of psychopathological symptoms and disorders. Rigidity (inflexibility) appears a core feature of most transdiagnostic pathological processes. Decreasing rigidity may prove important to restore and maintain mental health. One o...
Chapter
Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a broad theory of psychological growth and wellness that has revolutionized how we think about human motivation and the driving forces behind personality development. SDT focuses on people’s basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and how social environments that support these needs fos...
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Objectives Training in mindfulness has been found to enhance interpersonal benefits (e.g., gratitude, forgiveness, empathy, compassion). Here, we ask if these interpersonal benefits extend to intergroup contexts. Methods Two experiments (n = 256) tested whether brief mindfulness instruction predicted higher prosocial helping behavior toward an ost...
Article
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This meta-analysis sought to expand upon neurobiological models of mindfulness through investigation of inherent brain network connectivity outcomes, indexed via resting state functional connectivity (rsFC). We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of rsFC as an outcome of mindfulness training (MT) relative to control, with the hypothesis...
Article
Loneliness is a potent psychosocial stressor that predicts poor health and mortality among older adults, possibly in part by accelerating age-related declines in immunocompetence. Mindfulness interventions have shown promise for reducing loneliness and improving markers of physical health. In a sample of lonely older adults, this two-arm parallel t...
Article
Full-text available
Commonly conducted mindfulness-based trainings such as Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) highlight training in two key forms of meditation: focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM). Largely unknown is what each of these mindfulness practices contributes to emotional and other important t...
Preprint
Full-text available
This meta-analysis sought to expand upon neurobiological models of mindfulness through investigation of inherent brain network connectivity outcomes, indexed via resting state functional connectivity (rsFC). We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of rsFC as an outcome of mindfulness training (MT) relative to structurally-equivalent prog...
Preprint
Two experiments tested whether brief instruction in mindfulness increased helping behavior toward an ostracized racial outgroup member by enhancing empathic concern. In Study 1, brief mindfulness instruction, relative to active and inactive control conditions, increased helping behavior toward an ostracized racial outgroup member in a private (but...
Article
A randomized controlled trial tested whether mindfulness training would increase lab-based and in vivo spontaneous helping behaviors toward racial outgroup members. First, across conditions, those scoring higher in baseline trait mindfulness showed higher levels of preintervention lab-based and ecological momentary assessment (EMA)-based helping be...
Preprint
A study examined whether trait mindfulness would increase spontaneous helping behavior toward racial outgroup members (vs ingroup members). Self-identifying White participants scoring higher in basic trait mindfulness more frequently helped both racial outgroup and ingroup members in two randomly assigned lab-based helping simulations: (1) giving o...
Article
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Reactive aggression, a hostile retaliatory response to perceived threat, has been attributed to failures in emotion regulation. Interventions for reactive aggression have largely focused on cognitive control training, which target top-down emotion regulation mechanisms to inhibit aggressive impulses. Recent theory suggests that mindfulness training...
Article
Understanding the underlying mechanisms of mindfulness has been a hot topic in recent years, not only in clinical fields but also in neuroscience. Most neuroimaging findings demonstrate that critical brain regions involved in mindfulness are responsible for cognitive functions and mental states. However, the brain is a complex system operating via...
Article
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Objective: Mindfulness interventions have been effective for improving a range of health outcomes; however, pathways underlying these effects remain unclear. Inflammatory processes may play a role, possibly through increased resistance of immune cells to the anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids (i.e., glucocorticoid resistance; GCR). Here,...
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Mindfulness interventions have been shown to improve several subcomponents of attention; however, the psychological mechanisms driving these improvements are unknown. Mindfulness interventions train individuals to monitor present moment experiences while adopting an attitude of acceptance toward these experiences. We conducted a theoretically drive...
Article
To reach longer-term goals and live aligned with their values, people typically must regulate their behavior. Effortful self-control is one way to achieve this and is usually framed as a forceful struggle between lower-level impulses and higher-level cognitive control processes. For example, people may restrain themselves from eating cake in order...
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In social contexts, the dynamic nature of others’ emotions places unique demands on attention and emotion regulation. Mindfulness, characterized by heightened and receptive moment-to-moment attending, may be well-suited to meet these demands. In particular, mindfulness may support more effective cognitive control in social situations via efficient...
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Mindfulness interventions have garnered significant attention as a complementary health treatment for many physical and psychological conditions. While some research has shown that mindfulness training can decrease psychological and physiological stress responses, it remains unclear whether mindfulness training impacts inflammation—a predictor of p...
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Objective: Mindfulness interventions have been shown to reduce stress; however, the mechanisms driving stress resilience effects are not known. Mindfulness interventions aim to teach individuals how to: (a) use attention to monitor present moment experiences; with (b) an attitude of acceptance and equanimity. A randomized controlled dismantling tr...
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IntroductionTo explore if a brief mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) leads to sustained, improved clinical outcomes in adolescents at-risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D).Methods Participants were 12–17y girls with overweight/obesity, elevated depression symptoms, and T2D family history participating in a randomized, controlled pilot trial of a six-ses...
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Significance Loneliness (i.e., feeling alone) and social isolation (i.e., being alone) are among the most robust known risk factors for poor health and accelerated mortality. Yet mitigating these social risk factors is challenging, as few interventions have been effective for both reducing loneliness and increasing social contact. Mindfulness inter...
Article
Conference Abstract: Mindfulness interventions, which train people to monitor present-moment experience with a lens of acceptance, are inconsistently associated with reductions in systemic inflammation. Here, we examine the impact of brief mindfulness training on circulating CRP and IL-6, explore treatment response in subgroups at risk for height...
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Mindfulness meditation interventions—which train skills in monitoring present-moment experiences with a lens of acceptance—have shown promise for increasing positive emotions. Using a theory-based approach, we hypothesized that learning acceptance skills in mindfulness interventions helps people notice more positive experiences in daily life, and t...
Article
Context: Behavioral lifestyle interventions to lower body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) are the standard approach for preventing adolescent-onset type 2 diabetes (T2D). Unfortunately, existing programs have had limited long-term success of lessening insulin resistance, the key physiological risk indicator for T2D. Underlying psychosocial factors, partic...
Preprint
Full-text available
Mindfulness meditation interventions – which train skills in monitoring present-moment experiences with a lens of acceptance – have shown promise for increasing positive emotions. Using a theory-based approach, we hypothesized that learning acceptance skills in mindfulness interventions helps people notice more positive experiences in daily life, a...
Article
Full-text available
Social rejection is a distressing and painful event that many people must cope with on a frequent basis. Mindfulness - defined here as a mental state of receptive attentiveness to internal and external stimuli as they arise, moment-to-moment - may buffer such social distress. However, little research indicates whether mindful individuals adaptively...
Preprint
Social rejection is a distressing and painful event that many people must cope with on a frequent basis. Mindfulness – defined here as a mental state of receptive attentiveness to internal and external stimuli as they arise, moment-to-moment – may buffer such social distress. However, little research indicates whether mindful individuals adaptively...
Article
Full-text available
Objective Mindfulness interventions, which train practitioners to monitor their present-moment experience with a lens of acceptance, are known to buffer stress reactivity. Little is known about the active mechanisms driving these effects. We theorize that acceptance is a critical emotion regulation mechanism underlying mindfulness stress reduction...
Article
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Four studies tested the proposition that mindfulness and its training fostered prosociality toward ostracized strangers. In discovery Study 1, dispositional mindfulness predicted greater empathic concern for, and more helping behavior toward, an ostracized stranger. Using an experimental design, Study 2 revealed that very briefly instructed mindful...
Preprint
Full-text available
Objective: Mindfulness interventions, which train practitioners to monitor their present-moment experience with a lens of acceptance, are known to buffer stress reactivity. Little is known about the active mechanisms driving these effects. We theorize that acceptance is a critical emotion regulation mechanism underlying mindfulness stress reduction...
Preprint
Full-text available
Objective: Mindfulness interventions, which train practitioners to monitor their present-moment experience with a lens of acceptance, are known to buffer stress reactivity. Little is known about the active mechanisms driving these effects. We theorize that acceptance is a critical emotion regulation mechanism underlying mindfulness stress reduction...
Article
Objective: (1) Evaluate feasibility and acceptability of a mindfulness-based group in adolescent girls at-risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D) with depressive symptoms, and (2) compare efficacy of a mindfulness-based versus cognitive-behavioral group for decreasing depressive symptoms and improving insulin resistance. Design and setting: Parallel-grou...
Article
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Objective: Mindfulness meditation training has been previously shown to enhance behavioral measures of executive control (e.g. attention, working memory, cognitive control), but the neural mechanisms underlying these improvements are largely unknown. Here, we test whether mindfulness training interventions foster executive control by strengthening...
Article
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Research on materialism has burgeoned in the last two decades, yet little is known about how people higher versus lower in this consumer values orientation differ in their day-to-day spending habits and in their emotional reactions to spending on purchases. The present study used an event-sampling method over a 3-week period to address these questi...
Article
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Mindfulness meditation programs, which train individuals to monitor their present-moment experience in an open or accepting way, have been shown to reduce mind wandering on standardized tasks in several studies. Here we test 2 competing accounts for how mindfulness training reduces mind wandering, evaluating whether the attention-monitoring compone...
Book
First-ever edited volume dedicated to hypo-egoic phenomena. Offers cutting-edge investigations into a variety of hypo-egoic phenomena that collectively have widespread implications for personal, social, and societal welfare. Features multi-disciplinary scholarship and contemporary research. Includes chapters authored by widely known, well-respected...
Article
Full-text available
The 5-HT2C receptor is the primary serotonin receptor located in the corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH) neurons of the hypothalamus. These neurons initiate the signaling cascade that culminates in cortisol release. Therefore, genetic variation in the 5-HT2C receptor gene (HTR2C) is a prime candidate for affecting cortisol reactivity to stress....
Article
Full-text available
Training in mindfulness, classically described as a receptive attentiveness to present events and experiences, has been shown to improve attention and working memory. Both are key to long-term memory formation, and the present three-study series used multiple methods to examine whether mindfulness would enhance episodic memory, a key form of long-t...
Data
Training instructions, Studies 2 and 3. (DOCX)
Article
Full-text available
Improvements in stable, or dispositional, mindfulness are often assumed to accrue from mindfulness training and to account for many of its beneficial effects. However, research examining these assumptions has produced mixed findings, and the relation between dispositional mindfulness and mindfulness training is actively debated. A comprehensive met...
Article
Arch et al. (2014) demonstrated that brief self-compassion meditation training (SCT) dampened sympathetic (salivary alpha-amylase) and subjective anxiety responses to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), relative to attention and no-instruction control conditions. The present study examined baseline predictors and moderators of these SCT interventi...
Article
Objective: Mindfulness-based interventions have been increasingly applied to treat eating-related problems ranging from obesity to eating disorders. Yet few studies have empirically examined the mechanisms of a mindful approach to eating. The current studies examine the potential of brief mindfulness instructions to enhance the psychological and b...
Article
Background: Mindfulness meditation training interventions have been shown to improve markers of health, but the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are not known. Building on initial cross-sectional research showing that mindfulness meditation may increase default mode network (DMN) resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) with regions impor...
Article
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Mindfulness research activity is surging within organizational science. Emerging evidence across multiple fields suggests that mindfulness is fundamentally connected to many aspects of workplace functioning, but this knowledge base has not been systematically integrated to date. This review coalesces the burgeoning body of mindfulness scholarship i...
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The majority of care for those with Alzheimer's disease and other age-related dementias is provided in the home by family members. To date, there is no consistently effective intervention for reducing the significant stress burden of many family caregivers. The present pilot randomized controlled trial tested the efficacy of an adapted, eight-week...
Chapter
Self-determination theory argues that motivational orientations that guide behavior have important consequences for healthy behavioral regulation and psychological well-being. This chapter discusses the nature of motivation in terms of its relative autonomy and reviews evidence in support of its role in positive psychological and behavioral outcome...
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Recent studies indicate that mindfulness meditation training interventions reduce stress and improve stress-related health outcomes, but the neural pathways for these effects are unknown. The present research evaluates whether mindfulness meditation training alters resting state functional connectivity of the amygdala, a region known to coordinate...
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Reward seeking is ubiquitous and adaptive in humans. But excessive reward seeking behavior, such as chasing monetary rewards, may lead to diminished subjective well-being. This study examined whether individuals trained in mindfulness meditation show neural evidence of lower susceptibility to monetary rewards. Seventy-eight participants (34 meditat...
Article
Objective: In social situations, skillful regulation of emotion and behavior depends on efficiently discerning others' emotions. Identifying factors that promote timely and accurate discernment of facial expressions can therefore advance understanding of social emotion regulation and behavior. The present research examined whether trait mindfulness...
Chapter
The recent development of dispositional mindfulness measures has sparked several contentious issues regarding our understanding of mindfulness, its measurement, and its development. In this chapter, we consider theory and review empirical research to address four burning issues in dispositional mindfulness research. We review both scholarly and emp...
Article
Effective emotion regulation is important for high-quality social functioning. Recent laboratory-based evidence suggests that mindfulness may enhance emotion regulation in socioemotional contexts; however, little is known about mindful emotion regulation during in vivo social interactions. In a study of romantic couples, we assessed each partner's...
Article
Four experiments, three cross-sectional and one longitudinal, tested the hypothesis that contemplating one’s own death produces a shift toward the use of positive emotion words. Participants who wrote about their own death, compared with those who wrote about dental pain, uncertainty, and meaningless, used more positive emotions words in their narr...
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The paucity of mindfulness-based interventions and research in Estonia motivated the development of an Estonian Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). Unlike most languages, the Estonian language lacks a distinctive present tense. This provides a potential challenge for assessing mindfulness, a psychological construct characterized by present-mo...
Article
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Objective To test whether a brief mindfulness meditation training intervention buffers self-reported psychological and neuroendocrine responses to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) in young adult volunteers. A second objective evaluates whether pre-existing levels of dispositional mindfulness moderate the effects of brief mindfulness meditation t...