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The Neurobiology of Meditation and Stress Reduction
Abstract
Meditation is a complex mental process that involves changes in cognition, sensory perception, emotions, hormones, and autonomic activity. Many different neurotransmitter systems, including dopamine, serotonin, glutamate, and opiates are likely affected by meditation practices. Meditation has also become widely used, either alone or combined with other therapies, for stress reduction, as well as for a variety of physical and mental disorders. There has been an increasing understanding of the overall biological mechanism of meditation practices in terms of their effects on the brain and the body. Recent studies using clinical tools and functional neuroimaging have substantially augmented knowledge of the biology of meditative practices.
... Neseni neirobioloģiski, kognitīvi un uzvedības pētījumu dati liecina, ka apzinātība ietekmē divas specifiskas jomas -uzmanību un pieņemšanu. (Newberg & Yaden, 2018). Gan akadēmiskā, gan populārā prese ir secinājusi, ka apzinātība sniedz nozīmīgu ieguvumu gan veseliem indivīdiem, gan arī tiem, kas cieš no fiziskām un psiholoģiskām problēmām. ...
... jas, gan arī hormoni un autonomā nervu sistēma. Šī prakse ietekmē dažādas neirotransmiteru sistēmas, tai skaitā dopamīnu, serotonīnu, glutamatu un opiātus. Neseni pētījumi, izmantojot klīniskus pētniecības instrumentus un funkcionālo smadzeņu kartēšanu (neuroimaging), būtiski padziļinājuši izpratni par apzinātības prakšu bioloģiskajiem mehānismiem.(Newberg & Yaden, 2018) Termini apzinātība un meditācija aizvien vairāk saplūst. Bieži publiskā diskursā par apzinātību tiek nosauktas integratīvas prakses, tādas kā vizualizācijas, joga u.c., kas izpludina šī termina nozīmi un mēdz radīt neskaidrības. Svarīgi arī, ka ne visas meditācijas ir apzinātības prakses un tāpat apzinātības prakses neaprobežojas ar med ...
Darbā autors veicis apzinātības praktizēšanas aprakstu, analizējis apzinātības praktizēšanas ieguvumus un ietekmi sociāli emocionālās mācīšanās kontekstā uz skolotāju labbūtību un profesionālo jomu, kā arī dažādos ieguvumus audzēkņiem.
Ņemot vērā, ka izglītības sistēmas visā pasaulē būtiski balstās uz pedagogu profesionālo pilnveidi, kā primāro mehānismu, lai panāktu uzlabojumus izglītībā vispār, (McChesney & Aldridge, 2019) autors analizē profesionālās pilnveides programmas apzinātībā, kā arī apraksta kvalitatīvu pētījumu par apzinātības praktizēšanas ietekmi uz pedagogu profesionālo un personisko jomu.
Pētījumā gūts apstiprinājums, ka apzinātības praktizēšana pedagogu profesionālajā pilnveidē var risināt ne tikai skolotāju labbūtības problēmas, bet arī uzlabot pedagogu profesionālo sniegumu, kā arī būt centrālais instruments sociāli emocionālās mācīšanas ieviešanā mācību iestādēs.
... Brain structures such as the cerebellum and limbic regions are known to be involved in the expression and modulation of emotions. Thus, finding changes in these areas after an intensive spiritual retreat help to clarify how the components of the retreat affect brain processes that lead to psychological changes Newberg and Yaden 2018). ...
Background: Many individuals participate in spiritual retreats to enhance their sense of spirituality or to improve their overall mental and spiritual well-being. We are not aware of any studies specifically evaluating changes in functional connectivity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in individuals undergoing an intense spiritual retreat program. The goal of this study was to determine whether such changes occur as a result of participating in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Methods: We conducted psychological and spiritual measures in conjunction with functional connectivity analysis of fMRI in 14 individuals prior to and following shortly after their participation in a one-week spiritual retreat. Results: Significant changes in functional connectivity were observed after the retreat program, compared to baseline evaluation, particularly in the posterior cingulate cortex, pallidum, superior frontal lobe, superior parietal lobe, superior and inferior temporal lobe, and the cerebellum. Significant changes in a variety of psychological and spiritual measures were identified as result of participation in the retreat. Conclusion: Overall, these preliminary findings suggest that this intensive spiritual retreat resulted in significant changes in brain functional connectivity, and warrants further investigation to evaluate the physiological, psychological, and spiritual impact of these changes.
A perennial bestseller since 1997, this updated tenth edition of Understanding Research Methods provides a detailed overview of all the important concepts traditionally covered in a research methods class. It covers the principles of both qualitative and quantitative research, and how to interpret statistics without computations, so is suitable for all students regardless of their math background. The book is organized so that each concept is treated independently and can be used in any order without resulting in gaps in knowledge- allowing it to be easily and precisely adapted to any course. It uses lively examples on contemporary topics to stimulate students’ interest, and engages them by showing the relevance of research methods to their everyday lives. Numerous case studies and end-of-section exercises help students master the material and encourage classroom discussion. The text is divided into short, independent topic sections, making it easy for you to adapt the material to your own teaching needs and customize assignments to the aspect of qualitative or quantitative methods under study-helping to improve students’ comprehension and retention of difficult concepts. Additional online PowerPoint slides and test bank questions make this a complete resource for introducing students to research methods. New to this edition: • New topic section on design decisions in research • Additional material on production of knowledge and research methods • Significant development of material on ethical considerations in research • Fresh and contemporary examples from a wide variety of real, published research • Topic-specific exercises at the end of each section now include suggestions for further steps researchers can take as they build their research project.
This book is started with the main question, how come some people in the USA believe in an invisible being, that is God. How has belief in God come to influence people’s lives? How has God come to be really present in human life? Almost 100 percent people in the US, believe in God according to a Gallup Poll (Luhrmann, 2012: xi). In addition, religious enthusiasm for American has grown increasingly rapidly. Throughout the 20th century, American churches and congregations have developed remarkably (Luhrmann, 14). Even Luhrmann gives an example about the paradoxical things. Many people thought that the hippie vision would bring radical revolutionaries movement that threated the right wing. As a contrary, Christian Hippies play significant roles in making religion to be able publicly accepted (even though there were on drugs) (Luhrmann 16-17)
Sociologists of religion have long debated the definition of religion. In this article, I survey the debate and find a partially hidden consensus. This debate, in conjunction with recent criticisms of the concept "religion" in religious studies, and by drawing on Ludwig Wittgenstein's notion oflanguage games, provides helpful pointers for developing a non-essentialist conception of religion. I argue that "religion" (as a phenomenon and as a concept) is a historical and social construction, but that this does not require us to dispense with the concept altogether.
According to Gallup polls, more than 40 percent of Americans report having had a profound religious experience or awakening that changed the direction of their lives. What are the potential mental, spiritual, and even physical benefits of following the call to take a particular path in life? This standout book addresses the full range of calling experiences, from work that is interpreted as particularly meaningful, to “A-ha!” moments of special insight, to pondering what one is meant to do in life, to intense spiritual experiences like Saint Paul on the road to Damascus. Drawing upon the collective knowledge and insight of expert authors from Australia, China, Italy, the UK, and the United States, the work provides a comprehensive examination of the topic of callings suitable for collegiate students, professors, and professional scholars interested in topics at the interface of science and religion. It will also benefit general readers seeking the expertise of psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and philosophers from various backgrounds and worldviews who examine the phenomenon of feeling called.
Mystical experiences are often described as “ineffable,” or beyond language. However, people readily speak about their mystical experiences if asked about them. How do people describe what is supposedly indescribable? In this study, we used quantitative linguistic analyses to interpret the writings of 777 participants (45.5% female, 51.0% male) who recounted their most significant spiritual or religious experience as part of an online survey. High and low scorers on a measure of mystical experiences differed in the language they used to describe their experiences. Participants who have had mystical experiences used language that was more socially and spatially inclusive (e.g., “close,” “we,” “with”) and used fewer overtly religious words (e.g., “prayed,” “Christ,” “church”) than participants without such experiences. Results indicated that people can meaningfully communicate their mystical experiences, and that quantitative language analyses provide a means for understanding aspects of such experiences.
It has been suggested that a key function of music during its development and spread amongst human populations was its capacity to create and strengthen social bonds amongst interacting group members. However, the mechanisms by which this occurs have not been fully discussed. In this paper we review evidence supporting two thus far independently investigated mechanisms for this social bonding effect: self-other merging as a consequence of inter-personal synchrony, and the release of endorphins during exertive rhythmic activities including musical interaction. In general, self-other merging has been experimentally investigated using dyads, which provide limited insight into large-scale musical activities. Given that music can provide an external rhythmic framework that facilitates synchrony, explanations of social bonding during group musical activities should include reference to endorphins, which are released during synchronized exertive movements. Endorphins (and the endogenous opioid system (EOS) in general) are involved in social bonding across primate species, and are associated with a number of human social behaviors (e.g., laughter, synchronized sports), as well as musical activities (e.g., singing and dancing). Furthermore, passively listening to music engages the EOS, so here we suggest that both self-other merging and the EOS are important in the social bonding effects of music. In order to investigate possible interactions between these two mechanisms, future experiments should recreate ecologically valid examples of musical activities.
We analyzed 700 million words, phrases, and topic instances collected from the Facebook messages of 75,000 volunteers, who also took standard personality tests, and found striking variations in language with personality, gender, and age. In our open-vocabulary technique, the data itself drives a comprehensive exploration of language that distinguishes people, finding connections that are not captured with traditional closed-vocabulary word-category analyses. Our analyses shed new light on psychosocial processes yielding results that are face valid (e.g., subjects living in high elevations talk about the mountains), tie in with other research (e.g., neurotic people disproportionately use the phrase 'sick of' and the word 'depressed'), suggest new hypotheses (e.g., an active life implies emotional stability), and give detailed insights (males use the possessive 'my' when mentioning their 'wife' or 'girlfriend' more often than females use 'my' with 'husband' or 'boyfriend'). To date, this represents the largest study, by an order of magnitude, of language and personality.
Four decades ago, Huston Smith published one of the mostinfluential articles ever written on psychedelics, titled “Do Drugs HaveReligious Import?” As part of “The Oral History of PsychedelicResearch Project,” he was interviewed and invited to revisit thistopic. The interview covers his personal experiences, as well as the influences of psychedelic experiences on religious traditions andcontemplative practices. Examples of such influences that arediscussed include the ancient Vedic tradition and Eleusinianmysteries, and the contemporary Native American Church. At the sociallevel, he reflects on factors that limited the effectiveness of the psychedelic movement of the 1960s in producing significant socialchange, the state of contemporary culture, society, and drug policy,and the role of elders in society.
SUMMARY The distribution of 214 species of neurotropic fungi in the world is discussed. The neurotropic fungi considered are divided in: 1) species with psilocybin's indoles, or probably with these substances, 2) species with ibotenic acid, 3) ergot fungi, and 4) species used as sacred fungi but without any reliable chemical studies. In the first group are Psilocybe (116 species), Gymnopilus (13 species), Panaeolus (13 species), Copelandia (12 species), Hypholoma (6 species), Pluteus (6 species), Inocybe (6 species), Conocybe (4 species), Panaeolina (4 species), Gerronema (2 species) and Agrocybe, Galerina and Mycena (each with one species), although in several species of this group, mainly in the Panaeoloideous fungi, there are no chemical studies. In the second group are Amanita muscaria, A. pantherina and A. regalis; in the third group is Claviceps purpurea and allies: 5 species of Claviceps and 2 of Cordyceps, and in the fourth group are bolets (two genera with 8 species), Russula (6 species), and 5 species of gasteromycetes in 3 genera. Concerning the distribution of Psilocybe, the majority of the species are in the Austral hemisphere, or close to this, mainly in the subtropical humid forests, where reside the most important ethnic groups that use the neurotropic fungi, as native peoples in Mexico and New Guinea. Mexico has the highest number of neurotropic species of fungi, with 76 species, of which 44 belong to Psilocybe (39 % of the world). More than 450 bibliographic references were considered.
Although psilocybin has been used for centuries for religious purposes, little is known scientifically about its acute and persisting effects.
This double-blind study evaluated the acute and longer-term psychological effects of a high dose of psilocybin relative to a comparison compound administered under comfortable, supportive conditions.
The participants were hallucinogen-naïve adults reporting regular participation in religious or spiritual activities. Two or three sessions were conducted at 2-month intervals. Thirty volunteers received orally administered psilocybin (30 mg/70 kg) and methylphenidate hydrochloride (40 mg/70 kg) in counterbalanced order. To obscure the study design, six additional volunteers received methylphenidate in the first two sessions and unblinded psilocybin in a third session. The 8-h sessions were conducted individually. Volunteers were encouraged to close their eyes and direct their attention inward. Study monitors rated volunteers' behavior during sessions. Volunteers completed questionnaires assessing drug effects and mystical experience immediately after and 2 months after sessions. Community observers rated changes in the volunteer's attitudes and behavior.
Psilocybin produced a range of acute perceptual changes, subjective experiences, and labile moods including anxiety. Psilocybin also increased measures of mystical experience. At 2 months, the volunteers rated the psilocybin experience as having substantial personal meaning and spiritual significance and attributed to the experience sustained positive changes in attitudes and behavior consistent with changes rated by community observers.
When administered under supportive conditions, psilocybin occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously occurring mystical experiences. The ability to occasion such experiences prospectively will allow rigorous scientific investigations of their causes and consequences.
Mindfulness-as a state, trait, process, type of meditation, and intervention has proven to be beneficial across a diverse group of psychological disorders as well as for general stress reduction. Yet, there remains a lack of clarity in the operationalization of this construct, and underlying mechanisms. Here, we provide an integrative theoretical framework and systems-based neurobiological model that explains the mechanisms by which mindfulness reduces biases related to self-processing and creates a sustainable healthy mind. Mindfulness is described through systematic mental training that develops meta-awareness (self-awareness), an ability to effectively modulate one's behavior (self-regulation), and a positive relationship between self and other that transcends self-focused needs and increases prosocial characteristics (self-transcendence). This framework of self-awareness, -regulation, and -transcendence (S-ART) illustrates a method for becoming aware of the conditions that cause (and remove) distortions or biases. The development of S-ART through meditation is proposed to modulate self-specifying and narrative self-networks through an integrative fronto-parietal control network. Relevant perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral neuropsychological processes are highlighted as supporting mechanisms for S-ART, including intention and motivation, attention regulation, emotion regulation, extinction and reconsolidation, prosociality, non-attachment, and decentering. The S-ART framework and neurobiological model is based on our growing understanding of the mechanisms for neurocognition, empirical literature, and through dismantling the specific meditation practices thought to cultivate mindfulness. The proposed framework will inform future research in the contemplative sciences and target specific areas for development in the treatment of psychological disorders.
The Sharanahua and Culina, small Indian tribes located in the southwestern Amazon basin, use a hallucinogenic drink for medicinal
and social purposes. This decoction, called “Ayahuasca” in Peru, is prepared from Banisteriopsis Caapi stems and Psychotria
sp. leaves. These plants have been botanically identified on the basis of voucher herbarium specimens and investigated for
alkaloid content by means of a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry technique. A list of other occasional plant admixtures
is given. Harmine, Harmaline, Tetrahydroharmine, Harmol and 6-Methoxytryptamine have been found in Banisteriopsis Caapi. Dimethyltryptamine,
Monomethyltryptamine and 2-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-β-carboline have been found in Psychotria viridis and Psychotria carthaginensis.
Harmine, Harmaline, Tetrahydroharmine and Dimethyltryptamine have been found in the drink. Quantitative calculations show
the amount of each alkaloid administered in the Ayahuasca drink.
Cultivation of mindfulness, the nonjudgmental awareness of experiences in the present moment, produces beneficial effects on well-being and ameliorates psychiatric and stress-related symptoms. Mindfulness meditation has therefore increasingly been incorporated into psychotherapeutic interventions. Although the number of publications in the field has sharply increased over the last two decades, there is a paucity of theoretical reviews that integrate the existing literature into a comprehensive theoretical framework. In this article, we explore several components through which mindfulness meditation exerts its effects: (a) attention regulation, (b) body awareness, (c) emotion regulation (including reappraisal and exposure, extinction, and reconsolidation), and (d) change in perspective on the self. Recent empirical research, including practitioners' self-reports and experimental data, provides evidence supporting these mechanisms. Functional and structural neuroimaging studies have begun to explore the neuroscientific processes underlying these components. Evidence suggests that mindfulness practice is associated with neuroplastic changes in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, temporo-parietal junction, fronto-limbic network, and default mode network structures. The authors suggest that the mechanisms described here work synergistically, establishing a process of enhanced self-regulation. Differentiating between these components seems useful to guide future basic research and to specifically target areas of development in the treatment of psychological disorders.
© Association for Psychological Science 2011.
This book is the sequel to Robert Forman’s well-received collection, The Problem of Pure Consciousness (Oxford, 1990). The essays in the earlier volume argued that some mystical experiences do not seem to be formed or shaped by the language system--a thesis that stands in sharp contradistinction to deconstruction in general and to the “constructivist” school of mysticism in particular, which holds that all mysticism is the product of a cultural and linguistic process. In The Innate Capacity, Forman and his colleagues put forward a hypothesis about the formative causes of these “pure consciousness” experiences. All of the contributors agree that mysticism is the result of an innate human capacity, rather than a learned, socially conditioned and constructive process. The innate capacity is understood in several different ways. Many perceive it as an expression of human consciousness per se, awareness itself. Some hold that consciousness should be understood as a built-in link to some hidden, transcendent aspect of the world, and that a mystical experience is the experience of that inherent connectedness. Another thesis that appears frequently is that mystics realize this innate capacity through a process of releasing the hold of the ego and the conceptual system. The contributors here look at mystical experience as it is manifested in a variety of religious and cultural settings, including Hindu Yoga, Buddhism, Sufism, and medieval Christianity. Taken together, the essays constitute an important contribution to the on going debate about the nature of human consciousness and mystical experience and its relation to the social and cultural contexts in which it appears.
This chapter discusses neurochemical foundations (and specifically the physiological roles of oxytocin and vasopressin) of spiritual and religious behavior. I argue that the conceptual network prompted by the words "affiliation" and "affiliative behavior" should also include concepts of spirituality and religiosity. By focusing on the tradition of investigating affiliation and affiliative behavior in both the animal and human literatures, I focus on the concepts of personality and psychopathology. I argue that the use of the concepts of affiliation and affiliative behavior-and the knowledge of their neurochemical foundations-might be helpful in understanding how such human characteristics may be related to religiosity and spirituality.
Psychoactive stimulation and psychoactive substances have both similar and different potential research and clinical applications. They differ in their historical contexts, socio-cultural connotations, and neurobiological delivery systems – not to mention the common sense phenomenological dissimilarities between taking a pill and having an apparatus around one’s head. At the same time, in principle, they raise many of the same ethical and epistemological concerns. Our discussion is framed within the possibility that psychoactive stimulation may come to provide a complimentary research and application technique to using psychoactive substances.
Clinical observations suggesting a relationship between spiritual experiences, life purpose and satisfaction, and improvements in physical health led to the development of an Index of Core Spiritual Experience (INSPIRIT). Data from 83 medical outpatients showed the INSPIRIT to have a strong degree of internal reliability and concurrent validity. Multiple regression analyses showed the INSPIRIT to be associated with: (1) increased life purpose and satisfaction, a health-promoting attitude; and (2) decreased frequency of medical symptoms.
A measure of reported mystical experience is presented. This "Mysticism Scale, Research Form D (M scale)," has 32 items, four for each of 8 categories of mysticism initially conceptualized by Stace (1960). Items on this scale are both positively and negatively expressed to avoid problems of response set. A factor analysis of the M Scale indicated two major factors, a general mystical experience factor (20 items) and a religious interpretation factor (12 items). Preliminary evidence indicates that those high on the M Scale have more intrinsic religious motivation as defined by Hoge's (1972) scale, are more open to experience as defined by Taft's (1970) ego permissiveness scale, have more intense religious experience as defined by Hood's (1970) scale, and have moderately higher scores on the L, Hs, and Hy scales of the MMPI.
The present study attempts to measure how individuals define the terms religiousness and spirituality, to measure how individuals define their own religiousness and spirituality, and to examine whether these definitions are associated with different demographic, religio/spiritual, and psychosocial variables. The complete sample of 346 individuals was composed of 11 groups of participants drawn from a wide range of religious backgrounds. Analyses were conducted to compare participants' self-rated religiousness and spirituality, to correlate self-rated religiousness and spirituality with the predictor variables, and to use the predictor variables to distinguish between participants who described themselves as "spiritual and religious" from those who identified themselves as "spiritual but not religious." A content analysis of participants' definitions of religiousness and spirituality was also performed. The results suggest several points of convergence and divergence between the constructs religiousness and spirituality. The theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of these results for the scientific study of religion are discussed.
"Construct validation was introduced in order to specify types of research required in developing tests for which the conventional views on validation are inappropriate. Personality tests, and some tests of ability, are interpreted in terms of attributes for which there is no adequate criterion. This paper indicates what sorts of evidence can substantiate such an interpretation, and how such evidence is to be interpreted." 60 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Religiousness and spirituality (RS) are two ubiquitous aspects of human experience typically considered impervious to scientific investigation. Nevertheless, associations between RS and frontoparietal neural activity have been recently reported. However, much less is known about whether such activity is causally involved in modulating RS or just epiphenomenal to them. Here we combined two-pulse (10Hz) transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with a novel, ad-hoc developed RS-related, Implicit Association Test (IAT) to investigate whether implicit RS representations, although supposedly rather stable, can be rapidly modified by a virtual lesion of inferior parietal lobe (IPL) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). A self-esteem (SE) IAT, focused on self-concepts nonrelated to RS representations, was developed as control. A specific increase of RS followed inhibition of IPL demonstrating its causative role in inducing fast plastic changes of religiousness/spirituality. In contrast, DLPFC inhibition had more widespread effects probably reflecting a general role in the acquisition or maintenance of task-rules or in controlling the expression of self-related representations not specific to RS.
Humans engage in a wide range of social ac- tivities. Previous research has focused on the role of higher cognitive functions, such as mentalizing (the ability to infer others' mental states) and language processing, in social exchange. This article reviews recent studies on action perception and joint action suggesting that basic percep- tion-action links are crucial for many social interactions. Mapping perceived actions to one's own action repertoire enables direct understanding of others' actions and sup- ports action identification. Joint action relies on shared action representations and involves modeling of others' performance in relation to one's own. Taking the social nature of perception and action seriously not only con- tributes to the understanding of dedicated social processes but has the potential to create a new perspective on the individual mind and brain. KEYWORDS—perception and action; action perception; joint action; social cognition; social neuroscience mediate way of social understanding and social interaction, based on the close link between perception and action. For ex- ample, when one observes another individual performing a particular action, this activates the representations in one's own action system that one uses to perform the observed action. Taking the social functions of perception and action seriously might help to better understand disorders of social functions, including autism and certain symptoms of schizophrenia such as delusions of control. In this article, we discuss recent findings from two research domains that shed new light on the social nature of perception and action. Research on action perception demonstrates that individuals rely on their bodies and the action system moving their bodies to understand others' actions and to identify their own actions. Research on joint action has revealed how indi- viduals share representations, predict each other's actions, and learn to jointly plan ahead.
The evolution of LSD use and the controversy surrounding it are reviewed. LSD is treated as a powerful drug whose mind-revealing effects embodied the potential for both psychological harm and personal insight. Predominant motives for LSD use appear to have shifted from desire for self-exploration to a desire for fun. Early LSD use, stimulated by curiosity and adventure seeking, focused on the personal, existential, and spiritual insights attributed (sometimes erroneously) to the drug. Opposition to LSD developed as LSD became a focus or symbol for generational conflict, parental worries, political dissent, irrational behavior and violence, personal cognitive dissonance, and threat to traditional values and institutions. LSD use declined because changes in the social conditions confronting youth created a desire for a type of drug experience LSD was ill-suited to provide, and because changes in users' attitudes and preparations changed the nature of the LSD experience. The relation of drug preference to social conditions, the attributional biases concerning drugs, and the similarities between LSD proponents' and opponents' behavior are discussed.
In a mostly Christian American sample (N = 1,379), confirmatory factor analysis of Hood’s (1975) Mysticism Scale verified the existence of Stace’s (1960) introvertive and extrovertive dimensions of mystical phenomenology along with a separate interpretation factor. A second study confirmed the presence of these three factors in not only another group of Americans (N = 188), but also in a sample of Iranian Muslims (N = 185). Relationships of the introvertive and extrovertive factors with the interpretation factor were essentially identical across these two cultures, but the Americans displayed a stronger association between the two phenomenology factors. In both samples, the interpretation factor correlated positively with an intrinsic and negatively with an extrinsic religious orientation, and the introvertive factor predicted psychological dysfunction. Associations of the interpretation factor with relative mental health appeared only in the Iranians. These data offered general support for Stace’s phenomenology of mysticism, although the ineffability he linked with interpretation proved to be as much or even more a feature of the introvertive experience, as hypothesized by Hood.
Interest in mindfulness and its enhancement has burgeoned in recent years. In this article, we discuss in detail the nature of mindfulness and its relation to other, established theories of attention and awareness in day-to-day life. We then examine theory and evidence for the role of mindfulness in curtailing negative functioning and enhancing positive outcomes in several important life domains, including mental health, physical health, behavioral regulation, and interpersonal relationships. The processes through which mindfulness is theorized to have its beneficial effects are then discussed, along with proposed directions for theoretical development and empirical research.
Explanatory style from nine religious groups, representing fundamentalist, moderate, and liberal viewpoints, was investigated by questionnaire and by blind content analysis of their sermons and liturgy. Fundamentalist individuals were significantly more optimistic by questionnaire than those from moderate religions, who were in turn more optimistic than liberals. The liturgy and sermons showed the parallel pattern of optimism. Regression analyses suggested that the greater optimism of fundamentalist individuals may be entirely accounted for by the greater hope and daily influence fundamentalism engenders, along with the greater optimism of the religious services they hear.
The overall goal of this essay is to explore the initial findings of neuroscientific research on meditation; in doing so, the essay also suggests potential avenues of further inquiry. The essay consists of three sections that, while integral to the essay as a whole, may also be read independently. The first section, "Defining Meditation," notes the need for a more precise understanding of meditation as a scientific explanandum. Arguing for the importance of distinguishing the particularities of various traditions, the section presents the theory of meditation from the paradigmatic perspective of Buddhism, and it discusses the difficulties encountered when working with such theories. The section includes an overview of three practices that have been the subject of research, and it ends with a strategy for developing a questionnaire to more precisely define a practice under examination. The second section, "the Intersection of Neuroscience and Meditation," explores some scientific motivations for the neuroscientific examination of meditation in terms of its potential impact on the brain and body of long-term practitioners. After an overview of the mechanisms of mind-body interaction, this section addresses the use of first-person expertise, especially in relation to the potential for research on the neural counterpart of subjective experience. In general terms, the section thus
In area F5 of the monkey premotor cortex there are neurons that discharge both when the monkey performs an action and when he observes a similar action made by another monkey or by the experimenter. We report here some of the properties of these 'mirror' neurons and we propose that their activity 'represents' the observed action. We posit, then, that this motor representation is at the basis of the understanding of motor events. Finally, on the basis of some recent data showing that, in man, the observation of motor actions activate the posterior part of inferior frontal gyrus, we suggest that the development of the lateral verbal communication system in man derives from a more ancient communication system based on recognition of hand and face gestures.
This paper considers the neuropsychology of religious and spiritual experiences. This requires a review of our current understanding of brain function as well as an integrated synthesis to derive a neuropsychological model of spiritual experiences. Religious and spiritual experiences are highly complex states that likely involve many brain structures including those involved in higher order processing of sensory and cognitive input as well as those involved in the elaboration of emotions and autonomic responses. Such an analysis can help elucidate the biological correlates of these experiences and provide new information regarding the function of the human brain.
Explores the relevance of spiritual issues for individual psychotherapy. Spirituality (SPT) underlies both personal impulses to growth and healing and many creative cultural and social enterprises. The shadow side of this fundamentally healthy search for wholeness can be called addiction to SPT. This can be found among people who use SPT as a magical solution to problems they are unwilling to face. Beginning students of SPT are likely to replace worldly ambition with spiritual ambition. Some spiritual issues encountered in psychotherapy with those who are motivated by spiritual ambition are the following: addiction to spiritual experiences, denial of the shadow, spiritual specialness, guilt and purification, and idolatry. Each of these is discussed, as well as the characteristics of healthy SPT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article considers the question of whether our field should relabel itself the psychology of religion and spirituality. The meanings of religion and spirituality appear to be evolving. Religion is moving from a broadband construct—one that includes both the institutional and the individual, and the good and the bad—to a narrowband institutional construct that restricts and inhibits human potential. Spirituality, on the other hand, is becoming differentiated from religion as an individual expression that speaks to the greatest of human capacities. Several dangers in these trends are considered, including the danger of losing the sacred core of our field. An alternate approach to defining religion and spirituality is presented that preserves the heart of our discipline while encouraging the study of new pathways to the sacred and new meanings of the sacred itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Between the covers of this
Handbook readers will find what we consider to be the core material, in terms of theory, methods, and empirical evidence, of an emergent scientific domain, affective science. It is not a "Handbook of Emotion." Affective science is a considerably broader concept that subsumes emotion but is not restricted to it. The purpose of this
Handbook is to illustrate how many different disciplines are making fundamental contributions to the development of affective science and to provide a compendium for scholars inside and outside of this rapidly developing field. In addition, the chapters in this
Handbook bring into focus the many specific areas in the neural, behavioral, and social sciences that are impacted by research on affective processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study seeks to highlight construct measurement issues in information systems (IS) research. It describes the normative process of construct measurement and identifies the difficult problems involved in measurement and some ways in which these difficulties may be overcome. An illustrative construct-operationalization study in the area of strategic systems outlines how the normative guidelines may be applied to IS. Some specific recommendations for IS include developing a preliminary model of the construct even if there is little previous measurement research, devoting greater attention to predictive validity because a lack of theories in IS precludes the examination of nomological validity, verifying the assumptions underlying the computation of an overall index, and examining the measurement properties of the index.
In this chapter we first define religious, spiritual and mystical experiences (RSMEs). We then review clinical data about
patients with epilepsy suggesting a role for the temporal lobe and the limbic system in RSMEs. The possibility of experimentally
inducing such experiences by stimulating the temporal lobe with weak electromagnetic currents is examined. The limbic-marker
hypothesis is also presented. The findings of brain imaging studies of RSMEs carried out during the last decade are then examined.
Next, these findings and the phenomenology of RSMEs in regard to the mind-brain problem are discussed. Finally, we terminate
the chapter with a few concluding remarks.