Exploring the social self in mindfulness practice: differences in self-concept between meditators and non-meditators
摘要
Mindfulness Meditation (MM) enhances self-related and prosocial processes. As research MM and the self focuses on these processes, the current study extends the investigation to the contents of the self of meditators compared to non-meditators, especially in their social dimensions, including self-construal. Methods: 230 participants (n = 126 meditators) produced self-descriptions with flexibility and descriptiveness ratings, and answered self-construal and self-concept clarity (SCC) measures. Results: Compared to non-meditators who resorted more to role-centered and relational descriptions, meditators’ self-descriptions were specifically associated with existential concerns, with the use of “self-as-process” descriptions such as self-transcendence. Meditators rated the social dimensions of their self as less descriptive and more flexible than non-meditators. The results showed no significant differences between meditators and non-meditators on self-construal and SCC. However, the independent self-construal and SCC were significantly positively associated with state and trait mindfulness. Discussion: The discreet part taken by the social self in meditators may be explained by the emphasis placed in MM protocols on developing self-awareness and labelling of inner experiences and states, rather than on the experience of self in relation to others. The preferential use of “self-as-process” descriptions, and the flexible “relational self” in meditators may refer to the beliefs in modern MM that the healthy self is ever changing and impermanent, while simultaneously constraining a greater SCC.