Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: Research has demonstrated that attention is a central component of emotion regulation (Gross, 2015).The current study examined the impact of attention control strategies (i.e., mindfulness, worry, and distraction) on emotional responses.Eighty male and female (ages 18-28) undergraduate students from a small Midwestern university participated in the study.Participants viewed a series of standardized emotion-evoking slides and rated their emotional responses before and after undergoing an experimental mood induction.Participants were also given the opportunity to participate in a behavioral engagement task.Results indicated there were no statistically significant differences between the groups' emotional responses to the slides.Nonetheless, participants in the mindfulness group were more willing to voluntarily view emotionally distressing slides than participants in the worry and unfocused attention groups.The findings provide modest support for the assertion that mindfulness is an adaptive attentional control strategy.
Author: William J. Leever
Institution: Xavier University
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2615307158