Date of Graduation

12-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Psychology (MA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Psychological Science

Advisor/Mentor

Beike, Denise R.

Committee Member

Veilleux, Jennifer C.

Second Committee Member

Zabelina, Darya L.

Keywords

Affect; Attention; Emotion Regulation; Mindfulness; Stress

Abstract

The literature on mindfulness supports a distinction between two components of non-judgmental acceptance and directed attention. The present research analyzed whether there are distinct differences in attentional capabilities or affect between mindfulness inductions which differed in either including only directed attention or directed attention and non-judgmental acceptance. I hypothesized that the acceptance component of mindfulness would increase participants sustained attentional capabilities relative to a control condition; furthermore, I hypothesized that the non-judgmental acceptance component of mindfulness would lead to significant increases in positive affect and decreases in negative affect relative to control. Lastly, I hypothesized that an individual difference measure of need for cognitive closure would moderate this effect between non-judgmental acceptance and affect, such that individuals low in need for cognitive closure would see a significantly smaller benefits of the acceptance component relative to the directed attention condition. Results showed a significant increase in sustained attentional capabilities across time for the acceptance-based mindfulness condition, contrary to the literature. Furthermore, consistent with my hypothesis, NFC significantly moderated the relationship the negative affect felt by individuals in the acceptance condition such that participants low in NFC felt significantly more negative affect compared to the attention and control conditions. Therefore, the hypotheses were at least partially supported suggesting that individual differences and length of mindfulness training program should be taken into consideration.

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