Date of Graduation

5-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Psychological Science

Advisor/Mentor

Beike, Denise

Committee Member

Zies, Brenda

Second Committee Member

Barnum, Justin

Third Committee Member

Marren, Susan

Fourth Committee Member

Fey, Maximilian

Abstract

Mindfulness has a multitude of benefits including, but not limited to, increasing one’s positive affect, decreasing stress, lowering blood pressure, protecting against depression and reducing chronic pain. The pre-existing literature on mindfulness unanimously suggests that mindfulness relies on self-regulating functions to improve overall well-being but lacks information regarding which specific emotion-regulating characteristics may play a role in determining mindfulness tendencies. The present research investigated whether or not an individual’s trait mindfulness is correlated with one’s need for cognitive closure (NFC) and how these measures relate to positive and negative affect. A total of 328 participants, recruited from the University of Arkansas SONA study pool, completed an online survey questionnaire in which they were evaluated on three measures: trait mindfulness, NFC, and positive and negative affect. Participants presented lower negative affect (NA) when utilizing high levels of mindfulness acceptance, suggesting a negative correlation between NA and mindfulness acceptance. Additionally, those low in NFC utilize higher levels of mindfulness acceptance while those high in NFC were found to use higher levels of attentional mindfulness. These results suggest that certain individuals, based on fixed cognitive traits, may be more or less likely to utilize certain components of mindfulness.

Keywords

mindfulness; need for cognitive closure; affect; correlation; trait mindfulness; state mindfulness

Comments

This thesis was funding by the University of Arkansas Honors College Research Grant.

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