Boudreau,
Gillian (1/10) The role of mindfulness in self-control and reactivity (Philip
Wong, Ph.D.; Paul Ramirez, Ph.D.; Nathan Consendine, Ph.D.)
The current study explored the hypothesis
that mindfulness would be positively associated with self-control, and
negatively associated with reactivity, in both the physical and the emotional
realms. Participants included 132 students at a large metropolitan university
(66 males and 66 females, M = 22.18 years, SD = 5.71) who completed two
self-report measures of mindfulness; the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)
and the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised (CAMS-R.)
Participants also completed two trials of a cold-pressor pain tolerance task,
and two trials of exposure to dysphorically evocative slides drawn from the
International Affective Picture System (IAPS). As expected, CAMS score was
positively associated with seconds spent watching the IAPS slides before asking
to stop at both trials one and two, and was negatively associated with negative
mood scores on the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) before,
during, and after exposure to the IAPS slides. Contrary to expectations, MAAS
score was negatively associated with seconds spent on the cold-pressor task.
High- and Low-MAAS scorers reported similar levels of discomfort just following
both cold-pressor tasks; however high MAAS-scorers reported lower discomfort
scores five minutes after exposure to the cold-pressor task.
