Contemplative Science: An Insider Prospectus

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (134) ◽  
pp. 13-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willoughby B. Britton ◽  
Anne-Catharine Brown ◽  
Christopher T. Kaplan ◽  
Roberta E. Goldman ◽  
Marie DeLuca ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Contemplative Science

From many to one: Meditation and the plasticity of the predictive mind

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruben Laukkonen ◽  
Heleen A Slagter
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Enhancement ◽  
The Self ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Conceptual Processing ◽  
Current State ◽  
Contemplative Science ◽  
Open Monitoring ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
The Brain

How profoundly can humans change their own minds? In this paper we offer a unifying account of meditation under the predictive processing view of living organisms. We start from relatively simple axioms. First, the brain is an organ that serves to predict based on past experience, both phylogenetic and ontogenetic. Second, meditation serves to bring one closer to the here and now by disengaging from anticipatory processes. We propose that practicing meditation therefore gradually reduces predictive processing, in particular counterfactual cognition—the tendency to construct abstract and temporally deep representations—until all conceptual processing falls away. Our Many- to-One account also places three main styles of meditation (focused attention, open monitoring, and non-dual meditation) on a single continuum, where each technique progressively relinquishes increasingly engrained habits of prediction, including the self. This deconstruction can also make the above processes available to introspection, permitting certain insights into one’s mind. Our review suggests that our framework is consistent with the current state of empirical and (neuro)phenomenological evidence in contemplative science, and is ultimately illuminating about the plasticity of the predictive mind. It also serves to highlight that contemplative science can fruitfully go beyond cognitive enhancement, attention, and emotion regulation, to its more traditional goal of removing past conditioning and creating conditions for potentially profound insights. Experimental rigor, neurophenomenology, and no-report paradigms combined with neuroimaging are needed to further our understanding of how different styles of meditation affect predictive processing and the self, and the plasticity of the predictive mind more generally.

Leadership, morality and ethics: Developing a practical model for moral decision-making

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred W. Kaszniak ◽  
Cynda H. Rushton ◽  
Joan Halifax
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Applied Ethics ◽  
Moral Decision ◽  
Moral Decision Making ◽  
Contemplative Science ◽  
Practical Model

The present paper is the product of collaboration between a neuroscientist, an ethicist, and a contemplative exploring issues around leadership, morality, and ethics. It is an exploration on how people in roles of responsibility can better understand how to engage in discernment processes with more awareness and a deeper sense of responsibility for others and themselves. It draws upon recent research and scholarship in neuroscience, contemplative science, and applied ethics to develop a practical understanding of how moral decision-making works and is essential in this time when there can seem to be an increasing moral vacuum in leadership.

scholarly journals Contemplative Science and Secular Ethics

Religions ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
Brendan Ozawa-de Silva
Keyword(s):  
Contemplative Science ◽  
Secular Ethics

scholarly journals Meditation in context: factors that facilitate prosocial behavior

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Condon
Keyword(s):  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Context Factors ◽  
Contemplative Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
Viable Approach ◽  
Relational Contexts

Contemplative science experienced tremendous growth in the past five years in part through new attention to the social processes and prosocial outcomes associated with meditation. Despite this growth, questions persist about the mechanisms and contexts through which meditation increases or fails to increase prosocial behavior. In this article, I draw on Buddhist traditions and empirical efforts to understand the ethical and relational contexts that promote prosocial behavior. In summary, meditation promises a viable approach to increase prosocial behavior, but future research will require a careful, holistic examination of contemplative contexts that foster those outcomes.

scholarly journals Moving beyond mindfulness: Defining equanimity as an outcome measure in meditation and contemplative research

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaelle Desbordes ◽  
Tim Gard ◽  
Elizabeth A. Hoge ◽  
Britta K. Hölzel ◽  
Catherine Kerr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Outcome Measure ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Affective Valence ◽  
Contemplative Practices ◽  
Multiple Components ◽  
Modern Psychology ◽  
Contemplative Science ◽  
Psychological Element ◽  
Health And Well Being

In light of a growing interest in contemplative practices such as meditation, the emerging field of contemplative science has been challenged to describe and objectively measure how these practices affect health and well-being. While “mindfulness” itself has been proposed as a measurable outcome of contemplative practices, this concept encompasses multiple components, some of which, as we review here, may be better characterized as equanimity. Equanimity can be defined as an even-minded mental state or dispositional tendency toward all experiences or objects, regardless of their origin or their affective valence (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral). In this article, we propose that equanimity be used as an outcome measure in contemplative research. We first define and discuss the inter-relationship between mindfulness and equanimity from the perspectives of both classical Buddhism and modern psychology and present existing meditation techniques for cultivating equanimity. We then review psychological, physiological, and neuroimaging methods that have been used to assess equanimity either directly or indirectly. In conclusion, we propose that equanimity captures potentially the most important psychological element in the improvement of well-being, and therefore should be a focus in future research studies.

Enhancing Compassion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Condon ◽  
David DeSteno
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Moral Decision ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Moral Decision Making ◽  
Relationship Formation ◽  
Psychological Literature ◽  
Contemplative Science

Historically, social psychologists are known for demonstrating the power of situations to reduce compassionate impulses and prosocial behavior. The simple presence of other people, for example, can decrease the rates at which people act to help others. Yet more recent findings also point to the power of situations to evoke other-oriented emotional states that increase intentions and actions to help others and build relationships. In this chapter, we review the current social psychological literature on compassion and its role in shaping moral decision-making and relationship formation. We then turn to the burgeoning field of contemplative science and demonstrate the role of meditation practices in shaping prosocial character. In the end, this literature suggests that humans are amenable to situational forces that tip the scales in favor of compassionate responding. Moreover, such behaviors can be increased through simple, readily available meditation-based exercises.

scholarly journals Future directions in meditation research: Recommendations for expanding the field of contemplative science

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. e0205740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra Vieten ◽  
Helané Wahbeh ◽  
B. Rael Cahn ◽  
Katherine MacLean ◽  
Mica Estrada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Future Directions ◽  
Contemplative Science ◽  
Research Recommendations
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