Ethics, Values, Virtues, and Character Strengths in Mindfulness-Based Interventions: a Psychological Science Perspective

Abstract

This paper comments on an article by Monteiro, Musten, and Compson (Mindfulness 6: 1-13, 2015) and a series of replies that explored the issue of ethics training for participants in contemporary mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). The perceived need for explicit ethical training stems from concerns about potentially harmful or misguided applications of secular MBIs, particularly in settings whose activities may be inconsistent with the ethics of the Buddhist traditions from which mindfulness training originates. Much of the discussion in the target article and replies focused on whether ethical foundations of mindfulness in MBIs should remain implicit or should be taught from a Buddhist perspective. The present commentary argues that psychological science provides well developed alternatives for researchers and clinicians interested in secular approaches to ethics-related issues in MBIs. The experimental psychology literature provides a strong foundation for working with personally meaningful, prosocial values in MBIs. Positive psychology provides a complementary perspective on moral virtues and character strengths that have been widely recognized across cultures. Organizational psychology and related disciplines provide empirically based perspectives on the ethical implications of mindfulness training in the workplace. An approach to ethical issues in MBIs that is firmly grounded in psychological science and suitable for secular settings is recommended.

Still Exploring the Middle Path: a Response to Commentaries

“…Buddhist traditions are not unique in promoting these values. Baer (2015) makes very interesting observations in this regard. She cited Petersen and Seligman's (2004) 3-year study of diverse spiritual and philosophical traditions that explicitly identify and address the role of virtues in human flourishing (these included Ancient Greek, Taoist, Confucian, Judeo-Christian, and Islamic traditions).…”

“…Although the way these values and virtues are understood and expressed may be traditionspecific, then, there are ontological constraints that shape them-for example, that they are effective in promoting flourishing. Baer (2015) argued that positive psychology has adopted many of these virtues and character strengths but expressed and conceptualized them Bin the language and methods of positive psychology^(p. 966).…”

“…Taking a different perspective, both Lindahl (2015) and Baer (2015) found merit in the exchange of ideas between Buddhism and secular mindfulness, but both sounded cautionary notes about making untested assumptions that secular mindfulness brings benefits insofar as it is brought into line with the traditional Buddhism. In a similar vein, Baer argued that the key question is not how we can make MBIs more consistent with Buddhism, but how we can maximize their benefits for the broadest spectrum of people, and the way to discover this is through testing available methods and hypotheses through empirical findings and psychological science.…”

Recontextualizing mindfulness: Theravada Buddhist perspectives on the ethical and spiritual dimensions of awareness.

“…Indeed, Baer (2015) argues that the promotion of such qualities means that first generation MBIs are already helping to inculcate beneficial ethical values.…”

Teaching Ethics in Mindfulness-based Interventions

“…

We read with interest the recent commentary paper by Baer (2015). In her paper, Baer discussed the different approaches adopted by first-generation mindfulness-based interventions (FG-MBIs) and second-generation mindfulness-based interventions (SG-MBIs) in terms of how they conceptualise and teach ethics (along with discussion of other principles related to mindfulness practice).

…”