Mindfulness as a means of reducing aggressive behavior: dispositional and situational evidence

Abstract

Recent research and theory suggest that mindfulness, or enhanced attention and awareness in the present moment [Brown and Ryan, 2003], may be linked to lower levels of ego-involvement and, as a result, may have implications for lowering hostility and aggressive behavior. Accordingly, we conducted two studies to examine the potential aggression-mitigating role of mindfulness. In Study 1, we found that dispositional mindfulness correlated negatively with self-reported aggressiveness and hostile attribution bias. In Study 2, participants made mindful before receiving social rejection feedback displayed less-aggressive behavior than did rejected participants not made mindful. Discussion centers on potential mechanisms by which mindfulness operates to reduce aggressive behavior.

Reducing defensive responses to thoughts of death: Meditation, mindfulness, and Buddhism.

“…However, the present findings go beyond previous findings by showing that meditation, a practice that increased state mindfulness in Study 3 and in previous research, caused a reduction in MS-induced defensiveness. The present finding are also consistent with previous studies showing meditation to reduce other forms of defensiveness, including less bias against African Americans and older people on an IAT (Lueke & Gibson, 2015), less aggression after social rejection (Heppner et al, 2008), and less avoidant responses to stress (Weinstein et al, 2009). We will discuss the role that reduced defensiveness might play in other salutary effects of meditation in a later section.…”

Dispositional Mindfulness as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Perceived Partner Infidelity and Women’s Dating Violence Perpetration

“…Results of the present study are consistent with previous research supporting dispositional mindfulness as a buffer to interpersonal aggression (Borders et al, 2010; Heppner et al, 2008; Shorey et al, 2014). However, this is the only known study to consider the role of dispositional mindfulness for college women in the context of infidelity concerns.…”

The Relation Between Trait Mindfulness and Aggression in Men Seeking Residential Substance Use Treatment

“…It is interesting to note that trait mindfulness did not remain significantly associated with physical aggression in the regression analyses. This finding is consistent with that of a study on college students that also did not find a significant relationship between trait mindfulness and physical aggression (i.e., Heppner et al, 2008). There are a number of potential explanations for this finding.…”

“…Findings from the current study were consistent with previous research that has demonstrated significant relationships between trait mindfulness and verbal/psychological aggression (e.g., Borders et al, 2010; Heppner et al, 2008; Shorey, Seavey et al, 2014). However, to our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate more aggressive attitudes to be negatively associated with trait mindfulness.…”