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We explored how the personality trait of grit (i.e., dedication to the attainment of a long-term goal) relates to individual differences in peoples' self-reported attentiveness, particularly with a focus on the experience of flow (i.e., deep, effortless concentration). We replicated prior work showing a negative relation between grit and inattention (e.g., mind wandering), even while controlling for the trait of conscientiousness. More importantly, we found a positive relation between grit and the experience of deep, effortless concentration such that those who have more grit tend to experience more frequent bouts of deep, effortless concentration (i.e., flow). In addition, grit (particularly the consistency of interest factor) was uniquely predicted by the experience of deep, effortless concentration over and above a measure of conscientiousness. These findings suggest that grit has a robust relation to measures of attention in everyday life, and that the experience of flow is related to long-term goal completion.

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Using both correlational and experimental methods, we investigated the relation between mindfulness and flow (i.e., deep, effortless concentration; DEC). In Study 1, we observed in two large (n > 1,600) independent samples that individuals who were more mindful tended to experience flow more often. In Studies 2 (n = 206) and 3 (n = 268) we found no overall evidence that relative to active controls, a brief mindfulness intervention (i.e., breath counting; Levinson et al., 2014) facilitates flow (i.e., probe-caught state DEC) and/or performance in a subsequent task. Interestingly, however, when DEC was examined as a function of probes at different time points in the task, there was a significant interaction between type of intervention and the probe time in both Studies 2 and 3. Post hoc tests suggested a small, brief benefit of mindfulness, such that those in the mindfulness conditions experienced significantly more flow early in the experimental task. Results also showed that individuals who are more mindful tend to be more likely to experience flow during the laboratory task. Together, these studies suggest the potential of mindfulness mediation to serve as a strategy to facilitate flow.

We propose a novel phenomenon, attention contagion, defined as the spread of attentive (or inattentive) states among members of a group. We examined attention contagion in a learning environment in which pairs of undergraduate students watched a lecture video. Each pair consisted of a participant and a confederate trained to exhibit attentive behaviors (e.g., leaning forward) or inattentive behaviors (e.g., slouching). In Experiment 1, confederates sat in front of participants and could be seen. Relative to participants who watched the lecture with an inattentive confederate, participants with an attentive confederate: (a) self-reported higher levels of attentiveness, (b) behaved more attentively (e.g., took more notes), and (c) had better memory for lecture content. In Experiment 2, confederates sat behind participants. Despite confederates not being visible, participants were still aware of whether confederates were acting attentively or inattentively, and participants were still susceptible to attention contagion. Our findings suggest that distraction is one factor that contributes to the spread of inattentiveness (Experiment 1), but this phenomenon apparently can still occur in the absence of distraction (Experiment 2). We propose an account of how (in)attentiveness spreads across students and discuss practical implications regarding how learning is affected in the classroom. Public Significance StatementWe found that attentiveness spreads from one student to another in learning environments, affecting note-taking and memory for lecture content. Importantly, this finding was obtained in the absence of electronic devices and other overt visual distractions; the spread of attentiveness in the classroom may therefore be more pervasive than instructors and students realize.