A Review of Mindfulness Improves Decision Making and Future Prospects

Abstract

With the popularity of mindfulness training among different groups of people, more and more attention has been paid to the positive role of mindfulness. In particular, the improvement of mindfulness on decision-making has been respected by the elite management and practitioners in different industries. There are also different forms of experimental paradigms for different types of decision-making behaviors in research methods. Both behavioral evidence and imaging evidence show that mindfulness training can improve decision-making, both under the social and non-social conditions. Mindfulness training was predominantly driven by an "emotional" system, manifested by an active medial prefrontal cortex, whereas the latter was not dominated by a "rational" system of decision-making processes; on the contrary, posterior insular and thalamic regions with emotional function were more active. Therefore, the emotional system throughout the mindset training affects the whole process of decision-making. In addition, mindfulness affects other possible factors such as attention, compassion, and cognitive control in the decision-making process. At last, based on the existing research deficiencies, this paper analyzed future prospects from the aspects of research methods, research contents and theoretical construction, in order to provide references for future research in this field.

Reducing Choice-Blindness? An Experimental Study Comparing Experienced Meditators to Non-Meditators

“…Cognitive biases are responsible for many of the behaviors that deviate from what would be considered rational in a given situation. Research has shown evidence supporting the idea that mindfulness meditation could reduce the effect of some well-known cognitive biases ([ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]; for examples).…”

“…Trait mindfulness can also decrease the influence of some cognitive biases related to decision-making [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 32 ] by placing meditators in an analytical position to observe their environment and their own bodily and mental events [ 3 ]. It can also improve working memory capacity by decreasing mind-wandering [ 33 ], keeping one’s attention focused on the present moment [ 1 ], improving one’s ability to explore one’s own values and priorities [ 3 ] and by improving the ability to regulate emotional states recognized to be influencing decision-making [ 34 , 35 , 36 ].…”

The mindful shield: The effects of mindfulness training on resilience and leadership in military leaders

“…Finally, research has shown that mindfulness changes the brain in ways that could affect leaders. Leaders practicing mindfulness have demonstrated less emotional reactivity and greater awareness of stress, 15 have exhibited more self-control, 52 have higher assessed leadership by subordinates, 53 have shown greater flexibility, 54 demonstrated improved decision making, 55 and better managed the work environment. 56 In higher tempo occupations (military and nursing), mindfulness training improved attention and arousal regulation, 57 decreased mental workload and cortisol response, 58 and acted as a stress buffer.…”