Link between Mindfulness and Personality-Related Factors Including Empathy, Theory of Mind, Openness, Pro-social Behaviour and Suggestibility

Abstract

This research investigated a potential linkage between mindfulness and personality characteristics such as openness to experience, empathy (empathic concern and theory of mind), pro-social behaviour and suggestibility. A sample of 275 volunteers was recruited. A series of the research questionnaires and scales was employed to measure mindfulness, empathic concern, theory of mind (or perspective taking), pro-social behaviour (or altruism) and suggestibility. Based on the quartile scores, participants were divided into two low (first quartile) and high (forth quartile) on mindfulness. Using a two-way MANOVA, the results showed that participants high on mindfulness exhibited increased theory of mind, pro-social behaviour and openness, in addition to decreased suggestibility. Neither main nor interaction effects were found for gender factor. Theoretical models in the field of social cognition will be discussed to explain how enhancement in cognitive functions due to mindfulness practice might alter personality characteristics and, in turn, influence socio-political behaviour.

Anxiety and theory of mind: A moderated mediation model of mindfulness and gender

“…Results related to mindfulness show that there is no statistically significant difference between the scores of women and men. This result is in concurrence with the studies in which the moderation role of gender is tested and no statistically significant difference was found (de la fuente‐anuncibay et al, 2020; Kaviani & Hatami, 2016). As a result, H1 is partially confirmed.…”

“…Therefore, there is an insufficient explanation about the role of gender in the relationship between these variables (Baron‐Cohen & Hammer, 1997; De la Fuente‐Anuncibay et al, 2020). Studies examining the role of gender on anxiety, mindfulness, and ToM are usually done by comparing the means of women and men (Baron‐Cohen & Hammer, 1997; Kaviani & Hatami, 2016). By these methods, however, the comparison based on gender could be performed only for a single variable.…”

Trait Mindfulness: A Multifaceted Evaluation

“…Similarly, the observe and describe facets of mindfulness are key aspects of an open personality (Hanley, 2016), which facilitate attunement with the present moment and thereby increase confidence in managing current experiences (Beddoe & Murphy, 2004) and openness to engaging with here-and-now and novel experiences. Perhaps a recursive relation exists between openness and mindfulness in which an open personality promotes mindfulness which, in turn, facilitates an openness to engage in a wider array of experiences (Kaviani & Hatami, 2016; van den Hurk et al., 2011).…”

Effects of false statements on visual perception hinge on social suggestibility.

“…This does not come as a surprise as we know from prior research that when suggestibility is used to predict other behavioral measures, it is typically used across categories of participants—in particular, by focusing on the comparison between low- and high-suggestibility participants so as to maximize the difference between the two conditions. This has been done before when analyzing SSS data (e.g., Donovan, 2020; Winter & Braw, 2022) and other related measures such as mindfulness (e.g., Kaviani & Hatami, 2016) or hypnotic suggestibility (Laurence & Perry, 1982; Shor & Orne, 1962).…”

“…The split between low suggestibility (first quartile), medium suggestibility (50% of the data), and high suggestibility (last quartile) used in our study was inspired by previous studies analyzing SSS data (e.g., Donovan, 2020; Winter & Braw, 2022) and other related measures such as mindfulness level (e.g., Kaviani & Hatami, 2016) or hypnotizability (Anlló et al, 2017; Laurence & Perry, 1982; Shor & Orne, 1962). The motivation of this approach is to compare the extremes of the distribution, as it is there where we expect the larger differences to emerge, while aggregating data across participants to minimize noise.…”