Mindful but forgetful: The negative effect of trait mindfulness on memories of immoral behavior

Abstract

Drawing from existing theory and empirical evidence on mindfulness, we posit that trait mindfulness is associated with less accurate memories of immoral conduct. We report three studies that provide evidence of this argument. One significant implication of this finding is that it provides a more balanced and complete view of mindfulness. Specifically, while mindfulness is widely promoted for its positive effects for employee well‐being, mindfulness may inadvertently promote a biased moral self‐perception based on inaccurate memories of one's past immoral conduct. In a fourth study, we explore this implication and demonstrate that memory mediates the negative relationship between trait mindfulness and self‐reported immoral conduct. This research contributes to literatures on mindfulness, memory, morality, and to the growing body of work assessing the importance of mindfulness.

To behave or not (un)ethically? The meditative effect of mindfulness on statistics anxiety and academic dishonesty moderated by risk aversion

“…On the other hand, decision-making is linked to awareness situations (Avcu Meriç & Sönmez 2022). Consequently, a student's mindfulness may help reduce the profit weight in their decision-making (Du et al 2023) and decrease the reward-seeking behaviour (Reynolds et al 2023). In other words, a student may be aware of they anxiety levels and react to it, or not, and interact with (un)ethical risky decision-making at the cost of profit or losing it (passing the exam vs. being caught).…”

“…The literature states that practising mindfulness helps improve reflection and understanding of emotions and mental events and leads to a higher capacity for objectivity regarding personal experiences (Eidman et al 2022). Additionally, research suggests that meditation influences peoples' morality (Feruglio et al 2022;Paruzel-Czachura & Kocur 2023), though with mixed results (Du et al 2023;Reynolds et al 2023).…”