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School of Professional Psychology Theses, Dissertations and Capstone Projects

7-1-2013

Mindfulness and self-absorption: Examining the

relationship between non-elaborative attention and
shifts in rigidity of self-consciousness
Michael Sasiain
Pacific University

Recommended Citation
Sasiain, Michael (2013). Mindfulness and self-absorption: Examining the relationship between non-elaborative attention and shifts in
rigidity of self-consciousness (Master's thesis, Pacific University). Retrieved from:
http://commons.pacificu.edu/spp/470

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Mindfulness and self-absorption: Examining the relationship between
non-elaborative attention and shifts in rigidity of self-consciousness
Abstract
While researchers have explored the relationship between mindfulness and self-consciousness, none have
investigated the relationship between mindfulness and self-absorption. This study examined the relationship
between mindfulness and private and public self-absorption. The sample consisted of 224 individuals
anonymously recruited from various locations. We found a negative relationship between mindfulness and
both private and public self-absorption. We did not find any significant differences between the number of
years that participants had been practicing mindfulness on the one hand and the relation of mindfulness to
self-absorption on the other. Implications for psychopathology, attentional flexibility, and the processing of
information with reference to the self are discussed.

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Thesis

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 MINDFULNESS AND SELF-ABSORPTION:

EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NON-ELABORATIVE ATTENTION AND

SHIFTS IN RIGIDITY OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS

A THESIS

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY

OF

SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

PACIFIC UNIVERSITY

HILLSBORO, OREGON

BY

MICHAEL SASIAIN

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE

OF

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

JULY, 2013

APPROVED:

James B. Lane, PhD

 Abstract

While researchers have explored the relationship between mindfulness and self-

consciousness, none have investigated the relationship between mindfulness and self-absorption.

This study examined the relationship between mindfulness and private and public self-

absorption. The sample consisted of 224 individuals anonymously recruited from various

locations. We found a negative relationship between mindfulness and both private and public

self-absorption. We did not find any significant differences between the number of years that

participants had been practicing mindfulness on the one hand and the relation of mindfulness to

self-absorption on the other. Implications for psychopathology, attentional flexibility, and the

processing of information with reference to the self are discussed.

Keywords: mindfulness, self, self-consciousness, self-absorption, information processing

ii
 Acknowledgments

I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. James Lane for his patience, guidance, and

shared passion for acceptance-based interventions and open-minded views. I would also like to

thank my father and mother for their unending support of my spiritual aspirations, physical well-

being, and existential dreams. And finally, I wish to thank my partner, Angelica, and friends who

have nourished me in both my academic and personal life.

iii
 Table of Contents
Page

ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................. ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.......................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF TABLES..........................................................................................................................v
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................... 1
MINDFULNESS............................................................................................................................ 1
Definitions of Mindfulness................................................................................................. 2
Emotional, Psychological, and Physiological Benefits of Mindfulness............................. 4
Emotional Benefits…...........................................................................................................4
Psychological Benefits….................................................................................................... 5
Physiological Benefits…..................................................................................................... 6
SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS............................................................................................................. 6
Private Self-Consciousness................................................................................................. 7
Public Self-Consciousness.................................................................................................. 7
Mechanisms of Self-Consciousness.................................................................................... 8
Schemas and Self-Focused Attention….................................................................. 9
Self-Consciousness as Self-Reference…................................................................ 9
SELF-ABSORPTION................................................................................................................... 12
PURPOSE AND HYPOTHESES OF STUDY............................................................................. 13
METHOD..................................................................................................................................... 15
RESULTS...................................................................................................................................... 17
DISCUSSION............................................................................................................................... 21
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................. 25
APPENDICES.............................................................................................................................. 31

iv
 List of Tables
Page

TABLE 1: Descriptive Statistics for the MAAS and the Private and Public subscales of the
Self-Absorption Scale...................................................................................................19
TABLE 2: Frequencies, Pearson Correlations, and Values of Statistical Significance for
Participants Categorized by Years of Mindfulness Practice.........................................20
TABLE 3: Z-scores for the Correlations Between Groups……………........................................21

v
 Introduction

In the present study I investigated the relationship between mindfulness and self-

absorption. Mindfulness refers to a deliberate process in which individuals are open to and focus

on their moment-to-moment experience without imposing preconceptions, judgments, or

conceptual elaboration on their experience (Grossman, 2011; Brown & Ryan, 2003). Self-

absorption refers to a maladaptive self-focus that is excessive, sustained, and inflexible in its

operation and is highly correlated with psychopathology (Ingram, 1990). Self-consciousness, of

which self-absorption is a subset, is characterized by the consistent tendency of a person to direct

his or her attention inwardly or outwardly with reference to the self (Trapnell & Campbell, 1999;

Fenigstein, 2009).

While a number of researchers have examined the relationship between mindfulness and

self-consciousness (Creswell, Way, Eisenberger, & Lieberman, 2007; Brown & Ryan, 2003;

Teasdale & Green, 2004; Walach et al., 2006; Evans, Baer, & Segerstrom, 2009) none have yet

explored the link between mindfulness and self-absorption. In the sections below I present and

review the literature on each construct and provide a justification for the possible relationship

between mindfulness and self-absorption.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness originated as a contemplative technique within Buddhism and has recently

gained acceptance within the field of clinical psychology as both an intervention and a domain of

research. Since its debut into western psychology, results of a vast number of studies have

demonstrated an association between mindfulness and positive outcomes, such as decreased

rumination on negative thoughts (Ma & Teasdale, 2004; Teasdale et al., 2000), decreased

1
reactivity to negative emotions (Hill & Updegraff, 2012), an increased ability to tolerate physical

pain (Perlman, Salomons, Davidson, & Lutz, 2010; Wong et al., 2011), and a reduction of daily

stress (Shapiro, Astin, Bishop, & Cordova, 2005).

Despite these associations a clear-cut definition of mindfulness remains elusive within

western psychology. In the following section I will therefore review three operational definitions

that are currently being employed in the scientific exploration of mindfulness.

Definitions of Mindfulness

Bishop et al. (2004) theorize that mindfulness emerges from a reciprocal interplay

between the (1) self-regulation of attention and a (2) particular attitude towards one's experience.

To be more precise, the self-regulation of attention, also known as decentering, consists of three

sub-components: (a) a sustained attention to, and thereby awareness of, one's moment-to-

moment internal and external experience, (b) the ability to intentionally switch one's attention

from one object to another in a flexible manner, and (c) an inhibition of elaborative processing

that naturally emerges from the focus of attention on the process of sensations, thoughts, and

feelings rather than their content.

Orientation refers to an attitudinal stance towards in which individuals relate to their

subjective experiences, and the objects found therein, with curiosity, acceptance, and openness.

A mindful attitude is characterized by motivation to reflect upon or comprehend the meanings

that underlie one's psychological processes or external behavior (Lau et al., 2006). In addition,

mindfulness is regarded as being a mode of awareness that can be generated and sustained

through the regulation of one's attention. Thus, mindfulness is a dispositional skill that can be

exercised and strengthened and is not exclusive to a particular form of contemplative practice.

2
 In a second conceptualization, Brown and Ryan (2003) suggest that mindfulness may be

operationalized by differentiating it from mindlessness. In this case the core feature of

mindfulness is an awareness that (a) is open and receptive to experience, (b) is undivided while

attending to internal and external stimuli, and (c) emphasizes the quality of consciousness over

the content of thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Furthermore, mindful awareness is related to

emotional intelligence, the personality trait of 'Openness to Experience,' and to a pre-reflexive

consciousness that does not conceptualize itself. In contrast, mindlessness may be construed as a

“consciousness that is blunted or restricted in various ways.” Acts of mindlessness include

compulsive or automatic behaviors that occur in the absence of full awareness and the

unwillingness to attend to a thought, emotion, intent, or object of perception in association with

an unpleasant experience.

A third perspective has been proposed by Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, and Toney

(2006) who view mindfulness as being composed of five facets: (a) observing, (b) describing, (c)

acting with awareness, (d) accepting without judgment, and (e) non-reactivity to inner

experiences. To elaborate, observing refers to an individual's careful attending to internal and

external phenomena, such as bodily sensations, sights, and sounds. The second skill of

describing refers to an individual’s recognition and labeling of emotions, thoughts, and bodily

sensations. The third skill, acting with awareness, arises when a person allocates his or her full

attention to an activity which may be contrasted with being distracted while engaging in a task.

The fourth skill, accepting without judgment, refers to an individual’s attitude in which he or she

does not evaluate thoughts or feelings as being either good or bad. And last, non-reactivity to

inner experiences refers to individuals allowing thoughts and feelings to be fully experienced

without 'getting caught up' in them.

3
Emotional, Psychological, and Physiological Benefits of Mindfulness

A multitude of benefits have been associated with mindfulness such as enhanced

emotional regulation, increased ability to respond instead of react to emotionally-valenced

situations, and improved health.

Emotional Benefits

Higher levels of mindfulness have been linked with an increased ability to label and

differentiate among emotions without judgment (Creswell, Baldwin, Way, Eisenberger, &

Lieberman, 2007; van den Hurk et al, 2011; Hill & Updegraff, 2012), decrease in emotional

reactivity (Hill & Updegraff, 2012), and an increase psychological well-being and adjustment

(Josefsson, Larsman, Broberg, & Lundh, 2011). With regard to depression, mindfulness practice

has also been shown to significantly decrease maladaptive rumination in individuals with a

history of major depression (Teasdale et al., 2000; Ma & Teasdale, 2004) while likewise

decreasing the chronic retrieval of episodic (Alberts & Thewissen, 2011) and autobiographical

memories (Williams, Teasdale, Segal, & Soulsby, 2000) associated with negative emotions.

Mindfulness can boost emotional resiliency and working memory capacity in socially and

physically demanding environments. For instance, after recruiting a sample of U.S. Marine Corp

Reservists and civilians contracted with the U.S. military, Jha, Stanley, Kiyonaga, Wong, and

Gelfand (2010) assigned participants to one of three groups: the military control group (MC), the

civilian control group (CC), and the military training group (MT). Members of the MT group

underwent 24-hrs of formal instruction in mindfulness over an 8-week period and were asked to

log the number of hours spent meditating outside of mindfulness training sessions. Conversely,

4
participants in the MC and CC groups were not provided with any training or interventions.

In order to assess the efficacy of mindfulness training, the investigators compared the

working memory capacity (WMC) of participants before and after predeployment – a period of

intense, specialized combat training preceding military deployment. The results show that (a) the

WMC of the CC group remained unchanged, (b) the WMC of the MC group decreased, (c) the

WMC of participants in the MT group with low practice hours decreased, and (d) the WMC of

participants in the MT group with high practice hours increased. Furthermore, the number of

hours spent practicing mindfulness was negatively correlated with reports of negative emotions.

The authors concluded that by increasing the working memory capacity of individuals,

mindfulness training may be effective in protecting people from the impact of negative affect

while simultaneously helping them maintain a healthy emotional state.

Psychological Benefits

Higher levels of mindfulness have also been linked with reduced frequencies of and

internal reactions to repetitive thoughts (Feldman, Greeson, & Senville, 2010) and distressing

emotions (Josefsson, Larsman, Broberg, & Lundh, 2011), an increased ability to cognitively

reappraise situations in order to reduce catastrophization (Garland, Gaylord, & Fredrickson,

2011), and a decreased experience of analgesic pain via the skills of observation and non-

reactance (Grant & Rainville, 2009). Neuropsychological researchers of mindfulness have

likewise correlated greater degrees of mindfulness with decreased resting activity in both the

amygdala and areas that process information with reference to the self (Way, Creswell,

Eisenberger, & Lieberman, 2010), increased cortical activity in the prefrontal cortex (Creswell,

Baldwin, Way, Eisenberger, & Lieberman, 2007; Chiesa, Brambilla, & Setterri, 2010), and

5
increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and neural areas related to attention (Chiesa,

Brambilla, & Setterri, 2010).

Physiological Benefits

And last, with regard to health higher levels of mindfulness have been associated with

decreased heart rates and blood pressure (Chiesa, Brambilla, & Setterri, 2010), reduced negative

emotions, depressive symptoms, and smoking behaviors in individuals with nicotine dependence

(Rogojanski, Vettese, & Antony, 2011), decreased frequency of substance abuse in prison

inmates (Bowen et al., 2006), and increased self-efficacy and engagement with health-oriented

behaviors, such as a physical activity and the consumption of fruits and vegetables (Gilbert &

Waltz, 2010).

Self-Consciousness

Self-consciousness is the consistent tendency of a person to direct his or her attention

either toward thoughts, feelings, and sensations that reference the intrapersonal aspects of the

self, “I'm aware of the way my mind works when I work through a problem”, or the interpersonal

aspects of the self, “I usually worry about making a good impression.” It is a construct for

assessing motivational differences between individuals (Fenigstein, Scheier, & Bus, 1975;

Fenigstein, 2009). Originally conceived as a unitary construct, factor analysis has instead shown

that self-consciousness is comprised of two orthogonal dimensions, namely private self-

consciousness and public self-consciousness (Fenigstein et al., 1975), the operations of which

correspond to differential constellations of behavior and information processing.

6
Private Self-Consciousness

Private self-consciousness is characterized by a chronic attention on thoughts, feelings,

and cognitions that are oriented towards the self. In addition, the authors theorize that

individuals who are oriented towards private self-consciousness are motivated by an intrinsic

need to understand themselves (Fenigstein et al., 1975) and tend to attribute the cause of their

behavior to internal factors over external conditions (Fenigstein, 2009). Other researchers have

found that such individuals exhibit a greater congruence between implicit and explicit social

attitudes than peers with a considerably lower degree of private self-consciousness

(Gschwendner, Hofmann, & Schmitt, 2006c).

The literature on self-consciousness also suggests that individuals who score high (versus

low) in the domain of private self-consciousness are more reliable in providing self-reports

across an extended period of time (Nasby,1989b), are less likely to exaggerate positive traits

when describing themselves to others with the aim of appearing confident or self-reliant

(Lalwani, Shrum, & Chiu, 2009), and may rely on social norms to guide the appropriateness of

self-disclosures when meeting a person for the first time (Shaffer & Tomareli, 1989). It is also

interesting to note that sorority members who present with an elevated private self-consciousness

exhibit a higher probability of abusing alcohol when compared to their peers while, conversely,

the likelihood of a fraternity member abusing alcohol decreases as their private self-

consciousness increases (Park, Sher, & Krull, 2006).

Public Self-Consciousness

Public self-consciousness is the habitual focus on the self as a social object and

corresponding 'outward' aspects of the self that are directly accessible to others. Put differently,

7
phenomena that present within a social context such as one's physical appearance, spoken and

written words, gestures, and actions assume the central focus within this type of self-

consciousness. Thus, Fenigstein (2009) theorized that individuals with a dispositional public

self-consciousness monitor the reactions of others to themselves, are keenly aware of the

impressions that they convey to others, and are invested in gaining and maintaining interpersonal

relationships.

The literature on self-consciousness suggests that individuals who are oriented towards a

high (versus low) public self-consciousness tend to be sensitive to rejection by peers and are less

likely to affiliate with said group following social rejection (Fenigstein et al., 1975), may

describe their actions in an inflated, positive light in order to minimize or avoid negative

judgments by others (Lalwani et al., 2009), and reciprocate self-disclosures when meeting a

person for the first time with the aim of fostering a positive social image (Shaffer & Tomareli,

1989). Furthermore, research has demonstrated that public self-consciousness is positively

correlated with a self-referential cognitive bias in which individuals assume that the perspective

of others mirror their own (Fenigstein & Abrams, 1993) and/or tend to perceive themselves as a

central influence on the behaviors of others in social situations (Fenigstein, 1984).

Mechanisms of Self-Consciousness

Several theories accounting for the individual differences in cognition and behavior

between private and public self-consciousness have been proposed. In the section below I

briefly review two theories, namely self-consciousness as (a) self-focused attention and as (b) an

epistemic point of self-reference.

8
 Schemas and Self-Focused Attention

Schemas are cognitive frameworks that encode, represent, and retrieve information with

reference to superordinate categories of classification. When an individual directs attention

toward stimuli, schemas associated with the stimulus become primed which then, in turn,

facilitate the assimilation of information (e.g. sensations, thoughts, emotions, memories, etc.)

with similar information derived from the past. Furthermore, once a schema activates, relevant

information is recognized faster while discrepant information is processed at a slower rate or

even ignored within an individual's conscious experience. For example, reading in one's native

language requires considerably less effort than reading in a language that one has recently begun

to acquire.

In the case of self-consciousness, when individuals direct attention toward themselves a

network of schematic associations become activated which facilitate the encoding and retrieval

of germane information (Carver, 1979). Once semantically primed, individuals arrive at

decisions for specific behaviors by comparing the incoming information with internal models of

action. Carver (1979) suggests that the varying models of actions and their associated content

may account for the differential behaviors associated with private and public self-consciousness.

As such, individuals with high self-consciousness are characterized by a high focus of attention

on themselves while individuals with low self-consciousness focus a low degree of attention on

themselves (Carver & Scheier, 1978). Researchers have likewise suggested that individuals with

high private self-consciousness can be distinguished from individuals with high public self-

consciousness by the aspects of themselves that they have articulated and represented

schematically (Nasby, 1989a).

Support for the hypothesis of self-focused attention has been generated by researchers

9
examining the relationship between information processing and self-consciousness (Nasby,

1989b; Sneed & Whitbourne, 2003; Teasdale & Green, 2004; Silvia, Eichstaedt, & Phillips,

2005; Gendolla, Abele, Andrei, Spurk, & Richter, 2005). For instance, Nasby (1989a) utilized a

recognition task to determine whether self-schemas would interfere with the ability to accurately

recollect information. The investigators presented two lists to participants: List A contained

adjectives relating to personal traits while List B contained a mixture of words that were

identical to and different from those found in the first list. After participants read List A the

investigators asked participants to survey List B and identify whether words were 'new' or 'old.'

The results indicate that individuals high (versus low) in private or public self-consciousness

engage in significantly more false alarms by mistakenly identifying new words as old.

Moreover, the traits associated with the false alarms corresponded with the type of self-

consciousness of the participant. Therefore, the investigators concluded that private and public

self-consciousness correspond with schemas that articulate and represent different aspects of the

self.

Self-Consciousness as Self-Reference

In opposition to the hypothesis of self-focused attention researchers have theorized that

self-consciousness is an epistemic point of reference by which information is encoded with

relevance to the self (Hull & Levy, 1979; Hull, Slone, Meteyer, & Matthews, 2002). Put

differently, self-consciousness is nothing less than the total organization and encoding of

information that is referenced to the self. Thus, the information that is selected, encoded, and

retrieved is not only obtained from explicit contexts, such as thoughts, feelings, sensations, and

interpersonal situations, but may likewise be derived from implicit environmental cues whose

10
recognition operate below the threshold of consciousness (Fejfar & Hoyle, 2000; Hull et al.,

2002; Wheeler, Morrison, DeMarree, & Petty, 2007).

For example, in a series of experiments Hull et al. (2002) investigated whether subliminal

visual cues could influence the performance of individuals high in private self-consciousness. In

the first and second study, participants completed a scrambled sentence task containing words

associated with old age such as “Florida”, “bingo”, “retired”, “wrinkle”, and so on. Participants

who scored high in private self-consciousness walked significantly slower than their peers

following the task.

In the third experiment participants were randomly assigned to either a 'success' or

'failure' group and asked to complete 100 trials of a lexical decision task in which strings of

letters were judged as being either words or non-words. In addition, the word “success” was

flashed to success group while “failure” was flashed to the failure group 17ms before every trial.

The results indicate that participants high in private self-consciousness in the success group

completed the task the fastest while those in the failure group were the slowest. The speed of

participants with low private self-consciousness, regardless of the direction in which they were

primed, was in the middle. In a final set of experiments participants completed a lexical decision

task similar to the one described above but instead utilizing the priming words of “angry” and

“relax.” Furthermore, the heart rates of participants were then measured after completing the

task. The results indicate that participants high in private self-consciousness in the angry group

exhibited the fastest heart rate while those in the relax group presented with the lowest. In

contrast, the heart rates of participants with low private self-consciousness, regardless of the

direction in which they were primed, were in the middle. The authors concluded that self-

consciousness does not require conscious processes, such as attention, to activate associated

11
schemata. Moreover, because the schemata that were elicited appeared to be incongruent with

the appearance of participants, such as being of a relatively young age yet walking slower

because an 'elder' schema was activated, it was also concluded that self-consciousness is not self-

representation as much as it is self-relevance (Hull et al., 2002).

Self-Absorption

In a seminal meta-analysis, Ingram (1990) found a significant positive relationship

between self-focused attention, private self-consciousness, and the likelihood of individuals

being diagnosed with a wide spectrum of disorders, namely depression, social and generalized

anxiety, schizophrenia or alcohol abuse along with the probability of presenting with test anxiety,

intensified negative affect, vulnerability to environmental stressors, and psychopathy. To

account for this finding Ingram (1990) developed a theory of attention and information

processing which is as follows.

Attention is constituted by three parameters: direction, duration, and flexibility. The first

parameter, direction, is characterized by whether attention is focused internally towards thoughts,

emotions, or bodily sensations or outwardly towards the environment. In this case an adaptive

awareness consists of a fluid, alternating balance between the internal and external domains. The

second parameter, duration, corresponds with the length of time that attention is sustained in an

internal or external direction. And third, the authors hypothesized that humans have a limited

reserve of cognitive resources that we can allocate to tasks but can overcome this restriction in

our ability to switch attention between stimuli. Thus, flexibility refers to the degree to which an

individual can switch the direction of his or her attention in response to a stimulus or

psychological intention.

12
 Self-absorption, then, refers to a maladaptive self-focus in which attention is excessive in

direction, sustained in duration, and inflexible in its alternation between internal and external

foci. Hence, Ingram (1990) theorized that self-absorption may lead to maladjustment in

individuals predisposed to psychopathology because semantic and behavioral schemas associated

with dysfunctional content are elicited when attention is excessively focused on the self. Once

elicited, the dysfunctional schemas of individuals remain primed for an extended period of time

thereby facilitating the articulation of these maladaptive schemas through the automatic selection

of relevant information. And last, because individuals are unable to switch their attention from

their sense of self and associated schemas the process of self-absorption becomes locked into a

self-sustained feedback loop.

Purpose and Hypotheses of Study

In this study I investigated whether or not a significant relationship exists between

mindfulness and self-absorption. With regard to mindfulness I utilized the operational definition

associated with the mindfulness awareness attention scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003),

namely that mindful awareness (a) is open and receptive to experience, (b) is undivided while

attending to internal and external stimuli, and (c) emphasizes the quality of consciousness over

the content of thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Self-absorption, on the other hand, refers to a

maladaptive self-focus that is excessive, sustained, and inflexible in its operation. Moreover, it

should be noted that the self-absorption scale (SAS; McKenzie & Hoyle, 2008), a measure that I

used in this study, separates self-absorption into a private and public domain analogous to the

constructs of private and public self-consciousness.

Previous researchers have not provided direct evidence for or against the link between

13
mindfulness and self-absorption. However, theoretically speaking it appears that the constructs

of mindfulness and self-absorption can be bridged through their mutual emphasis on (a) the role

of attention in the processing of information and (b) the role, or lack thereof, of the self as a point

of reference for incoming information. Furthermore, in considering the literature of private self-

consciousness the constructs of internal state awareness (ISA) and self-reflectiveness (SR) seem

to parallel the constructs of mindfulness and self-absorption, respectively.

ISA refers to an individual's non-conceptual awareness of internal phenomena (e.g.,

thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations) while conversely SR refers to an individual's

motivation to understand his or her self through conceptual elaboration. Research has

demonstrated positive associations of ISA with an adaptive attention on the self and SR with a

maladaptive attention on the self (Burnkrant & Page, 1984; Watson, Morris, Ramsey, Hickman,

& Waddell, 1996). For instance, Watson et al. (1996) found ISA to be negatively, and SR

positively, correlated with shame, guilt, social anxiety, private and public self-consciousness, and

a preoccupation with the thoughts of others regarding oneself. Furthermore, in developing the

MAAS Brown and Ryan (2003) found mindfulness to be positively correlated with ISA and

negatively with SR. In contrast, in developing the SAS McKenzie and Hoyle (2008) found

private and public self-absorption to be positively correlated with SR and negatively with ISA.

As a final consideration, research indicates that individuals with a high ISA are resistant to

behavioral priming effects while individuals with a high SR are more likely to enact particular

behaviors when relevant schemas are environmentally primed (Wheeler et al., 2008).

With these considerations in mind I proposed two hypotheses for the present study. First,

mindfulness will negatively correlate with both public and private self-absorption. And second,

as the number of years that individuals have been practicing mindfulness increases, mindfulness

14
will also increase while private and public self-absorption will decrease. Should I obtain a

significant statistical relationship between mindfulness and self-absorption then the results may

create a nomological link between the literatures of mindfulness and self-absorption.

Method

Participants

Participants were 277 individuals who anonymously responded to an online invitation to

participate in the study. Additional details are provided in the Procedures section below.

Measures

The Mindfulness Awareness Attention Scale

The Mindfulness Awareness Attention Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003) is a 15-item

questionnaire that measures mindfulness associated with everyday life. Responses are scored on

a 6-point Likert scale ranging from “almost always” to “almost never.” Items tap into

mindlessness, for instance “It seems I'm “running on automatic” without much awareness of

what I'm doing,” and therefore, higher scores on the MAAS reflect a greater degree of

mindfulness. The MAAS has good psychometric properties with an alpha coefficient of .81 and

excellent test-retest reliability ranging between .80 and .87 with a month delay between

administrations. The MAAS also has adequate discriminant and convergent validity and

correlates positively with measures of positive mood and other mindfulness measures and

negatively with measures of anxiety, neuroticism, and negative affect (Appendix B).

15
 The Self-Absorption Scale

The Self-Absorption Scale (SAS; McKenzie & Hoyle, 2008) is a 17-item questionnaire

that measures the degree to which individuals are self-absorbed in the domains of public and

private self-consciousness. Responses are scored on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from “not at

all like me” to “very much like me.” Higher scores on the SAS indicate higher degrees of self-

absorption. For example, sample items include “Sometimes I am so deep in thought about my

life I am not aware of my surroundings” and “It upsets me when people I meet don’t like me.”

The SAS has good psychometric properties with an alpha coefficient of .81 and .89 for private

and public self-absorption, respectively, and test-retest of .60 for private and .73 for public self-

absorption with a 7 week delay between administrations. Internal consistency estimates were

equivalent for men and women.

A full set of loadings for confirmatory factor analysis were found to be significant (p <

.001) with an average loading of .58 for items measuring private self-absorption and .66 for

items measuring public self-absorption. The inter-factor correlation was .67. The SAS has good

discriminant and convergent validity with private self-absorption correlating positively with

measures of rumination and depressive symptoms and negatively with measures of self-esteem

and self-efficacy and pubic self-absorption correlating positively with measures of social anxiety

and negatively with measures of extraversion and social desirability (McKenzie & Hoyle, 2008).

It should likewise be noted that McKenzie and Hoyle (2008) found that women (M =

1.74) on average presented with significantly higher scores than men (M = 1.66) on private self-

absorption. However, the difference between men and women was small (effect size r = .07).

No significant difference between men and women was found in the domain of public self-

absorption (Appendix C).

16
Procedures

A web-based internet survey, hosted on surveygizmo.com, was used to collect the data.

Approval from Pacific University's Institutional Review Board approved the research prior to

data collection. No IP addresses or identifying information associated with participants were

collected. An invitation for participation was electronically sent to the Laughing Buddha

Sangha, the University Buddhist Association of UCLA, the mindfulness-based stress reduction

program associated with Yoga Hillsboro, and various online locations (e.g., Facebook, Reddit,

etc.) (Appendix D). Participants read and agreed to an informed consent before completing the

demographics (Appendix A) and aforementioned measures. Individuals had to be 18 years of

age or older to participate. Experience with mindfulness was not a requisite for participation.

Results

Characteristics of the Sample

Of the 277 who responded to my invitation for participation, 226 completed the full

battery of measures. In addition, the data associated with 2 participants were identified as

outliers and were consequently omitted from the final analysis (refer to the Preliminary Analysis

section for additional details). Thus, the data used in this study was comprised by a sample of

224 participants. Of this sample, 82 (36.6%) self-identified as male, 141 (63%) as female, and 1

(0.4%) as other. The age of participants ranged from 18 to 69 years, with a mean age of 41.4

years (SD = 12.3 years). The distribution of self-reported racial identity was 84.4% Caucasian,

4% Asian, 1.3% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 0.5% as Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander, and

12.1% as other. In addition, 4.9% of the sample self-identified as Hispanic/Latino. Level of

education completed was 0.5% some high school, 4% high school diploma, 21.9% some college

17
or technical school, 8.9% 2-year degree, 19.2% 4-year degree, 10.7% some graduate school,

28.1% master's degree, and 6.7% doctoral degree. The participants had the following self-

reported length of mindfulness practice: 6.6% had never meditated or practiced mindfulness,

27% had been practicing for less than one year, 20.4% had one to two years of experience, 12%

had two to four years of experience, 11.5% had four to six years’ experience, and 22.6% had

seven or more years of experience in mindfulness.

Preliminary Analysis

Prior to analyzing the data, I examined each variable’s compliance with assumptions of

parametric statistical analysis. Each measure was inspected with reference to mean, standard

deviation, distribution of scores, skewness, and kurtosis. Upon inspection of the skewness and

kurtosis of private self-absorption both variables were found to exceed the absolute value of 1.

The data of two participants, in relation to private self-absorption, were found to exceed the z-

score of 3.29 and were therefore removed from the total data set.

Mindfulness scores, D(224) = 0.05, p = .20, were normal. Private self-absorption, D(224)

= 0.12, p < .05, and public self-absorption, D(224) = 0.11, p < .05, scores were both significantly

non-normal. Given the large sample size employed in this study violations of normality are to be

expected and should therefore not adversely impact the results. Table 1 provides an overview of

the descriptive statistics for the MAAS and the SAS as divided into the domains of private and

public self-absorption.

18
Table 1
Descriptive Statistics for the MAAS and the Private and Public subscales of the Self-Absorption
Scale
Confidence Intervals

Measures M SD Skewness (SE) Kurtosis (SE) Lower Upper

MAAS 61.32 12.36 -.38 (.16) .21 (.32) 59.69 62.95

Private
16.09 4.40 .61 (.16) -.01 (16) 15.51 16.67
Self-Absorption
Public
19.84 7.88 .58 (.16) -.53 (.32) 18.81 20.88
Self-Absorption
Note. MAAS = Mindfulness Awareness Attention Scale

Main Analysis

A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to assess the

relationship between mindfulness, on the one hand, and private and public self-absorption on the

other. In line with the first hypothesis moderate, negative correlations were obtained between

mindfulness and private self-absorption, r = -.33, p < .01, and public self-absorption, r = -.39, p <

.01. Thus, higher levels of mindfulness corresponded with lower levels of both private and

public self-absorption.

I also assessed the relationship between mindfulness scores, self-absorption scores, and

the number of years that participants had been practicing mindfulness. Based on participants'

self-reports of the number of years that they had been practicing mindfulness I assigned

participants to one of five groups: (a) no experience with mindfulness practice, (b) 2 years or less

of mindfulness practice, (c) 2 to 4 years of mindfulness practice, (d) 4 to 6 years of mindfulness

practice, or (e) 7 or more years of mindfulness practice. Correlations between MAAS scores and

SAS scores were then generated for each group; private and public self-absorption scores, on this

note, were combined into a composite score in order for independent sample correlations to be
19
obtained for each group. And last, I tested the correlations to determine whether a significant

difference existed between the groups. No significant differences were found thereby providing

support against my second hypothesis. The frequencies, Pearson correlations, and values of

significance for each independent group are presented in Table 2. The z-scores and values of

significance for the differences between each group are presented in Table 3.

Table 2
Frequencies, Pearson Correlations, and Values of Statistical Significance for Participants
Categorized by Years of Mindfulness Practice
Number of Years Practicing Mindfulness n r p
No Experience 15 -.30 .28
2 years or less 107 -.39 .00*
2 to 4 years 26 -.08 .71
4 to 6 years 26 -.52 .01*
7 or more years 50 -.42 .00*
Note. *p < .01 (2-tailed), n = Number of participants in each group, r = Pearson correlation
coefficient.

20
Table 3
Z-scores for the Correlations Between Groups (with Values of Statistical Significance in
Parentheses)
Years Practicing
Mindfulness 1 2 3 4 5

1. No Experience --- .324 (.75) -.649 (.52) .760 (.45) .434 (.66)

2. 2 Years or Less --- -1.432 (.15) .746 (.46) .238 (.81)

3. 2 to 4 Years --- 1.702 (.09) 1.461 (.14)

4. 4 to 6 Years --- -.512 (.61)

5. 7 or More Years ---

Discussion

The purpose of this thesis was two-fold: (a) to determine whether a relationship exists

between mindfulness and self-absorption and (b) to determine the number of years that

individuals have been practicing mindfulness influences the relationship between mindfulness

and self-absorption. Commensurate with the aims of this study I formulated two hypotheses:

First, that mindfulness would be negatively correlated with both public and private self-

absorption. And second, that the negative correlation between mindfulness and self-absorption

would become stronger as the number of years that individuals had been practicing mindfulness

increased.

With regard to the first hypothesis, a significant negative relationship between mindfulness

and private and public self-absorption was obtained. This finding suggests that higher levels of

mindfulness correspond with an increased ability for individuals to voluntarily switch their

attention between internal thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations increases as well.

21
Conversely, lower levels of mindfulness correspond with a lower degree of cognitive flexibility.

With consideration to Ingram's (1990) theory of self-absorption this finding suggests that given

their strong attentional flexibility, individuals who are high in mindfulness are more resistant to

certain psychological disorders, namely depression, social and generalized anxiety,

schizophrenia, and alcohol abuse, than their peers with a lower level of mindfulness. Indeed,

research on mindfulness has demonstrated a positive relationship between mindfulness and

psychological robustness (Goldin & Gross, 2010; Jha et al., 2010; Greco, Baer, & Smith, 2011).

Thus, the hypothesis that increases in mindfulness may lead to increases in cognitive flexibility

and decreases in psychological vulnerability may be directly assessed by pre-post testing

individuals undergoing a mindfulness intervention.

In addition, the confirmation of the first hypothesis likewise suggests that people with high

(versus low) levels of mindfulness are less likely to employ their self as a schematic point of

reference when processing information. This notion is congruous with previous findings that

greater degrees of mindfulness correspond with decreases in the encoding and retrieval of

autobiographical memories (Williams et al., 2000) and resting activity in neurological areas that

process information with reference to the self (Way et al., 2010). Moreover, in considering the

literature of self-consciousness and linking the relationship of mindfulness to the aforementioned

field, it is plausible that individuals with higher levels of mindfulness may present with lower

levels of private and public self-consciousness and consequently exhibit a greater ability for

assuming another person's perspective, be less socially motivated by impression management or

social desirability, and be more resilient to implicit environmental primes that are associated with

self-schemas.

With regard to the second hypothesis, the lack of a significant difference between the

22
groups was surprising. To elaborate, research has demonstrated a positive relationship between

mindfulness and the amount of time that individuals invest into practicing mindfulness (Jha et

al., 2010; Josefsson et al., 2011). In addition, given the evidence supporting the first hypothesis

it still appears logical that as mindfulness increased with the years that individuals spent

practicing mindfulness, the levels of self-absorption would decrease in a commensurate manner.

However, several methodological limitations, which will be discussed below, may have

contributed to this result. Therefore, while the time spent practicing mindfulness may truly bear

no relation to the relationship between mindfulness and self-absorption this interpretation should

be accepted with caution.

The first limitation of this study is that self-absorption is a construct that corresponds with

abnormalities of attentional focus and psychopathological disorders. Thus, given that the sample

was not drawn from a clinical population the range of scores on private and public self-

absorption may not represent the full possible range of self-absorption. A second limitation is

that although participants were asked for the number of years that they had been practicing

mindfulness, I failed to inquire into (a) the average time of formal mindfulness practice spent per

day and (b) whether the number of years reported were contiguous, on the one hand, or separated

by gaps of non-practice on the other.

In conclusion, this is the first study to explore the relationship between mindfulness and

self-absorption and provide a nomological network that can bridge these two distinct constructs.

Future research can investigate the efficacy of mindfulness to reduce psychological disorders

associated with self-absorption. Furthermore, the theoretical link between mindfulness and self-

absorption, and self-consciousness by extension, provides evidence for the role that the self as an

epistemic point of reference may play in the effectiveness of mindfulness and the susceptibility

23
of individuals to certain psychological disorders.

24
 25

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 31

Appendix A

Demographics Questionnaire
What is your age? ____

What is your gender?

Female

Male

__________

What is your racial identity? (Check all that apply)

American Indian / Alaska Native

Asian

Black or African American

Hawaiian Native / Pacific Islander

Caucasian

Other

What is your ethnicity?

Hispanic or Latino

Not Hispanic or Latino

What country do you live in? (Drop box of all countries)

What state do you live in? (Drop box list of all US states)

What is your level of education?

Some high school

Completed high school

Some college or technical school?

2 year degree

4 year degree

Some graduate school

Masters degree

Doctoral degree

I am currently:

Employed

Unemployed and not a student

An undergraduate student

A graduate student
 32

Other ___________

I am:

Married or Partnered

In a relationship

Single

I have had an ongoing meditation/mindfulness practice for:

I have never meditated

Less than one year

One to two years

Two to four years

Four to six years

Seven years or more
 33

Appendix B

Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS)

Below is a collection of statements about your everyday experience. Using the 1–6 scale below,
please indicate how frequently or infrequently you currently have each experience. Please answer
according to what really reflects your experience rather than what you think your experience should
be.

1 = almost always, 2 = very frequently, 3 = somewhat frequently, 4 = somewhat infrequently, 5 = very

infrequently, and 6 = almost never.

_____ 1. I could be experiencing some emotion and not be conscious of it until sometime later.

_____ 2. I break or spill things because of carelessness, not paying attention, or thinking of
something else.

_____ 3. I find it difficult to stay focused on what’s happening in the present.

_____ 4. I tend to walk quickly to get where I’m going without paying attention to what I
experience along the way.

_____ 5. I tend not to notice feelings of physical tension or discomfort until they really grab my
attention.

_____ 6. I forget a person’s name almost as soon as I’ve been told it for the first time.

_____ 7. It seems I am “running on automatic” without much awareness of what I’m doing.

_____ 8. I rush through activities without being really attentive to them.

_____ 9. I get so focused on the goal I want to achieve that I lose touch with what I am doing right
now to get there.

_____ 10. I do jobs or tasks automatically, without being aware of what I’m doing.

_____ 11. I find myself listening to someone with one ear, doing something else at the same time.

_____ 12. I drive places on “automatic pilot” and then wonder why I went there.

_____ 13. I find myself preoccupied with the future or the past.
 34

_____ 14. I find myself doing things without paying attention.

_____ 15. I snack without being aware that I’m eating.

 35

Appendix C

Self-Absorption Scale

Please read each statement carefully before answering. To the left of each item, indicate how
often you behave in the stated manner, using the following scale:

Almost Almost
never always
1 2 3 4 5

_____ 1. I find myself wondering what others think of me even when I don’t want to.

_____ 2. I have difficulty focusing on what others are talking about because I wonder what
they’re thinking of me.

_____ 3. I feel like others are constantly evaluating me when I’m with them.

_____ 4. I think about myself more than anything else.

_____ 5. When I try to think of something other than myself, I cannot.

_____ 6. When I have to perform a task, I do not do it as well as I should because my

concentration is interrupted with thoughts of myself instead of the task.

_____ 7. I wish others weren’t as critical of me as they are.

_____ 8. I am very aware of what others think of me, and it bothers me.

_____ 9. My mind never focuses on things other than myself for very long.

_____ 10. When I start thinking about how others view me, I get all worked up.

_____ 11. I cannot stop my head from thinking thoughts about myself.

_____ 12. Sometimes I am so deep in thought about my life I am not aware of my surroundings.

_____ 13. It upsets me when people I meet don’t like me.

_____ 14. I do not spend long amounts of time thinking about myself.
 36

_____ 15. When I think about my life, I keep thinking about it so long I cannot turn my attention
to tasks that need to be done.

_____ 16. When I’m about to meet someone for the first time, I worry about whether they’ll like
me.
_____ 17. After being around other people, I think about what I should have done differently
when I was with them.
 37

Appendix D

Email Invitation

Subject Heading: Request for participation in research study

Hello,

My name is Michael Sasiain. I am a Master’s candidate in the professional psychology

department of Pacific University in Hillsboro, Oregon. I would like to invite you to participate
in a study I am conducting in which I am investigating the relationship between mindfulness and
rigidity in self-consciousness. Mindfulness involves maintaining one’s attention to the present
moment in a nonjudgmental manner while rigidity in self-consciousness refers to the extent to
which an individual focuses on him or herself within everyday life. The results of this study may
help to clarify the relationship between these two dimensions of human experience.

Participation in the study involves filling out three questionnaires (a total of 42 items). You must
be 18 years old or older to participate. Your participation should take no longer than 10 minutes.

If you would like to participate in this study, please click the following link to begin:

http://edu.surveygizmo.com/s3/1146592

Thank you for your consideration,

Michael Sasiain
M.S. Candidate
Pacific University
School of Professional Psychology