The DOI matches its Crossref record; 59 of the 59 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Mindfulness, by any other name…: trials and tribulations of sati in western psychology and science
Abstract
The Buddhist construct of mindfulness is a central element of mindfulness-based interventions and derives from a systematic phenomenological programme developed over several millennia to investigate subjective experience. Enthusiasm for ‘mindfulness’ in Western psychological and other science has resulted in proliferation of definitions, operationalizations and self-report inventories that purport to measure mindful awareness as a trait. This paper addresses a number of seemingly intractable issues regarding current attempts to characterize mindfulness and also highlights a number of vulnerabilities in this domain that may lead to denaturing, distortion, dilution or reification of Buddhist constructs related to mindfulness. Enriching positivist Western psychological paradigms with a detailed and complex Buddhist phenomenology of the mind may require greater study and long-term direct practice of insight meditation than is currently common among psychologists and other scientists. Pursuit of such an approach would seem a necessary precondition for attempts to characterize and quantify mindfulness.
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“The nature of self-report measures of dispositional mindfulness may also distort the true nature of the relations between these constructs (Bergomi, Tschacher, & Kupper, 2013; Grossman & Van Dam, 2011).”
From Exploring Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Dispositional Mindfulness and Compulsive Sexual Behavior Among Adults in Residential Substance Use Treatment (2019) · cites this paper as Grossman & Van Dam, 2011
In the citing paper
“Grossman and Van Dam (2011) emphasised that questionnaires used to measure mindfulness may reflect a lack of mindfulness-that is, mindlessness and unawareness.”
From A Mindfulness-Based Intervention: Differential Effects on Affective and Processual Evolution (2018) · cites this paper as Grossman & Van Dam, 2011
In the citing paper
“Finally, there are inherent limitations associated with the use of self-report questionnaires, particularly in the measurement of mindfulness, where it is not clear whether an individual can accurately report their own level of mindfulness (Grossman and van Dam 2011).”
From Development and Validation of the Equanimity Scale-16 (2021) · cites this paper as Grossman and van Dam 2011
In the citing paper
“In addition, it has been suggested that a certain level of mindfulness is required for people to report mindfulness accurately. Accordingly, if individuals are not aware of their inattention or reactivity, they are unlikely to report it accurately [12].”
From Self-Reported Trait Mindfulness and Affective Reactivity: A Motivational Approach Using Multiple Psychophysiological Measures (2015) · cites this paper as [12]
In the citing paper
“Further, it has been suggested that the entire construct of trait mindfulness is problematic. Grossman and Van Dam [12] cite Buddhist texts to suggest that mindfulness is better characterized as a state or process, rather than a trait.”
From Self-Reported Trait Mindfulness and Affective Reactivity: A Motivational Approach Using Multiple Psychophysiological Measures (2015) · cites this paper as [12]
In the citing paper
“Specifically, there has been much debate about whether the self-reported trait mindfulness scales, such as the MAAS and FFMQ, are actually measuring mindfulness [12].”
From Self-Reported Trait Mindfulness and Affective Reactivity: A Motivational Approach Using Multiple Psychophysiological Measures (2015) · cites this paper as [12]
Citations
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Metadata
- Authors
- Grossman, P., & Van Dam, N. T.
- ORCID
- Grossman, Paul
- Venue
- Contemporary Buddhism
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2011-05-01
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 219-239
- ISSN
- 1463-9947 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-7953
- OpenAlex
- W2169256687
- Cited by
- 548
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 39 · 2021: 43 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 50 · 2015: 47 · 2014: 50 · 2013: 30 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 35.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Contemporary Buddhism (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Keywords
- mindfulness, sati, Buddhist phenomenology, mindfulness-based interventions, mindfulness measurement, self-report inventory, insight meditation, Western psychology
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