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.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“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
Cites
The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being
Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.4.822 · Cited by 13,448
Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003) · Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice · doi:10.1093/clipsy.bpg016 · Cited by 8,615 · cited 2×
“Within this perspective, the teacher (and perhaps even the therapist and researcher) will be unable to address what he, himself, has not yet explored (Kabat-Zinn 2003; Segal et al. 2002).”
BackgroundMindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003) · Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice · doi:10.1093/clipsy/bpg016 · Cited by 8,612
Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness
Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006) · Assessment · doi:10.1177/1073191105283504 · Cited by 7,511 · cited 9×
“…Ryan 2003) to how well they believe they can express themselves in words (‘Describing’ subscale, of the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire [FFMQ], Baer et al. 2006), but also includes self-attributions of nonjudgmental attitudes, openness to experience, attention to the present moment, and…”
BackgroundMethodInfluential(2008) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 7,477
(1993) · Cited by 7,136
Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder
Cary, G. L. (1994) · American Journal of Psychotherapy · doi:10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1994.48.1.155 · Cited by 6,299
The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience
Varela, F. J., Rosch, E. H., & Thompson, E. T. (2017) · Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) · Cited by 5,910
The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience
Varela, F. J., Rosch, E., & Thompson, E. (1991) · doi:10.7551/mitpress/6730.001.0001 · Cited by 5,765
Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Lykins, E., Button, D., Krietemeyer, J., Sauer, S., Walsh, E., Duggan, D., & Williams, J. M. G. (2008) · Assessment · doi:10.1177/1073191107313003 · Cited by 2,930
Mind in life: biology, phenomenology, and the sciences of mind
(2008) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.45-2543 · Cited by 2,696
Assessment of Mindfulness by Self-Report: The Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills
Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., & Allen, K. B. (2004) · Assessment · doi:10.1177/1073191104268029 · Cited by 2,298
Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., & Funder, D. C. (2007) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1745-6916.2007.00051.x · Cited by 1,629
Measuring mindfulness—The Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI)
Walach, H., Buchheld, N., Buttenmüller, V., Kleinknecht, N., & Schmidt, S. (2006) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2005.11.025 · Cited by 1,475 · cited 4×
“Virtually all available questionnaires have similar shortcomings, including the FMI, with which the first author has been intimately associated.”
BackgroundInfluentialThe Toronto Mindfulness Scale: Development and validation
Lau, M. A., Bishop, S. R., Segal, Z. V., Buis, T., Anderson, N. D., Carlson, L., Shapiro, S., Carmody, J., Abbey, S., & Devins, G. (2006) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.20326 · Cited by 1,456
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression
TEASDALE, J. D. (2006) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203098899-33 · Cited by 1,332
Metacognitive awareness and prevention of relapse in depression: Empirical evidence
Teasdale, J. D., Moore, R. G., Hayhurst, H., Pope, M., Williams, S., & Segal, Z. V. (2002) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.70.2.275 · Cited by 1,221
Radical embodiment: neural dynamics and consciousness
Thompson, E., & Varela, F. J. (2001) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01750-2 · Cited by 1,144
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression
Segal, Z. V. (2023) · PsycTHERAPY Dataset · doi:10.1037/v00751-001 · Cited by 1,043
Fresco, D. M., Moore, M. T., van Dulmen, M. H. M., Segal, Z. V., Ma, S. H., Teasdale, J. D., & Williams, J. M. G. (2007) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2006.08.003 · Cited by 810 · cited 1×
“Such a careful approach is, indeed, already followed by some researchers (‘de-centering’, Fresco et al. 2007; meta-cognitive awareness (Hargus et al. 2010; Teasdale et al. 2002).”
BackgroundItem Response Theory and Clinical Measurement
Reise, S. P., & Waller, N. G. (2008) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.032408.153553 · Cited by 722
Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness
Sierpina, V. S. (2005) · EXPLORE · doi:10.1016/j.explore.2005.04.001 · Cited by 680
(2005) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 671
Grossman, P. (2011) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/a0022713 · Cited by 666
Self-citationVan Dam, N. T., Sheppard, S. C., Forsyth, J. P., & Earleywine, M. (2011) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.08.011 · Cited by 592
Going AWOL in the Brain: Mind Wandering Reduces Cortical Analysis of External Events
Smallwood, J., Beach, E., Schooler, J. W., & Handy, T. C. (2007) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn.2008.20037 · Cited by 555
On measuring mindfulness in psychosomatic and psychological research
Grossman, P. (2008) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2008.02.001 · Cited by 514
Self-citationRe-representing consciousness: dissociations between experience and meta-consciousness
Schooler, J. W. (2002) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(02)01949-6 · Cited by 485
Absent-mindedness: Lapses of conscious awareness and everyday cognitive failures
Cheyne, J. A., Carriere, J. S. A., & Smilek, D. (2006) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2005.11.009 · Cited by 472
Respiration, Stress, and Cardiovascular Function
Grossman, P. (1983) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1983.tb02156.x · Cited by 386
Self-citation(1998) · Cited by 369
Measuring mindfulness? An item response theory analysis of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale
Van Dam, N. T., Earleywine, M., & Borders, A. (2010) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.07.020 · Cited by 338
Everyday attention lapses and memory failures: The affective consequences of mindlessness
Carriere, J. S. A., Cheyne, J. A., & Smilek, D. (2008) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2007.04.008 · Cited by 319
Spirituality, mindfulness and substance abuse
Leigh, J., Bowen, S., & Marlatt, G. A. (2005) · Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2005.01.010 · Cited by 282
Baer, R. A. (2011) · Contemporary Buddhism · doi:10.1080/14639947.2011.564842 · Cited by 279
The Middle length discourses of the Buddha: a new translation of the Majjhima Nikaya
(1995) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.33-1484 · Cited by 270
The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering
Bodhi, B. (2020) · Cited by 237
Van Dam, N. T., Earleywine, M., & Danoff-Burg, S. (2009) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2009.05.005 · Cited by 212
Hargus, E., Crane, C., Barnhofer, T., & Williams, J. M. G. (2010) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0016825 · Cited by 212
Mindfulness in Thailand and the United States: a case of apples versus oranges?
Christopher, M., Charoensuk, S., Gilbert, B. D., Neary, T. J., & Pearce, K. L. (2009) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.20580 · Cited by 207
“Thinking about Not-Thinking”: Neural Correlates of Conceptual Processing during Zen Meditation
Pagnoni, G., Cekic, M. M., & Guo, Y. (2008) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003083 · Cited by 197
Buddhism without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening
Batchelor, S. (1997) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 174
Thompson, E. T. (2009) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1215/9780822391388-005 · Cited by 166
Asian perspectives: Indian theories of mind
Dreyfus, G., & Thompson, E. T. (2007) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511816789.006 · Cited by 162
Development and preliminary validation of a trait version of the Toronto Mindfulness Scale
Davis, K. M., Lau, M. A., & Cairns, D. R. (2009) · Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1891/0889-8391.23.3.185 · Cited by 150
MINDFULNESS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Bush, M. (2011) · Contemporary Buddhism · doi:10.1080/14639947.2011.564838 · Cited by 135
Mindfulness for Psychologists: Paying Kind Attention to the Perceptible
Grossman, P. (2010) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-010-0012-7 · Cited by 126
Self-citationMindful caregiving increases happiness among individuals with profound multiple disabilities
Singh, N. N., Lancioni, G. E., Winton, A. S. W., Wahler, R. G., Singh, J., & Sage, M. (2004) · Research in Developmental Disabilities · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2003.05.001 · Cited by 119
Baer, R. A., Samuel, D. B., & Lykins, E. L. B. (2011) · Assessment · doi:10.1177/1073191110392498 · Cited by 103
Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., & Funder, D. C. (2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377798.003.0002 · Cited by 95
Hanh, T. N. (1998) · Broadway Books · Cited by 72
Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation
Rosenberg, L., & David, G. (1998) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 71
Hayes, S. C., & Plumb, J. C. (2007) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/10478400701598314 · Cited by 70
An Empirical Study of the Relation between Astrological Factors and Personality
Mayo, J. A., White, O. L., & Eysenck, H. J. (1978) · The Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/00224545.1978.9924119 · Cited by 69
Interaction of metabolic and behavioral respiratory control during hypercapnia and speech.
(1978) · PubMed · doi:10.1164/arrd.1978.117.5.903 · Cited by 67
How Breathing Adjusts to Mental and Physical Demands
Grossman, P. M., & Wientjes, C. J. E. (2001) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-4-431-67901-1_5 · Cited by 28
Self-citationMindfulness practice: a Rasch variable construct innovation.
Solloway, S. G., & Fisher, W. P. (2007) · PubMed · Cited by 27
Mindfulness with Breathing: A Manual for Serious Beginners
Bhikkhu, B. (1988) · Cited by 20
Reba‐Harrelson, L., & Martell, D. A. (2012) · doi:10.1002/9781118340851.ch5 · Cited by 3
Research works printed but not linked: 6
- Bodhi B., 2000, The connected discourses of the Buddha: A new translation of the Samyutta Nikaya
- Buchheld N., 2001, Journal for Meditation and Meditation Research, 1, 11
- Hanh T. N., 1998, The heart of the Buddha's teaching: Transforming suffering into peace, joy, and liberation
- Ireland J. D., 1997, The Udana: Inspired utterances of the Buddha
- Phillipson E., 1978, The American Review of Respiratory Disease, 117, 903
- Solloway S. G., 2007, Journal of Applied Measurement, 8, 359
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Van Dam, N. T., van Vugt, M. K., Vago, D. R., Schmalzl, L., Saron, C. D., Olendzki, A., Meissner, T., Lazar, S. W., Kerr, C. E., Gorchov, J., et al. (2018) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691617709589 · Cited by 1,506
Vago, D. R., & Silbersweig, D. A. (2012) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00296 · Cited by 1,310
Loving-Kindness and Compassion Meditation: Potential for Psychological Interventions
Hofmann, S. G., Grossman, P., & Hinton, D. E. (2011) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2011.07.003 · Cited by 960
Self-citationKiken, L. G., Garland, E. L., Bluth, K., Palsson, O. S., & Gaylord, S. A. (2015) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2014.12.044 · Cited by 717
Lutz, A., Jha, A. P., Dunne, J. D., & Saron, C. D. (2015) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/a0039585 · Cited by 697
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
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
