Can mindfulness be a shared experience in the same way as emotional contagion?

Abstract

The benefits and potential of mindfulness to facilitate better wellbeing for individuals is well documented. Less is known about how one person’s mindful behavior can affect others to whom they hold close bonds. To understand further how transfer can occur, the present study will examine whether the effects of mindfulness practices can have an effect similar to emotional contagion to see if the mechanisms associated with close relationships which are responsible for facilitating emotional contagion can help a person less familiar with mindfulness still embody mindful behavior. By looking at the intersections of mindfulness, mood, and emotional contagion in pairs of people in the same respective households, this study aims to determine if a person practicing mindfulness influences others. The answer may help to uncover important findings in the realms of wellbeing, mindfulness, and also our social interactions. While research has indicated possibilities for this sort of transfer to occur between parent and child, possible transfer among adults is an area that has yet to be studied. If a person experiences the sorts of improvements expected of mindfulness, they might be more of a model for inducing mindful behaviors, reinforcing that a person’s slant toward emotional patterns that are common in mindful behavior can be enhanced by knowing someone who has engaged in some mindfulness practice. Based on what is known about the role of positive mood in mindfulness and emotional contagion, I hypothesized that mindfulness may (1) dampen negative emotions and emotional contagion and have no effect on positive emotions; (2) or both forms of emotional contagion may be dampened by mindfulness, (3) or positive emotions and emotional contagion will be heightened by mindfulness. Data on degrees of self-reported mindfulness, capacity for emotional contagion, and positive and negative affect were collected from participants at the start and end of a 30-day period to assess for any changes in individuals who were newly learning mindfulness and their partners in that time. Participants were also asked to summarize their own experiences at the half-mark and end of the study. Quantitative data was analyzed using nonparametric tests, while qualitative response data was reviewed using thematic analysis methodology. The results of this study did not conclusively prove or disprove any hypotheses because the sample was ultimately too small to derive significant findings from the assessment scores. That said, there were ample qualitative findings that helped to illuminate the participant experiences in this research, with most respondents finding the process of participating to be a positive one that helped them and their partners to experience better communication. Overall, these results provide a promising first glance at the effects of one person’s mindfulness practice on members of their household, and provide justification for future study with a larger sample to determine any concrete changes that might occur in a household as a result of one member becoming more mindful through use of app-based, self-guided interventions.