Mindfulness is defined as non-judgmental present-moment attention and awareness, which varies across persons and moments. As a non-judgmental stance, mindfulness should allow for greater perceptual objectivity. Previous research suggests that self-interest can motivate people to “see what they want to see” (Balcetis & Dunning, 2006). We hypothesized that mindfulness would moderate this effect such that state and trait mindfulness would be associated with less motivated perception. We adapted the methods of Balcetis and Dunning (2006) in an online study (N = 161). Results show that state and trait mindfulness predicted less motivated perception. These effects were stronger after excluding participants who noticed the ambiguity of the image as well as controlling for mood. These findings suggest that mindfulness is a stance of greater objectivity.
Mindfulness has been defined as non-judgmental attention and awareness of the present moment, which varies across individuals, as well as within individuals, across time (Bishop et al., 2004). Buddhists liken this stance of non-judgment to having a “child’s mind,” or a “beginner’s mind,” such that experience is approached with openness and curiosity (Suzuki, 1973). Psychologists describe non-judgment as a stance of greater initial equanimity towards events (Brown, Ryan, & Creswell, 2007) and as being experientially open (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999). Accordingly, when mindful, a person takes in the world empirically, collecting experiential evidence to inform behavior and attitudes, rather than jumping to conclusions. Mindfulness is thus thought to foster more objective and unbiased processing of experience through a “bare registering of the facts observed” (Brown et al., 2007, p. 212), and conversely, lessen reliance on top-down mental processes fueled by expectations, desires, or schemas (Olendzki, 2005).
Previous research links mindfulness to reduced judgment, albeit mostly using self-report measures. Arch and Craske (2006), for instance, found that, compared to a control condition, participants randomly assigned to a brief mindfulness induction reported less emotional volatility in response to pleasant and unpleasant photos, and exhibited greater willingness to view highly unpleasant pictures, indicative of more openness and acceptance. Moving beyond self-report, Brown, Goodman, and Inzlicht (2013) used a neural measure of emotional reactivity, the late positive potential (LPP), as participants viewed photographs of varying arousal and valance, and found those higher in dispositional mindfulness exhibited lower LPP responses to highly arousing unpleasant images, consistent with the view that mindfulness is related to reduced judgment. Using a behavioral measure of selective attention, Hodgins and Adair (2010) found individuals with formal meditation training, compared to matched controls, exhibited greater ability to overcome distracting visual cues, indicative of greater openness and flexibility. Although evidence supports the conceptualization of mindfulness as a stance of greater objectivity, research has not investigated behavioral evidence of non-judgment as it applies to implicit biases in perceptual processing.
To the extent that mindfulness fosters greater non-judgment and equanimity towards experience, it should predict a reduction in the use of top-down processes in which expectations or desires influence perception. Instead, mindfulness should predict increased use of bottom-up or experiential perception, reflecting openness to experience the world with greater objectivity. To test this, we examined mindfulness in relation to ‘motivated perception’, a top-down process in which people’s visual perception is influenced by their desires. This phenomenon was showcased by Balcetis and Dunning (2006), who told participants that they would either consume a disgusting smoothie or orange juice, and that the computer would randomly assign their beverage by flashing either a letter or a number on the screen. Half were told that seeing a letter meant assignment to the smoothie, whereas a number meant assignment to the orange juice. The other half received the opposite pairing. In reality the figure shown to all participants could be perceived as either the letter B or the number 13. Results showed that most people saw the ambiguous image in the way that would lead to the desired outcome of receiving the orange juice, evidencing motivated perception.
In the current study we conducted a conceptual replication of this Balcetis and Dunning (2006) study to test the hypothesis that trait and state mindfulness would predict reduced motivated perception, indicative of lesser reliance on top-down perceptual processes.
