Disambiguating the relationship between processing modes and mindfulness in Japan

Abstract

Repetitive thoughts are divided into constructive (concrete-experiential thought) and unconstructive (abstract-analytical thought) in processing mode theory. While previous studies have highlighted the similarities between concrete-experiential thought and mindfulness, no large-scale empirical study has been conducted to investigate this relationship. We conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 1,030 Japanese adults to explore this relationship. We found that abstract-analytic thought had negative correlations with all mindfulness aspects except observation. Conversely, concrete-experiential thought was positively related to the mindfulness aspects of observing, describing, and non-reacting; it was not correlated with non-judging or acting with awareness. Our study suggests that there are similarities between concrete-experiential thoughts and mindfulness: they both focus on the context and specificity of events and experiences, yet harbor some key differences. This implication may contribute to psychological intervention on repetitive thought and mindfulness.

Keywords:

• repetitive thought
• processing modes
• mindfulness
• rumination

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in OSF at https://osf.io/f79pw/?view_only=e4bd3a792ac04db58c9ac1ac8b149621.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI under Grant Number 20K22285.