Mindfulness Reduces the Correspondence Bias

Authors

Timothy Hopthrow, University of Kent at Canterbury - U.K.Follow
Nic Hooper, University of the West of England, BristolFollow
Lynsey Mahmood, University of Kent at Canterbury - U.K.
Brian P. Meier, Gettysburg CollegeFollow
Ulrich W. Weger, University of Witten/HerdeckeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2017

Department 1

Psychology

Abstract

The correspondence bias (CB) refers to the idea that people sometimes give undue weight to dispositional rather than situational factors when explaining behaviours and attitudes. Three experiments examined whether mindfulness, a non-judgmental focus on the present moment, could reduce the CB. Participants engaged in a brief mindfulness exercise (the raisin task), a control task, or an attention to detail task before completing a typical CB measure involving an attitude-attribution paradigm. The results indicated that participants in the mindfulness condition experienced a significant reduction in the CB compared to participants in the control or attention to detail conditions. These results suggest that mindfulness training can play a unique role in reducing social biases related to person perception.

Comments

Available from the publisher online at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17470218.2016.1149498

DOI

10.1080/17470218.2016.1149498

Recommended Citation

Hopthrow, T., N. Hooper, L. Mahmood, B. P. Meier, & U. W. Weger. "Mindfulness reduces the correspondence bias." Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 70, no. 3 (2017): 351-360.