Quick Hits
Daily brief research updates from the cognitive sciences
The topic of mindfulness has been a hot topic for a number of years now. This is not to be confused with meditation which is often lumped together with mindfulness – because they do often go hand in hand.
Mindfulness is the concept of being more attentive, aware, and hence mindful of the world around you whereas meditation is a specific practice that can and often is a part of mindfulness training and practices – but not necessarily.
These researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University wanted to find out how mindfulness practices can impact work environments and conducted a qualitative study with 30 formal interviews, and 50 informal interviews, with managers, professionals, and consultants.
What did they find?
They found that there was a wide variety of mindfulness practises which can be as varied as pausing before starting a meeting or being particularly attentative while listening to a person.
The effects however seemed to also go past the individual themselves but participants noted how this impacted positive relationships and improved relationships in the workplace also positively affecting trust and psychological safety in the workplace. Bothe of which we know contribute to improved group outcomes in multiple ways and are backed up a by a bunch of research.
So, being mindful is not just beneficial to an individual but can improve relationships and group outcomes in the workplace. Not bad●
Andy Habermacher
Andy is author of leading brains Review, Neuroleadership, and multiple other books. He has been intensively involved in writing and research into neuroleadership and is considered one of Europe’s leading experts. He is also a well-known public speaker speaking on the brain and human behaviour.
Andy is also a masters athlete (middle distance running) and competes regularly at international competitions (and holds a few national records in his age category).
Reference
Christopher S. Reina, Glen E. Kreiner, Alexandra Rheinhardt, Christine A. Mihelcic.
Your Presence Is Requested: Mindfulness Infusion in Workplace Interactions and Relationships.
Organization Science, 2022
DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2022.1596
More Quick Hits
Behaviour at eight helps predict midlife health behaviours
A long-term study in Finland has tracked children from the age of eight until the age of 50 and a new analysis of the data, just published, has looked at some of the correlations between socioemotional behaviour in childhood and later life achievement and health...
Psychedelics and consciousness
Psychedelics change our conscious experience of the world – that is part of their attraction. Now a new study out of John Hopkins Medicine has analysed data on attributions of consciousness to other animals and innate objects by those using psychedelics and how this...
Lower smartphone usage increases wellbeing
So much has been said about smartphone usage in modern times. This ranges from some who say that they are destroying our brain to others who see they benefit our cognition by outsourcing cognitive heavy tasks like remembering lists of phone numbers – thereby freeing...
Modesty preferred for cooperative teams
In an age where it appears that many people are vying for self-esteem especially through social media, this research is interesting. Particularly in business contexts where cooperation is king. Research has previously shown that appearing to be wealthy increases...
Poverty shrinks babies’ brains
Quick HitsDaily brief research updates from the cognitive sciences couple of studies have just been released which look at the brains of newborns and young babies. The results are worrying for any society. Brain scans of newborn babies from...
Babies born with five from seven functional brain networks
In the 1950s the blank slate theory was the most prominent theory ascribed to babies. They are born blank slates and then their experiences allow them to develop their networks thoughts, associations, etc., and just about everything else. Though this theory is long...