Abstract
Mindfulness practice and metacognition each support adaptive cognition by cultivating present-moment, nonjudgmental awareness and the capacity to monitor and regulate one’s mental processes. The present thesis tested whether two brief and common mindfulness inductions (focused attention and open monitoring) differentially influenced construal level (concrete vs. abstract) as measured on the Behavioural Identification Form (BIF). In two experimental studies, participants listened to scripted audio inductions of mindfulness, after which construal level and (in Study 2) cultural identity dimensions were measured. There was no main effect of mindfulness induction on construal level in either study. However, in Study 1, mindfulness interacted with cultural identity (NZ-European versus non-NZ European), such that NZ European participants reported relatively more concrete construals following the focused-attention induction than the open monitoring induction, but the reverse was true for non-NZ European participants. Study 2 found self-control predicted lower BIF but did not mediate the induction effect. Results are interpreted as supporting a “mindfulness toolbox” model in which brief mindfulness manipulations are treated as process-specific tools whose cognitive outcomes are contingent on individual and contextual moderators.