Scientific research highlights the central role of specific psychological processes, in particular those related to the self, in various forms of human suffering and flourishing. This view is shared by Buddhism and other contemplative and humanistic traditions, which have developed meditation practices to regulate these processes. Building on a previous paper in this journal, we propose a novel classification system that categorizes specific styles of meditation into attentional, constructive, and deconstructive families based on their primary cognitive mechanisms. We suggest that meta-awareness, perspective taking and cognitive reappraisal, and self-inquiry may be important mechanisms in specific families of meditation and that alterations in these processes may be used to target states of experiential fusion, maladaptive self-schema, and cognitive reification.

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Davidson, R.J. and Kaszniak, A. (in press) Conceptual and methodological issues in research on mindfulness and meditation. Am. Psychol.

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Glossary

a class of meditation practices that strengthen the self-regulation of various attentional processes, especially the ability to initiate and sustain meta-awareness. Some forms of meditation in this family involve a narrowing of attentional scope, while others involve releasing attentional control and bringing awareness to whatever enters the field of consciousness.

the experience of thoughts, emotions, and perceptions as being accurate depictions of reality and, in particular, the implicit belief that the self and objects of consciousness are inherently enduring, unitary, and independent of their surrounding conditions and circumstances. In the Buddhist tradition, cognitive reification is a primary target in deconstructive styles of meditation.

a family of meditation practices that allow one to cultivate, nurture, or strengthen cognitive and affective patterns that foster well-being. Practices in this family may aim to promote healthy interpersonal dynamics, to strengthen a commitment to ethical values, or to nurture habits of perception that lead to enhanced well-being. Perspective taking and cognitive reappraisal are important mechanisms in this style of meditation.

a family of meditation practices that uses self-inquiry to foster insight into the processes of perception, emotion, and cognition. Deconstructive meditation practices may be oriented toward the objects of consciousness or toward consciousness itself.

an automatic process whereby one becomes absorbed in the contents of consciousness, leading to a diminished capacity to monitor and/or regulate psychological processes. In attentional styles of meditation, this process is systematically undermined through the cultivation of meta-awareness and the regulation of attention. Experiential fusion is also indirectly undermined in the constructive and deconstructive families.

a shift in consciousness that is often sudden and involves a feeling of knowing, understanding, or perceiving something that had previously eluded one's grasp. In deconstructive meditation practices, insight is often elicited through self-inquiry and pertains to specific self-related psychological processes that inform well-being.

heightened awareness of the processes of consciousness, including the processes of thinking, feeling, and perceiving. Along with the regulation of the scope and stability of attention, the cultivation of meta-awareness is an important objective in attentional styles of meditation practice. It is also strengthened indirectly in the constructive and deconstructive families.

a term that is defined differently in Buddhist and contemporary contexts, but which often refers to a self-regulated attentional stance oriented toward present-moment experience that is characterized by curiosity, openness, and acceptance. In some traditional Buddhist contexts, mindfulness is equivalent to the psychological process that we refer to here as meta-awareness.

the process of considering how one or another would think or feel in a particular situation.

the process of changing how one thinks or feels about situations and events in such a way that one's response to them is altered.

the investigation of the dynamics and nature of conscious experience, particularly in relation to thoughts, feelings, and perceptions that pertain to one's sense of self. Self-inquiry may be an important mechanism in deconstructive meditations due to its role in facilitating insight.

mental representations of the self that synthesize information from sensory, affective and/or cognitive domains. Constructive styles of meditation often involve developing and/or strengthening adaptive self-schema.