Mindfulness Mindset and Implicit Bias Among Public School Teachers

Tesis Doctoral / Disertación , 2022 , 175 Páginas , Calificación: 12

Psicología - Trabajo, Empresa, Organización

Mindfulness skills provide a meaningful and evidence-based means for developing an awareness of unconscious biases, yet further evidence is needed to understand the relationship between specific mindfulness practices and their role in interpersonal interactions. Through the expression of mindful awareness, the development of conscious awareness of bias unfolds, positively affecting interpersonal relationships. This applied culminating project examines the relationship between trait mindfulness and implicit racial bias.

The population for this research study consisted of volunteer public school teachers from within school districts in Southern California during the 2021-2022 academic year. A mixed-methods approach examined the skills of individuals who self-identify as using mindful practices and whether they impact interpersonal relationships.

Table of contents

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

Acknowledgments

Abstract

Chapter I
Introduction
Background of the Problem of Practice
Impact of Burnout on Interpersonal Relationships
Automatic Implicit Bias
Capacity for Change in Public Education
Rendering Color Blindness Among Educators a Bygone Practice
Accepting Discomfort Through Compassion and Altruism
Chronic Stress and Reliance on Implicit Bias
Statement of the Problem of Practice
Purpose of the Applied Culminating Project
Research Questions
Delimitations
Significance of the Applied Culminating Project
Definitions of Terms
Organization of the Applied Culminating Project

Chapter II Review of the Literature
Introduction
Nature Versus Nurture
The Potential for Overriding Implicit Bias
Automaticity
Deautomatization and Mindful Awareness
Stopping the Wandering Mind
Interconnectedness and Acceptance
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Learning and Unlearning Automated Interpersonal Behaviors
Cultural Knowledge Guides Implicit Cognition
Psychological Safety as an Essential Layer
Invitation for increased and effective DEI learning opportunities
Educators and the Potential for Reducing Implicit Bias
Mindfulness Mindsets Amongst Teachers
The Call for an Altruist Culture and Inner Equanimous Nature
Summary

Chapter III Methodology
Implicit Biases Create Inequitable Teaching Practices
Purpose of the Applied Culminating Project
Research Questions:
Research Method
Population and Sample
Measures and Instrumentation
Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS)
Implicit Association Test (IAT)
Summary

Chapter IV Findings
Introduction
Purpose of Applied Culminating Project
Description of the Sample
Data Analysis
Results of Chi-Square Statistical Treatment
Summary of Significant Findings for Research Question One
Double Loop Learning Opportunities
Organizational Disruption
Qualitative Interview Narratives
Summary of Significant Findings for Research Question Two
Successful Practices for Organizational Double Loop Learning
Summary

Chapter V
Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations
Introduction
Purpose of the Applied Culminating Project
Research Questions
Significant Findings
Interpretation
Contributions to the Literature
Recommendations for Further Study

Conclusion

References

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C
Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS) Personal Outlook Scale

Appendix D

Appendix E
Participation Request

Appendix F
Demographic Data and Informed Consent of Participants in Questionaire

Appendix G
Transcripts of Qualitative Interviews

Appendix H

Appendix I
Request for Permission to Conduct Research form

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 How do People Score on the IAT Race? (Project Implicit, 2021)

Figure 2 Participants Categorized on Mindfulness Scale in Total Quantities

Figure 3 Participants Categorized on Mindfulness Scale by Percentage

Figure 4 Age of Questionnaire Respondents

Figure 5 Ethnicity of Questionnaire Respondents

Figure 6 Gender of Questionnaire Respondents

Figure 7 Respondents' Response to Contentious Interpersonal Relationships

Figure 8 Seeking Different Perspectives

Figure 9 Self-described Listening Skills

Figure 10 Open-Mindedness to the Present Moment or Novel Situations

Figure 11 Model 1 Theories of Action Argyris & Schön (1974)

Figure 12 Double Loop Learning: Argyris & Schön (1974)

Figure 13 Model II: Theories of Action Argyris & Schön (1974)

Figure 14 Ladder of Inference by Chris Argyris (1994)

Figure 15 Synthesis of Mindfulness Mindsets & DEI Culture

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Sample LMS Score Data Divided into Equal Thirds

Table 2 Scoring Categories for Overall Mindfulness

Table 3 Mindfulness Traits of Participants and IAT results

Table 4 Percentage of Respondents in Each Mindfulness Category

Table 5 Observed (O) Outcomes

Table 6 Chi-Square & p-value

Acknowledgments

I would like to dedicate this work to my steadfast and ever enthusiastic husband, and life partner, Alejandro. He has always been by my side every step of the way. Whether it was cheering me on, reminding me of my purpose, or making those late-night dinners for the kids while I chugged away at writing and reading. For enduring the never-ending shipments of books at the front doorstep, the non-stop talking about topics related to or tangential to my scope of study. He inspires me to excel at my work, and I am forever grateful.

My thanks go out to my children, who inspire me never to give up. I hope that you, Quintin, and Alex, see that a girl who endured does not have to succumb to the suffering but can overcome and survive and thrive. If you choose, life can be beautiful and full of joy, love, and freedom. I hope you see that it is okay to be brave while being humble, kind, and compassionate.

Thank you to all the scholars who have studied and written and wondered and prayed before me. Without the teachings collected from wise people from a global collective, this work would not have been complete.

The interconnectedness of humanity and knowledge continuously amazes me.

Thank you to Dr. Ron Morgan, Dr. Gabriela Walker, and Dr. Alicia Muñoz Sanchez, who believed in me, inspired and encouraged me through their critical thinking, questioning, and insights along this journey. I am forever grateful for your careful reading and re-reading of various drafts.

Abstract

Mindfulness skills provide a meaningful and evidence-based means for developing an awareness of unconscious biases, yet further evidence is needed to understand the relationship between specific mindfulness practices and their role in interpersonal interactions. Through the expression of mindful awareness, the development of conscious awareness of bias unfolds, positively affecting interpersonal relationships. This applied culminating project examines the relationship between trait mindfulness and implicit racial bias. The population for this research study consisted of volunteer public school teachers from within school districts in Southern California during the 2021-2022 academic year. A mixed-methods approach examined the skills of individuals who self-identify as using mindful practices and whether they impact interpersonal relationships. Quantitative measures provided data with a statistical significance showing that people who are more mindful actively seek out perspectives from diverse individuals while employing mindful skills such as curiosity, open-mindedness, and flexible thinking while decreasing implicit bias among participants.

Chapter I

Introduction

Background of the Problem of Practice

Mindfulness-based strategies, such as self-compassion, has been present within cultures for centuries, becoming mainstreamed and spotlighted within popular culture. Popular products are so prevalent in the United States that the topic has become a very lucrative market, often appropriating mindfulness teachings as a quick fix to stressful circumstances. A commercialized selection of services is now available for consumers to explore. Approximately 9.3 million U.S. adults used a meditation app during a 12-month period in 2019 (LaRosa, 2019).

Moreover, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it skyrocketed; in the first 11 months of 2020, consumers downloaded Calm over 28 million times, and Headspace hit nearly 11 million installs within the same timeframe (Todd, 2021). Nevertheless, these primary skills have emerged as a promising workplace intervention to support people to build resiliency in the face of challenges. Strategic innovations that train individuals in skillful ways of dealing with social, emotional, and physical stressors in productive ways are increasingly becoming the norm for addressing psychological safety, improving diversity, increasing equity, and normalizing inclusion, which leads to employee retention. Similarly, the abundance of social-emotional learning (SEL) innovations based on mindfulness practices for students has thus increased to prepare young people with the 21st-century skills required to navigate a volatile, uncertain, increasingly complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) globalized society. Especially throughout the 2020–2022 pandemic and academic years, teachers, administrators, families, and children adapted to continuously changing school conditions in the United States.

Considering mindfulness skills of public-school teachers and their ability to implement practices in the workplace, either with students or as individuals, as a way of coping with stressful circumstances offers the opportunity to understand the effectiveness of such skills, how they are employed, and how they benefit the individual. Mindfulness-based skills present positive growth opportunities that appeal to many as a way to address burnout and lack of teacher autonomy. Occupational burnout of teachers within public schools is a worldwide phenomenon; resignations are on the rise, signaling an educational system struggling to sustain its demands. The elements required to address the multifaceted dimensions educational organizations face are numerous. These dimensions intersect with a mental health crisis for students and teachers, leaving leaders with additional questions about preparing future citizens with the skills required for cognitive, social, and emotional well-being.

SEL programs within classrooms that include mindfulness-based stress reduction skills promise educators to effectively manage classrooms while protecting educators from “burnout cascade,” which is indicated by deteriorating classroom climate, student misbehavior, and emotional exhaustion (Abenavoli et al., 2014). Mindfulness training has repeatedly demonstrated well-being among practitioners and decreased stress, which is protective against burnout (Puterman et al., 2010) and promises to reduce implicit bias (Korsmo, 2019, p. 5). Likewise, there is a connection between how an educator’s mindfulness at the beginning of the academic school year predicted a positive change in educators’ self-reported efficacy concerning student engagement, successful classroom management, and instructional practices throughout a school year.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines burnout as an occupational phenomenon. Workplace burnout impacts the individual as well as the whole organization. Resilient individuals bring positive coping strategies to the workplace, moving the organization positively or negatively depending upon the levels of individuals experiencing burnout. The negative stressors encountered by individuals in their workplace are caused by a response to work demands and pressures unrelated to the individual’s knowledge. Magee (2022) explained in an interview that the inner work of healing through mindfulness must invite a reconsideration that there is an inner dimension as we seek to make a better place to work, thrive, and flourish. The link between healing ourselves and transforming our communities through mindfulness invites us to think about the kinds of inner work to take into consideration such as whom we need to be as human beings to bring about a more just world where we are right now.

Mindfulness skills provide the knowledge for individuals to become responsive to emotions and willing to approach life as a novel experience. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic challenged every individual’s competencies, flexibility, and capacity to learn, as the workplace instantly required rapid adaptability to be tentative and vulnerable in ongoing ambiguous situations. The WHO defined burnout as “characterized by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and reduced professional efficacy” (WHO, 2021).

Teachers who self-identify as experiencing burnout are more likely to be rated by their students as having low social-emotional competencies, limiting the student’s capacity to develop their proficiencies. The effect impacts the relationships between teachers and students in the school setting. Overall findings from mindfulness-based stress reduction methods show that participants highlighted their greater resilience by using mindfulness. Teachers' stress levels were reduced, focusing their full attention on lesson planning and students while also being more authentic in their teaching. In addition, they found they were responding rather than reacting emotionally to the children in their classrooms (Bernay, 2014). Similarly, mindfulness meditation has focused training on attention and awareness, bringing attentional awareness under voluntary control, and increasing overall well-being, calmness, clarity, and concentration (Kopacek, 2012; Walsh & Shapiro, 2006).

During the beginning of the academic year, August and September of 2020, the first few months of teaching during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the teacher burnout rate was higher than the years prior. One study showed that teachers were already at the threshold of burnout, ranking on average 24.8 on a scale of six to 36 with burnout scores on the higher end (Pressley, 2021). This initial research study occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, proving that the worldwide pandemic quantitatively added a layer of complexity to teaching, thus contributing to the burnout phenomenon.

The workplace challenges teachers faced before COVID-19 did not dissolve yet augmented due to the added uncertainty about personal safety, familial stressors, food insecurity, and housing insecurity across American households. Educators faced their range of fears or apathy, various levels of self-efficacy for delivering instruction in abstract, remote ways, seeking guidance and support when deciding how to either face re-entry into socially distant classrooms with mitigation protocols in place or a virtual classroom challenged with engaging students with limited instructional design knowledge, or a mixture of multiple scenarios. Social Media has become a place for people to share their realities, for example, a Facebook group named California Teachers Association (CTA) Teaching, Learning, and Life During COVID-19. This safe space had 19.2 thousand members as of May 2021. Teachers have reported increased stress, disrespect, and lack of support among administrators as the primary reasons for leaving the profession (Garcia & Weiss, 2019), creating a teacher shortage. Simultaneously taking on multiple innovations handed down by an administrator, tackling changing objectives due to quarantine protocols, and responding to a worldwide pandemic have added to the already heavy burdens of working in public schools.

Many teachers reported retiring early or leaving the profession altogether. Beneath the teacher stress and disengagement layer lies a suppression of joy and creativity for the profession (Anderson et al., 2021). Furthermore, according to a recent Gallup poll, many teachers are actively looking for an opportunity to change professions, which found that roughly half are actively looking for a different job or watching for opportunities to change professions (Gallup, 2014). Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, new teachers were especially at risk of leaving the profession. Within the first 5 years of teaching, 19–30% moved to a new career (Learning Policy Institute, 2018). Before the pandemic, depression and anxiety were mounting concerns in developing countries like Australia and the United States of America. Attrition of teachers is also a growing concern as teaching stress impacts the number of people entering the profession (Albrecht, 2012).

Impact of Burnout on Interpersonal Relationships

Relational skills, specifically interpersonal relations, are also improved through mindfulness practices. Albrecht (2018) demonstrated that children learn better from a teacher who has practiced and cultivated their mindfulness practice. Furthermore, the agility required to teach effectively, and navigate the tension and vulnerability required for teaching in public schools, must be met with successful interpersonal relationships between students, colleagues, administrators, families, and the community. One such approach that lacks empirical testing in schools is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a Mindfulness-based skill of proficiencies that provides individuals with authentic ways of accepting problems encountered in everyday situations and resolving these problems with a skillful approach. These mindfulness skills teach an individual to focus on the present moment, accepting everything as it is, without judgment (Linehan, 2020). DBT skills fall into four categories: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. A second mindfulness approach rooted in Langer’s (1989) definition of mindfulness is actively noticing novelty (Langer et al., 1978), attention to context, and flexible thinking. Sounding similar to people who approach life as a lifelong learner, actively noticing life as it unfolds as new and with awe is a mindfulness trait.

Automatic Implicit Bias

The emotional exhaustion combined with experiences of ineffectiveness to successfully navigate the numerous challenges within education contributes further to a loss of autonomy (Benita et al., 2019) commonly reported by teachers. Research and anecdotal evidence demonstrated that this adds to the perpetuation of implicit bias in the educational system. The events of racial inequalities that highlighted the summer of 2020 left many educators examining their personal biases, without tools for gaining greater self-awareness, nestled in mindfulness-based compassion skills training towards self. Educators remain at a standstill in maintaining emotional competence and nurturing interpersonal relationships without a lack of support from principals within schools and empty calls for change (Argueza et al., 2021) necessitated by organizational innovations rooted in anti-racism.

Capacity for Change in Public Education

A meta-analysis (Halbesleben, 2006) found a negative correlation between a supervisor’s social support and burnout in comparison to support provided by a coworker, family member, or friend, which begs the question as to how administrators can best support staff and teachers in developing grass-root culture changes in public schools. “Similarly, educational research has shown that among various sources of social support (i.e., by principals, peers, spouses, and friends), only principals’ support significantly explained low teacher burnout” (Berkovich & Eyal, 2018). Educators commonly report seeking out quality training in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at their own expense. In addition to straining themselves financially while experiencing a lack of support from administrators, miscommunication hinders successful DEI initiatives to improve interpersonal relationships. Organizations seeking DEI innovations bending toward social justice face more challenges when confusion and a lack of autonomy felt by educators who have spent the resources are at best overlooked or, worse, excluded.

Current research is limited in the effectiveness of mindfulness development for teachers. This study measures mindfulness traits among teachers to determine the relationship to implicit bias. The suspected inverse relationship can provide a foundation of empirical evidence that shifts the power of self-effective change, grounded in altruistic thoughts, and discover the relationship between trait mindfulness as a skill which can potentially provide a means for navigating contentious conversations amongst individuals who are developing an awareness of their inherent racial implicit bias. Mindfulness as a mindset could potentially be the first step in relevant change for decreasing the automaticity of bias, moving to the point of anti-racist identity with the aptitude to develop authentic interpersonal relationships within public schools.

Rendering Color Blindness Among Educators a Bygone Practice

The complicity of denying racial identity within a school system silences conversations that need to occur. Experts agree that the process begins around self-awareness of one’s own implicit bias. The unconscious ideas evolved to hold implicit biases starting with biological systems designed to ensure survival. Authenticity about one’s own bias, although uncomfortable, is the first step toward mindful action. Through an acceptance of the discomfort, progress might be a way forward. Some advocate for discomfort for any type of social justice, As social psychologist Evelyne Carter puts it; “we undermine the efficacy of implicit bias training if we over prioritize the majority's comfort in the room” (Carter, 2018).

Philosopher Applebaum (2017) argued that we should not soothe what she calls "white discomfort" but instead learn to embrace discomfort as "a signal to be alert for what one does not know about others but also about oneself" (Much-Jurisic, 2020, p. 872). Punishment for holding bias, either from an administration or from within oneself, is not an effective means for developing an acceptance of unconscious beliefs outside of one’s consciousness. Thoughtful reflection and kindness towards self and others might be a more meaningful way for organizations to celebrate diversity and recognize it as positively engaging all voices. Reducing humans to race is short-sighted as racial division ensues, fulfilling the tribalism nature of our evolutionary past.

Consciously deciding that humans have differences and seeking out the differences to bring all perspectives together renders organizations colorful, not colorblind. Simultaneously, the language of shame about self requires a selfless and careful mindful approach. Developing an awareness through mindfulness of language alone is simply the first step towards DEI, the second more challenging action requires developing skillful reactions to biased thoughts and feelings.

Accepting Discomfort Through Compassion and Altruism

Working towards understanding one’s own implicit bias is a step towards accepting bias. Acceptance in practice is non-attachment to whatever is, without judgment or expectations. A commonly used mantra, “it is okay,” sums up acceptance in mindfulness. Through mindful-based practices, awareness of biased thoughts and behaviors (good or bad) can develop a deeper understanding and acceptance with a gradual release of no longer valuable beliefs. Interpersonal and introspective interactions of this nature are uncomfortable for individuals, yet research is limited on how meaningful interactions build a greater capacity for social justice. Arguably, they are necessitated as a means to an end to create a context for charting the distress and awareness of discomfort encountered. Providing a context allows individuals to recognize the discomfort, accept it, and navigate future thoughts effectively. Over time the discomfort may become minimized. “Individuals are often profoundly unsettled to realize they harbor implicit biases that conflict with their explicit beliefs” (Munch-Jurisic, 2020), furthering the question; how can we use emotions to guide and shape our awareness of implicit bias and design interventions for structural discrimination witnessed in organizations?

Participants in research projects that have combined mindfulness training with diversity education report discomfort and progress towards welcoming any adverse feelings that arise, mediated through a compassionate approach towards self with a type of mindfulness called loving-kindness meditation. The alternative is what Nordell (2021) wrote “avoidance of reality, misunderstanding, and self-deception was required for colonization and enslavement, philosopher Charles Mills points out, just as they are required today to maintain the status quo” (p. 140). The context for contending with unjust systems is still under research in organizations using mindfulness to do the hard work required for quality, long-lasting DEI training.

The emphasis on altruism and recognizing the harm that biased beliefs cause others is the key to developing empathy and long-lasting change toward meaningful DEI programs. Altruism, self-sacrifice in the service of others. It has mystified biologists and is defined as inclusive fitness theory or kin selection when “an animal provides a benefit to another at a cost to itself (Okasha, 2010). Researchers have investigated and compared how certain species of organisms, such as a wasp, help other wasps related. Kennedy et al. (2018) described this as a possible cause affecting their genotype's long-term success. Because the organisms work together to support one another, the effect is a more consistent reproduction rate of offspring produced by their relatives. This new approach to ecological relationships might explain altruism in other social animals such as birds, insects, and rodents (Griffin, 2013). Nordell (2021) explained that the role of cooperation in ecological systems was disregarded by scientists in the early days of the twentieth century. Due to biased views, albeit little diversity of viewpoints contributed to a small group of intellectuals working in a homogeneous group of like-minded thinkers.

Furthermore, these scholars were seated within a context of a scientific community (primarily males), working in a Western capitalist economy. The idea of competition applied to ecological systems as the main interaction between living things overlooked the alternative cooperative models to view nature (Nordell, 2021). From a biological perspective, there are differences in compassion. Parents have the compassion to ensure the survival of their offspring; when they see their offspring cry from pain or hunger, the parent takes care of them. Altruism is why mammals take care of the suffering of their young and are attentive to the needs of others. The evolution of the brain over the last two million years has developed this ability, combining it with other complex cognitive capabilities. Social animals learn social competencies over time within a group or family; “These include the social intelligence of knowing awareness (i.e., ability to mentalize and engage in mindfulness, have mental time travel, symbolic thinking); empathic awareness (i.e., in-sight into why we feel/think/act the way we do, and that of others); and knowing intentionality (i.e., deliberately choosing to cultivate specific motives and develop specific skills to enact the motive)” (Kim et al., 2020).

Chronic Stress and Reliance on Implicit Bias

Increasingly, as chronic stress and being “taxed” are commonly shared sentiments among teachers, education has not been the focus of most research. Research into how workplace stress and its impact on individual biases impact interpersonal relationships has focused primarily on police in the United States. This vital work has allowed a deeper understanding of the neuronal pathways activated under stressful circumstances. Neuroscientists have examined how human brains can structurally change in response to environmental experiences. Individual expertise and experiences shape how people respond to others. In Biased, Eberhart (2019) identified the superior temporal sulcus as the location where different expressions that emerge on someone’s face undergo processing in an instant. Individuals distinguish an unfamiliar face from a friend or a foe in a region known as the fusiform face area (FFA) (p. 17). The brain processes biases rapidly as a default method, incredibly quickly when under stressful circumstances. Many assumptions about individuals from a different in-group, whether race, gender, sexuality, disability, age, or other identity markers, are made instantly, increasing bias. As an unconscious process, humans are unaware of how it impacts thinking. This process is innate, frequently referred to as hardwired neuronal pathways, allowing for the brain to quickly make decisions about situations that might be potentially harmful.

The call for DEI conversations has taken center stage in every educational organization since the Black Lives Matter movement and is looking to keep pace with a socially just world. Unprecedented numbers of Americans have joined together in anti-racist social justice demonstrations. This work highlights the need for reexamining teacher perspectives, uncovering ways to manage both stressors in the workplace, and systemic change towards an inclusive schooling system that values multiple perspectives and diversity.

Implementing new DEI initiatives in school districts with anti-bias training creates a culture that openly welcomes and documents the ongoing conversations and changing perspectives among educators as they unlearn assumptions and cultural norms. Awareness of unconscious bias is the first step toward understanding how assumptions might affect learning organizations, yet the conversations can be unfruitful if participants do not feel psychologically safe in their workplace. Balajee and Todd (2018) described a framework, Executive Learning Series on Equity and Empowerment (ELSEE), which is an intervention in higher education to create inclusiveness and equity by placing greater importance upon employees' health both mental and physical. To initiate “decolonization” among workers, integrating mindfulness and spiritual wellness is one aspect.

Furthermore, international attention to teacher mental health and wellness has provided abundant literature to review, not justifying the success of mindfulness implementation but understanding the boundaries and limitations to how often, where, and when it is deemed necessary during a teaching career. For example, in Germany, Döring-Seipel and Deiber found that teachers with poor or good mental health were distinguished not by objective working conditions or school-related parameters but rather by how they handled and appraised demands (Eskic et al., 2019). Personal resources such as the teacher's skills (mindfulness, self-efficacy, emotional stability, ability to distance oneself, and tolerance of insecurity) allow the teachers to work through job demands successfully.

Critically, mindfulness intends not to deny or reject unpleasant thoughts, feelings, or sensations but, instead, to cultivate a transparent and open receptiveness to our lived experience (Bishop et al., 2004; Cullen & Brito, 2014). On the contrary, mindfulness requires a non-judgmental examination of innate implicit biases, recognizing with awareness the cultural assumptions present within the context of organizations such as public schools. The overall intent builds upon a framework that guides individuals to unlearn and relearn skills that will develop an innate compassionate self that contributes to a more inclusive, diverse workplace.

Statement of the Problem of Practice

There exists an uncomfortable silence frequently encountered during DEI conversations limiting crucial conversations required to uncover healthy ways to confront bias. In their study of diversity training, “researchers Kalev and Dobbin learned that voluntary training is much more beneficial than mandatory ones, and the most receptive audience is likely to be most affected by bias” (Nordell, 2021, p. 106). A one size fits all approach to learning forces individuals to participate in learning that is unwelcome, if not differentiated for the needs of the learner. Public schools’ organizational structures are also notorious for limited resources and colleagues competing for leadership roles, which is not conducive to vulnerability and receptivity. An alternative learning model is proposed, creating an atmosphere of altruism in schools, focusing on developing individual actors who have mindful skills for awareness of distress tolerance about personal biases; eventually, unpacking inherent biases within teachers. Mindfulness skills and traits will examine the interference of bias accumulated through a lifetime of socialization and cultural norms and its potential impact on self and others. Examination of awareness through skillful dialogue established among individuals with mindfulness skills would further develop authentic inclusivity and a common language for learning.

There is a gap in knowledge that measures mindfulness traits and the relationship to bias. Throughout the 2020–2021 academic and pandemic year of teaching and learning, prejudicial actions and reactions dominated conversations as many individuals faced indescribable educational challenges. Through personal observations and reflections, noting a variety of mindfulness approaches, a set of tools often connected to SEL emerged as a potential strength for teachers to approach personal well-being.

Additionally, SEL notably improves interpersonal relations, which is insightful for including it in addressing social justice in schools. Through literature review, patterns emerge demonstrating how mindfulness skills provide an evidence-based means for developing an awareness of implicit biases. Nevertheless, gaps remain in defining the relationship between trait mindfulness skills with measures of implicit bias among educators. Qualitatively documenting the mindsets of teachers navigating a considerable amount of stress and anxiety during the re-entry into schools during the global pandemic academic school year of 2021–2022 provided insight into qualities of skills employed by teachers. Measuring the mindfulness traits prevalent and how teachers actively seek out perspectives from others became vital to discovering patterns of attitudes and behaviors used at work. This study documents assumptions, underlying actions and intent, and the impact on interpersonal relationships with colleagues, exploring possible ways to address complex conditions tactfully while clarifying which mindfulness traits were visible.

This investigation documented the prevalence of teachers who exhibited mindfulness traits, which skills were most influential to their success in interpersonal relationships, and the hypothesis that there is a connection between a mindfulness mindset and implicit bias. Theoretically, if an individual has higher mindfulness characteristics, the ability to associate categorical data based upon implicit racial bias will be lowered. The automatic associations between stereotypes should be slowed for mindful individuals based upon the theoretical idea that mindfulness weakens automaticity. Documenting the approach teachers use to navigate mindfulness skills successfully and actions around teaching communities ultimately will lead individuals towards growth within an inclusive education system where teachers model diversity, inclusion, and equity practices.

Purpose of the Applied Culminating Project

Inquiring about educators' role as unintended actors in a system that includes marginalized individuals requires collaboration between multiple stakeholders and complex interpersonal communication. The applied culminating project outlines the connections between implicit bias and mindfulness skills. Empirical testing revealed characteristics and skills prevalent among educators with mindful awareness. The potential establishing organizational change, development of learning procedures and processes with mindfulness at the center of the learning was guided by measuring mindful traits within a population of teachers within Southern California public school districts. Outcomes were simultaneously observed after gaining perspective about the relationship to implicit bias and qualitative interviews. This mixed-methods approach, included two prongs; a quantitative study to examine the relationship between mindfulness traits and implicit bias, and a qualitative interview approach to a subset of individuals who exhibited a mindfulness mindset and low implicit bias. The research study employed a mixed-methods approach to investigate how these individuals managed gaining perspectives, viewpoints of the effectiveness of mindfulness on interpersonal relationships, and gathered evidence on the perception of improved compassion and interconnectedness in teaching and learning.

Observations of perspectives among public school teachers during re-entry into schools during the academic year of 2021–2022, in which teachers and students re-entered schools after a considerable period of ongoing crises throughout the prior global COVID-19 pandemic, provided a sampling of individuals who have mindfulness skills and comparatively those who score low on mindfulness skills to determine the relationship with implicit racial bias. Understanding a sample population provided evidence to research best practices for building capacity for creating sustainable DEI systems rooted in providing resources for future teachers entering the profession.

Research Questions

1. What is the relationship between a mindfulness mindset and implicit bias among a group of public-school teachers?
2. Which successful practices do teachers with high mindfulness traits and low implicit bias employ?

Delimitations

Volunteers from public school districts in Southern California provided the sample population for treatment. The teachers, unaware of the other participants in the study, and the volunteer group were notified of participation through direct email correspondence. Protection of identity, voluntary participation, and eliminating bias were considerations of the research design. The research was limited to a sample population of teachers at different grade levels within the public school district workforce. The teachers reported working with students with similar experiences and student populations. Participants took the Langer Mindfulness Scale Questionnaire in addition to the Racial Implicit Association Test. Technological knowledge of commonly used free software such as Google forms was required to complete the treatment.

Significance of the Applied Culminating Project

Mindfulness is a broad spectrum of practices fine-tuned over a lifetime. Implications of its effectiveness among individuals with a mindful mindset provided quantitative data for measuring the relationship to their implicit bias and how they relate to racial differences. If an individual is less biased, do they seek out perspectives from colleagues that bring diversity to collaboration, or does a less biased person use mindfulness skills to navigate conversations in meaningful ways? A mindful mindset might lead individuals towards a more mindful state of awareness of the present moment, which raises the idea that they might integrate the ideas of others so that they can experience the novelty of new ideas in their work.

Compassion for self and others, grounded in the theory of mindfulness practices, will be explored through a literature review. Current research demonstrates that increased positive other-regarding emotions might mediate the effect of bias. However, further research is needed to directly compare mindfulness tasks and a differential impact on implicit bias or behaviors. A quantitative approach utilizing a correlational statistical inference to measure the relationship between mindfulness and bias (a) described the mindfulness mindsets of teachers during the re-entry into schools throughout the academic and global pandemic school year of 2021–2022, (b) documented the relationship of implicit bias and mindfulness, and (c) creates an understanding for the capacity for seeking out diverse perspectives.

Definitions of Terms

Kindergarten-Sixth Grade teacher: Licensed professionals that teach Kindergarten through 6th-grade public school.

DEI: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is a commonly used term that refers to training in the workplace which organizations actively “reassess our current recruitment strategies and reimagine our campus and workplace environments to provide an inclusive and equitable culture that is free of institutional barriers, affording equal opportunities for each individual to succeed, thrive, and be their whole self” (Olzman, 2020).

SEL: Social-Emotional Learning is defined as “the capacity to recognize and manage emotions, solve problems effectively, and establish positive relationships with others. Research has demonstrated the significant role of SEL in promoting healthy student development and academic achievement” (Cristóvão, 2017).

VUCA: VUCA stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. It describes the situation of constant, unpredictable change that is now the norm in specific industries and areas of the business world. VUCA demands avoidance of traditional, outdated approaches to management and leadership and day-to-day working (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014).

DBT: Dialectical Behavior Therapy is the dynamic balance between opposing therapeutic goals: acceptance of oneself and one’s situation in life, on the one hand, and embracing change toward a better life, on the other. Dialectics means the balance of opposites and the coming to a synthesis of two opposites. This focus on pursuing change strategies balanced by acceptance strategies is unique to DBT (Linehan, 2020).

Organization of the Applied Culminating Project

Chapter II summarizes the literature and research on mindfulness and Implicit Bias. Chapter III describes the research design and procedures to answer the research questions. Chapter IV presents the data and findings gathered through the research process. Chapter V summarizes the findings, conclusions, and recommendations for further research.

Chapter II Review of the Literature

Introduction

If you temper your heart with loving-kindness and prepare it like fertile soil, and then plant the seed of compassion, it will greatly flourish.

- Kamalashila, eighth century (Jinpa, 2015, p. 113)

Nature Versus Nurture

The argument of nature versus nurture presents a binary approach to viewing the human condition in which the biological self is separate from the culture and environment in which it develops. The debate has persisted in philosophical discussions in psychology, linguistics, and other disciplines weaving the idea that genetic or inherited traits of an individual are inherent, dictating personality and behavior. Alternatively, the environmental influences that consist of upbringing and childhood experiences are an ongoing development shaped by an individual’s socialization or culture. Exploring the human brain and its complexity sheds light on the interconnected nature of the two opposable forces.

The brain simplifies information to construct a reality less complex and overwhelming. Dunbar and Shultz (2007) argued that the cortex has a significant influence over the rest of the brain explicitly, and it has been shaped by evolutionary pressures to develop ever-improving abilities to parent, bond, communicate, cooperate, and love (Hanson, 2009, p. 25). E.O. Wilson (2012) wrote,

“We are a biological species arising from Earth’s biosphere as one adapted species among many; and however splendid our languages and cultures, however rich and subtle our minds, however vast our creative powers, the mental process is a product of a brain-shaped by the hammer of natural selection upon the anvil of nature.” (p. xiv).

The social and cultural forces that a person experiences hinge upon evolutionary behaviors inevitably tangling together. The brain's design presents a more integrated view, with an extra nuanced human mind capable of quieting nature through mindful awareness. A purpose elevates this quieting of mindlessness based upon futile evolutionary hardwiring to elevate humanity and social justice, ensuring equity, fairness, and diversity. Herein lies the context for this work. Each human brings a unique perspective molded by nature and nurture. The evolutionary story limits our potential and the narrative that we are limited by our hardwiring. Mindfulness connects the uniqueness of each moment in life with new skills to harness the ability to check the mind of automatic thoughts or assumptions, furthering the potential of the ability to sow seeds of consciousness in a contemporary world rooted in social justice.

Recognizing this fabric of the self requires looking at both sides, the evolutionary past and the cultural nature that shapes the mind. The brain is not fixed; instead, it is a dynamic, malleable structure that, as Eberhardt (2019) asserted, can be altered over time through experience, such as throughout a person’s lifetime. Humans unconsciously do a routine daily task, a definite task such as identifying a person’s facial features that can ebb and flow over time.

“The act of perceiving faces is both critical and complicated, which may be why the task is distributed across multiple areas of the occipitotemporal region, stretching across two of the four major lobes of the brain. The superior temporal sulcus-a trench-like structure in the temporal lobe that’s vital to social competence-helps us read the many different expressions that can suddenly emerge on someone's face, signaling us to approach, smile, share, and share, flee or quickly arm ourselves. A region known as the fusiform face area, buried deep near the base of the brain, helps us distinguish the familiar from the unfamiliar, friend from foe” (Eberhardt, 2020, p. 17).

Looking at a face is as mundane as it becomes simple due to its automaticity. Mask-wearing during the pandemic made us more aware of this. Nevertheless, it contains a cultural and biological configuration. This complex operation goes through unconscious processing, and the function contributes to the hidden assumptions to form groups, both in-groups (who is trusted) and out-groups (who is not trusted) over time. Sometimes referred to as “tribes,” this implicit tribalism is a survival trait passed through generations of humans since hunting and gathering days. Even at an early age, biases begin to form about who is “in'' and “out.” These implicit or cognitive biases can form around gender, race, education level, personality, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, language, political affiliations, weight, and innumerable ways of differentiating. Termed associations are these “mental pigments that operate in combination to construct rich mental images and judgments” (Greenwald & Banaji, 2017, p. 8).

Social and behavioral science study unconscious constructs as implicit biases. Implicit biases do not match individuals' actions or espoused values because of the nature of the unconscious being out of mindful consciousness. Research data demonstrate “significant discrepancies between the lack of expression of conscious prejudice and stereotypes from data on group disparities in hiring and promotion, medical treatment, access to financial resources, education, and basic living conditions (e.g., by gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality)” (Lai & Banaji, 2019, p. 2). This divide in what the conscious mind implicitly determines about others and how actions differ provides the potential for changing awareness through developing introspection through mindfulness training. In essence, the potential for aligning implicit ideas with explicit actions through awareness of thoughts and perceptions is the foundation of this study. The review of literature examined relevant empirical literature and gaps in the research acquired from (a) peer-reviewed academic journals, (b) popular press, (c) trade journals, and (d) scholarly books.

The Potential for Overriding Implicit Bias

The contributions of both socio-cultural and biological disciplines provide insights into the implicit bias humans hold intersecting with societal needs at a critical point in history. Witnessing the disproportionate risks of individuals impacted by COVID-19 in the United States of America laid bare the social determinants putting people at risk. The CDC defined “Social determinants of health that may influence the risk of exposure to COVID-19 to include neighborhood and physical environment, housing, occupation, education, and economic stability. Discrimination, including racism, shapes the social and economic factors that put people at increased risk for COVID-19 infection” (Centers for Disease Control, 2020).

Furthermore, the pandemic created challenges for people in various ways in a variety of biases from classism, gender, and racial discrimination to a revival of tribalism with the emergence of nationalist messaging supporting the displayed systems meant to protect well-being and health, such as housing, education, criminal justice, and finance (CDC, 2020). Intersectionality is defined as “interlocking systems of power impact the most marginalized in society. Intersectionality considers that various forms of oppression, such as racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ageism, and ableism, do not exist separately but are interwoven together (Texas Tech University, 2021, p. 4). Race alone does not define an individual’s experience, as it is so commonly viewed and reinforced in our social-cultural environment through messages about othering that reinforce stereotypes.

The historical trajectory of the global COVID-19 pandemic economic fallout has not been fully revealed, yet some more immediate implications prevail in educational systems across the United States, which were interrupted abruptly in March 2020. The overnight shutdown of schools exposed the inequities endured by groups disproportionately affected for generations. Suddenly left in the dark, the stark contrast between who was able to continue going to school and who did not get to continue schooling was vast. This gap in educational attainment may reverberate for years to come.

Based on private-sector data collected by Opportunity Insights , “In the United States, as of May 2, 2021, total student progress in online math coursework decreased by 8.5% compared to January 2020” (Chetty et al., 2020). Despite best efforts, the empathic responses of activists calling for social justice and equity do not match the outcomes. According to United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund article COVID-19 And School Closures: Are Children Able to Continue Learning, “at least four hundred and sixty-three million children whose schools closed due to COVID-19, there was no such a thing as remote learning,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. “The sheer number of children whose education was completely disrupted for months on end is a global education emergency. The repercussions could be felt in economies and societies for decades to come” (UNICEF, 2020).

Despite the shocking numbers, there is little rhetoric around how to remedy the staggering divide between equity and justice for an entire generation of young people. Is there potential for positive educational outcomes by orienting human behaviors to explicit alarms for equitable educational access for all children? Reports from various states have demonstrated that the loss in math and reading is significant, even more so for children of color living in poverty. The findings from NWEA, a non-profit assessment research organization that measured pandemic learning losses, report that “For example, in math, Latino third graders performed seventeen percentile points lower in spring 2021 compared with the typical achievement of Latino third graders in the spring of 2019. The decline was 15 percentile points for Black students, compared with similar students in the past, and 14 for Native students. Asian and White students also underachieved compared with the performance of similar students in 2019, but the impact was less severe, at nine percentile points each” (Mervosh, 2021). Disabled students also suffered or were utterly left out of learning throughout the pandemic.

Critical examination of how this learning loss impacts large swaths of our nation deserves a thoughtful breakdown of tribalistic thinking as one possible solution moving forward toward sustainable access to education for all. Greenwald and Banaji (2017) describe the mass of associative knowledge within an individual, which “acts as a filter that elaborates perceptions and judgment, in ways that can vary across persons when cultural environments have constructed the mass idiosyncratically” (p. 8). If this filter influences a group, it might shed light on how an individual can understand how the unconscious bias formed initially. The assumptions of the group might be based upon stereotypes no longer valid. Examining experiences from the past that were potentially biased or invalid can create conversations around the results of biased intentions and thoughts “based upon access to the mental processes that produce those thoughts and perceptions” (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977, pp. 255–256).

Arguably, the willingness to examine the automatic associations carved into our minds depends upon an acceptance of common humanity. Deciding whether someone is a friend or foe is an evolutionary trait that ensured the survival of the last of the Hominid species, Homo Sapiens , in which the brain created automatic networks outside of conscious control to ensure survival.

Mindfulness teachings propose that this causes suffering. Rooted upon the premise that there is no need to sustain the “fight or flight” mode in everyday interactions within organizations, communities, and civic platforms. The adrenaline-based reactions to threats create divisions based on categories. Implicit Bias is such an example, defined by The Kirwan Institute (2016) as the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions unconsciously. Because the stereotypes are shaped by a lifetime of social-cultural labels and categorizations reinforced by media and societal factors outside of an individual's awareness, it is unconscious. Thus, operating outside of our conscious awareness, implicit biases are pervasive, and they can challenge even the most well-intentioned and egalitarian-minded individuals. They result in actions and outcomes that do not necessarily align with explicit intentions. The Implicit Revolution (Greenwald & Krieger, 2006) writings reveal that implicit bias is mediated by cognition. Cognition is “implicit” when outside one’s conscious attentional focus. Two forms of implicit cognition relevant to race include implicit attitudes (the tendency to like or dislike members of a racial group) and implicit stereotypes (the association of a group with a particular trait) (Greenwald & Krieger, 2006).

Similarly, Chin et al. (2020) argued that because implicit attitudes and stereotypes are automatically activated in one’s mind, leading to implicit bias or prejudicial behaviors or judgments (Greenwald & Krieger, 2006) thus, people can exhibit implicit bias even when they do not consciously endorse the underlying attitude or stereotype (Devine, 1989; Dovidio et al., 2002). The unintended consequences are behaviors founded upon unconscious assumptions. The intentions of an individual might be established upon assumptions that unconsciously guide or sway behaviors that do not match the conscious mind.

Likewise, “self-reported attitudes are products of reflection to a greater extent whereas implicit attitudes are products of an impulse to a greater extent. When the two are not in sync, implicit and explicit attitudes reveal a psychological dissociation – a schism between two parts of the same mind” (Lai & Banaji, 2019, p. 8). The contrast between nature (biological) and nurture (socio-cultural) as drivers of human behavior contributes to a growing body of philosophical arguments. Evolutionary psychologists argue that “much of the content in human culture across the globe is determined by universal psychological characteristics of humans” (Buller, 2005, p. 422). In other words, the culture in which humans exist, and specific aspects of it, are embodiments of human nature. Understanding the intricacies of that nature through neuroscience reveals how humans might consider wherewith biases influence behaviors.

Automaticity

“If you are aware of [unconscious bias], then you can bring to bear all of your critical skills and intelligence...We all have the ability to control it.”

- Dr. Lasana Harris, University College London (Devlin, 2018)

Implicit shortcuts are outside of our consciousness, defined as automaticity; just as a face is deciphered quickly without much thought, social interactions, and behaviors are based on “mindless and unconscious processing” (Langer et al., 1978, p. 641). These automatic processes create group favoritism, further promoting fear of others. Weller and Lagattuta (2013) confirmed that five to thirteen-year-old children believe other children feel more positive about helping in-group versus out-group members.

Furthermore, “across age, children predicted that characters would feel happier self-sacrificing to help an unfamiliar child from their racial in-group versus out-group, happier ignoring the needs of a child from the out-group versus in-group, and a greater sense of obligation to help a child from the in-group versus out-group” (Weller and Lagattuta, 2013, p. 263). In other words, unless children are introduced to people who look different from their “in-group,” their experiences are limited on whom they trust and do not trust. The group must be expanded, so the “tribe” is not singularly one type of race, age, or other categorical attributes.

Again, Nordell (2021) wrote “children as young as three or four can show gender bias; by age six or seven, girls’ belief in female brilliance drops, and they gravitate away from games that they are told require being ‘really, really smart’” (p. 45). When these biases occur, it is clear that the factors that affect these biases in children are based upon associations in the mind that are further reinforced by social and cultural norms and the opportunity to change permanent stereotyping. Children have demonstrated that they are capable of learning that disabled people have expressly limited functions, not the person themself who is limited. In other words, “attributes are relative, not absolute” (Langer, 2014, p. 167). Individuals having made the mindful distinction between the two demonstrate less prejudicial behaviors. Having more data within educational organizations would allow researchers to understand how to foster prosocial behavior toward groups beyond one's in-group, effectively exposing the mind to new associations and less definitive categories.

Prejudicial instincts that humans display outside of their consciousness, further reinforced by socialization and culture, become habits of mind. These “mindbugs” refer to the “ingrained habits of thought that lead to errors in how we perceive, remember, reason and make decisions” (Banaji & Greenwald, 2016, p. 4). Our brains are still hardwired for survival despite living in a modern age. One of the basic human needs is feeling accepted within a social group, or “to belong-if we are part of a group, we are safer and have a much better chance of survival. So, our primitive brain automatically puts people, places, and things into categories. These instincts wired thinking to focus us on avoiding threat and self-preservation, not on logical decision making and critical thinking” (Fuller & Murphy, 2020, p. 35).

With mindfulness practice, we can create new habits of mind, embedded in awareness that reinforces the categorization of differences. Awareness of mind, feelings and body are all components of mindfulness that have promise for reducing biases. These mindfulness skills create color acknowledgment as a positive attribute, diversity as a benefit that creates vibrant organizations, and differences as the norm in a global world working towards positive outcomes for humanity. Especially in educational organizations that reinforce positive role modeling and empathy for children who enter schools from diverse communities.

The complexities of how implicit bias is automated in various aspects of life (e.g., how individuals nurture and transmit bias) are too vast to include in this literature review. The Kirwan Institute offers online Implicit Bias training modules that elucidate it further (Kirwan Institute, 2021)—narrowing the analysis towards the problem of practice that arises within organizations, specifically educational institutions such as public schools, where successful interpersonal interactions that are highly collaborative necessitate the creation of learning cultures free from bias. These spaces depend upon educators' reframing of bias and require a closer inspection of deautomatization as a potential mediator of bias through mindful awareness. Mediation and heterogenous teamwork is a critical first step in developing learning for the well-intentioned individual's ability to examine automatic personal self and beliefs and explore assumptions commonly overlooked.

Deautomatization and Mindful Awareness

Einstein described the tendency of seeing ourselves as separate from others as the “optical delusion of consciousness” when he wrote in a letter (1950) and was quoted in the New York Times (1972) that our task “must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty” (Jinpa, 2015, p. 168). If the task of executing what is automatic of whom we can trust and not trust as instinctual behaviors, more intentional, this requires a skilled approach.

One such skillful approach is a mindfulness practice. One aspect of mindfulness cultivation is a loving-kindness meditation in which the practitioner harnesses the feelings of love and kindness towards self and others in a meditative state. Mindfulness practice falls into one of the two categories of meditation, subjective or objective. Kang (2013) demonstrated that practicing loving-kindness meditation diminishes implicit bias towards blacks and homeless people, whereas discussing loving-kindness in a group setting did not show the same effect (p. 87).

Similarly, mindfulness has demonstrated empirical evidence contributing to the growing theoretical benefits, including metacognitive awareness, decreased rumination, increased attention, and gains in working memory resulting in ineffective emotion regulation (Davis & Hayes, 2012).

Stopping the Wandering Mind

Otherwise known as mind-wandering or the puppy mind, the brain's default mode network lingers to a past event, a future event rather than the present moment awareness required in mindfulness thinking. Focusing the awareness of the mind on the present moment and noticing life as a novel unfurling of events in a nonjudgmental way is just one mindfulness trait. Kang (2019) described this as one of the four mindfulness components written,

“Four interrelated yet distinct components of mindfulness (awareness, attention, focus on the present, and acceptance) each contribute to deautomatization through downstream processes. First, awareness, or having conscious knowledge of one’s experience, can discontinue automatic inference processes” (p. 15).

While exploring mindfulness implementation to address increasing amounts of stress and anxiety among young students, the idea of the ‘monkey mind’ surfaces attributed to habits of mind that create an uncoupling of awareness of the present moment (automaticity), furthering automatic mindless wanderings. These automatic narratives of the mind can create anxiety, depression, pessimism, rumination, and other forms of suffering (Blackburn & Epel, 2017). The monkey mind limits effective mindfulness practice.

Interconnectedness and Acceptance

There are connections within us and all things around us. Contemplative practices such as meditation explain and comprehend this phenomenon as interconnectedness, from a mind/body connection to those with other people to connections within the environment and the world around us. Alternatively, seeing ourselves as separate from our world rather than being a part of it leads to ego inflation, putting the needs of the self first above the needs of others. This ego inflation continues the cycle of focusing on personal goals and always dominating everything often comes at a cost to others (Bai & Scutt, 2009, p. 99). Another mindful trait is acceptance, allowing self to become non-self or egoless. Shiah (2016) described the Buddhist non-self-theory (NT), which extinguishes the idea of self, leading to selflessness behaviors. These contribute to a well-functioning self that displays altruism, mindfulness, meditation, and myriad thoughts and behaviors to experience a deeper meaning of life. Understanding the interconnectedness of all things can take a lifetime of practice.

Similarly, implicit biases are unconscious reactions that can go unnoticed in everyday action unless consciously developed through contemplative practice. Understanding why a behavior occurred by reflecting upon the space between action and thoughts or emotions that triggered the behavior in the first place creates skillful responsiveness. Kang (2018) demonstrated that many people hold implicit biases in the form of negative beliefs (stereotypes) and attitudes (prejudice) against racial minorities. However, these implicit biases are not well reflected in explicit self-reported measures. This dissociative behavior appears not solely because of an attempt to sound more politically correct. Even when honesty is authentic, people simply lack the skills for thoughtful insight (Kang, 2018, p. 11), furthering a disconnect from authentic and honest conversations. Accepting that the unconscious does not always match conscious behavior allows for flexible thinking within the mindful individual and an approach to life matching the durable happiness that non-self-theory outlines.

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• Calificación: 12
• Autor: Jennifer Munoz (Autor)
• Año de publicación: 2022
• Páginas: 175
• No. de catálogo: V1274107
• ISBN (PDF): 9783346741950
• ISBN (Libro): 9783346741967
• Idioma: Inglés
• Etiqueta: mindfulness, mindset, implicit, bias, among, public, school, teachers