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AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF STEVEN M. ANDREWS, for the Master of Arts degree in PSYCHOLOGY, presented on 9 JUNE 2009, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: IS MINFULNESS A LUXURY? EXAMINING THE ROLE OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISPOSITIONAL MINDFULNESS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Kathleen Chwalisz Mindfulness, or present-moment awareness, has its roots in Buddhism as a cultivatable tool for healing. Researchers have identified health benefits for those who possess higher levels of this trait without practice. This study was a survey-based investigation of the relations among dispositional mindfulness, socioeconomic status, and psychological distress in a diverse sample of university and community college participants (N = 123). Of interest was the notion that mindfulness may be a luxury of the less socioeconomically burdened. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to assess the role of SES in the relation between mindfulness and distress. Mindfulness was found to be a luxury, but its psychological benefits were not influenced by SES. Implications are discussed in the context of mindfulness-based interventions.

The primary objective of this study was to explore the relationship between personality and employability using a sample of 100 employees at a meat producing company in South Africa. A secondary objective was to determine if personality could be used to predict employability, and whether individuals from different demographic groups differed regarding their employability. The instruments used were the sixteen personality factor inventory (16PF) and the Van Der Heidje employability measure. The research findings indicated that the personality factors of submissiveness and seriousness correlated to the employability dimensions of anticipation/ optimization and occupational expertise respectively. Openness and corporate sense were also correlated, with anxiety in particular correlating with the overall employability measure. Differences between the race groups and employability were also noted. Particular interventions aimed at improving individual career decision making and employability practices within the organisation concluded the study. / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The primary objective of this study was to explore the relationship between personality and employability using a sample of 100 employees at a meat producing company in South Africa. A secondary objective was to determine if personality could be used to predict employability, and whether individuals from different demographic groups differed regarding their employability. The instruments used were the sixteen personality factor inventory (16PF) and the Van Der Heidje employability measure. The research findings indicated that the personality factors of submissiveness and seriousness correlated to the employability dimensions of anticipation/ optimization and occupational expertise respectively. Openness and corporate sense were also correlated, with anxiety in particular correlating with the overall employability measure. Differences between the race groups and employability were also noted. Particular interventions aimed at improving individual career decision making and employability practices within the organisation concluded the study. / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Dispositional Employability and Career Success are constructs that when brought together leads to a multitude of questions regarding their meaning. This study attempted to determine whether there is a significant relationship between the two constructs of dispositional employability and career success. The study furthermore focused on expanding on the literature by elaborating on the sample group. This was done by determining whether or not there is a difference between the groups with regards to their Dispositional Employability and Career Success based on their individual characteristics. A quantitative research approach was followed to obtain the research objectives of this study. The Dispositional Employability Measure and Career Success Orientation Measure were administered among a purposive convenience sample of HRM Practitioners in South Africa (N=155). The results of the research showed that there is a significant relationship between Dispositional Employability and Career Success with a low effect. Furthermore significant differences exist between groups with regards to both Dispositional Employability on the ground of number of years in their current organisation and Career Success on level of education, age, race and job level. The study thus contributes to the limited literature on both constructs. In addition, the results of the study make important theoretical, methodological and practical contributions. Recommendations for future research are made. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

The aim of the present study was to investigate how dispositional resistance to change (RTC) and neuroticism could predict shift work tolerance (SWT) over a period of six months. Electronic questionnaire were completed by 74 shift workers employed in Trondheim municipality in January 2013 (T1) and in June 2013 (T2). The results showed that age, gender, neuroticism, and RTC were related to SWT. Age at T1 predicted better SWT at T2, while male gender predicted worse SWT at T2. RTC at T1 predicted better SWT at T2, while neuroticism at T1 predicted worse SWT at T2. The findings suggest that individual differences, especially neuroticism, can predict SWT over a period of six months.

Recently there has been increased interest in using employment interviews to judge personality (Christiansen, 2005; Powell & Goffin, 2009). However, not all personality traits are accurately detected. Previous research has demonstrated that Neuroticism is a trait that is difficult to correctly identify (Lippa & Dietz, 2000; Powell & Goffin, 2009; Watson, 1989). Neuroticism differs from the other Big Five traits because it is more affective in nature. It is proposed that those that are superior at detecting emotions in others will be better at judging Neuroticism in others. The purpose of the current research is to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence(specifically accuracy at detecting emotions) and accuracy in making personality judgments. A significant relation was found between emotional intelligence and accuracy in detecting Neuroticism. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Mindfulness and cognitive control are overlapping constructs. Mindfulness involves maintaining awareness of the current experience by sustaining attention to relevant information and disengaging from irrelevant information. Cognitive control refers to the set of processes involved in selecting and monitoring information relevant to our goals, while ignoring or inhibiting information irrelevant to these goals. This dissertation contains three studies that examine the convergence between mindfulness and cognitive control. The first study examined the relationship between self-reported mindfulness and behavioural correlates of cognitive control using the Digit Stroop task within two experimental contexts: when task difficulty was not manipulated (non-titrated) and when task difficulty was increased (titrated). The results demonstrate that self-reported mindfulness predicted behavioural performance, but only when cognitive control processes were sufficiently challenged by increasing task difficulty. The second study examined the precise neural mechanisms underlying the relationship between mindfulness and cognitive control using electroencephalography (EEG) to identify changes to event-related potentials (ERPs) during the non-titrated Digit Stroop task after two weeks of daily training. By introducing a novel active control training condition (guided visual imagery meditation) that contrasted passive attention regulation with the focused attention regulation in mindfulness, the results isolated electrophysiological correlates of cognitive control that were uniquely tied to mindfulness training, including increased efficiency in conflict detection, delayed attentional capture by incongruent stimuli, faster conscious evaluation of all stimuli, and delayed automatic detection of all errors. The third study replicated and extended these findings by examining changes to ERPs when the cognitive control system was challenged using the titrated Digit Stroop task. Compared to the active control group, the mindfulness group showed enhanced sensory processing, resistance to stimulus-driven attentional capture and faster conscious evaluation of all stimuli after training. Taken together, this dissertation establishes an empirical relationship between behavioural and electrophysiological correlates of mindfulness and cognitive control. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Mindfulness is a way of paying attention, on purpose, in the present-moment and nonjudgmentally. By focusing attention on present goals and redirecting attention from distractions, mindfulness enhances moment-to-moment awareness of fluctuations in cognitive demands. As a result, meditators can develop greater control over a set of cognitive processes that promote useful behavioural responses. This deliberate practice overlaps with a construct known as “cognitive control”—a set of cognitive processes that facilitate information processing and behaviour to vary adaptively from moment to moment depending on current goals. This dissertation examines the relationship between mindfulness and cognitive control using electroencephalography (EEG) to record ongoing brain activity during two variations of a cognitive control task designed to manipulate difficulty. The results show that self-reported mindfulness predicts cognitive control performance when task difficulty is increased and that two weeks of daily mindfulness training leads to changes in neural activity underlying this cognitive control performance.

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