Framework for mindfulness, self-control, and aggression

Empirical attempts to clarify the mechanism by which mindfulness may reduce aggression were conducted in Borders et al.’s (2010) correlational study in both undergraduates and non-undergraduates. Specifically, they proposed rumination (i.e., a process characterised by internal, sustained, and rigid attention to perceived discrepancies between current and desired states) as a mediator on the mindfulness and aggression link. Mindfulness has been suggested to break the repetive cycle of rumination by re-directing attention to the present (Shapiro, Oman, Thoresen, Plante, & Flinders, 2008). Borders et al. found that rumination partially mediated the link between mindfulness and anger and hostility but only amongst undergraduates. Thus, while rumination may be a chief mechanism between trait mindfulness and the emotional and cognitive components of aggression, other mechanisms may come into play for reductions of the behavioural components of aggression.

Accordingly, Borders et al. proposed that the effect that mindfulness has on

aggressive behaviour may been mediated through relaxation, emotion regulation

(e.g., altering thoughts or behaviour to cope with negative emotions), better cognitive functioning and flexibility (i.e., self-regulation of attention and cognitive inhibition), and decrease impulsivity. Some of these suggested mechanisms are related to self-control. Self-control was explicitly mentioned (but not tested) by Heppner et al. (2008) as a potential mediator between mindfulness and aggression. As previously discussed, mindfulness may facilitate the self’s ability to exert control in accordance to one’s actual values (Brown et al., 2007a; Shapiro et al., 2006). Thus it is plausible that mindfulness may increase self-control capacity, and in turn

increases in self-control capacity would reduce aggression. At the same time, to clarify its distinct contribution, mindfulness should also produce additional reduction in aggression after accounting for self-control. There are several ways to examine our proposal that mindfulness may influence aggression in the same way it is proposed to be influenced by self-control, and that the effect of mindfulness may even be independent of and beyond that of self-control.

Firstly, the potential role of mindfulness and self-control on aggression may be investigated in the trait level. When encountering a situation that potentially could trigger aggressive responses (e.g., provocation), mindful individuals should be aware of their emotions (e.g., anger), but also should be less judgemental and reactive. Rather then being identified as an integral part of the self that needs to be acted upon, these emotions are being observed or witnessed as a state that is arising and passing, but not necessarily needing action. As described earlier (see section 1.2.4.1), keeping attention on emotions may lead to exposure and, in turn, extinction. Consequently, mindful individuals may experience the resulting aggression-related emotions to a reduced extent.

Individuals who are higher in self-control (e.g., discipline, hard-working, reliable) should be able to refrain from acting on aggressive impulses through their capacity of altering, overriding, or manipulating aggression-related emotions. However, they may be lacking in the awareness and acceptance of these emotions. When emotion acceptance is difficult, these individuals may try to avoid or suppress their emotions altogether. The paradoxical effect of emotion avoidance and suppression strategies in increasing the intensity and frequency of distressing thoughts and feelings has been well-documented (see e.g., Gross, 2002; Gratz & Roemer, 2004).

Moreover, difficulty in accepting emotions may activate the link between these emotions and aggression. For example, male’s aggressive behaviour has been shown to be related to restrictive emotionality (presumably due to traditional sex roles), particularly emotional non-acceptance, rather than to the overall inability to self- regulate (Cohn, Jakupcak, Seibert, Hildebrandt, & Zeichner, 2010). In a current overview, Roberton, Daffern, and Bucks (2012) suggest that over-regulating

emotions may lead to aggressive behaviour by increasing negative affect, reducing inhibitions against aggression, compromising decision making processes, diminishing social networks, increasing physiological arousal, and hindering the resolution of difficult situations. Thus, even though self-control ability can decrease aggression and anger, mindfulness may arguably provide a more adaptive alternative. Indeed, a recent correlational study showed that trait mindfulness predicted incremental variance over trait self-control in psychological well-being and general distress (Bowlin & Baer, 2012).

Secondly, it is plausible to test the effect of state induced mindfulness on aggressive behaviour under ego-depleted condition. Self-control is often initiated when discrepancies between desired states and current states are detected (Carver & Scheier, 1982, 2011). Self-monitoring is also central to Novaco’s (2003) conception of anger regulation. Inzlich and Gutsell (2007) demonstrated that after performing an initial self-control act, people’s neural system that monitors the discrepancy between desired and current state (error-related negativity [ERN]) is weakened, suggesting that depletion limits the attentional system for initiating self-control acts. Other potential mechanisms have also been identified as mediating variables for depletion effect on self-control performance, such as effort, perceived difficulty, negative affect, subjective fatigue, and blood glucose level—indicating the effortful, aversive nature of self-control tasks (Hagger et al., 2010). Alternatively, depleted people may become less motivated to exert self-control because they want to conserve their energy for more important future tasks (Tyler & Burns, 2009). These depleted people may then behave aggressively in particular when they encounter subsequent aggression-provoking events (see Denson et al., 2012; DeWall et al., 2011). By mindfully exposing oneself to the uncomfortable emotions, thoughts, or body sensations associated with depletion and provocation, one should be more tolerant to and less bothered by such experiences. This flourishing effect of mindfulness has been shown to counteract the effect of depletion on self-control performance by Friese et al. (2012).

Thirdly, laboratory study of mindfulness, self-control, and aggression may also be conducted in the absence of depletion. Extensive training in mindfulness (i.e., mindfulness-based interventions) has been shown to reduce aggression (see Fix & Fix, 2013; Shonin et al., in press). However, the similarities between features of mindfulness-based interventions and training in self-control have been highlighted in Masicampo and Baumeister’s (2007) commentary. Specifically, both training involve regulation of one’s thoughts and behaviours, adherence to exercises, and commitment to the exercises over extended periods. Therefore, mindfulness might well be argued to be simply one example of self-control training.

As a comparison, self-control training typically lasts for two weeks, compromising a regular practice of small acts of altering one’s dominant response tendencies in daily activities such trying to improve one’s posture, tracking eating habit, using nondominant hand in a mundane task, and avoiding colloquialisms/cursing (see Baumeister et al., 2006). By contrast, the accepted standard format for the MBSR programme is eight weeks of a total 26 hours class time (Carmody & Baer, 2009), where participants practice various meditation skills (i.e., body scan, hatha yoga, mindfulness of breathing, mindfulness of body sensations), along with discussion of stress, coping, and homework assignments, in addition to practising mindfulness during ordinary activities such as walking, standing, and eating (see Baer, 2003). Given the complexity of the clinical package of mindfulness, the first few weeks has been reported to be especially difficult for novice practitioners (Segal et al., 2012). As speculated elsewhere, during the initial stages of mindfulness practice, cognitive control may be needed over the emotional reactions to assist attention on the task at hand (Holzel et al., 2011; Sauer et al., 2013); thus imposing a high degree of self- control exercises. However, as Brown et al. (2007a) argued, the aim of mindfulness practice is not to achieve the goals and demands of the self, but to provide a “space for awareness” to open. Unfolding the point at which this space of awareness could afford an independent effect of mindfulness over self-control is of particular interesting. To do so, the state of mindfulness should be able to strengthen the effect of self-control when the self-control resource has not been depleted, as well as when this resource has been bolstered (via self-control training).

1.2.4.3 Role of individual differences in sensitivity to provocations and