Contemplating critique: mindfulness attenuates self-esteem and self-regulatory impacts of negative feedback

Kriz, Tiffany; Lyddy, Christopher J.; Good, Darren J.; Stephens, John Paul

Contemplating critique: mindfulness attenuates self-esteem and self-regulatory impacts of negative feedback

Author

Kriz, Tiffany

Lyddy, Christopher J.

Good, Darren J.

Stephens, John Paul

Date

2022

Keywords

mindfulness, brief mediation, negative feedback, state self-esteem, self-regulatory depletion

Abstract (summary)

Objectives: Receiving feedback is vital to learning and job performance, but this can provoke undesirable psychological responses, including loss of self-esteem and self-regulatory depletion. While mindfulness can attenuate responses to selfthreats, it is unknown if this occurs following self-esteem threats, including negative feedback. This experimental study investigates a proposed moderated mediation model of how brief mindfulness meditation may attenuate these psychological responses to negative feedback. Methods: The proposed model was tested through a randomized 2×2 factor experiment with a sample of undergraduate students (N=163). Participants completed a performance task (the Remote Associates Test), followed by an audio guided mindfulness induction (mindfulness meditation v. mind-wandering active control). After receiving randomized performance feedback, either negative or positive feedback, participants reported their state self-esteem and self-regulatory depletion. We modeled feedback as predicting self-regulatory depletion through self-esteem, and brief mindfulness meditation moderating the relationship between feedback and self-esteem, and through this infuencing the indirect relationship of feedback and self-regulatory depletion. Results: Findings provided support for the proposed moderated mediation model. Inducing mindfulness via brief meditation weakened the relationship between negative feedback and decreased self-esteem, thus contributing to lower self-regulatory depletion. Conclusions: The results provide evidence that inducing mindfulness through meditation attenuates psychological responses to negative feedback, including loss of state self-esteem and self-regulatory depletion. This adds to understanding of the intersection of mindfulness practice, the self, and practice in educational and workplace domains.

Publication Information

Lyddy, C.J., Good, D.J., Kriz, T.D. et al. Contemplating Critique: Mindfulness Attenuates Self-Esteem and Self-Regulatory Impacts of Negative Feedback. Mindfulness 13, 1521–1531 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01894-8