Effects of mindful breathing meditation on stereotype expression in two randomized controlled double-blinded trials

Abstract

Models of stereotypes and discrimination propose the involvement of attentional control and executive functioning in successfully suppressing discriminatory behavior. A practice that has been shown to improve cognitive control, potentially even after short training durations, is mindfulness meditation, and beneficial effects on stereotype activation and the expression of discriminatory behavior have been reported. In two randomized controlled double-blinded trials, the effects of short mindful breathing meditation trainings (45 minutes in total in Experiment 1, 80 minutes in Experiment 2) on the expression of stereotype-biased behavior were contrasted with relaxation trainings of equal length (progressive muscle relaxation; active control) and listening to podcasts (passive control). Stereotype expression was assessed with the Shooter Task in Experiment 1 and with the Avoidance Task in Experiment 2. Joined analyses of response latencies and accuracy by drift diffusion modeling showed that breathing meditation increased the effect of stereotype bias on decision-making in both experiments by heightening response conflict in stereotype-incongruent trials. At the same time, relaxation reduced biased decision-making in stereotype-incongruent trials. Contrary to our hypothesis, the findings suggested that short trainings in mindful breathing meditation were not beneficial for reducing the effect of stereotype-bias on decision making and that mechanisms outside of cognitive control affected response behavior following the meditation as well as relaxation training. Implications for research in the field are discussed.