How Short Term Mindfulness Training Affects Emotion Regulation on College Students

Emotion regulation (ER) is the experience and expression of emotions which aids in the balancing of positive emotions and emotional processing (Gross, 2001; Hölzel, 2011). An important advancement in the field of psychology is greater understanding of how treatments can positively influence ER. One promising intervention to improve emotion regulation is mindfulness training—the practice of being aware of one’s current internal state and thoughts to provide a greater attentiveness and acknowledgement to one’s current environment (Hoffman et. al., 2010; Langer 2000). The current study examined the effect of brief mindfulness training on emotion regulation after a sad mood induction via film, as compared to students who received no emotion regulation training. A sample of undergraduate students (n=110, 57% female) were recruited to participate. Subjects were excluded for pre-existing depression, cognitive impairment, and psychiatric medication usage. Participants were randomly assigned to two conditions (e.g., mindfulness vs. no training). Those in the mindfulness training condition were instructed to acknowledge their thoughts and let them pass by like clouds in the sky, while those in the no instruction condition were directed to wait for the next task to begin. All participants then watched two film clips designed to induce negative mood. The results showed significant changes from VAS1 to VAS3 within each emotion. However, there was no significant difference between participants in the mindfulness condition and the no instruction.