Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Kevin Larkin

Committee Co-Chair

Amy Fiske

Committee Member

Amy Fiske

Committee Member

Nicholas Turiano

Abstract

To explain how different facets of mindfulness were associated with task performance in distinctive ways, Lindsay and Creswell (2017) proposed the Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT). According to this model, the mindfulness facet of monitoring present state awareness was thought to influence task performance differently than the nonjudgmental acceptance facet of mindfulness, but no studies to date have examined this model with respect to an individual's physiological response to stressful tasks. Because dispositional mindfulness has been associated with both increased and decreased physiological and affective reactions to stress in previous studies, the present study tested whether the Monitoring facet of mindfulness was associated with exaggerated physiological reactivity to stress and the Acceptance facet of mindfulness was associated with attenuated stress reactions. Forty-seven undergraduate students were exposed to a simple choice reaction time task during which harassing statements were delivered. Physiological parameters of systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR), and four measures of heart rate variability were obtained during rest, task, and recovery phases. Positive and negative affect, and visual analogue measures of stress, anger, and mindfulness, were also collected at rest and in response to the task. Average reaction time and task response accuracy were recorded as measures of task performance. A series of multiple and hierarchical regressions were performed to test relations between measures of physiological and affective reactivity to stress as well as task performance and physiological recovery from stress. Results largely failed to support the MAT model. However, monitoring and acceptance of the MAT significantly predicted recovery period respiration but in opposite directions; monitoring was associated with increased respiration during recovery while acceptance was related to decreased respiration during recovery. Secondary exploratory analyses found that two other facets of mindfulness (Acting with Awareness; Non-reactivity) were related to DBP reactivity to stress. For both facets, mindfulness was associated with increased DBP reactivity during the task period. Although these findings failed to support the MAT model, they provided some clues for conducting future research on other facets of mindfulness within the context of examining blood pressure responses to mental stress.

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