Attentional Biases in Dispositional Mindfulness and Gratitude

Abstract

Dispositional mindfulness and gratitude are two individual differences suggested to be linked to attentional processes. The present study aimed to assess the presence of attentional biases associated with these two traits. Sixty-one participants completed an emotional dot-probe task while eye movements were recorded. Each of the 96 trials presented one emotional facial expression (fear, surprise, anger, sadness, disgust, or happiness) paired with a neutral face from the same encoder. Attentional biases were measured using dwell time and initial orienting, in addition to traditional probe response times. Results suggested that individuals high in mindfulness responded faster to probes than those low in mindfulness across all conditions, supporting the view that mindfulness enhances attentional control and cognitive flexibility. Moreover, the interaction between dispositional mindfulness and gratitude significantly predicted initial orienting toward sad stimuli, suggesting a moderation effect. Johnson–Neyman analyses suggested that the time taken to first fixate on sadness stimuli significantly increased as one’s level of mindfulness increased, but only f or individuals with high levels of gratitude. In light of these results, we propose the hypothesis that highly grateful individuals may avoid sad stimuli as a self-preservation strategy and that this tendency becomes more efficient as attentional control improves with mindfulness.