Contemplative Psychology: History, Key Assumptions, and Future Directions

Journal article


Van Gordon, William, Sapthiang, Supakyada and Shonin, Edo 2021. Contemplative Psychology: History, Key Assumptions, and Future Directions. Perspectives on Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620984479
AuthorsVan Gordon, William, Sapthiang, Supakyada and Shonin, Edo
Abstract

Contemplative psychology is concerned with the psychological study of contemplative processes and practices, such as meditation, mindfulness, yoga, introspection, reflection, metacognition, self-regulation, self-awareness, and self-consciousness. Although contemplative psychology borders with other psychological and nonpsychological disciplines, some of its underlying assumptions distinguish it from other remits of psychological and scholarly inquiry, as do its component areas of empirical focus, conceptual nuances, and challenges. Furthermore, the discipline has tended to be somewhat disparate in its approach to investigating the core techniques and principles of which it is composed, resulting in a need for greater intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary awareness of the commonalities and differences of core contemplative psychology attributes. As a remedy to these issues, in this article, we adopt a whole-discipline perspective and aim to explicate contemplative psychology’s history, breadth, key assumptions, challenges, and future directions.

KeywordsGeneral Psychology; Meditation; Buddhism; Mindfulness; Contemplation
Year2021
JournalPerspectives on Psychological Science
PublisherSAGE Publications
ISSN1745-6916
1745-6924
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620984479
Web address (URL)http://hdl.handle.net/10545/626105
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license
hdl:10545/626105
Publication dates29 Jun 2021
Publication process dates
Deposited10 Nov 2021, 17:18
Accepted15 May 2021
ContributorsUniversity of Derby and Awake to Wisdom Centre for Meditation and Mindfulness Research
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