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Biomedical subjects

E J Langer

Publications and source records attributed to E J Langer.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

Transcendental meditation, mindfulness, and longevity: an experimental study with the elderly.

Can direct change in state of consciousness through specific mental techniques extend human life and reverse age-related declines? To address this question, 73 residents of 8 homes for the elderly (mean age = 81 years) were randomly assigned among no treatment and 3 treatments highly similar in external structure and expectations: the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program, mindfulness training (MF) in active distinction making, or a relaxation (low mindfulness) program. A planned comparison indicated that the "restful alert" TM group improved most, followed by MF, in contrast to relaxation and no-treatment groups, on paired associate learning; 2 measures of cognitive flexibility; mental health; systolic blood pressure; and ratings of behavioral flexibility, aging, and treatment efficacy. The MF group improved most, followed by TM, on perceived control and word fluency. After 3 years, survival rate was 100% for TM and 87.5% for MF in contrast to lower rates for other groups.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1985

Decreasing prejudice by increasing discrimination.

We conducted an experiment to assess the effects of mindfulness (active distinction making) training on the perception of and reaction to handicapped children. In a 2 X 2 factorial design, sixth graders received either a high- or low-mindfulness treatment and viewed slides that were either all of "normal" people or consisted primarily of "handicapped" individuals. The high-mindfulness treatment, especially when bolstered by explicit reference to the handicapped, revealed that teaching children to be more differentiated (i.e., more mindful) resulted in the view that handicaps are function specific and not people specific. Children in this group were less likely to inappropriately discriminate for or against the handicapped target. Most important, however, was the finding that subjects in this group were less likely to avoid a handicapped other.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1981

Premature cognitive commitment.

Two experiments examined the effect that the conditions of initial exposure to information have on the "mindless" processing of that information and its subsequent use. It was hypothesized that the context of initial exposure to information limits its subsequent use. Information initially perceived as irrelevant may be uncritically accepted. If that information later becomes relevant, persons become victims of their premature cognitive commitments. In the first experiment, all subjects received information about perceptual deficits while the perceived relevance of that information was manipulated. On assessment tests, all subjects "found" they had this deficit. On follow-up perceptual tasks, the group initially informed that the deficit was seemingly irrelevant showed severe performance decrements relative to other groups. The second experiment used a similar procedure for a perceptual skill rather than a deficit. Here, subjects initially exposed to "irrelevant" information performed more productively than subjects initially exposed to "relevant" information. These results indicate that conditions surrounding initial exposure to information limit its subsequent use. The implications of these data for social, psychological, and physical symptoms are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1980

Role of mindlessness in the perception of deviance.

An experiment was conducted to determine whether a theory of mindfulness could explain the perception of deviance. Subjects viewed a videotape of an individual who was purportedly either a millionaire, an ex-mental patient, a homosexual divorced, or a cancer victim. These individuals were expected to occasion mindfulness because of their statistical novelty, and therefore accurate perceptions of the target individual would be the result. A mindful "normal" and a mindless "normal" control group were included in the design. Since it was assumed that people are typically mindless in their interactions with "normal" others and thereby unaware of quite typical gestures and physical characteristics, it was predicted that all mindful groups would evaluate characteristics of the target individual as extreme and unusual. Both predictions were supported. Mindful groups, whether they were viewing a normal or deviant other and whether or not the deviance was positive or negative, more accurately perceived the target's characteristics than the mindless group and evaluated the particular characteristics as extreme.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Environmental determinants of memory improvement in late adulthood.

Two studies were conducted with nursing home residents to determine whether memory could be improved. This was accomplished by increasing the cognitive demand of the environment and then varying the extent to which residents were motivated to attend to and remember these environmental factors. In Study 1, motivation to practice recommended cognitive activities was manipulated by varying the degree of reciprocal self-disclosure offered by interviewers in a series of dyadic interactions. In Study 2, motivation to practice recommended cognitive activities was manipulated by varying whether positive outcomes were contingent on attending to and remembering these activities, which increased in demand over time. Whether as a function of interpersonal (Study 1) or practical (Study 2) incentives, engaging in cognitive activity resulted in improvement on standard short-term memory tests, including probe recall and pattern recall, as well as in improvement on nurses' ratings of alertness, mental activity, and social adjustment for experimental groups relative to controls.

Aged↗
PubMed1979

When practice makes imperfect: debilitating effects of overlearning.

It was hypothesized that as overlearning leads to "mindlessness," the individual components of a task become relatively inaccessible to consciousness and therefore unavailable to serve as evidence of task competence. This may lead to a decrement in performance if circumstances, for example, a label connoting relative inferiority, lead one to question one's ability. This was tested in the first experiment by varying practice on a task (no practice, moderate practice, and overpractice) by label assigned to subjects (no label, assistant, boss). As predicted, performance decrements resulted for the no practice and overpracticed subjects who were assigned the inferior status label but not for the moderate practice subjects for whom the task components were still salient. In a second experiment it was found that the debilitation could be prevented for an overlearned task by making components of the task salient. Implications for the vulnerability of experts to these performance debilitations are explored.

Achievement↗
PubMed1977

Long-term effects of a control-relevant intervention with the institutionalized aged.

Elderly nursing home residents who were tested as part of an intervention designed to increase feelings of choice and personal responsibility over daily events were reevaluated 18 month later. Nurses' ratings and health and mortality indicators suggest that the experimental treatment and /or the processes that it set in motion had sustained beneficial effects.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1976

The effects of choice and enhanced personal responsibility for the aged: a field experiment in an institutional setting.

A field experiment was conducted to assess the effects of enhanced personal responsibility and choice on a group of nursing home residents. It was expected that the debilitated condition of many of the aged residing in institutional settings is, at least in part, a result of living in a virtually decision-free environment and consequently is potentially reversible. Residents who were in the experimental group were given a communication emphasizing their responsibility for themselves, whereas the communication given to a second group stressed the staff's responsibility for them. In addition, to bolster the communication, the former group was given the freedom to make choices and the responsibility of caring for a plant rather than having decisions made and the plant taken care of for them by the staff, as was the case for the latter group. Questionnaire ratings and behavioral measures showed a significant improvement for the experimental group over the comparison group on alertness, active participation, and a general sense of well-being.

Activities of Daily Living↗