Professor Ellen Langer once apologized when she bumped into a mannequin, the kind of automatic, mindless response she says robs us of the benefits of being mindfully engaged in day-to-day existence.Langer, the first woman to be tenured in Harvard’s Psychology Department, has spent decades ...
In her research, she explicitly mentions mindlessness in opposition to mindfulness.
Langer, the first woman to be tenured in Harvard’s Psychology Department, has spent decades studying both mindless behavior and its opposite, making her the “mother of mindfulness” to many. She spoke to Alvin Powell from the Harvard Gazette about the power of psychology, the problem with absolutes, and more.
Her research supplies evidence that most of us are “not there” much of the time. When we are mindless, we are not able to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves, we are not able to avert danger not yet arisen, we are not there, and we are oblivious to not being there.
Her research found that most of what people believe, is what they’ve been taught and read about, they’ve learned mindlessly, they’ve learned as absolute fact. And, because everything is always changing and the context is changing, absolutes need to be questioned. And she questioned them. '...You say something “has to be” and my first — almost mindless — knee-jerk reaction is, well, “Why?” And, “How might it be other?”...'
news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/10/ellen-langer-talks-mindfulness-health/
In her research, she explicitly mentions mindlessness in opposition to mindfulness.
Langer, the first woman to be tenured in Harvard’s Psychology Department, has spent decades studying both mindless behavior and its opposite, making her the “mother of mindfulness” to many. She spoke to Alvin Powell from the Harvard Gazette about the power of psychology, the problem with absolutes, and more.
Her research supplies evidence that most of us are “not there” much of the time. When we are mindless, we are not able to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves, we are not able to avert danger not yet arisen, we are not there, and we are oblivious to not being there.
Her research found that most of what people believe, is what they’ve been taught and read about, they’ve learned mindlessly, they’ve learned as absolute fact. And, because everything is always changing and the context is changing, absolutes need to be questioned. And she questioned them. '...You say something “has to be” and my first — almost mindless — knee-jerk reaction is, well, “Why?” And, “How might it be other?”...'
news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/10/ellen-langer-talks-mindfulness-health/
RSS Feed