Data from the paper: Mind-body practices and the self: Yoga and meditation do not quiet the ego, but instead boost self-enhancement

Item Type:	Dataset
Title:	Data from the paper: Mind-body practices and the self: Yoga and meditation do not quiet the ego, but instead boost self-enhancement
Date:	5 February 2018
Creator:	Gebauer, Jochen
Divisions (Free):	Professorship for Cross-Cultural Social and Personality Psychology

DDC Classification:	150 Psychology
Keywords:	Self-Centrality, Self-Enhancement, Yoga, Meditation, Mindfulness
Abstract:	Mind-body practices enjoy immense public and scientific interest. Yoga and meditation are highly popular. Purportedly, they foster well-being by “quieting the ego” or, more specifically, curtailing self-enhancement. However, this ego-quieting effect contradicts an apparent psychological universal, the self-centrality principle. According to this principle, practicing any skill renders it self-central, and self-centrality breeds self-enhancement. We examined those opposing predictions in the first tests of mind-body practices’ self-enhancement effects. Experiment 1 followed 93 yoga students over 15 weeks, assessing self-centrality and self-enhancement after yoga practice (yoga condition, n=246) and without practice (control condition, n=231). Experiment 2 followed 162 meditators over 4 weeks (meditation condition: n=246; control condition: n=245). Self-enhancement was higher in the yoga (Experiment 1) and meditation (Experiment 2) conditions, and those effects were mediated by greater self-centrality. Additionally, greater self-enhancement mediated mind-body practices’ well-being benefits. Evidently, neither yoga nor meditation quiet the ego; instead, they boost self-enhancement.

URL:	https://madata.bib.uni-mannheim.de/266/
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.7801/266
Availability (Controlled):	Download
Availability:	accessible to everybody
DOI (External):	https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618764621
Project:	Project Title: Mind-body practices and the self: Yoga and meditation do not quiet the ego, but instead boost self-enhancement Project Description: Mind-body practices enjoy immense public and scientific interest. Yoga and meditation are highly popular. Purportedly, they foster well-being by “quieting the ego” or, more specifically, curtailing self-enhancement. However, this ego-quieting effect contradicts an apparent psychological universal, the self-centrality principle. According to this principle, practicing any skill renders it self-central, and self-centrality breeds self-enhancement. We examined those opposing predictions in the first tests of mind-body practices’ self-enhancement effects. Experiment 1 followed 93 yoga students over 15 weeks, assessing self-centrality and self-enhancement after yoga practice (yoga condition, n=246) and without practice (control condition, n=231). Experiment 2 followed 162 meditators over 4 weeks (meditation condition: n=246; control condition: n=245). Self-enhancement was higher in the yoga (Experiment 1) and meditation (Experiment 2) conditions, and those effects were mediated by greater self-centrality. Additionally, greater self-enhancement mediated mind-body practices’ well-being benefits. Evidently, neither yoga nor meditation quiet the ego; instead, they boost self-enhancement.

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File	Filename / Infos	Link
	Csv/Excel (experiment 1 data) Filename: yoga.csv Unit Type: Event/Process Unit Count: 477 Variable Count: 23	Download (24kB)
	Csv/Excel (experiment 2 data) Filename: meditation.csv Unit Type: Event/Process Unit Count: 491 Variable Count: 83	Download (125kB)

Depositing User:	Jochen Gebauer
Date Deposited:	05 Feb 2018 12:40
Last Modified:	15 Jan 2019 16:44

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