# Ellen Langer

Ellen Jane Langer (/ˈlæŋər/; born March 25, 1947) is an American professor of psychology at Harvard University; in 1981, she became the first woman ever to be tenured in psychology at Harvard. She is widely known as the "mother of mindfulness" and the "mother of positive psychology". Langer studies the illusion of control, decision-making, aging, and mindfulness theory. Her most influential work is Counterclockwise, published in 2009, the first test of her mind/body unity theory. Her most recent book, The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health, published in 2023, argues for the enormous control we have over our health based on mind/body unity.

## Early life and education

Langer was born in The Bronx, New York. She received a bachelor's degree in psychology from New York University, and her PhD in Social and Clinical Psychology from Yale University in 1974.

## Career

Langer has had a significant influence on the positive psychology movement. Along with being known as the mother of positive psychology, her contributions to the study of mindfulness have earned her the moniker of the "mother of mindfulness." Her work helped to presage mind/body medicine, which has been regarded by many scientists to be an important intellectual movement and one that now has "considerable evidence that an array of mind-body therapies can be used as effective adjuncts to conventional medical treatment." She has co-authored experimental research indicating a connection between time perception and wound healing.
She has published over 200 articles and academic texts, was published in The New York Times, and discussed her works on Good Morning America. Additionally, in many introductory psychology courses at universities across the United States, her studies are required reading.
Many regard Langer as a trailblazer who initiated a transformative shift in perspective. Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor, stated in the 1989 anthology Unintended Thought, “[Langer] pointed out that social inference is not always a conscious and deliberate act; rather it is often the province of mindless automata.” He further noted, “This clarion call was widely appreciated, and if Langer did not quite set the stage for a psychology of unconscious social inference, she at least rented the theatre.”

### Aging

Langer and colleagues have conducted multiple forms of research to promote the flexibility of aging. Some of her most impactful work has been her research on her famous Counterclockwise Study (1979). This study found that when elderly men were temporarily placed in a setting that recreated their past, their health improved, and they even looked younger. This study was originally published by Oxford University Press and later described in her best seller, Mindfulness. It is the basis of what is now called Reminiscence Therapy. The study was the basis of a British Academy of Film and Television Awards nominated BBC series, The Young Ones. The original study was published in a chapter of a book edited by Langer published by Oxford University Press. In 2018, the counterclockwise study was repeated in Italy, but the results have not been published as of 2024. Langer and colleagues have explored the theory of mind/body which the counterclockwise study is a part more broadly.
Other important work has shown that rewarding behaviors and following completion of memory tasks improves memory. Another study showed that among nursing home patients, simply taking care of a plant improves mental and physical health, as well as life expectancy. By having chambermaids call their everyday activity “exercise” rather than “labor,” Langer found that the chambermaids experienced a myriad of health benefits including: "a decrease in their systolic blood pressure, weight, and waist-to-hip ratio."

### Mindfulness

Langer is well known for her contributions to the study of mindfulness and of mindless behaviour, with these contributions having provided the basis for many studies focused on individual differences in unconscious behavior and decision-making processes in humans. Although she initially studied meditation as well, her larger contribution is to the study of mindfulness without meditation. Langerian research on mindfulness has been shown to Granger-cause or lead other research in mindfulness.
In 1989, she published Mindfulness, her first book, showing its widespread influence and application to business, education, science, art, and interpersonal relationships, and she is widely known as the "mother of mindfulness". Langer defines mindfulness as "the simple act of noticing new things." The Langer Mindfulness Scale aims to proxy for measures of this form of mindfulness. Langer says that mindfulness can help teach that "uncertainty is the rule rather than the exception."

## Awards

In 1980, she was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Other honors include the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest of the American Psychological Association, the NYU Alumni Achievement Award, the Liberty Science Center Genius Award, the Distinguished Contributions of Basic Science to Applied Psychology award from the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology, the James McKeen Cattel Award, and the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize.

## Bibliography (selection)

* Langer, Ellen J. (1989). Mindfulness. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-52341-6.
* Langer, Ellen J. (1997). The Power of Mindful Learning. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-33991-8.
* Langer, Ellen J. (2005). On Becoming an Artist. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-45629-8.
* Langer, Ellen J. (2009). Counter clockwise: mindful health and the power of possibility. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-50204-9.