TIME PERCEPTION AND HASSLES APPRAISAL IN BEGINNING MEDITATORS AND NON-MEDITATORS.
Contributors: New York University.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 145
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Theories of meditation, time perception, hassles appraisal, and coping served as the basis for two hypotheses: (1) beginning meditators will estimate a 60 second time interval as shorter than non-meditators; (2) beginning meditators will appraise fewer and less intense hassles in their daily lives than non-meditators.

A pretest posttest experimental field study was conducted to test the hypotheses. Sixty beginning meditators and 60 non-meditators, working adults 20 to 55 years old with no prior meditation experience, completed participation in the study.

Beginning meditators practiced Focused Awareness based upon Benson's method which focused on the breath and word, "one". Non-meditators practiced Unfocused Awareness by thinking of pleasant, relaxing experiences of the past or future. All subjects practiced a minimum of four times a week over a four week period.

Time perception was operationalized as the estimation of a 60 second time interval measured by the Faehr Electronic Timer with remote control. The appraisal of hassles was operationalized as the mean of the total hassles scores measured by the Hassles and Uplifts Scales (DeLongis, 1986) completed the three consecutive days prior to learning meditation or non-meditation and again prior to the final experimental session.

Hypotheses were analyzed by analysis of covariance with the significance level at.05. Data analyses did not support hypothesis one or two.

Additional data analyses indicated a significant interaction between subjects grouped by age or by regularly praying in church and group membership, beginning meditators and non-meditators, upon time perception and/or uplifts appraisal.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-09, Section: B, page: 3916.

Thesis (PH.D.)--NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, 1989.

School code: 0146.