Week 6: Mindfulness

A serene landscape depicting mindfulness meditation by a tranquil lake, with soft sunlight filtering through trees, evoking a sense of peace and introspection.

Discovering Mindfulness: A Quiz on Mental Time Travel

Test your knowledge on the fascinating concepts of mindfulness and mental time travel! This quiz explores important aspects of mindfulness practices, including the theory of dereification and the structure of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program.

Understand the relationship between thoughts and reality.
Learn about key features of mindfulness.
Explore the concept of meta-awareness.

13 Questions3 MinutesCreated by ReflectiveMind121

In the context of Mental Time Travel, "Reification" refers to

the experience of the thought-simulation as being an accurate depiction of reality.

The ability to recover from a memory.

The gradually reified projections of the thalamus into the prefrontal cortex.

the tendency to "re-if"; that is, as "if only" again and again.

What is Mental Time Travel?

The ability to mentally travel to other times in one's imagination, although this never occurs in ways that feel like a realistic simulation.

The ability to mentally project oneself into past or future situations in a way that acts like a realistic simulation.

The capacity to mentally travel to the present moment and remain there.

The ability to imagine oneself in the past.

The MBSR program underlies the vast majority of contemporary mindfulness approaches. MBSR stands for

Mindfulness-Based Social Response

Mindful, Beneficial, Social and Responsive

Mindfulness-Based Stress Repression

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Meta-awareness is a capacity cultivated by all styles of mindfulness. Meta-awareness..

Is a metaphysical form of awareness, and that’s why it is “meta-”

Makes the mind especially dull and sleepy

Provides access to the background of experience.

Provides access only to what one is experiencing—namely, objects—without any access to the background of experience

A dereified thought becomes less intense or just dissipates altogether. Why?

Thoughts depend on cognitive effort, so it is not possible to repeatedly think about something.

It loses its salience because it is no longer taken to be real (after all, you can't eat the thought of a strawberry).

All of these answers are correct.

It becomes more salient because it seems so real.

The "Lake Wobegon" effect is part of a hypothesis about the high rates of self-loathing in the United States. What is it?

An ideological belief, acquired at an early age, that children are generally just average, so they should not expect to succeed.

An ideological belief that suppressing emotions will lead to happiness.

An ideological belief, common among persons in the United States, that living near lakes will make you happy.

An ideological belief, acquired at an early age, that "all children are above average"; thus, children develop expectations about achieving high social status like a rock star.

Dereification is a cognitive capacity trained through mindfulness practice. Dereification is a process that involves...

Entering into a trance-like state where everything is "dereified," that is, unreal.

Experiencing one’s thoughts just as thoughts, and not as true representations of reality.

Experiencing one’s thoughts as true representations of reality.

Avoiding one’s thoughts as much as possible.

According to the founder of MBSR, in exploring the nature of I, me, and mine:

Identifying negativity reduces its imprint.

Self-care increases the activity of the default mode network.

The question is more important than the answer.

All of the above are true

According to the theory of implicit meta-awareness discussed in class, meta-awareness enables one to report how one was feeling about an experience such as seeing a beautiful sunrise. How does this work?

While one is absorbed in the beautiful sunrise, meta-awareness makes one aware of affective states and other "background" aspects of experience, even though they are not the object of one's attention.

Meta-awareness creates a second consciousness that observes everything in the first consciousness.

During the experience, meta-awareness enables one to quickly look inward and check on how one is feeling; the one can turn back to the object of the experience (such as the sunrise).

Meta-awareness sees all thoughts as unreal, so it actually would not be helpful for noticing how one feels.

Mindfulness practice is best facilitated by sustaining an attitude that does not involve aversion. Why is it important to be non-aversive in the context of mindfulness?

An aversive stance will make one more likely to focus too tightly on the object.

Experience is naturally aversive, and mindfulness is trying to work against all of one's natural tendencies.

If you are averse to your own experience, you will not be able to examine it.

Aversion is generally a good thing, but not in this context.

What is the operational definition of mindfulness discussed in class?

Paying attention, without intention, in the present moment, explicitly

Paying attention, continuously, and with maximal effort

Paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non judgmentally

Paying attention, with dereification and meta awareness

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Week 6: Mindfulness

Discovering Mindfulness: A Quiz on Mental Time Travel

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