J David Creswell
Biographic Data
| ID | 3430600 |
|---|---|
| NAME | J David Creswell |
| GIVEN NAMES | J David |
| FAMILY NAME | Creswell |
| SIGNATURE | CRESWELL J D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Carnegie Mellon University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9604-6120 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 53 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The impact of a self-affirmation intervention on the mental and social health, and academic performance of minoritized students in STEM
Racial/ethnic minoritized students are at an increased risk of psychological distress. Supporting these students by providing them with opportunities to flourish could positively impact their mental and social health, and academic performance. This study explored the impact of values affirmation writing (intervention) compared to neutral writing (control) on the mental and social health and academic performance of first year students from minorit…
Mindfulness-based stress reduction and loneliness in older adults: Two randomized controlled trials
Objectives Loneliness is one of the most robust risk factors for morbidity and accelerated mortality among older adults, and effective interventions are needed. However, interventions to reduce loneliness have shown limited success, especially in this population. Indeed, research suggests that simply increasing social contact might not combat loneliness; instead, addressing the cognitive and emotional mechanisms of loneliness might be more effect…
The meditation app revolution
Smartphone-based meditation training has jumped onto the world stage, shifting how millions of people learn and practice meditation. This review examines the rapid proliferation of meditation apps and synthesizes current scientific findings on their usage patterns, efficacy, mechanisms of action, and safety. Though research lags well behind public adoption, recent randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses reveal that app-based meditation int…
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Reduces Proinflammatory Gene Regulation But Not Systemic Inflammation Among Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial
OBJECTIVE: Aging is associated with increased proinflammatory gene expression and systemic inflammation, and psychosocial stress may accelerate these changes. Mindfulness interventions show promise for reducing psychosocial stress and extending healthspan. Inflammatory pathways may play a role. In a sample of lonely older adults, we tested whether mindfulness training reduces proinflammatory gene expression and protein markers of systemic inflamm…
Mindfulness training fosters a positive outlook during acute stress: A randomized controlled trial
The tendency to maintain a positive outlook during adversity associates with better health. Interventions that help people cope with stress by maintaining a positive perspective have potential to improve health. Mindfulness interventions show promise for enhancing positive affect in daily life, and developing acceptance toward momentary experiences may help people notice more positive experiences under stress. In a sample of 153 healthy stressed …
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Buffers Glucocorticoid Resistance Among Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial
OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness interventions have been effective for improving a range of health outcomes; however, pathways underlying these effects remain unclear. Inflammatory processes may play a role, possibly through increased resistance of immune cells to the anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids (i.e., glucocorticoid resistance, or GCR). Here, we conducted an initial examination of whether mindfulness training mitigates GCR among lonely ol…
Harnessing Life’s Slings and Arrows: The Science and Opportunities for Mindfulness Meditation During a Global Pandemic and Beyond
We are at a difficult time in history with societal increases in stress, loneliness, and psychopathology, along with high rates of obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and chronic pain. Mindfulness interventions offer promise to address these societal issues. However, in order to make best use of the opportunities revealed by our current challenges, we must: (1) tackle these issues head-on with inclusive, innovative, and creative experimental designs a…
Mindfulness Training and Physical Health: Mechanisms and Outcomes
OBJECTIVE: There has been substantial research and public interest in mindfulness interventions, biological pathways, and health for the past two decades. This article reviews recent developments in understanding relationships between mindfulness interventions and physical health. METHODS: A selective review was conducted with the goal of synthesizing conceptual and empirical relationships between mindfulness interventions and physical health out…
How mindfulness training promotes positive emotions: Dismantling acceptance skills training in two randomized controlled trials
Mindfulness meditation interventions-which train skills in monitoring present-moment experiences with a lens of acceptance-have shown promise for increasing positive emotions. Using a theory-based approach, we hypothesized that learning acceptance skills in mindfulness interventions helps people notice more positive experiences in daily life, and tested whether removing acceptance training from mindfulness interventions would eliminate interventi…
Mechanisms of mindfulness training: Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT)
Mindfulness Meditation Training and Executive Control Network Resting State Functional Connectivity: A Randomized Controlled Trial
OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness meditation training has been previously shown to enhance behavioral measures of executive control (e.g., attention, working memory, cognitive control), but the neural mechanisms underlying these improvements are largely unknown. Here, we test whether mindfulness training interventions foster executive control by strengthening functional connections between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC)-a hub of the executive contro…
Brief mindfulness meditation training reduces mind wandering: The critical role of acceptance
Mindfulness meditation programs, which train individuals to monitor their present-moment experience in an open or accepting way, have been shown to reduce mind wandering on standardized tasks in several studies. Here we test 2 competing accounts for how mindfulness training reduces mind wandering, evaluating whether the attention-monitoring component of mindfulness training alone reduces mind wandering or whether the acceptance training component…
Mindfulness Interventions
Mindfulness interventions aim to foster greater attention to and awareness of present moment experience. There has been a dramatic increase in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of mindfulness interventions over the past two decades. This article evaluates the growing evidence of mindfulness intervention RCTs by reviewing and discussing (a) the effects of mindfulness interventions on health, cognitive, affective, and interpersonal outcomes; (b) …
Brief mindfulness induction reduces inattentional blindness
How Does Mindfulness Training Affect Health? A Mindfulness Stress Buffering Account
Initial well-controlled studies have suggested that mindfulness training interventions can improve a broad range of mental and physical health outcomes (e.g., HIV pathogenesis, depression relapse, inflammation, drug abuse), yet the underlying pathways linking mindfulness and health are poorly understood. In this article, we offer a mindfulness stress buffering account to explain these health outcomes, which posits that mindfulness-based health ef…
The Effect of a Primary Sexual Reward Manipulation on Cortisol Responses to Psychosocial Stress in Men
OBJECTIVE: Although previous research provides evidence for the role of rewarding activities in reducing hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to stress, no studies have tested whether rewards can buffer cortisol responses in humans undergoing social stressors. METHOD: This study experimentally investigated whether viewing appetitive rewarding pictures reduces cortisol responses to an acute stress challenge. Fifty-four heterosexual men we…
Dispositional mindfulness and depressive symptomatology: Correlations with limbic and self-referential neural activity during rest
To better understand the relationship between mindfulness and depression, we studied normal young adults (n = 27) who completed measures of dispositional mindfulness and depressive symptomatology, which were then correlated with (a) rest: resting neural activity during passive viewing of a fixation cross, relative to a simple goal-directed task (shape-matching); and (b) reactivity: neural reactivity during viewing of negative emotional faces, rel…
Stepping up the pressure: Arousal can be associated with a reduction in male aggression
The attentional myopia model of behavioral control [Mann and Ward, 2007] was tested in an experiment investigating the relationship between physiological arousal and aggression. Drawing on previous work linking arousal and narrowed attentional focus, the model predicts that arousal will lead to behavior that is relatively disinhibited in situations in which promoting pressures to aggress are highly salient. In situations in which inhibitory press…
Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects
Interest in mindfulness and its enhancement has burgeoned in recent years. In this article, we discuss in detail the nature of mindfulness and its relation to other, established theories of attention and awareness in day-to-day life. We then examine theory and evidence for the role of mindfulness in curtailing negative functioning and enhancing positive outcomes in several important life domains, including mental health, physical health, behavior…
Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling
OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness is a process whereby one is aware and receptive to present moment experiences. Although mindfulness-enhancing interventions reduce pathological mental and physical health symptoms across a wide variety of conditions and diseases, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain unknown. Converging evidence from the mindfulness and neuroscience literature suggests that labeling affect may be one mechanism for these effects. ME…
Affirmation of Personal Values Buffers Neuroendocrine and Psychological Stress Responses
Stress is implicated in the development and progression of a broad array of mental and physical health disorders. Theory and research on the self suggest that self-affirming activities may buffer these adverse effects. This study experimentally investigated whether affirmations of personal values attenuate physiological and psychological stress responses. Eighty-five participants completed either a value-affirmation task or a control task prior t…
Mixed methods research designs in counseling psychology.
Over the past 25 years, numerous calls for increased meth-odological diversity and alternative research methods have been made (Gelso, 1979; Goldman, 1976; Howard, 1983). These calls have led to important discussions about incorpo-rating qualitative methods in counseling research and includ-ing qualitative studies in traditional publication outlets (Hosh-mand, 1989; Maione & Chenail, 1999; Morrow & Smith, 2000). They have also led to discussions …
Mindfulness Interventions
Mindfulness interventions aim to foster greater attention to and awareness of present moment experience. There has been a dramatic increase in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of mindfulness interventions over the past two decades. This article evaluates the growing evidence of mindfulness intervention RCTs by reviewing and discussing (a) the effects of mindfulness interventions on health, cognitive, affective, and interpersonal outcomes; (b) …
How mindfulness training promotes positive emotions: Dismantling acceptance skills training in two randomized controlled trials
Mindfulness meditation interventions-which train skills in monitoring present-moment experiences with a lens of acceptance-have shown promise for increasing positive emotions. Using a theory-based approach, we hypothesized that learning acceptance skills in mindfulness interventions helps people notice more positive experiences in daily life, and tested whether removing acceptance training from mindfulness interventions would eliminate interventi…
Stepping up the pressure: Arousal can be associated with a reduction in male aggression
The attentional myopia model of behavioral control [Mann and Ward, 2007] was tested in an experiment investigating the relationship between physiological arousal and aggression. Drawing on previous work linking arousal and narrowed attentional focus, the model predicts that arousal will lead to behavior that is relatively disinhibited in situations in which promoting pressures to aggress are highly salient. In situations in which inhibitory press…
Affirmation of Personal Values Buffers Neuroendocrine and Psychological Stress Responses
Stress is implicated in the development and progression of a broad array of mental and physical health disorders. Theory and research on the self suggest that self-affirming activities may buffer these adverse effects. This study experimentally investigated whether affirmations of personal values attenuate physiological and psychological stress responses. Eighty-five participants completed either a value-affirmation task or a control task prior t…
Mixed methods research designs in counseling psychology.
Over the past 25 years, numerous calls for increased meth-odological diversity and alternative research methods have been made (Gelso, 1979; Goldman, 1976; Howard, 1983). These calls have led to important discussions about incorpo-rating qualitative methods in counseling research and includ-ing qualitative studies in traditional publication outlets (Hosh-mand, 1989; Maione & Chenail, 1999; Morrow & Smith, 2000). They have also led to discussions …
Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects
Interest in mindfulness and its enhancement has burgeoned in recent years. In this article, we discuss in detail the nature of mindfulness and its relation to other, established theories of attention and awareness in day-to-day life. We then examine theory and evidence for the role of mindfulness in curtailing negative functioning and enhancing positive outcomes in several important life domains, including mental health, physical health, behavior…
Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling
OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness is a process whereby one is aware and receptive to present moment experiences. Although mindfulness-enhancing interventions reduce pathological mental and physical health symptoms across a wide variety of conditions and diseases, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain unknown. Converging evidence from the mindfulness and neuroscience literature suggests that labeling affect may be one mechanism for these effects. ME…
Stepping up the pressure: Arousal can be associated with a reduction in male aggression
The attentional myopia model of behavioral control [Mann and Ward, 2007] was tested in an experiment investigating the relationship between physiological arousal and aggression. Drawing on previous work linking arousal and narrowed attentional focus, the model predicts that arousal will lead to behavior that is relatively disinhibited in situations in which promoting pressures to aggress are highly salient. In situations in which inhibitory press…
Dispositional mindfulness and depressive symptomatology: Correlations with limbic and self-referential neural activity during rest
To better understand the relationship between mindfulness and depression, we studied normal young adults (n = 27) who completed measures of dispositional mindfulness and depressive symptomatology, which were then correlated with (a) rest: resting neural activity during passive viewing of a fixation cross, relative to a simple goal-directed task (shape-matching); and (b) reactivity: neural reactivity during viewing of negative emotional faces, rel…
The Effect of a Primary Sexual Reward Manipulation on Cortisol Responses to Psychosocial Stress in Men
OBJECTIVE: Although previous research provides evidence for the role of rewarding activities in reducing hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to stress, no studies have tested whether rewards can buffer cortisol responses in humans undergoing social stressors. METHOD: This study experimentally investigated whether viewing appetitive rewarding pictures reduces cortisol responses to an acute stress challenge. Fifty-four heterosexual men we…
How Does Mindfulness Training Affect Health? A Mindfulness Stress Buffering Account
Initial well-controlled studies have suggested that mindfulness training interventions can improve a broad range of mental and physical health outcomes (e.g., HIV pathogenesis, depression relapse, inflammation, drug abuse), yet the underlying pathways linking mindfulness and health are poorly understood. In this article, we offer a mindfulness stress buffering account to explain these health outcomes, which posits that mindfulness-based health ef…
Brief mindfulness induction reduces inattentional blindness
Brief mindfulness meditation training reduces mind wandering: The critical role of acceptance
Mindfulness meditation programs, which train individuals to monitor their present-moment experience in an open or accepting way, have been shown to reduce mind wandering on standardized tasks in several studies. Here we test 2 competing accounts for how mindfulness training reduces mind wandering, evaluating whether the attention-monitoring component of mindfulness training alone reduces mind wandering or whether the acceptance training component…
Mindfulness Interventions
Mindfulness interventions aim to foster greater attention to and awareness of present moment experience. There has been a dramatic increase in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of mindfulness interventions over the past two decades. This article evaluates the growing evidence of mindfulness intervention RCTs by reviewing and discussing (a) the effects of mindfulness interventions on health, cognitive, affective, and interpersonal outcomes; (b) …
Mechanisms of mindfulness training: Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT)
Mindfulness Meditation Training and Executive Control Network Resting State Functional Connectivity: A Randomized Controlled Trial
OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness meditation training has been previously shown to enhance behavioral measures of executive control (e.g., attention, working memory, cognitive control), but the neural mechanisms underlying these improvements are largely unknown. Here, we test whether mindfulness training interventions foster executive control by strengthening functional connections between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC)-a hub of the executive contro…
How mindfulness training promotes positive emotions: Dismantling acceptance skills training in two randomized controlled trials
Mindfulness meditation interventions-which train skills in monitoring present-moment experiences with a lens of acceptance-have shown promise for increasing positive emotions. Using a theory-based approach, we hypothesized that learning acceptance skills in mindfulness interventions helps people notice more positive experiences in daily life, and tested whether removing acceptance training from mindfulness interventions would eliminate interventi…
Mindfulness Training and Physical Health: Mechanisms and Outcomes
OBJECTIVE: There has been substantial research and public interest in mindfulness interventions, biological pathways, and health for the past two decades. This article reviews recent developments in understanding relationships between mindfulness interventions and physical health. METHODS: A selective review was conducted with the goal of synthesizing conceptual and empirical relationships between mindfulness interventions and physical health out…
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Buffers Glucocorticoid Resistance Among Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial
OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness interventions have been effective for improving a range of health outcomes; however, pathways underlying these effects remain unclear. Inflammatory processes may play a role, possibly through increased resistance of immune cells to the anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids (i.e., glucocorticoid resistance, or GCR). Here, we conducted an initial examination of whether mindfulness training mitigates GCR among lonely ol…
Harnessing Life’s Slings and Arrows: The Science and Opportunities for Mindfulness Meditation During a Global Pandemic and Beyond
We are at a difficult time in history with societal increases in stress, loneliness, and psychopathology, along with high rates of obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and chronic pain. Mindfulness interventions offer promise to address these societal issues. However, in order to make best use of the opportunities revealed by our current challenges, we must: (1) tackle these issues head-on with inclusive, innovative, and creative experimental designs a…
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Reduces Proinflammatory Gene Regulation But Not Systemic Inflammation Among Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial
OBJECTIVE: Aging is associated with increased proinflammatory gene expression and systemic inflammation, and psychosocial stress may accelerate these changes. Mindfulness interventions show promise for reducing psychosocial stress and extending healthspan. Inflammatory pathways may play a role. In a sample of lonely older adults, we tested whether mindfulness training reduces proinflammatory gene expression and protein markers of systemic inflamm…
Mindfulness training fosters a positive outlook during acute stress: A randomized controlled trial
The tendency to maintain a positive outlook during adversity associates with better health. Interventions that help people cope with stress by maintaining a positive perspective have potential to improve health. Mindfulness interventions show promise for enhancing positive affect in daily life, and developing acceptance toward momentary experiences may help people notice more positive experiences under stress. In a sample of 153 healthy stressed …
Mindfulness-based stress reduction and loneliness in older adults: Two randomized controlled trials
Objectives Loneliness is one of the most robust risk factors for morbidity and accelerated mortality among older adults, and effective interventions are needed. However, interventions to reduce loneliness have shown limited success, especially in this population. Indeed, research suggests that simply increasing social contact might not combat loneliness; instead, addressing the cognitive and emotional mechanisms of loneliness might be more effect…
The meditation app revolution
Smartphone-based meditation training has jumped onto the world stage, shifting how millions of people learn and practice meditation. This review examines the rapid proliferation of meditation apps and synthesizes current scientific findings on their usage patterns, efficacy, mechanisms of action, and safety. Though research lags well behind public adoption, recent randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses reveal that app-based meditation int…
The impact of a self-affirmation intervention on the mental and social health, and academic performance of minoritized students in STEM
Racial/ethnic minoritized students are at an increased risk of psychological distress. Supporting these students by providing them with opportunities to flourish could positively impact their mental and social health, and academic performance. This study explored the impact of values affirmation writing (intervention) compared to neutral writing (control) on the mental and social health and academic performance of first year students from minorit…
Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions (17 works) · Psychology (17 works) · Clinical Psychology (14 works) · Mindfulness (14 works) · Medicine (9 works) · Psychotherapist (9 works) · Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes (7 works) · Psychological intervention (7 works) · COVID-19 and Mental Health (6 works) · Developmental psychology (5 works)