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The Development of the Difficulties During Meditation Involving Immeasurable Attitudes Scale

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Abstract

The Four Immeasurables Meditations (FIM) are a group of meditations rooted in Buddhism that cultivate pro-social attitudes. Previous studies have reported common difficulties during the practice of the FIM, yet there is no specific measure for those difficulties. The current study intended to develop the Difficulties during Meditation involving Immeasurable Attitudes Scale (DMIAS) to measure two aspects of common difficulties during the FIM practice: lack of concentration (LOC) and lack of pro-social attitudes (LOP). A total of 506 meditation novices were used in four studies. In study 1, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with the data from a one-time practice of loving-kindness meditation was used to produce the 12-item DMIAS with two independent factors that were positively correlated (LOC and LOP). Studies 2, 3, and 4 validated the DMIAS in one-time practices of loving-kindness meditation, appreciative joy meditation, and compassion meditation, respectively. Across studies 2 to 4, confirmatory factor analyses supported the two-factor structure of the DMIAS, and both LOP and LOC had negative correlations with the other-focused positive emotions generated by the meditations. Although manipulations of the target to be blessed (study 3) and the length of practice (study 4) only had small impacts on the effects of meditation, the pattern of correlations between emotional outcomes and certain factors of the DMIAS was significantly different between the manipulated conditions. In summary, the DMIAS is a useful tool in understanding the difficulties during the FIM practice, and the current study also illustrated how technical details of the FIM influences the effects of the FIM practice.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Oei is now an Emeritus Professor of University of Queensland, Visiting Professor (part time) at James Cook University, Singapore and Guest Professor of Department of Psychology, Nanjing University, China. We would like to thank Jing LV, NienChin LIN, Yan GAO, and other anonymous Buddhist experts for evaluating the items.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71702108).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Xianglong Zeng

  2. College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China

    Rong Wang

  3. Department of Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, People’s Republic of China

    Vivian Y. L. Chan

  4. School of Psychology and CBT Unit, Toowong Hospital, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Tian P. S. Oei

  5. Department of Psychology, James Cook University Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Tian P. S. Oei

  6. Shaw College, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong

    Freedom Y. K. Leung

  7. Department of Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China

    Freedom Y. K. Leung

Authors
  1. Xianglong Zeng
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  2. Rong Wang
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  3. Vivian Y. L. Chan
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  4. Tian P. S. Oei
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  5. Freedom Y. K. Leung
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Contributions

XZ and LF designed the study, XZ and VC collected and analyzed data, XZ, RW, and OT wrote the article, and all authors discussed the findings.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Freedom Y. K. Leung.

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Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The procedures were approved by Survey and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Zeng, X., Wang, R., Chan, V.Y.L. et al. The Development of the Difficulties During Meditation Involving Immeasurable Attitudes Scale. Mindfulness 10, 812–823 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-1051-8

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