Other exercises cited from the Buddhist masters as cited by Bodhi include focussing on everyday activities which in a monastic life are somewhat restricted but include ablutions, the cycle of the day from getting up to falling asleep, how one’s limbs move when walking.
One final concept needs clarification before we leave mindfulness and that is the concept of the self that has a pivotal role to play in the consumer related identities we construct whether that is celebrating our uniqueness or group membership. In many Western societies, the possibilities provided by collective experience and practise are limited and individualism is the default principle 22 in so many aspects of their daily lives. The self is stitched into our consumption practices, and many models of choice or more generally how we make up our minds and decide, assume an agentive process which is the self. How can there be no self? Verhaeghen (2017) argues that the state of no-self (anattā) is a goal en route to escaping from the eternal cycle of birth-suffering-rebirth and that the practice of mindful meditation is important here. He argued (citing data obtained from functional magnetic resonance imaging 23 of the brain) that autobiographical or narrative memory is located in specific structures of the brain and meditation can have a role to play citing meta-analyses by Tomasino et al. (2013) and Fox et al. (2016) of 57 studies altogether that monitored fMRI activity during meditation. The results certainly demonstrate that the first steps toward loosening the power of the self are to effectively block it from its roots in your past and protect it from your plans in the future. By suppressing and using meditation, the autobiographical aspects of the self became temporarily unavailable. Even participants with a little experience are capable of achieving that. Verhaeghen also cites two case studies which look at fMRI evidence using very experienced practitioners of mindfulness which showed that ‘deep’ brain structures 24 were deactivated (Verhaeghen, op. cit., p. 31).
Before we leave this section there is one more issue to look at which I left unanswered and that was an antidote to the extremes we pursue when totally involved 25 in a pursuit. Are there alternative metaphors to the ones where ‘bigger is better’ with the various offshoots and hybrids based on that theme? There is and you’ll find it on a flag, the flag of South Korea . Google ‘yin yang ’ on ‘images’ and you’ll find hundreds of variants of this symbol. There is nothing mystical about this and you’ll find it in many examples of your everyday life as consumers. It symbolises complementarity. Isaac Newton’s 3rd law of motion (for each action there is an equal and opposite reaction) is not the same unless you add something along the lines of ‘and the two opposing forces hold the world together’ because the symbol means nothing if you try and analyse it into parts. It is an essential part of Taoism and is well known in the Western world as well. The symbol represents a world view which emphasises balance and harmony and, most importantly, it is articulated in everyday life in China 26 and parts of South East Asia. Two examples 27 will suffice. One is Chinese food symbolism and the other is t’ai chi ch’uan (太極拳) which is a form of slow exercise. Chinese food symbolism is similar to a balanced diet but it’s based on a folk taxonomy where a binary system of classification operates called hot (熱氣) [pronounced ‘yeet hai’ in Cantonese] and cold (涼) [pronounced ‘laang’ in Cantonese]. Balancing the two is conducive to good health and an imbalance can contribute to illness. ‘Hot’ (yang) foods include: Chili, ginger, mango, cherry, duck, beef, cinnamon, nutmeg, almonds, peanuts, eggs, glutinous rice, garlic, sesame oil, alcohol. ‘Cold’ (yin) foods include: Mung beans, aubergines, bean sprout, bitter melon, cucumber, cabbage, Chinese leaves, tofu, watercress, watermelon, melon, crabs and clams. Yang cooking methods are usually frying (deep and stir) and roasting whereas yin cooking involves boiling, poaching or steaming. Although Chinese diet today includes influences from the West, there will still be Chinese social influences and ancient traditions of diet structure operating.
T’ai chi is a prescribed set of body movements often performed in groups early in the morning as an exercise. It involves a learnt sequence of actions and there is a short and long form of the practice. The practitioner needs to coordinate her movements which complement each other in various directions e.g. up and down, forward and back and these are prescribed in detail by the teacher or in the manual (e.g. Lu, 1973). Done well, it is an embodiment of the principles of yin and yang.
So both eating and exercising, routines that constitute part of our everyday lives reproduce this basic structure where opposition is resolved and strength discovered at the centre. The principle can be articulated as beliefs, such as compromise being preferred over dissent and mutual agreement a right solution to be preferred to the domination of an extreme view. 28
Finally does mindfulness work? Certainly there are plenty of enthusiasts who are keen on its practice and can be evangelical about its application as a panacea for the stresses and strains of the twenty-first century. In the area of alleviating anxiety and mood symptoms a meta-analysis by Hofmann , Sawyer, Witt, and Oh (2010) concluded that there was a robust effect size that produced a moderate improvement in these symptoms. In an evaluation however of a programme for use with early adolescents who might not necessarily be the most receptive and cooperative of audiences, Johnson , Burke, Brinkman, and Wade (2017) found no effect at all of this mindfulness programme and concluded rather ruefully that perhaps teens are too cynical to benefit from mindfulness (Jarrett, 2017).
Back to Consumer Psychology
Why have we gone on a journey through all this stuff about Buddhism and mindfulness? You may well ask and I might reply with ‘Because it’s relevant’. It’s relevant in at least a couple of ways. Firstly, the idea of different states of involvement, engagement , interest or just attention is a prime characteristic of the human mind which gets itself into all sorts of states. The usual textbook coverage is limited to two levels although there is a continuous gradation between thoughtful, focussed decision making and fast direct action generated decision-making with changes made ‘on the fly’ 29 to accommodate to a rapidly changing environment . In addition there are other states of mind that go beyond the changing balance between thoughtful consideration and direct ideation and action. I have mentioned flow, mindfulness and meditation, as well as the current fetish with extreme achievements and a general ‘further, higher, faster’ view of achievement. Yaden , Haidt, Hood, Vago, and Newberg (2017) have reviewed what they call self-transcendent experiences . These mental events are episodes with a quality which I can best describe as a push and pull dynamic. We are pushed from a bodily sense of self and pulled into a sense of connection with others. There is a dissolving of boundaries and a communion with the collective. This is not exactly like mindfulness but using the definition the authors are able to recognise flow and mindfulness and some more as well. For example, awe (Bai et al., 2017) which is a feeling of insignificance in the face of a great visionary landscape, piece of music, even an understanding of a new theory or perceiving an iconic painting for the first time. The peak experience is part of the hierarchy of needs proposed by Maslow in the last century but the hierarchy has largely fallen out of fashion in consumer psychology these days, probably because such grand visions of how humanity progresses fell out of favour over the 70 years or so since it was formulated. Briefly Maslow proposed that humankind needed to satisfy basic needs which are physiological (e.g. thirst and hunger), before moving on to being driven to creating a safe environment to live in then establishing more warm social relationships (love, actually) to various self-related pluses like maintaining self-esteem and achieving self-actualisation (you become who you want to be). Then, occasionally, a peak experience ; la cerise sur le sundae. This is when pure happiness is experienced. Needless to say it only emerges, occasionally, when the other stages have been achieved. I hope this gives you an understanding of the various kinds of experiences that humans go through and how psychologists classify and analyse them. Marketers who are involved in selling experiential products such as adventure
holidays, vacations off the beaten track will want to know their clients and how they define their experience and share it with others through word of mouth or the various electronic forms of spreading the word. Mountaineering, parachuting 30 as a ninetieth birthday treat, the awe induced by seeing the Northern Lights or flying over the Grand Canyon; these are the sorts of experiences that consumers will want to indulge in.
Finally can we as consumers apply mindfulness to the experience of consumption ? Maybe a vision of the Buddhist going to the biggest mall in the world might make a film title but maintaining equanimity, centring, accepting would stretch even the most assiduous seeker after truth. However a lot of the strength of mindfulness is its application to the routines of consumption, the endless running and re-running of the consumption cycle and how we focus on the acquisition and disposal (as all things do pass) of stuff. Our bodies stretch, our legs swing and we stand, walk, shower, dry ourselves, clean our teeth…and barely 20 minutes will have passed from the 24 hours. We continuously use products and brands, lose them, misplace and replace them. We watch TV collectively (sometimes) in our home which we clean, tidy up, maybe think about selling or renting another one. The routines of everyday life are not just filled with planning for several consumption cycles (need a new season ticket; must finish coffee) as we switch from one to another but they involve actions like swiping credit cards, wrapping, stowing stuff in a cramped flat, opening a well-wrapped gift and breaking a finger nail, and trying to work out how the TV remote control works. And so on. Nilsson and Kazemi (2016) looked at 33 definitions of mindfulness and extracted what they reckoned were four essential ingredients: attention followed by awareness; being in the present; the role of external events; and cultivation and character development. To which was added, ethical-mindedness which pervaded the Buddhist tradition. These five comprise the core elements of mindfulness. Let’s see how these can be applied to one’s everyday consumption practices. You might want to join me.
Attention Followed by Awareness
I am eating, and I realise I attack my food and chew it just a little before swallowing. I become aware of this and slow down, chewing more and focussing on the texture, taste and any surprises from a mouthful. I feel enjoyment seeping into this and I’m alert and talk to my companion without eating. I am emptying the dishwasher and thinking of other things. I crack a plate as it hits the open door of the cupboard ‘where the plates go’. Am I dyspraxic? Focus on ordinary life and see it as calm peaceful action and get rid of labels!
Being in the Present
I am walking my dog along a beach on an island off the coast of England. We’re on holiday. I’m thinking of what I’ll be doing when I get back to work the next day then how this beach reminded me of when I was a child. I then focus on the wind, the spray, the colours and the feel on my feet on the sand and touch a feeling—an exquisite mix of great sadness and pure joy.
The Role of External Events
I am traveling by train to London where I have an important appointment when the train suddenly stops. I get anxious and gradually start planning for the worst possible scenario. I grind my teeth and feel my breath quickening. Focus on breathing and my mouth and relax.
Cultivation and Character Development
How do I develop my character through mindful consumption ? I used to consume media by reading a paper and watching TV and switching between the two. By watching each separately I now consume each mindfully. I read the newspaper privately alone, and consuming TV with the family is a social occasion when we laugh and poke fun at presenters and actors.
Ethical-Mindedness
I was ironing clothes for the family. I ironed my daughter’s blouse (which has an expensive brand label) inside out so that the outside was not accidentally glazed from the hot iron. The stitching was done poorly with ragged edges on the cloth and the label said Made in Bangladesh. I then realised the disparity between the pay of these workers and the price of the finished garment. Many of you will be able to add your own experiences here.
Most of my students think that mindfulness is an intricate and profound idea (they have no problem with that as the image of the concept is still mysterious and vaguely Far Eastern). However if it’s applied to ordinary and mundane activities such as ‘housework’ then the idea becomes a bit ludicrous in their eyes and maybe yours too. Zen and the art of ironing? Although such unease may be just a linguistic sensitivity to the clash between ordinary and elevated terms that occurs in bathos, 31 I suspect there’s more cultural baggage here too that many of us accept. Housework is drudgery. It should be treated with disdain. Getting too involved means you are boring, dull and your mind should be on higher, cerebral interesting ideas—not IKEA’s! Anyway having a chaotic household which we don’t dust is what everyone is like and of course dirt is natural.
I hope you get my point and recognise this attitude in yourselves and others. I do.
Notes
1. Barry and Howard (1990, Table 2) have identified ten different models from 1898 to 1956 that preceded Lavidge and Steiner (1961) and eight after Lavidge and Steiner (1961) until 1984 (Barry & Howard, 1990, Table 3).
2.Pronounced Zie (as in ‘tie’) on-s.
3.Constructing stimulus material in this way by a random non-human process has a long tradition in experimental psychology.
4.This was done using a binary forced choice paradigm i.e. two choices—you have to choose one. One you had been exposed to before and another you hadn’t been exposed to before so it was completely new. If you got 50% right you were performing at chance level which would be the average score if you were guessing when asked to choose one out of two.
5.According to the original paper this was an extraordinary 1 millisecond with lowered illumination.
6.Not just broadcast material both audio-visual on TV and billboard but also targeting audiences which the others tended not to reach.
7.…and carefully as for some readers appealing to genetics and suggesting we are affected by our personal history over millennia causes you to slip into System 1 thinking and start muttering ‘free will’ and even ‘Fascist’.
8.My dislike of acronyms does not include this example which stands for ‘million years ago’. Easily remembered, useful and the abbreviation refers to a simple basic English phrase.
9.The problem about assuming an executive function that looks after all the modules and coordinates them is known as the homunculus problem which is a vision of a little person in the mind doing this executive work. Then who coordinates this person and so on.
10.The earliest exception to this was Middleton and Edwards (1990) collection on collective remembering.
11.See for example the seminal work of Elizabeth Loftus (1993).
12.My apologies for the name but as you will realise any reasonable brand name has already been taken up. Firms can be jealously protective of their intellectual property rights and I don’t want to be accused of ‘passing off’.
13.A review of some of the explicit measures can be found in Krishnan and Chakravarti (1999).
14.Dunbar’s lemonade—one of my nostalgia brands.
15.Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game—like World of Warcraft.
16.Some of you might have come across this in courses on research methodology. The original description mentioned ‘issuing pagers to participants’ but no doubt these days an app on a smartphone is all that’s needed. If not, then get in there and market one!
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