Trait mindfulness reduces the generalization of conditioned fear: a preliminary pilot study

Trait mindfulness refers to an individual’s inherent capacity to maintain sustained awareness and focus on present experiences. This characteristic is naturally present in the population, even without intentional mindfulness training, and is significantly negatively correlated with negative emotions, anxiety, and depression. Fear is an adaptive response to threat, but excessive generalization of fear is a key underlying factor in anxiety disorders. Fear generalization occurs when an individual, having learned to fear a specific threat, extends this fear response to stimuli that share similarities with the original threat but are not directly related to the original danger cue and are not inherently dangerous. Investigating the influence of trait mindfulness on fear generalization and its subsequent extinction is crucial, as mindfulness promotes enhanced perceptual discrimination and non-judgmental awareness. These qualities may enable individuals to more accurately distinguish safe stimuli from conditioned threats, thereby reducing the over-generalization of fear. This preliminary pilot study provides insight into the potential of trait mindfulness as a protective factor in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders. Thirty university students were recruited and categorized into high and low trait mindfulness groups based on their scores on the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale. Subjective expectancy ratings and retrospective fear and valence assessments were used as indicators to examine the effect of trait mindfulness on fear generalization. The results suggested a significant difference between the two groups: individuals with high trait mindfulness tended to exhibited attenuated fear generalization, reflected in lower subjective expectancy ratings (intensity) and a narrower range of stimuli eliciting fear (extent), indicating enhanced discrimination between threat and safety cues (inhibition). However, no significant differences were found between the groups in terms of fear extinction. Overall, these findings provide preliminary evidence that trait mindfulness may be associated with reduced fear generalization. Given that fear over-generalization is a central mechanism in the development of anxiety disorders, these results suggest that mindfulness-related traits may represent a potentially relevant target for assessment and intervention in both clinical and educational settings (e.g., universities).