Self-Determination Theory: An Approach to Human Motivation and Personality
 
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Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)

Scale Description | The Scale
Download the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale in a Word file

Scale Description

The concept of mindfulness has a long lineage, dating back more than 2500 years, and writings in SDT have discussed the importance of this, and related qualities of consciousness for behavioral self-regulation and well-being. Mindfulness is an open or receptive awareness of and attention to what is taking place in the present. The construct has been operationalized in dispositional terms by the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), a 15-item self-report instrument with a single factor. The scale has been validated in college, working adult, and cancer patient populations. A description of the scale and its validation can be found in Brown and Ryan (2003). The scale is shown below, followed by information about scoring.

The Scale

Day-to-Day Experiences

Instructions: Below is a collection of statements about your everyday experience. Using the 1-6 scale below, please indicate how frequently or infrequently you currently have each experience. Please answer according to what really reflects your experience rather than what you think your experience should be. Please treat each item separately from every other item.

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Almost Always
Very frequently
Somewhat Frequently
Somewhat Infrequently
Very Infrequently
Almost Never

 

I could be experiencing some emotion and not be conscious of it until some time later.
 
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I break or spill things because of carelessness, not paying attention, or thinking of something else.
  
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I find it difficult to stay focused on what's happening in the present.
  
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I tend to walk quickly to get where I'm going without paying attention to what I experience along the way.
  
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I tend not to notice feelings of physical tension or discomfort until they really grab my attention.
  
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I forget a person's name almost as soon as I've been told it for the first time.
  
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It seems I am "running on automatic," without much awareness of what I'm doing.
  
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I rush through activities without being really attentive to them  
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I get so focused on the goal I want to achieve that I lose touch with what I'm doing right now to get there
  
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I do jobs or tasks automatically, without being aware of what I'm doing.
  
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I find myself listening to someone with one ear, doing something else at the same time
  
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I drive places on "automatic pilot" and then wonder why I went there.
  
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I find myself preoccupied with the future or the past.  
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I find myself doing things without paying attention.  
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I snack without being aware that I'm eating.  
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Scoring information

To score the scale, simply compute a mean of the 15 items. Higher scores reflect higher levels of dispositional mindfulness.

Validation article

Brown, K.W. and Ryan, R.M. (2003). The benefits of being present: The role of mindfulness in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822-848.
PDF Download this article in .pdf format (for Personal Use Only)

Other selected writings on mindfulness

Brown, K.W. and Ryan, R.M. (2004). Fostering healthy self-regulation from within and without: A Self-Determination Theory perspective. In P.A. Linley & S. Joseph (Eds.), Positive psychology in practice (pp. 105-124) . New York: Wiley.

Hodgins, H.S. & Knee, C.R. (2002). The integrating self and conscious experience. In E.L. Deci & R.M. Ryan (Eds), Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 87-100). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.

Ryan, R.M. & Deci, E.L. (2004). Autonomy is no illusion: Self-Determination Theory and the empirical study of authenticity, awareness, and will. In J. Greenberg, S. Koole & T. Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology (pp. 449-479). New York: Guilford.

Ryan, R.M. and Brown, K.W. (2003). Why we don't need self-esteem: On fundamental needs, contingent love, and mindfulness. Psychological Inquiry, 14, 27-82.
PDF Download this article in .pdf format (for Personal Use Only)

 

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Last Modified:Monday, 27-Nov-2006 17:05:46 EST