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Mindful Learning

Article  in  Current Directions in Psychological Science · December 2000

DOI: 10.1111/1467-8721.00099

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220 VOLUME 9, NUMBER 6, DECEMBER 2000

more time “not there” than we

Mindful Learning know, and the consequences for us
are real and often profound. When
Ellen J. Langer1
we believe we are encountering
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts something novel, we approach it
mindfully. When we believe we
know something well, we tend to
very goals we are trying to accom- view it mindlessly. As will become
Abstract clear, there is power in uncertainty,
plish. The mind-sets we hold re-
Mindfulness, achieved with- yet most of us mistakenly seek cer-
garding learning more often than
out meditation, is discussed tainty.
not encourage mindlessness, al-
with particular reference to Experimental research, con-
though learning requires mindful
learning. Being mindful is the ducted over 25 years, reveals that
engagement with the material in
simple act of drawing novel the costs of mindlessness, and the
question. Before examining some
distinctions. It leads us to benefits of mindfulness, are vast
of these mind-sets, it may be useful
greater sensitivity to context and often profound. Mindfulness
to define mindlessness and mind-
and perspective, and ulti- results in an increase in compe-
fulness and briefly review the re-
mately to greater control over tence; a decrease in accidents; an
sults of research that reveals some
our lives. When we engage in increase in memory, creativity, and
of the costs of mindlessness, to
mindful learning, we avoid positive affect; a decrease in stress;
make apparent why we might
forming mind-sets that unnec- and an increase in health and lon-
want to pursue mindful learning.
essarily limit us. Many of our gevity, to name a few of the ben-
beliefs about learning are efits.
mind-sets that have been
mindlessly accepted to be true. MINDFULNESS AND
Consideration is given to some MINDLESSNESS:
of the consequences that result DEFINITIONS
HOW DOES
from a mindful reconsideration MINDLESSNESS COME
of these myths of learning. Mindfulness is a flexible state of ABOUT?
mind in which we are actively en-
Keywords gaged in the present, noticing new
mindfulness; mindlessness; things and sensitive to context. The way we initially learn sets
learning When we are in a state of mindless- us up for mindlessness or mindful-
ness, we act like automatons who ness. There are two ways mindless-
have been programmed to act ac- ness comes about: repetition and
One of the primary issues in cording to the sense our behavior single exposure. The first is the
education today concerns the ques- made in the past, rather than the more familiar way. If we repeat
tion of what should be taught in present. Instead of actively draw- something over and over, we come
our schools. The research my col- ing new distinctions, noticing new to rely on our mind-set for how to
leagues and I have been conduct- things, as we do when we are accomplish the goal. For example,
ing over several years now sug- mindful, when we are mindless we most of us have had the experience
gests that “what we teach” may be rely on distinctions drawn in the of driving a familiar route so often
less important than “how we teach past. We are stuck in a single, rigid that the car seems to get to the des-
it.” Moreover, the reconsidered perspective, and we are oblivious tination by itself, without any ac-
rules for learning speak as much to to alternative ways of knowing. tive intervention by us. The second
learning outside the classroom as When we are mindless, our behav- way mindlessness occurs is on ini-
inside. ior is rule and routine governed; tial exposure to information. If
Whenever we attempt to learn when we are mindful, rules and when first given information we
something, whether it is a new con- routines may guide our behavior process it without questioning al-
tent area, a sport, the way to play a rather than predetermine it. ternative ways the information
musical instrument, or a new way We cannot have the felt experi- could be understood, we take it in
to approach our businesses or our ence of being mindless; that would mindlessly. When information is
relationships, we rely on ways of require mindfulness. Therefore, processed mindlessly, we essen-
learning that typically work to our most of us think that we are mind- tially make a commitment to a
detriment and virtually prevent the ful. However, we spend much single way of understanding it.

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 CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 221

Even if it later would be to our ad- consider how information looks

vantage to view the information different from different perspec- MYTHS ABOUT LEARNING
differently, if we learned it mind- tives, we become aware of the un-
lessly, it will not occur to us to re- certainty inherent in our “context-
consider it. free” facts. Myth 1: The Basics Should Be
When we ignore perspective, we Learned So Well That They
tend to confuse the stability of our Become Second Nature
mind-sets with the stability of the
MINDLESS VERSUS underlying phenomenon: All the
MINDFUL LEARNING while things are changing and at According to this myth, we
any one moment they are different should learn “the basics” so well
from different perspectives, yet we that they can be enacted mind-
Most teaching unintentionally
hold them still in our minds as if lessly. If we do that, then it will not
fosters mindlessness. Facts are
they were constant. If we get our occur to us to change them when it
typically presented as closed pack-
cholesterol level checked, for ex- would be advantageous to do so.
ages, without attention to perspec-
ample, and we are asked what it is, (Whose basics are “the basics” any-
tive. Scientists know that research
we give the same answer whether way? Should a small woman ap-
results in findings that are prob-
it was checked yesterday or a year proach a sport, e.g., the same way a
ably true given the context in
ago—as if all the shellfish we had very tall man does?) Several years
which the work was tested (e.g.,
all summer and the exercise we ago, Alison Piper and I conducted
most of the time, under the stated
failed to have in the winter made research testing the idea that if we
circumstances, horses are herbivo-
no difference. If our cholesterol learn information mindfully when
rous). When these findings are re-
level starts off low, we can keep it we first encounter it, we will be
ported by teachers or in textbooks,
down by never checking it again! able to use the information in cre-
they are translated from probabili-
As another example, consider hav- ative ways in the future (Langer &
ties into absolute statements (e.g.,
ing mindlessly learned, as many of Piper, 1987). In that work, we intro-
horses are herbivorous) that hide
us have, that if the car starts to skid duced research participants to sev-
the uncertainty. Consider how
on a slippery surface, we should eral different objects in a way we
much more interesting and engag-
ing statements of probability are; gently pump the brakes to mini- believed would encourage mind-
they tend to lead us to wonder mize accidents. Many of us still do lessness (e.g., “This is a dog’s chew
about when the information may this while driving cars with an- toy”) or in a manner we thought
or may not be true, and even to tilock brakes. For these cars, how- would encourage mindfulness
consider how to change one fact to ever, the best way to avoid acci- (e.g., “This could be a dog’s chew
its opposite (e.g., when might dents is to firmly hold down the toy”). A need for an eraser then
horses eat meat? what are the ad- brakes. The context has changed, arose, and we were interested in
vantages and disadvantages?). but mindlessly learned behavior seeing who would spontaneously
Facts, whether derived from sci- typically does not. think to use the “chew toy” in a
ence or not, are not context-free; Virtually all of our facts depend creative way, as an eraser. The par-
their meaning and usefulness de- on context. For example, one plus ticipants introduced to the object
pend on the situation. “What are one does not equal two in all num- conditionally were the only ones to
the three reasons for the Civil ber systems. More graphically, one respond mindfully.
War?” a high school teacher might wad of chewing gum plus one wad More recently, my colleagues
ask. But from whose perspective of chewing gum equals one wad of and I taught research subjects a
should the question be answered? gum, not two. If we learn mind- new sport, “smack-it ball,” in
Surely, for example, a 30-year-old fully, we are more likely to realize which each hand wears a glovelike
black woman from Georgia in 1865, this. In the following section, I de- racket. One group was taught the
a 60-year-old black male in Europe scribe how several myths or mind- game in the traditional absolute
in 1953, and a white politician in sets we have about learning may fashion, the other group was
1968 would not all feel the same actually detract from our ability to taught it in a conditional way to
about the war’s causes. Who de- learn. I also discuss research and foster mindful learning. Rather
cides what perspective is repre- examples that suggest how mind- than being told this is how you
sented and why? The way informa- ful learning can turn these disad- play smack-it ball, they were told,
tion is typically given, it does not vantages into advantages (Langer, here is how it could be played—
even occur to us to ask. Once we 1997). with language that suggested

Copyright © 2000 American Psychological Society

222 VOLUME 9, NUMBER 6, DECEMBER 2000

variation and perspective. After (Levy & Langer, in press), children they are learning, and the experi-
they were well practiced, we sur- with attention problems (Langer, ence tends to be positive (Langer,
reptitiously changed the ball they Carson, & Shih, in press), or even 1997; cf. Fox & Langer, 1999).
were using to one that was much Harvard undergraduates (Bodner
heavier. Subjects who learned the & Langer, 1995), when they were
game mindfully were more likely instructed to vary the target of at-
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
to accommodate to this change; tention, their performance im-
that is, their performance did not proved. Not only is it easier to pay
suffer the way performance did for attention this way, but people re- Most of us believe that it is good
those who took the basics for member more about the target of to be in the present, to be involved
granted and learned the game their attention when they attend to in what we are doing, and that it is
mindlessly. Given the way most it mindfully (study by Lieberman good to keep our minds active. The
people are taught to practice, the & Langer, described in Langer, problem is that we are typically un-
idea that “practice makes perfect” 1997), and they like the target of aware of when we are not in the
is questionable (cf. Langer & Im- their attention better after having present and when our minds are
ber, 1979; study by Pietrasz & done so, as described next. virtually closed. The simple pro-
Langer, described in Langer, 1997). cess of mindful learning, of actively
drawing distinctions and noticing
Myth 3: It Is Important to Learn new things—seeing the familiar in
How to Delay Gratification the novel and the novel in the fa-
Myth 2: To Pay Attention to miliar—is a way to ensure that our
Something, We Should Hold It minds are active, that we are in-
Still and Focus on It This idea suggests that tasks are volved, and that we are situated in
inherently good or bad. To get the present. The result is that we
through the bad ones, we should are then able to avert the danger
My colleagues and I asked high look forward to the good ones, or not yet arisen and take advantage
school teachers and students what perhaps “add a little sugar to help of opportunities that may present
it means to pay attention to some- the medicine go down.” However, themselves. Teaching mindfully
thing. They all agreed that to suc- evaluation does not reside in tasks; not only sets students up for these
cessfully pay attention, people it resides in our minds. Work and advantages, but has advantages for
should hold the target of their at- study are not negative, although teachers as well.
tention still and focus on it the way we may make them appear to be. Respect for diversity often cre-
they would focus a camera. There My colleague Sofia Snow and I ates a dilemma regarding the
does not seem to be a problem of asked subjects to evaluate how hu- choice of teaching material. How
communication between teachers morous cartoons were. For half of can teachers find material that will
and students. The problem is this is the subjects, we called the activity be meaningful to people with such
essentially the wrong instruction. work; for the other half, we re- different cultural backgrounds as
To test this, just bring your thumb ferred to it as play. Even though we find in many of our schools?
up to your eyes for scrutiny. If you the task we used could seem inher- What is exciting about the research
try to pay attention to your finger ently fun to some people, when we I have discussed is the implication
by holding the image of it still, you called it work, subjects did not en- that if the content of the material
will quickly come to see how hard joy it, and their minds tended to encourages mindful learning,
this is. The image fades from view. wander while they were doing it rather than freezing the material in
Instead, attend to your thumb (see Langer, 1997). one rigid perspective, students
mindfully—notice different things In other experiments, subjects more easily may be able to make
about your thumb—perhaps its engaged in tasks they did not like the material relevant to their idio-
size, a fleck of dirt, a spot of red- (listening to rap music or classical syncratic concerns.
ness. It is easy now to pay atten- music, viewing art, watching foot- Should all learning, beginning
tion. ball). Some of the subjects were led with children’s earliest experi-
In several studies, my colleagues to engage the task the way they ences, proceed in this conditional
and I asked subjects either to pay typically did; others were asked to fashion? Or do we need to teach all
attention to a stimulus or to notice notice three, six, or nine new things (or some? and if some, which?)
new things about the stimulus (i.e., about it. The more they noticed, the children stability first so they will
to attend to it mindfully). Whether more they liked the task. Mindful not be overwhelmed by all the pos-
the subjects were elderly adults learning engages people in what sibility mindful learning theoreti-

Published by Blackwell Publishers Inc.

 CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 223

cally makes available? Some need certainties, because that is the References
people (e.g., Bargh & Chartrand, way we ourselves were taught. Bargh, J., & Chartrand, T. (1999). The unbearable
1999) believe that mindlessness is automaticity of being. American Psychologist,
54, 462–479.
important because it frees limited Recommended Reading Bodner, T., & Langer, E. (1995). Mindfulness and
cognitive resources. This might be attention. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.
true, but it raises the question, “At Langer, E. (1989). Mindfulness. Read- Fox, B., & Langer, E. (1999). Mere exposure versus
ing, MA: Addison Wesley. mindful exposure. Unpublished manuscript,
what cost?” (return to the example Langer, E. (1997). (See References) Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
of antilock brakes). These are mat- Langer, E. (1997). The power of mindful learning.
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
ters still to be determined. My own Langer, E., Carson, S., & Shih, M. (in press). Sit still
view is that we are poorly served and pay attention? Journal of Adult Development.
by mindless learning. So that we Note Langer, E., & Imber, L. (1979). When practice
makes imperfect: The debilitating effects of
do not prematurely close the fu- overlearning. Journal of Personality and Social
ture, we should at least consider that 1. Address correspondence to Ellen Psychology, 37, 2014–2025.
J. Langer, William James Hall, 33 Kirk- Langer, E., & Piper, A. (1987). The prevention of
all of our learning be mindful or po- land St., Harvard University, Cam- mindlessness. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 53, 280–287.
tentially mindful (i.e., not mindless). bridge, MA 02138; e-mail: langer@wjh. Levy, B., & Langer, E. (in press). Improving attention
Perhaps we only believe that we harvard.edu. in older adults. Journal of Adult Development.

Copyright © 2000 American Psychological Society

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