Date of Submission
Spring 2024
Academic Program
Psychology; Interdisciplinary Study of Religions
Project Advisor 1
Frank Scalzo
Project Advisor 2
Dominique Townsend
Abstract/Artist's Statement
Linguistic framing shapes the way we conceptualize social matters, moral and causal reasoning, and influences the way we perceive the world by constraining how we gather evidence about people, events and situations. There is a robust history behind the dichotomization of religion and the secular, which manifests in present day linguistic framing of meditation practices as “secular,” despite their ties to Buddhism or other religious traditions. This secularization has been criticized for its dilution or total erasure of Buddhist ideals, and conversely, as a form of “stealth Buddhism,” a tactic for recruitment of otherwise uninterested parties. The present study aims to assess the ways in which linguistic framing affects the perception of vipassana, one such practice. Based on previous research in cognitive psychology, cognitive linguistics, religious studies, and anthropology, I hypothesize that (1) Participants will perceive vipassana (Insight Meditation) as being more acceptable when it is framed as “secular” (as opposed to “Buddhist”), and (2) Participants will be more willing to engage in this practice when it is framed as “secular.” If these hypotheses are supported, the results of this study will contribute to the growing body of evidence which suggests that linguistic framing significantly influences thought. Additionally, such support would raise implications surrounding the ethicality of “secular” v. “religious” framing in regards to the dissemination of vipassana and other meditation practices in Western Europe and the Americas.
Open Access Agreement
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Eckert, Sarah J., "Hungry for McMindfulness? The Effect of Linguistic Framing on Perceptions of Vipassana (Insight Meditation)" (2024). Senior Projects Spring 2024. 79.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2024/79
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.
Included in
Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons, Buddhist Studies Commons, Cognition and Perception Commons, Cognitive Psychology Commons, Cognitive Science Commons, Counseling Psychology Commons, Discourse and Text Linguistics Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons, Semantics and Pragmatics Commons