Ellen Jane Langer (; born March 25, 1947) is an American psychologist and professor of psychology at Harvard University. in 1981, she became the first woman to be tenured in psychology at Harvard. She has been called the "mother of mindfulness" and the "mother of positive psychology". Langer studies the illusion of control, decision-making, aging, and mindfulness theory. Her most recent book, The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health, published in 2023, argues for the enormous control we have over our health based on mind/body unity.

Early life and education

Langer was born in The Bronx, New York. She grew up in a two-bedroom Yonkers apartment she shared with her parents and older sister. She received a bachelor's degree in psychology from New York University, where she initially majored in chemistry. Langer decided to major in psychology after taking a Psych 101 course with Phillip Zimbardo at NYU. She received her Ph.D. in social and clinical psychology from Yale University in 1974. and the "mother of mindfulness.", which now has "considerable evidence that an array of mind-body therapies can be used as effective adjuncts to conventional medical treatment." She has co-authored experimental research indicating a connection between time perception and wound healing.

She has published over 200 articles and academic texts, was published in The New York Times, and discussed her works on Good Morning America. and later described in her best seller, Mindfulness. It is the basis of what is now called Reminiscence Therapy. The study was the basis of a British Academy of Film and Television Awards nominated BBC series, The Young Ones. The original study was published in a chapter of a book edited by Langer published by Oxford University Press. In 2018, the counterclockwise study was repeated in Italy, but the results have not been published as of 2024. Langer and colleagues have explored the theory of mind/body in other ways.

Other work has shown that rewarding behaviors and following completion of memory tasks improves memory. A study showed that among nursing home patients, simply taking care of a plant improves mental and physical health, as well as life expectancy. By having chambermaids call their everyday activity "exercise" rather than "labor," Langer found that the chambermaids experienced a myriad of health benefits including: "a decrease in their systolic blood pressure, weight, and waist-to-hip ratio."

Mindfulness

Langer is known for her contributions to the study of mindfulness and of mindless behaviour, which provided the basis for many studies focused on individual differences in unconscious behavior and decision-making processes in humans. Although she initially studied meditation as well, she grew to focus more on the study of mindfulness without meditation.

In 1989, she published Mindfulness, arguing for the widespread influence and application of mindfulness to business, education, science, art, and interpersonal relationships, and she became known as the "mother of mindfulness". Langer says that mindfulness can help teach that "uncertainty is the rule rather than the exception."

Awards

In 1980, she was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Other honors include the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest of the American Psychological Association, the NYU Alumni Achievement Award, the Liberty Science Center Genius Award, the Distinguished Contributions of Basic Science to Applied Psychology award from the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology, the James McKeen Cattel Award, and the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize.

Bibliography (selection)

References

  • Mind Changers, Series 4: Arden House BBC Radio programme which interviews Langer about one of her experiments.
  • The Young Ones Ellen Langer's Counter Clockwise study was the basis for this BBC documentary series.
  • The Great Lesson: A New Film About Mind and Body: Featuring Dr. Ellen Langer