The Oxford Handbook of Hypo-egoic Phenomena

Egoicism, a mindset that places primary focus upon oneself, is rampant in contemporary Western cultures as commercial advertisements, popular books, song lyrics, and mobile apps consistently promote self-interest. Consequently, researchers have begun to address the psychological, interpersonal, and broader societal
costs of excessive egoicism and to investigate alternatives to a "me and mine first" mindset.

For centuries, scholars, spiritual leaders, and social activists have advocated a "hypo-egoic" way of being that is characterized by less self-concern in favor of a more inclusive "we first" mode of functioning. In recent years, investigations of hypo-egoic functioning have been examined by psychologists, cognitive scientists,
neuroscientists, and philosophers. Edited by Kirk Warren Brown and Mark R. Leary, The Oxford Handbook of Hypo-egoic Phenomena brings together an expert group of contributors to examine these groundbreaking lines of
inquiry, distilling current knowledge about hypo-egoicism into an exceptional resource.

In this volume, readers will fi nd theoretical perspectives from philosophy and several major branches of psychology to inform our understanding of the nature of hypo-egoicism and its expressions in various domains of life. Further, readers will encounter psychological research discoveries about particular phenomena in which hypo-egoicism is a prominent feature, demonstrating its implications for well-being, regulation of emotion, adaptive decision-making,
positive social relations, and other markers of human happiness, well-being, and health. This Handbook offers the most comprehensive and thoughtful analyses of hypo-egoicism to date.

Kirk Warren Brown is an Associate Professor of Social Psychology and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University. His research centers on the role of attention to and awareness of internal states and behavior in healthy human functioning. He has a particular interest in the nature of mindfulness and the role of mindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions in emotion regulation, behavior regulation, and mental health in both normative and clinical populations. He has authored numerous journal articles on these topics and is senior editor (with JD Creswell and RM Ryan) of the Handbook of Mindfulness: Theory, Research, and Practice (Guilford Press). Dr. Brown is an elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.

Mark Leary is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and is the Director of the Duke Interdisciplinary Initiative in Social Psychology at Duke University. His research and writing has centered on social motivation and emotion, with an emphasis on people's concerns with interpersonal evaluation and the negative effects of excessive self-focused thought. He has published 12 books and more than 200 scholarly articles and chapters on topics such as self-presentation, self-relevant thought, social emotions, interpersonal rejection, and self-esteem. His books include: Social Anxiety, Interpersonal Rejection, The Social Psychology of Emotional and Behavioral Problems, Self-Presentation, the Handbook of Self and Identity, and The Curse of the Self.

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Emergence of Scholarship and Science on Hypo-egoic Phenomena
Kirk Warren Brown and Mark R. Leary

Part I: Theoretical Perspectives on Hypo-egoicism

Chapter 2: Moderating Ego in East and South Asia; Metaphysical Habits of the Heart
Owen Flanagan and Philip J. Ivanhoe

Chapter 3: The Phenomenology of Egoic and Non-egoic Consciousness
Stefano Vincini and Shawn Gallagher

Chapter 4: Perspectives on Hypo-egoic Phenomena from Social and Personality Psychology
Mark R. Leary, Kate J. Diebels, Katrina P. Jongman-Sereno, and Ashley Hawkins

Chapter 5: Hypo-egoicism and Cultural Evolution
Leonard L. Martin, Amey Kulkarni, Wyatt C. Anderson, Matthew A. Sanders, Jackie Newbold, and Joel Knowles

Chapter 6: Developmental and Pro-social Dimensions of Hypo-egoic Phenomena
Susan Harter

Chapter 7: A Clinical Psychological Perspective on Hyper- and Hypo-egoicism: Symptoms, Treatment, and Therapist Characteristics
Kelly E. Moore, Matthew A. Christian, Emily Ann Boren, and June Price Tangney

Part II: Empirical Research on Hypo-egoic Intrapersonal, Behavioral, and Interpersonal Phenomena and Processes

Chapter 8: The Neuroscience of Hypo-egoic Processes
Norman A.S. Farb, Philip A. Desormeau, and Le-anh Dinh-Williams

Chapter 9: The Hypo-egoic Component of Flow
Jeanne Nakamura and Scott Roberts

Chapter 10: The Hypo-egoic Expression of Mindfulness in Social Life
Kirk Warren Brown, Daniel R. Berry, and Jordan T. Quaglia

Chapter 11: Empathy and Altruism
C. Daniel Batson

Chapter 12: Morality: Hypo-egoic for Us but Not Them
Ronnie Janoff-Bulman and Nate C. Carnes

Chapter 13: Compassion, Well-being, and the Hypo-egoic Self
Kristin D. Neff and Emma Seppälä

Chapter 14: Naturally Good? Basic Psychological Needs and the Proximal and Evolutionary Bases of Human Benevolence
Richard M. Ryan and Patricia Hawley

Chapter 15: Attachment as a Foundation for Kindness Toward Self and Others
Philip R. Shaver, Mario Mikulincer, Balijinder Sahdra, and Jacquelyn T. Gross

Chapter 16: Beyond Self-Interest: Humility and the Quieted Self
Peter C. Hill and Elizabeth K. Laney

Chapter 17: Forgiveness and the Ego: Why Hypo-egoic States Foster Forgiveness and Prosocial Responses
Julie J. Exline

Chapter 18: Egosystem and Ecosystem: Motivational Orientations of the Self in Relation to Others
Jennifer Crocker and Amy Canevello

Chapter 19: Mysticism and Hypo-egoicism
Ralph W. Hood, Jr.

Chapter 20: Dispositional Hypo-egoicism: Insights into the Hypo-egoic Person
Mark R. Leary, Kirk Warren Brown, and Kate J. Diebels