Crime observations are one of the principal inputs used by governments for designing citizens’ security strategies. However, crime measurements are obscured by underreporting biases, resulting in the so-called “dark figure of crime”. This work studies the possibility of recovering “true” crime and underreported incident rates over time using sequentially available daily data. For this, a novel underreporting model of spatiotemporal events based on the combinatorial multi-armed bandit framework was proposed. Through extensive simulations, the proposed methodology was validated for identifying the fundamental parameters of the proposed model: the “true” rates of incidence and underreporting of events. Once the proposed model was validated, crime data from a large city, Bogotá (Colombia), was used to estimate the “true” crime and underreporting rates. Our results suggest that this methodology could be used to rapidly estimate the underreporting rates of spatiotemporal events, which is a critical problem in public policy design. The observation of crime events constitutes a primary input used by government agencies for designing citizens’ security strategies , 2. DiffThe dark figure of crime has severe consequences: (1) it limits the deterrent capacity of the criminal justice system, 2) causes victims to become ineligible for public and private benefits, and (3) it affects insurance costs, among others . In addi causes vInconsistencies in police practices may add random measurement errors to official crime statistics , but hetDifferent strategies for estimating real crime incidences based on data describing crimes exist , 17, 18.Alternatively, official crime registers, collected and available over time, provide indirect but time-updated views of the crime dynamics. Therefore, these observations have also been considered to improve the “true” crime characterization . In partIn recent years, several governmental agencies established alternative mechanisms to observe crime-related phenomena, including telephone citizen’s reports , in-situThe main objective of this work was to study the identification over time of the “true” unknown crime incidence rates based on official reports of crime incidents and the “true” underreporting rates based on complementary information, particularly crime-related data acquired gradually over time. In contrast with previous works aimed to describe underreporting in long-time scales by exploiting victimization surveys , 9, 19, The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. The Materials and Methods section introduces the main ideas of the proposed approach and the formal underreporting model in a multi-armed bandit setting. To solve this problem, we introduce and evaluate three well-known algorithms using simulated data and show how this strategy can elicit the “true” crime incidence and underreporting rates in a large city. Then, simulated results unveiling the dark figure of crime are reported. The Discussion section explains our contribution and provides a general discussion, and the last section concludes with the results of this study.For this, suppose these quadrants can be repeatedly visited on daily rounds, for instance, by the police, gathering information about the actual crime occurrences. Blue border squares illustrate these police visits in the second column in Nevertheless, a planning agent can dynamically assign daily the quadrants to be visited, resulting in an exploration mechanism of the true-crime dynamics. For instance, note how different blue/green border quadrants are selected/reported in different places at other times (rows) in M arms or actions  to maximize the cumulative reward obtained by those actions . In the proposed model, the actions correspond to a combinatorial object, precisely, the subset of quadrants to be visited daily for informing the “true” crime. The limited budget refers to the maximum number of quadrants the police may visit  needs to choose amongst To solve the CMAB with an underreporting problem, i.e., select the quadrants to be visited daily, it is worth observing that the subset of actions not only provides a mechanism for exploration, i.e., monitoring the true crime dynamic at the whole city level, but also for exploitation, i.e., potentially observing more crimes in particular city areas, for instance, by focusing the visits on the quadrants with the highest mean of estimated crime. The exploration is exemplified by Xi,t, where i indexes a spatial location and t indexes the round of the interaction. In each round we are given a chance to observe a finite non exhaustive number of locations  and record the realization of these random variables . For those events that we did not observe in a particular round, we observe a filtered observation. That is, for each i ∉ S, we observe a count random variable Xi,t. To fix ideas the reader can think i denoting a location in a city, t a date, Xi,t the number of crimes that occur at this location on a particular date, S as those locations that on date t are visited by police officers and Xi,t and filtered (or underreported) spatio-temporal events More formally, the problem to be solved is as follows. Suppose we repeatedly interact with an environment characterized by the realization of certain spatial events . Spatial events are modelled as count random variables on as in , and rewon as in , 31 algounderreporting consists of Mbase arms associated with a set of random variables Xi,t  and i ≤ M and t ≥ 1. Variables Xi,t indicate the random outcome of the i-th base arm in the t-th trial. Variables Xi,t. We assume that the set of variables {Xi,t∣t ≥ 1} associated with base arm i, are independent and identically distributed over time t according to some distribution with unknown expectation μi. We also assume that the set of variables i over time t, are independent and identically distributed according to some distribution with unknown parameters qi. Note that Xi,t and The CMAB problem with μ =  be the vector of expectations of all base arms, and q =  be the vector of the parameters of interest of the underreported base arms. Note that q, in our model, is not the mean of the vector Xi,t ∣ i = 1, …M} represent the spatial events at M different locations. We also allow for the dependence of base arms and underreporting of base arms in the same period and across arms, as noted earlier.Let super arm , which is a subset of the set of base arms. Let m base arms (this is our case). In each round, one of the super arms i ∈ S is triggered and played as a result . Therefore, the model relies on the strong assumption that the police can get to know all crimes in areas they visit each day. In practice, this assumption could be valid for some particular types of crime, for instance, in public spaces, such as crimes against public order, property crime, traffic offenses, and some kinds of violent crimes and property crimes, to which police may have access in small vigilance areas , is a function of S and the parameters μi of the arms in super arm S.The final reward of a round depends on the outcomes of all triggered base arms in the super arm. Let t such that it maximizes the expected round t reward: E[Rt(S)] = ∑i∈Sμi, for an unknown μ. To use the algorithms proposed by [μ as input, and compute the optimal or near-optimal super arm S. In our case, the computational oracle is reduced to a sorting problem for which there are fast algorithms [An algorithm for this problem is the selection of a super arm for each round posed by –31, we mgorithms .For completeness and to illustrate how we apply the algorithms –31 to ouAlgorithm 1 Combinatorial Upper Confidence Bound Algorithm (CUCB) with underreporting.i, maintain: (1) variable Ti as the total number of times arm i is played so far; (2) variable i has been underreported ; (3) variables Xi,t for 1 ≤ i ≤ M that have been observed up to round t and the best estimate of the parameters characterizing i ≤ M, which have been observed up to round t .1: For each arm t ← 0.2: while true do3: t ← t + 1.4:  i, set 5:  For each arm 6:  S. Observe the outcomes of base arms i ∈ S, and update all Ti’s and 7:  Play i ∉ S, observe i in step 7. Update 8:  For end while9: Learning with Linear Rewards (LLR) algorithm of [With this notation we write the rithm of  as folloCUCB, version 1 (UCB1) algorithm, of [Finally, we consider the ithm, of  which igithm, of . Replace2 (1 km × 1km) cells. This resulted in 500 cells with at least one crime during year 2018. These cells were the focus of our study. In both applications we assumed that the size of the superarms was at most 10% of the number of arms. This is because the number of arms that can be efficiently monitored and spot checked by police officers is at most 10% of the area of the city’s area. Note that according to official statistics [2 cells that we used as arms.We provide two applications of our underreporting algorithm, showing that it is an effective way of estimating the true mean of crime incidents and underreporting in Bogotá, the capital city of Colombia. First we discuss how we built the two data sets for our applications. The first was the real crime and underreporting dataset and the second was, the simulated dataset. We divided the city into 1 kmatistics , betweenNúmero Único de Seguridad y Emergencias in Spanish). By comparing the different reports in SIEDCO and NUSE, it can be observed that many reports in NUSE do not appear in SIEDCO and viceversa.Our dataset contained daily time-stamped information on the spatial location of each criminal event reported in Bogotá from January 2018 to December 2019. The source was the Criminal, Contraventional and Operating Information System (SIEDCO). The dataset was assembled by the Colombian National Police and was provided by the Bogotá Security Office. Although SIEDCO is the official crime source in the city, there is evidence of substantial underreporting as can be deduced from two different sources. The first source is citizens crime reports to the security and emergency call center NUSE  victimization and reporting survey [The second source is Bogotá’s City Chamber of Commerce  shows the number of times each algorithm triggered each arm. Note that, by construction, UCB1 visits only one arm per round while the other two algorithms visit all arms in the superarm in each round. Hence, after 1.000 rounds, the other algorithms visited mores arms. Note also that there were minor differences in the number of times each arm is visited by CUCB and LLR algorithms. Finally, given that this was a small simulation experiment, there is no major computational burden. The results clearly show that all algorithms in this small experiment can recover the true means of all arms and the true parameters of the underreporting distributions. μ and parameters, q for each arm. The next experiment solved an increasingly challenging task. In each arm, we drew random true mean incidence rates, μ and the vector of parameters q respectively, for each algorithm. In each case the reference vectors are the mean of all crimes in each cell over the period and the mean of the vector of estimated underreporting parameters in each cell over the entire period. In either case, the error is measured as the Euclidean distance between two high dimensional vectors with 415 components. Therefore, a reported error of for example, 0.4 in −3 and 4.8−3 respectively. In addition, these parameters are unknown in this real-world application.Consider our first application in which we have done our best to estimate the real crime rate and underreporting in each cell of Bogotá in 2018 . Below we present the results of running the three algorithms on these datasets. i as a proportion of the total number of crimes in the cell, B. Note that since many cells report zero crime, care must be taken to empirically estimate these ratios. To do these, we estimate the mean Xi ≠ 0, otherwise we set the ratio to zero. We compare these statistics to those implied by the model: qi(1 − (1 − μi)n).As expected, the estimated parameters is not perfect because the real dataset may not satisfy some of our working hypothesis. In particular, the number of crimes reported per cell We further explore the nature of this convergence. n(μ1 + …+ μ415). Note that the CUCB and LLR algorithms converge approximately to the most recent observation of Total in n(μ1q1 + …+ μ415q415). The CUCB and LLR algorithms converged approximately to the most recent NUSE observations. However, as noted before, the convergence of the vector of parameters q is not equally good across all cells, and hence there is an aggregate discrepancy.A more illustrative presentation of the results is shown in μ to the true values. The error was measured as the Euclidean distance between the vectors. Note that the UCB1 algorithm failed to converge after 1.000 rounds.In our second application, we estimated a standard crime model. Using historical data, we fitted a Poisson distribution to each cell and used the Bogotá’s City Chamber of Commerce 2014 victimization and reporting survey to estimate underreporting in each cell . q in the underreporting distribution. The error was measured as the Euclidean distance to the true parameters. Algorithm UCB1 is not shown because it was considerably outperformed by the other two algorithms.Finally, in This paper studies the “true” crime incident rates estimated over time using data from underreported crime observations and complementary crime-related measurements acquired incrementally. Two crime-related observational mechanisms exhibiting underreporting, namely, official crime registers and victimization surveys, were studied to estimate their underreporting and “true” incidence rates, unveiling their dark crime figures over time. In contrast to previous approaches for estimating crime underreporting, which mainly focused on the long-term adjustment of underreporting rates, this study describes for the first time the online estimation of the spatial crime rates by sequentially integrating time-varying complementary crime-related observations.The underreporting of spatio-temporal events is ubiquitous in many social problems , and parThe proposed approach estimates the “true” crime incidence over time using synthetically constructed ground truths of crime. It is worth noting that constructing “real” crime reference databases is a challenging problem, mainly because it is almost impossible to directly measure this phenomena . Our expThis work introduces a novel underreporting model of spatiotemporal events. The model relies on the multi-armed bandit framework, which provides efficient algorithms and convergence guarantees for online learning of the mean of the true arms distributions. Three well-known multi-armed bandit algorithms –31 were Several studies have pointed out the potential pitfalls of using discovered crime incidents, biased or underreported, to train machine learning models that will be used for crime prediction and police allocation , 47, 48.observable crimes, i.e., those with a non-zero probability of being observed by the police. This corresponds to a lower bound on the total number of crimes. If the unobservable crime rate is low (as it may be for some violent crimes or crimes on public roads), our method provides a better bound than the ones inferred using police statistics or victimization surveys alone. Nevertheless, if the unobservable crime rates are spatially and temporally heterogeneous, the results of our methodology would still suffer from biases similar to those of the official statistics. If we were to avoid the assumption of perfect observability, then the total number of crimes would be unidentifiable from the observable data. Alternatively, we could assume parametric forms for the underreporting processes to appropriately estimate the total number of crimes. However, these assumptions seem more restrictive, and we leave the exploration of alternative identifying assumptions for future work.This work has some limitations. First, the evidence we report relies on simulated data. An actual implementation of the strategy in operational settings requires a mechanism to acquire “true” observations of crime sequentially . For underreported crime events we use telephone calls related to crime. Alternative observational mechanisms can be implemented by considering, for instance, the information provided by citizens using other channels beyond the telephone or the information provided to police in situ during street surveillance, among others. Moreover, crime observation through these mechanisms may be affected by the strategic response of criminals, which are not considered in this work , 50. FutAs future work, the estimation of the “true” crime incident rates from official crime records could be informed by citizen’s victimization’s surveys, as recently explored for quantification of underreporting . Finally2 cells) and crime underreporting (our true crime scenario) were computed, and underreporting rates were estimated. The second experiment used an estimated Poisson model of crime incidence to simulate real crimes and estimate underreporting using a victimization and reporting survey conducted by the Bogotá’s City Chamber of Commerce. In both cases, our method performs well and suggests that this approach can be used to estimate, in an online setup, the underreporting of events. These findings may have implications in public policy because underreporting socially sensitive events can undermine the credibility of official figures and can be strategically used by government agents or influential citizens.This paper studied the estimation of “true” crime over time from underreported crime observations by sequentially considering complementary crime observations. For this, a novel multi-armed bandit model for underreporting estimation was proposed. Efficient algorithms for online learning of the mean of the true-crime distributions in different areas were studied and validated for identifying the fundamental model parameters. This strategy was applied for estimating crime underreporting on two data sources: official crime reports and citizens’ victimization surveys. In the first setting, an estimate of the “true” crime incidence rate per geographical unit (1 km


We describe an episode of mass poisoning during the ancient Third Mithridatic War. In a brutal and well-planned ambush, forces from the Kingdom of Pontus destroyed a Roman column through the clever use of “mad honey.” Incapacitated by the acute poisoning, the Romans were unable to hold off the Pontic forces. We conclude that the debilitating symptoms that the Roman soldiers experienced were due to the presence of grayanotoxins in the honey. Although they were likely self-limiting, developing these symptoms in an enemy ambush made a lethal combination. The “mad honey” environmental threat continues to persist in the Black Sea region to this day and is an etiology that modern physicians should be aware of. During the Third Mithridatic War, as the late Roman Republic expanded its control across northern Anatolia, Rome struggled against one of the fiercest and most cunning opponents it would ever face: King Mithridates Eupator VI of Pontus . MithridHowever, Mithridates’ clever use of unconventional tactics, including poisons and primitive chemical weapons, won him several victories during the war, further contributing to his legend . In thisThe Third Mithridatic WarFrom 73 to 63 BC, the Roman Republic and King Mithridates VI of Pontus waged a bitter war that engulfed most of Asia Minor and much of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Third Mithridatic War, as it would come to be called, ultimately saw Mithridates’ defeat and the end of the Pontic Kingdom .King Mithridates Eupator VI of Pontus is a fascinating figure. He was legendary for his memory and intelligence. Roman historians claimed that he could speak all 22 languages represented within his domain . He was mithridatizing [antidotum mithridaticum, a “universal antidote” concocted out of a variety of ingredients [antidotum mithridaticum, which Pliny the Elder notes somewhat disappointingly “consisted of two dried walnuts, two figs, and twenty leaves of rue pounded together with a pinch of salt” [mithridaticum [theriaca, was used in a slightly modified form up to the 19th century [The king was fascinated with pharmacology, amassing an “international library of ethnobotanical and toxicological treatises” from sources that stretched from Mesopotamia to Gaul . On one datizing . In thisdatizing . Ultimatdatizing . With thdatizing . His extdatizing , sometimdatizing  - and boredients . Ironicaredients . In the redients . Pompey of salt” . Variousidaticum . This an century . Even wimaltha - “burning, clinging naphtha from local petroleum pools” [Perhaps reflecting Mithridates’ interest in poisons, Pontic and Pontic-aligned forces used a number of unconventional tactics throughout the Third Mithridatic War. Roman legionnaires faced deadly poisoned arrows in open battle, had to contend with “wasps and wild beasts” released into their siege tunnels, and were even assaulted by the chemical weapon known as m pools” .Lex Manila. This law granted him total control of the eastern Roman military and the glory that a final victory over Pontus would bring [Lex Manila brought him gave him over 200,000,000 sesterces in land [In 66 BC, the Roman politician general Gnaeus Pompeius, better known to the modern world as Pompey, used his enormous political influence to strong-arm the Roman Senate into passing the ld bring . An extrld bring . Pompey ld bring . Ironicald bring . Always ld bring . At justld bring . His vic in land .Upon Pompey’s arrival in Asia Minor, Mithridates sent an embassy to discuss terms of peace between the two powers. Unfortunately for the Pontic king, Pompey had no intention of securing an “embarrassingly easy victory” . During While Pompey did not display the military brilliance of men like Julius Caesar, he was an effective commander , and theThe HeptacomitaeGeography, Strabo of Amaseia (64 BC to 21 AD) [Geography describes much of the devastation that remained in the Pontic landscape decades later [It was in this desperate setting of impending defeat that Pontus-aligned forces found themselves in during the Third Mithridatic War. In his magnum opus, o 21 AD)  describeo 21 AD) . Geograpes later .Geography, Strabo describes an incident during the Third Mithridatic War that involved the Heptacomitae, a “savage” people that dwelled in the Caucasus mountains, living on “the flesh of wild animals and on nuts” [maniples of Pompey’s army when they passing through the mountainous country; for they mixed bowls of the crazing honey which is yielded by the tree-twigs, and placed them in the roads, and then, when the soldiers drank the mixture and lost their senses, they attacked them and easily disposed of them” [maniple, meaning “sheaf” or “bundle,” was the basic tactical unit of the Roman army in the early Republican era, and typically consisted of 180 men. However, by the time of the late Republic and Pompey’s invasion of Pontus, the maniple had almost entirely been replaced by the cohort, a larger unit that could be as large as 600 men [In the third chapter of Book 12 of on nuts” . They apon nuts” . In 65 Bon nuts” , the Hepof them” . The manThis was not the first time that an army in this region had been afflicted by the strange “mad honey” . Three aEven if Mithridates did not directly order the Heptacomitae to poison Pompey’s soldiers, he was almost certainly aware of the properties of “mad honey.” It may have been one of the ingredients that he routinely experimented with . Some so“Mad Honey” and grayanotoxins“Mad honey” has been widely known among Turkey’s regions that border the Black Sea for millennia, and was considered to have medicinal properties by both the natives and the Romans . In some2. In the mountainous terrain of the Caucasus, each honey thus “contains only one valley’s flora” [Rhododendrons, which, as members of the Ericaceae family, produce grayanotoxins in their nectar. Of these, R. ponticum, a “purple flowered evergreen shrub” [“Mad honey” is created due to the habits of local Caucasian bees, whose territory only covers an area of 5 kms flora” . In Turkn shrub”  known asn shrub” , is the n shrub” .Grayanotoxins are a class of neurotoxins that interfere with the sodium channels in cell membranes, preventing repolarization . In a miEricaceae plants [Remarkably, grayanotoxin poisoning is only rarely fatal, as the toxin is rapidly metabolized by the body. In the modern day, atropine sulfate is a sufficient treatment to alleviate the toxin’s bradycardic effects . Even ine plants , no deate plants . Similare plants .In this context, the Heptacomitae ambush must have required an impressive degree of timing and careful planning. Had the ambushers prepared the honey in too dense a concentration, the Roman soldiers would have likely developed symptoms within minutes, thus minimizing the number of men who ingested the honey. Preparing the honey with a more dilute dose of grayanotoxins would have ensured that more Romans ate the concoction, but would have simultaneously made it more difficult for an ambushing force to lay in wait without being detected while the toxin took its effect.Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis (“Cornelia Law on Assassins and Poisoners”) in a vain attempt to prevent the rash of poisonings in the city [Even with the careful planning of the Heptacomitae, the failure of the Romans to detect the ruse seems remarkably foolish. “Mad honey” was a well-known medicinal compound, documented by both the Greek Aristotle  and the the city . Even outhe city . In thisthe city  demonstrthe city .While it is possible that Strabo may have fabricated the story out of a sense of national pride for the fallen kingdom of his ancestors , these aGeography is a fascinating milestone in both military and medical history. The “mad honey” phenomenon, due to the presence of grayanotoxins from local R. ponticum plants, was cleverly used in this ancient ambush. Although the poisoning is self-limiting in all but the most severe cases, the incapacitated Romans would have been helpless against Pontic forces. Although Mithridates may not have directly ordered the use of “mad honey,” the episode further contributed to the myth of the poisoner king.Although the Kingdom of Pontus successfully employed an unconventional tactic against the Roman invaders to devastating effect in this instance, it was not enough to turn the tide of the war. However, the mass poisoning of the Roman legionaries that Strabo describes in To this day, “mad honey” poisonings continue in the Black Sea region, emphasizing the impact that environmental health can have not just on military operations but on all facets of human life.


This quantitative research is based on a validated research questionnaire. It presents a preliminary exploratory study examining perspectives of professional identity as reflected in self-reports of the teachers of Al-Ghajar, a village on Israel’s northern border, given its unique geographical and geopolitical configuration. The current study is the first of its kind, clarifying the teachers’ perception of their professional identity in the unique space in which they live and work via a questionnaire completed by 61 teachers of both genders from kindergarten through high school. The findings show that there are strong positive correlations: “love for the profession” and “self-fulfillment” have a very strong positive correlation (0.831). There is also a positive correlation (0.430) between the indicators of “professional skills” and “professional unity” suggesting that the teachers’ perceptions of professional identity are holistic in all examined dimensions. These perceptions are motivated by a strong sense of mission that influences their profession and their sense of satisfaction. Al-Ghajar, as a unique enclave, has created a geopolitical configuration that contributes to the construction of the professional identity of teachers in the village. The research conclusion indicates that the ability to legitimize one’s role has important implications for the quality of teaching, as it can help teachers form familiar, affiliated, and secure identities. These are key traits since a positive sense of professional self is a prerequisite for job satisfaction and resilience. Researchers in the field of psychology and education recognize the importance of professional identity. This is a multifaceted construct that serves as a framework for introspective contemplation, encompassing both emotional and cognitive dimensions related to self-awareness and self-definition. A rich body of research dealt with the professional identity of teachers around the world. However, there is still a lack of dedicated studies that show the construction of teachers’ professional identity as rooted in the geopolitical space in which they live, study, and work, a space that cognitively affects and forms their professional identity. This study seeks to examine the professional identity of teachers in the village of Al-Ghajar in northern Israel, with its population of Alawite Muslims. Because the village’s boundaries to the north actually penetrate Lebanon, until July 2022, Ghajar remained a secluded village, with residents having the freedom to leave but strict restrictions on outsiders entering the village, enforced by the state. However, in the summer of 2022, the village was allowed to open its gates and welcome visitors and travelers.The primary objective of this research initiative is to explore the perspectives of teachers residing in the village, based on the geopolitical configuration that has implications specifically in relation to shaping their professional identity, and the space in which they operate as an isolated minority between geographical, religious, and ethnic boundaries of integration and exclusion . This muThe geographical location of one’s birthplace serves as a foundational anchor for a multifaceted array of cultural, value-laden, personal, and linguistic affiliations. This sense of belonging is deeply ingrained in the physical terrain, connecting individuals to a specific area of land . It is iLong-term patterns of behavior are often cognitive reflections of stable individual tendencies such as attitudes, values, and identity , i.e., aMoreover, narratives of place-related personal experiences highlight the complex relationship between physical spaces and the diverse tapestry of human experiences, acting as a means for individuals to forge deep connections with their environment. A recent study suggests that the emotional responses elicited by a particular physical space vary significantly among individuals. This underscores the dynamic and highly personalized nature of the emotional landscape that unfolds within the context of specific spatial settings, further emphasizing the intricate interrelationship between individuals and their physical surroundings . DistincFurthermore, neurological investigations have revealed that an individual’s assessment of their environment prompts the activation of an internal model, intricately generated by their body to facilitate their interaction with the external world. This model encapsulates a repository of information concerning their emotional disposition, physiological condition, and aspirations for their future emotional and physical states. In essence, it represents a dynamic, personalized blueprint that informs and guides an individual’s behavior and perception within their surroundings. This neurological perspective underscores the profound interplay between the human mind, body, and the external environment, wherein the internal model plays a pivotal role in shaping an individual’s cognitive and emotional engagement with the world around them .Human cognitive experiences encompass more than just physical locations; they include spaces within our memories and imagination. The representation of space in our minds is emotionally charged and can affect us even without a direct connection to the physical environment. This interplay between perception, emotion, and mental representations of space highlights the complex nature of human experience. Individuals can be deeply influenced by mental constructs of space, regardless of their immediate physical presence, evoking strong emotional responses ,3.As seen in the map above , Al-GhajThe students of Al-Ghajar embarked on their educational journey by engaging with the curricula prescribed for the Arab and Druze sectors in Israel, which encompassed subjects including Hebrew language instruction. Additionally, the village teachers received their professional training through Israeli academic institutions. As previously elucidated, until the year 2022, Al-Ghajar retained a unique status as a quasi-enclave, characterized by stringent access restrictions. Residents of Israel were prohibited from entering the village, while residents were permitted to enter Israel for educational and employment opportunities, albeit under specific guidelines.This historical overview underscores the significance of Al-Ghajar’s geographical location. It indicates that this spatial context not only shapes broader identities but also plays a substantial role in professional identity, especially among the village’s teachers. The intricate interplay between geopolitical boundaries, access constraints, educational frameworks, and individual experiences within this distinct space contributes to the unique professional identity of Al-Ghajar’s educators. This offers an important opportunity to explore the dynamic connection between space and identity, particularly in professional roles, where external constraints and personal agency together mold one’s professional self-concept .Perceptions and cognitive images significantly influence various aspects of teaching, including methodologies, classroom behavior, student interactions, teacher development, and academic achievements. These interconnections ultimately affect teaching practices and outcomes, emphasizing the need for careful consideration in discussions about educational practices and policy development. Mendelsohn  has notePerceptions are shaped in the interaction between personal, professional, political and external contexts. Teachers’ perceptions are closely linked to the social and cultural practices in their particular environment. This context includes a wide range of experiences that go beyond their role as educators, involving life experiences and external influences. Additionally, their professional context, which is connected to, but separate from, their broader life experiences, involves the combination of theoretical knowledge and practical insights gained during their time as teachers . NeverthThese perceptions and identities, in turn, serve as pivotal determinants of the quality of educational practice. Consequently, an exploration of these interdependencies may provide valuable insights into the intricate processes that underlie effective pedagogy and may underscore the critical importance of understanding the multifaceted nature of contextual influences in the realm of education . Brown aIn their research, Barselai et al.  delved iIn this study, the term “identity” is used to conceptualize the complex nature of teacher identity, as presented in various perspectives, including Erikson’s theory of identity . PersonaProfessional identity research encompasses the dynamic interplay between external contexts and internal personal processes. These factors collectively influence the thoughts, behaviors, and expressions of both novice and experienced educators, shaping how they perceive and engage with their personal experiences, values, beliefs, and expectations in the context of their teaching profession . KuzminsStudies attempting to define the concept of “teachers’ professional identity” encounter a lack of clarity that is expressed in two possible approaches. The first seeks to present an objective definition of the term, while the second advocates subjective and individual interpretation . FitzgerThere is a strong link between how teachers perceive their professional identity and the challenges they encounter in their role. In particular, teachers who have a strong sense of self-worth and a clear understanding of their professional identity tend to be more engaged and influential in their educational roles . This heThis preliminary quantitative study aims to explore the professional identity of teachers in the unique geographical setting of Al-Ghajar, which remains an unexplored topic in the literature. Hence, the research question is as follows: How do the teachers of Al-Ghajar perceive their professional identity in relation to the geopolitical–social–religious configuration in which they live?The current study is predominantly quantitative, investigating a phenomenon within its true context, especially when the boundaries between the phenomenon and the context are not entirely clear. In this regard, each teacher is considered as a unit of analysis. This undoubtedly influences and shapes personal and professional identity alike.This work is based on a descriptive, cross-sectional study through a web-based survey conducted in March and April 2023. The survey questions were adapted and modified from a previously published questionnaire regarding teachers’ professional identity . This stThe questionnaire was sent to a distribution list of all 70 teachers in Al-Ghajar via email. Of these, 61 teachers responded, providing a high response rate (87%). The questionnaire was open for data collection on Google Drive for three months. We sent email reminders to ensure a high return rate. The data were collected and underwent statistical tests as is customary, with an average (M) and standard deviation (SD) calculated for each statement. We used the Statistical Software Package for the Social Sciences, version 23 .T-tests for independent samples and Pearson correlations.This research was based on data collection, quantitative data processing, and analysis based on a validated research questionnaire (attitude survey) on the professional identity of teachers. The survey questionnaire presented to participants drew on a validated research tool that has been used and validated in several previous studies . This reThe questionnaire employed in this study consisted of 41 statements rated on a 1–5 Likert scale and organized into five distinct themes. The first theme, “love for the profession”, encompassed 9 statements . The second theme, “sense of mission”, comprised 9 statements . The third theme, “professional skills”, included 12 statements . The fourth theme, “the reputation of the profession”, featured 6 statements . Finally, the fifth theme, “self-realization”, contained 5 statements . To account for negatively worded items , the scales were reversed. For each theme, the participants’ average responses were calculated, thereby establishing five research indicators. Detailed characteristics of the measuring instrument are presented in The questionnaire concluded with one open-ended question: “How would you define your professional work in relation to the area in which you live?” The written answers underwent content analysis into categories .In order to examine the associations between the five research indices and demographic variables, As mentioned, the questionnaire consisted of 41 statements on a Likert scale of 1–5 divided into five topics. The first topic, love of the profession, was addressed in nine statements. The second, a sense of mission, was also addressed in nine statements. The third, professional skills, was addressed in 12 statements. The fourth, reputation of the profession, was covered by six statements. The fifth, self-fulfillment, was covered by five statements. The remaining six statements were written in negative language and were therefore calculated with reversed scales. For each participant, an average was calculated for each topic, and thus, the five research indicators were defined. The reliability of the indicators was found to be high according to Cronbach’s α, a statistic that characterizes a high degree of stability and consistency in the responses of the subjects in the statements of each indicator. This table shows all the indicators and categories tested as they make up the professional identity of the research population. In the next stage, we checked the correlations between the different categories.Pearson tests were performed to examine the correlations among the research indicators. The results are shown in As shown, there are positive associations of medium–strong intensity between all research indicators. In other words, an increase in the levels of each of the indicators will also raise the levels of the other indicators.We used a Pearson test to clarify the behavioral model from the above indicators and examined the correlations and effect that the sense of mission has on two variables: the love of the teaching profession and the sense of fulfillment . The results are presented below. T-tests were performed for independent samples. To examine the differences in research indicators between bachelor’s degree and master’s degree holders, As shown, the average of bachelor’s degree holders is slightly higher than the average of master’s degree holders in most indicators (except for profession reputation), although not significantly. In other words, there are no differences according to education.T-tests were performed for independent samples. To examine the differences in the research indicators between men and women, p < 0.01, so we can say that the women feel greater self-fulfillment than the men.As shown, women’s averages are higher than men’s averages in most indicators (except for profession reputation). In the self-fulfillment indicator, the differences are significant t(59) = 3.38, Pearson tests were conducted to examine the correlations between age, teaching seniority, and number of children and the research indicators. The results are shown in p < 0.01) was found between profession reputation and age, so that the older the teacher, the stronger the profession reputation is felt.Most of the correlations were found to be weak and insignificant. However, a positive correlation of moderate and significant intensity  between several categories; for example, “love for the profession” and “self-fulfillment” have a very strong positive correlation (0.831 **), suggesting that teachers who have a high level of love for their profession tend to experience a high level of self-fulfillment. There is also a positive correlation (0.430 **) between the indicators of “professional skills” and “professional unity”, suggesting that teachers who report higher professional skills tend to also report a stronger sense of professional unity. Similarly, “sense of mission” and “professional skills” have a strong positive correlation (0.654 **), implying that teachers who feel a strong sense of mission in their work also tend to report higher professional skills.This section is based on content analysis into categories of the open-ended question: “How would you define your professional work in relation to the area in which you live?” The responses addressed the characteristics of the respondents’ professional role perceptions as teachers in this particular village.Of the 61 teachers who responded to the questionnaire, 35 (57%) chose to answer this question. Four teachers (11%) chose to use the word “mission”, seven chose to use the word “excellent”, and nine (25%) chose to use the word “good”.We used Atlas.ti software version 5 to conduct the analyses. Twelve teachers (30%) referred to concepts of wanting to help educate the next generation of village residents, while mentioning social–ideological motives, using terms such as “minority”, “helping my village”, and “sacred work”, in order to maintain social cohesion within the village, thereby preserving the unique character of the village residents in order to ensure its continued existence.Some quotes from the answers in the teachers’ own words are as follows:“Teaching is a mission for us, as members of a minority. We have a responsibility to safeguard our children’s future.”“Teaching is a challenging and beautiful endeavor, a sacred calling that demands considerable effort and unwavering dedication.”“For me, teaching is a mission dedicated to advancing our profession, which, in my eyes, encompasses my entire village.”“I hold deep appreciation for my students, with whom I share the same village, and I wholeheartedly give of myself in their education.”When asked to define their professional role in their village, all respondents used positive terms such as “excellent”, “good”, “mission”, and “desire to help”. This suggests a strong commitment among this social minority to uphold social cohesion as an essential aspect of their professional educational work. They put significant effort into incorporating this commitment into their educational roles, seeing it as integral to their personal identity, often referring to Al-Ghajar as “my village” and emphasizing their identity as a minority within the community.This study examined how the distinctive context of Al-Ghajar village influences the professional identity perceptions of its teachers. The primary question was as follows: How do these teachers perceive their professional identity given their unique geopolitical, social, and religious environment? The findings revealed a nuanced and intricate professional identity influenced by various factors. Notably, their strong sense of mission played a pivotal role in shaping and reinforcing this professional identity, providing a sense of purpose and self-worth while defining their contributions to society. This sense of mission was intricately tied to their passion for the profession and their personal satisfaction. We find a very strong positive correlation between their “love for the profession” and “self-fulfillment”. Between the “sense of mission” and “professional skills”, we find a strong positive correlation implying that teachers who strongly identify with a sense of mission in their work tend to report higher levels of professional skills.Moreover, the teachers’ responses to the open-ended question underscored their unwavering commitment as a social minority to uphold social cohesion through their educational endeavors. They consider their work an integral aspect of their identity, often stating, “This is my village”, and they emphasize their minority status. Importantly, they consistently used positive terms like “excellent” and “good” to describe their work, reflecting their genuine desire to contribute to the education of the village’s future generations. Their responses also revealed social and ideological motivations, particularly the preservation of their community’s distinct character, which they view as a sacred and indispensable mission for the village’s enduring existence. This underscores their dedication to social sustainability and continuity. The teachers’ perceptions reflect context-dependent social and cultural practices, and the context includes experiences prior to and outside the teaching experiences. As an exceptional enclave village, Al-Ghajar has forged a unique geopolitical configuration that significantly contributes to the construction of these teachers’ professional identities.The teachers of Al-Ghajar operate as an isolated minority between geographical, religious, and ethnic boundaries of integration and exclusion . The geoIn the professional context, these findings can refer to theoretical and practical experiences while teaching. These perceptions are in line with several studies ,36 that The findings in this paper demonstrate that the professional identity of the teachers of Al-Ghajar is well established, which indicates a high commitment to persevere . Their sThe findings of this study are also consistent with earlier studies ,39 that Identity is shaped by culture and involves both individual cognition and social processes. Identity formation is not just personal; it is also a political process where individuals may choose to align with or challenge dominant societal norms and expectations ,43. StudDealing with the issue of professional identity in teaching in the context of physical space is of great importance. Barselai et al. (2022)  suggesteThese conclusions provide valuable insights into the complex interplay of factors that shape teachers’ professional identities and the connections between various dimensions of their professional experiences. This study sought to unveil the perceptions of the professional identity of the teachers in Al-Ghajar, revealing strong connections between emotions, thoughts, and professional experiences. This comprehensive identity, referred to as a holistic professional identity, encompasses all facets of professional, personal, and regional elements. It includes a passion for the profession, a sense of purpose, professional skills, reputation, and self-fulfillment, all woven into a cohesive concept deeply rooted in the local community and society just like a beautiful mosaic with strong threads of emotion, thought, cognition, and experience connecting everything, forming a quilt that is a cherished part of their local community and society. We believe that this research has broad implications dealing with the relationship between professional identity and geographic space—a matter worth deepening the research on.This is a preliminary exploratory study. We believe that there is room to expand the research and examine in depth the types of motives, factors, and components that characterize and structure this identity, in an attempt to further understand its correlations and connections. It would be appropriate to conduct follow-up studies with in-depth interviews.The small size of the sample (61 teachers) might be seen as a limitation. However, since the entire possible population for this particular study was only 70, the high response rate (87.14%) makes it a suitably representative sample.


The beliefs and expectations people bring into mindfulness practice can affect the measurement outcomes of interventions. The aim of this mixed-method study was to examine the key beliefs in the powers of mindfulness—understood as non-judgmental awareness of the present moment—to transform the individual and the society, and to develop and validate the Belief in the Powers of Mindfulness Scale (BPMS).n = 32), including follow-up interviews (n = 22). Qualitative data were analysed through a thematic narrative approach. Participants (n = 458) completed a questionnaire that included the new scale.In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with mindfulness meditators (Participants’ key beliefs were thematically analysed in three transformation themes: interpersonal relationships and compassion, peace and violence, and the inner world—themes were encapsulated in the BPMS. Ideas presented in each theme were undergirded by a host of ideologies, epistemic claims, and metaphysical assumptions about the nature of mind, self, and reality—which are predicated by broader cultural trends such as expressive individualism, perennial philosophy, and New Age sentiments and ideals. The BPMS showed strong internal consistency and convergent validity, and individuals who were older and more spiritual practised mindfulness more often and for longer, and self-reported greater mindfulness skills, and scored higher on the BPMS.Findings illustrate the persisting importance of attending to people’s beliefs and expectations in mindfulness interventions and further the call for a contextual approach that accounts for cultural factors. The newly developed BPMS may assist with the measuring of peoples’ beliefs and expectations. Mindfulness meditation, in its contemporary usage, refers to a range of formal and informal practices that involve “paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment” , the report of the British Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group. He stated that mindfulness has the potential to transform “who we are as human beings, and individual citizens, as communities and societies, as nations, and as a species.”The plethora of academic and popular literature indicates that people hold a certain set of Definitions and conceptions of mindfulness vary considerably , which originally meant “to remember”, “to recollect”, and “to bear in mind”. As Sharf —as “paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” In a specific sense, the term originates from the Pali term As Sharf , p. 473 As Sharf .In a traditional Buddhist context, meditation is not practised in isolation from ethical, doctrinal, and liturgical commitments King, . HistoriThese transformations in the purpose and significance of mindfulness meditation did not occur overnight. Much has been written on the historical, political, and sociocultural processes contributing to the transformation of Buddhist meditation and its integration in Western contexts , it is now something to be found in the inner depths of ourselves  took place concurrent with the survey (n = 458). The final stage of data collection involved follow-up interviews (n = 22).In the present article, we examined some of the key beliefs about the power of mindfulness to transform the individual and society through a mixed-methods approach, using interviews and the development of a new scale, the Belief in the Powers of Mindfulness Scale (BPMS). Note that we were interested in In short, there are reasons to suggest that individuals practising mindfulness may hold a variety of beliefs about its powers to promote personal change. Here, we sought to examine these beliefs through a mixed-method approach including longitudinal interviews (Study 1) and the development of a new scale on beliefs in the powers of mindfulness (Study 2).Study 1 comprised the qualitative assessment of common beliefs in the transformative power of mindfulness. Where do these beliefs stem from and what assumptions, if any, undergird them? How are these beliefs conceptually related to one another and/or to broader cultural trends? To address these questions, Study 1 utilised in-depth interviews with mindfulness meditators and teachers.Interview participants were recruited through a combination of recruitment strategies: in person during Rahmani’s fieldwork in the UK between 2017 and 2018 . Most (70%) had university education; occupation ranged from retired or unemployed (15%), educators (36%), software developers (9%), marketing consultants (9%), and students (6%), with remaining individuals distributed among other occupations (25%). Nineteen were born in Christian households, nine were raised in secular families, three had mixed-faith parents, and one participant was raised in the Hindu tradition.The participants had different levels of engagement with mindfulness meditation . Half of the participants (sixteen) were engaged with “institutionalised” mindfulness . All interviews were conducted through videoconferencing. The follow-up interviews were conducted 8 to 12 months after the initial ones and were individually designed to examine the influence of mindfulness on the participants’ language and worldview. The interviews were subsequently transcribed and analysed using a combination of thematic and structural narrative analyses  the ways in which mindfulness meditation is presented as a non-religious enterprise and thereby appeals to the atheists and non-religious, and (2) the influence of the practice on the practitioners’ worldviews. Therefore, several interview questions also focused on unpacking what non-religious identities meant to the participants.The qualitative dimension of this research is grounded in an interpretivist framework. In this research, interpretations were made in relation to the aspects of the wider sociocultural and historical realities that shape and influence the participant, the phenomenon, and the participant’s understanding of the phenomenon. The qualitative material was analysed through a dynamic combination of thematic and structural narrative analyses. Structural narrative analysis mainly concerns itself with context—rather than content—and aims for extracting meanings encoded in the form of the narrative, by constantly posing questions as to: how is the narrative organised and why is it developed in this particular way?  interpersonal relationships and compassion, (2) peace and violence, and (3) the inner world.Lilith : When I look at my relationship with my mom for example, that’s really improved in recent years as my practice has really become very regular. Yeah, I’m not involved in any past stories anymore. I just [pause] I enjoy some quality relationship with her. Yeah, and also, I don’t force myself to be this perfect daughter. So, I am kind to myself with the situation. I give what I can, but I also recognise when it starts to become uncomfortable for me. And so, I create the space that I need from her. Also, it [mindfulness] helped me recognise, and this is a powerful thing that happens with mindfulness, it made me realise that actually there’s two people. What’s their shit and what’s your shit and that’s a really powerful thing. I don't have to resolve her stuff.In describing the effects of mindfulness on their interpersonal relationships, participants presented narratives and attitudes that rested on a continuum between (a) becoming an engaged listener and (b) a detached, disinterested observer. For instance, some emphasised that mindfulness enabled them to let go of their desire to control situations; to reduce their impulse to “jump in to help or fix things for others”; to become better listeners and more “willing to learn others’ perspective”; and to manage conflict with others by recognising their own anger.James : The last couple of days before he [father] died, um my sister and my mom were with me, and we were walking out, and they were both in tears and I was quiet. [pause] I mean I was down. I felt sad but I wasn’t in the same sort of um emotional state. And my sister told me ‘I don’t know how you can, um how you can’t be um upset, you’re not crying.’ And I didn’t have an answer. But I think it’s because, I can choose thoughts […] with mindfulness I’ve found that I can control my or choose what I want to think about.In addition to this perspective, some of the participants strongly advocated for a detached and disinterested approach, particularly in the context of interpersonal conflicts. They argued that mindfulness helped them to emotionally detach from difficult situations, often by “walking away” from conflicts; that it helped them to “try not to get caught up in conflict or care about people’s opinions”; to not “waste energy” on others altogether; or simply control their exterior in emotionally taxing situations.Penelope : I think there’s less of an effort needed [for me] to have compassion for more people.Author: Doesn’t that come with maturity? And just basically living and having more [life] experience? Or are you associating that with mindfulness?Penelope: I would say no immediately only because […] I must have those qualities inside of me. I believe that everybody has these qualities inside of them. But I think that mine do surface [pause] perhaps more than other people. So, perhaps, perhaps I would’ve been more compassionate at this age. Um but when I, if I compare myself to people who, who perhaps haven’t practised Mindfulness, there seems to be a difference. Despite this diversity, they all construed the behavioural changes in a positive light and saw them as favourable effects of their mindfulness practice. Moreover, the participants’ discussions about interpersonal relationships were replete with references to the concept of compassion. While all participants considered compassion as an integral facet of mindfulness and central to the ways in which the practice had influenced their relationships, here too, responses could be conceived on a continuum from those who emphasised self-compassion vs. those who emphasised compassion to others. Moreover, when participants were probed to reflect on the links between mindfulness and compassion, they often conceptualised compassion as an innate human quality, and mindfulness as a powerful tool for unleashing compassion within us:Olivia : I think for me, the most important idea, or what helps me get out of bed type of thing is knowing that I’m connected to everything around me and that everything is connected to me and I think it’s really interesting that the more I look at the similarities between how we function in a, in a physical sense and how the universe functions. There’re so many similarities between how we’re made up and that’s quite comforting to me to know that. And it allows me, I think, to be more compassionate with people.For others, the theme of compassion was conceptually intertwined with the notions of “cosmic oneness”. In other words, the framework upon which some participants drew upon to theorise and cultivate compassion within themselves rested on a metaphysical view of monistic oneness:While the above conceptual framings of compassion—as (1) an innate hidden human quality, or (2) a premised on cosmic oneness—were prevalent, there were a smaller group of participants who spoke of compassion as a skill that could be cultivated through mindfulness. Yet, irrespective of this difference, what all participants shared was the conviction that mindfulness has the power to generate compassion and thus positively impact the world.Given the growth of literature on mindfulness and its potential to reduce violence and aggression in a variety of contexts  expressed their support for such interventions. They reasoned that mindfulness would help the soldiers to better cope with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); that it might increase their focus and attention; and that the soldiers would be less likely to make impulsive decisions on the battlefield, because they will be “present and not a slave to [their] emotions or amygdala”.Rhiannon : I think that’s great. I think that soldiers, like people who see combat, are on crazy amount of stress and a lot of times come back from you know Middle East or whatever with PTSD and from what I understand mindfulness is a great way to mitigate the effects of PTSD. So, I would vote for that […] I don’t think mindfulness makes soldiers into killing machines. I think it would turn them into happier more peaceful soldiers. I don’t know if this is true, but I read an article online about how happy cows give better milk [laughs] […] I’m definitely not cool with the whole history of British and American imperialism. I think that’s generally not a good idea. But I think also that there is value in dealing with what is. You can have a perfect picture in your mind of what the world should be. But we also have to deal with what is. And if there are human beings who struggle with anxiety and PTSD, who could be helped by mindfulness. And maybe if the soldiers do that, they will quit the military all together.Moreover, almost half of the participants (15 out of 32) seemed convinced that mindfulness will cultivate compassion and enable soldiers to “see the humanity in others” in such a way that they ought to “quit the army” and change their career.Marv : The inequities of the society um [pause] regionally, nationally, and globally, are still very, very real. And um, you know when I try to think about self-com[passion], lovingkindness and doing a metta practice and having those rays of positivity radiated out, I have to think like, ‘oh I have to think positively of Donald Trump and his supporters?’ Like that’s challenging. And I, I take solace in the fact that perhaps if they had the same mental peace, that composure that I believe mindfulness can help give people, and they also felt the same compassion that mindfulness can help instil in people, that those inequities would be less in our world.Similar to the theme of interpersonal relationships, the concept of compassion was integral to participants’ discussions about the power of mindfulness in promoting peace and positively impacting the world.Timothy : This question comes up: can you have effective mindfulness without the right livelihood, right thought, right speech, can you have one without the other? I would say, you can, but you can’t get very far. That you’d be stunted in your ethics. That meditation cannot be as fruitful and fulfilling […] but I can't imagine someone who meditates will not arrive at a moral framework.That said, a few participants seemed ambivalent about the efficiency of mindfulness in cultivating ethics and compassion in and of itself, especially if taught and practised removed from an ethical framework.Emma : People with faith or some sort of belief and religious leaning of any kind would have more benefit from it. Cause I feel like having that faith could give it more power […] I think that an atheist can find just as much benefit from it too, because if it’s supporting itself, if it’s showing effect in their life, you know they’re gonna say ‘wow it’s a tool and the science behind it makes sense.’The above passage perfectly captures this sense of ambivalence and the circular reasoning at play: on the one hand, Timothy is indicating that the mindfulness without ethics can be somewhat limited in its efficacy; yet on the other hand, he seems to suggest that meditation (in and of itself) can lead to a moral framework. Moreover, ambivalence about the efficacy of mindfulness was not confined to ethical concerns. A few other participants seemed to harbour doubts as to whether the benefits they gained were resulting from medication or at least a combination of the two treatments (e.g. mindfulness and anti-depressants). Others suggested that faith—whether in some higher power or merely faith in the science of meditation (in case of atheists)—might be a contributing factor in the perceived efficacy of the practice:Despite sporadic hits of uncertainty in their narratives (regarding the source of efficacy in mindfulness), the participants commonly reverted to reasoning that if mindfulness is practised regularly, then it will yield positive benefits.Author: What is the goal of meditation for you?Basil : Emptying the mind and not having any thoughts going through my head.Author: What is the goal of not having any thoughts?Basil: Being able to listen to that inner voice that speaks to me […]Author: What is this voice? How is this voice constructed? Is it something that is part of our human nature or is it something that is influenced by our environment and the ideas we absorb from society? Or both?Basil: Well, I think that the first thing is what definitely speaks to me. In other words, it’s something that we’re all born with. Then, what gets poured into us, what we’re socialised with, that’s the influences of society.Author: So it changes? Or we’re born with it and...Basil: No! It’s two separate things. In my view of the world and the way I live it, there is the mind, which is that thing that is full of the stuff that gets put into us by society and by our own experiences. And then there is the other one, which is what we are born with, which is that voice that we cover up with our own minds basically [laughs]. Another common theme that emerged involved the conception of mindfulness as a tool for “silencing the mind” and reconnecting with the “inner voice”:Rhiannon : It's hard to hear even what your inner voice is trying to say because you're blocking it for so long. So I wanted to see if I could use meditation to help me get in touch with my own, with my intuition and my body and see if I could understand how to work with myself instead of always looking for validation and direction from an outside source.Some participants explained that being in touch with this voice was important because it put them in touch with their moral feelings, thus providing the means to act both rightfully and autonomously.The assumption expressed by participants is that human beings are born with a moral compass or an intuitive understanding of what is right or wrong. The scope, boundaries, and types of wisdom one might acquire by focusing inwards and accessing the inner voice can, however, surpass the dominion of morality: one can consult the inner voice for aspirations and guidance on one’s career or marriage, as well as finding the “higher self”, the “love within”, or the sense of “oneness” that unites us with the universe. What is highly valued in all these endeavours is the sense of individual authority and autonomy—the fulfilment of finding, on my own terms, what is right for myself, within myself.some thoughts as transient and untrue, they did not question the nature of the self and most conceived of an agent, an observer, “a deeper awareness”, an “I”, and a “me” as real rather than illusory.The search for an inner voice can be further examined against the backdrop of yet another pervasive discourse among participants: “you are not your thoughts”. Nearly half of our participants explicitly used this or variations of this phrase in their interviews. Some considered it as the most liberating concept they had learnt from mindfulness. However, contrary to traditional Buddhism, while they rendered In this Study 1, we examined the common beliefs in the transformative power of mindfulness through the analysis of in-depth interviews with mindfulness meditators. Our analysis of the participants’ narratives shows that they embrace a range of beliefs about the transformative powers of mindfulness. These included a conceptualisation of compassion that either rested on the notion of cosmic oneness and/or an innate human quality. The conviction that by virtue of unleashing and/or cultivating compassion, mindfulness has the ability to rid the world from violence and inequity. This was exemplified in the unmeasured conviction that if soldiers practised mindfulness, they are bound to quit the army—a point which was accompanied with a sense of passive acceptance of the unfortunate state of the world . Finally, the idea of mindfulness as an introspective technology that enables one to silence the mind’s chatter, journey inwards, and access one’s inner voice. These ideas are, for the most part, built upon a series of epistemic claims and metaphysical assumptions about the nature of self and reality—a bricolage of ideas rooted in Romantic sentiments, which later emerged as central beliefs in the New Age thought. These findings reflect the significance of sociocultural trends in shaping peoples’ expectations and understandings of mindfulness meditation. This study therefore extends the call for a contextualised approach to studying mindfulness.Study 2 comprised the quantitative assessment of people’s beliefs in the powers of mindfulness. To measure people’s beliefs in the transformative powers of mindfulness meditation, we developed a novel scale on beliefs of how this practice can effect change across the personal, interpersonal, and societal domains.The existing scales of mindfulness are typically designed to measure psychological qualities or traits rather than beliefs. For example, the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire  and the New Age movement, we expected that individuals scoring high on beliefs in the powers of mindfulness would also score high on self-reported spirituality but not religiosity.SD = 12.3). Participants self-identified as atheist (31.7%), followed by agnostic (20.5%), unaffiliated , spiritual but not religious (15.9%), indifferent (3.7%), other (3.9%), Christian (2.8%), Buddhist (2.8%), and Sikh (0.2%). Finally, 225 (49.1%) participants were from the UK, and 233 (50.9%) from the USA.A total of 458 participants completed our survey. One hundred and fifty-two participants were recruited through online study advertisements asking for non-religious participants with mindfulness meditation practice, primarily Facebook and Twitter (participants received no monetary reward but participated in a raffle for two £50 Amazon vouchers). A total of 306 additional participants were recruited through the online recruitment platform Prolific (these participants were paid £3 for their time). There were 246 female (53.7%), 203 male (44.3%), and 8 other-gender (1.7%) participants. The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 73 years old, with a mean of 35.6 years , to Disagree (–1.5), Somewhat disagree (–0.5), Somewhat agree (0.5), Agree (1.5), and Strongly agree (2.5). Note that participants were presented with verbal labels only, and the scores are in fractions to maintain even intervals between each Likert option, while also maintaining a neutral zero point. We aimed to recruit a minimum of 300 participants to validate the scale, in line with recommendation for scale development , to Rarely true (1), Sometimes true (2), Often true (3), and Very often or always true (4). Reliability of the subscales was good, with the following Cronbach alphas and McDonald’s omegas: Observe , Describe , Act with awareness , Non-reactivity , and Non-judgment . For the overall scale, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.93 and McDonald’s omega was 0.92. An average score was created for each of the subscales as well as of the whole scale for every participant.We used the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire  and Extremely so (6).We measured self-report spirituality and religiosity through the following two questions: “How spiritual do you rate yourself to be?” and “How religious do you rate yourself to be?” Available options for answers were numbers from 0 to 6 with the following anchors at the extremities: t-tests, and ANOVAs, to assess associations between the BPMS and variables of interest, and to compare BPMS scores between relevant groups.To prepare the data for data analysis, a factor analysis was run to determine the underlying factor of the BPMS, followed by reliability analyses of each scale in the study, after which averages were created for each of the scales. These averages were then used in the correlation analyses, Assumptions of normality were assessed for the data, and it was determined that these assumptions were satisfied through statistically significant Shapiro–Wilk tests for the items. Next, a principal axis factor analysis with Varimax rotation (which maximises the variance of the squared loadings within each factor while minimising the cross-loadings between factors) was done on the items of Belief in the Powers of Mindfulness Scale to illuminate the shared variance and to explore the number of factors to be extracted. The first unrotated factor accounted for 54.0% of the common variance . Considering a tapering off in the scree plot, and the fact that the next factor’s eigenvalue was 0.85, accounting for just 9.4% of the common variance, no further factors were analysed. Factor loadings yielded were between 0.60 and 0.74; see Table r = 0.14 , p = 0.003, indicating that older participants had a stronger belief in the powers of mindfulness meditation. There was no significant difference in scores on the BPMS between women  and men , t(439) = 1.79, p = 0.07. With regard to country of residence, we found that belief in the powers of mindfulness meditation was significantly greater in the USA  than in the UK , t(447) = –2.87, p = 0.004.First, we explored whether demographics—in particular, age, gender, and country of residence—had an effect on belief in the transformative powers of mindfulness meditation. We found that the correlation between the BPMS and age was positive and significant, F = 7.26, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.07) and participants who meditated more frequently  = 8.71, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.12) scored higher on the BPMS; see Fig. Next, we examined whether length of time that participants had practised mindfulness meditation and the frequency of their mindfulness meditation practice were associated with increased belief in the powers of mindfulness meditation. We ran ANOVAs on BPMS by length and frequency of mindfulness meditation to test this, and we found that, as expected, participants who had meditated for longer : Observing, M = 2.13, SD = 1.65 on a scale from 0 to 7), while the overall mean scores for self-reported religiosity were particularly low , as expected given the recruitment of non-religious participants. Belief in the powers of mindfulness was associated with greater levels of spirituality , but not religiosity .The overall mean score for self-reported spirituality was short of the mid-point but not near 0 . We found that the scale showed good internal consistency and convergent validity. We found, in line with our expectations, that beliefs in the transformative powers of mindfulness were greater in individuals who had meditated for longer and more frequently. We also found that self-reported mindfulness skills were significantly and positively correlated with BPMS. Participants from the USA scored higher on BPMS than those from the UK, as did older participants as compared to younger. Higher levels of spirituality, but not religiosity, were associated with greater beliefs in the transformative powers of mindfulness. This scale will prove useful as quantitative measures in future psychology studies, through its relatively quick assessment of underlying beliefs people have about mindfulness meditation.Mindfulness and its potential power in producing individual and societal transformations are heralded by many with great enthusiasm—from meditators to researchers and clinicians. However, little is known about the content and variety of beliefs in the transformative power of mindfulness, in particular in meditators themselves, despite this potentially having important effects on the outcomes of mindfulness meditation. Here we examined these beliefs through a mixed-method approach, which involved longitudinal interviews and a large-scale survey including a newly developed scale on beliefs in the power of mindfulness. We also placed these beliefs in the context of relevant ideologies, validated the new Belief in the Powers of Mindfulness Scale (BPMS), and examined associations of these beliefs with other relevant variables, such as self-reported mindfulness skills.The Belief in the Powers of Mindfulness Scale consists of items reflecting beliefs relating to the themes of interpersonal relationships and compassion, peace and violence, inner world, and the desire for self-transformation, and had good internal consistency and convergent validity. In a sample of 458 participants from the USA and the UK, we found that individuals who practised mindfulness more often and longer, and were more spiritual, scored higher on this measure. Beliefs in Mindfulness also correlated positively and significantly with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), though the effect sizes were medium-sized. This indicates that people who believe in the power of mindfulness also tend to rate themselves higher on mindfulness skills.So far, mindfulness research has rarely taken beliefs and expectations into account, despite their potential on affecting measurement outcomes. The study by Canby et al.  is an exThe participants’ key beliefs in the transformative powers of mindfulness were thematically presented in three sections: interpersonal relationships and compassion, peace and violence, and the inner world. As demonstrated in the qualitative section, the participants’ narratives and understanding of the workings of mindfulness were undergirded by a host of ideologies, epistemic claims, and metaphysical assumptions about the nature of mind, self, and reality—which are predicated by broader cultural trends such as expressive individualism, perennial philosophy, and New Age sentiments and ideals.For instance, the conviction that mindfulness can reduce violence in the world was tightly intertwined with the assumptions that human beings are innately good, that we are born with a “moral compass”, and that mindfulness has the power to cultivate compassion (towards self and others) regardless of how and to whom the practice is taught. The idea that mindfulness has the power to unleash compassion was itself predicated on the conception of compassion as an innate human quality and/or conceptually intertwined with the notion of “cosmic oneness”, which closely mirrored Jon Kabat-Zinn’s articulations of emptiness and interconnectedness Braun, , p. 192.unfiltered reality. The filter theory in the context of NDE studies therefore implicitly supports metaphysical truth-claims about the nature of reality, and the existence of consciousness outside of our physical form (afterlife). In the context of mindfulness, the filter theory discourse rests on similar sets of assumptions about the mind and reality, and the power of the practice rests in its ability to illuminate the bare facets of reality as it is, although the precise nature of reality—that which the mindfulness practitioners conceive as pure or ultimate reality—can significantly vary for each participant.Similarly, the conception of mindfulness as a tool for silencing the mind’s chatter and accessing one’s inner voice was grounded on several assumptions: that somewhere within us exists an unconstructed mode of being; that our access to this state is impaired by our mind, which itself is conditioned by our life experiences and our sociocultural, historical, and linguistic contexts; and that by silencing the mind through mindfulness meditation, one could peel back through these layers and connect to a “pure” state that exists distinct from our everyday conscious mind. This conception of the power of mindfulness is, as Robert Sharf  has arguWhile the participants in this research framed the initial appeal of mindfulness in terms of its science-based approach to mental health, their thinking about mindfulness is conceptually inherited from various strands of thoughts that are neither scientific (in its epistemology) nor necessarily secular. The analysis of the longitudinal interviews showed that the participants’ ideas and articulation of the purpose of their practise often changed over time, with some taking the form of a spiritual quest for meaning. Indeed, as Study 2 demonstrates, BPMS strongly correlated with self-report spirituality, and all subscales of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, as well as length and frequency of practise. Together, these results raise questions about the degree to which perceived benefits are driven by culturally informed beliefs and expectations rather than various claimed mechanisms of action. As detailed above, some of the participants in this study  seemed to harbour this ambivalence about the source of efficacy in mindfulness—with some attributing it partially to faith, ethics, or medication.As shown, the participants in this research conveyed an affinity for a range of ideas that were loaded with metaphysical assumptions. This is significant once we consider the fact that self-identification as non-religious was a criterion for participant recruitment in this research. Although self-identification as non-religious does not necessarily equate to metaphysical-naturalism , one might assume that those who self-categorise as non-religious are less likely to endorse metaphysical claims in comparison to the general public. However, it is also important to note that the ideas about the transformative powers of mindfulness were also shaped by cultural trends—far broader than the perceived religious/secular divide—that have arguably become a general feature of our modern self-understanding Taylor, .Our thematic analysis of the interviews shows that while all participants felt that mindfulness meditation positively impacted their interpersonal relationships, they also exhibited opposing ideas about what constitutes a positive behavioural change in this context . This demonstrates that people’s interpretations were highly subjective; and the behavioural patterns that they considered as prosocial effects of mindfulness may not objectively appear as such. To put simply: one person’s notion of exercising self-compassion in a context of an interpersonal conflict can be construed as self-centric and antisocial from another’s perspective. This finding should come as a cautionary tale for scholars who primarily rely on self-report measures to assess the impact of mindfulness on prosocial behaviour. For instance, this poses a challenge to Bihari and Mullan’s ,, p. 53 There are some limitations to this research. In our studies, we recruited individuals who self-identified as non-religious . While some evidence indicates that non-religion may be a popular stance among mindfulness meditators in Western context  were in line with the interviews of Study 1, indicating that the aspect of anonymity had little effect on the results. The convergence of answers in Study 1 and Study 2 despite the different methods of extracting information about the participants’ beliefs (i.e. survey versus interviews) further validates these findings. Moreover, the scale includes a number of items that go beyond the popular narrative (e.g. “Mindfulness Meditation should be taught as part of the school curricula”). Together, this suggests a minimal effect of social desirability bias.For future research, we suggest that researchers should consider the specific understandings that participants have regarding mindfulness, as this may significantly direct their attitudes and behaviours. We envision that our scale, the BPMS, will be useful in measuring people’s expectations in mindfulness intervention trials as well as helping understand the extent to which such beliefs play an important role in the everyday lives of mindfulness practitioners.