ACT: Passengers on a bus metaphor

The ACT “passengers on a bus” (see here) metaphor has recently been used as a thought diffusion technique in a piece of research on resisting chocolate. Cognitive diffusion consists of creating space between one’s thoughts and oneself to the point where one comes to recognise that you are not your thoughts, but just the arena where they take place. This technique basically consists of the participants imagining they are the driver of a bus and that any thoughts or feelings they had about eating chocolate were to be considered as awkward passengers who attempt to highjack the direction in which they wish to go, which in this case was not eating chocolate.

There were three groups, the experimental group trained in cognitive diffusion techniques, a comparison group trained in urge surfing techniques to ride out the wave of craving, and a control group trained in relaxation techniques.

The 135 participants were each given a bag containing 14 chocolates to carry around with them for five days without eating any of the chocolates. They were also asked to refrain from eating any other chocolate during the five days and to keep a diary of how much chocolate they did actually eat.

The key findings were that the urge surfing group ate just as much chocolate as the control group and both groups ate more than the experimental group. 27% of the cognitive diffusion group ate some chocolate over the five days, compared with 45% for both the urge surf and the control group.

These results were followed up by a habits questionnaire, which suggested that the diffusion technique was more effective because it reduced the mindless automatic consumption of chocolate by the diffusion group better than in the other two groups.

The researchers, Kim Jenkins and Katy Tapper, suggested that their results show mindfulness diffusion techniques such as passengers on a bus, are promising brief intervention strategies for boosting self control over an extended period.