Bio
Steven Stanley is a critical psychologist in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University, Wales. His academic background is in Psychology. He holds an Honours degree in Psychology (The Nottingham Trent University, 2000) and a Doctorate in Philosophy titled 'Doctoral Dilemmas: Towards a Discursive Psychology of Postgraduate Education' (Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University, 2005). Stanley is interested in the therapeutic cultures of late modernity, with a particular focus on social studies of mindfulness. His research comprises three interwoven threads: (i) Historical scholarship of meditation and mindfulness in Buddhism and Psychology – specifically as applied to ethico-moral issues; (ii) Qualitative analyses of mindfulness-based teaching in action; (iii) Experiments in post-therapeutic contemplative practices as forms of social exploration. His articles have appeared in journals such as Theory & Psychology, Social & Personality Psychology Compass, and Qualitative Research in Psychology. Alongside his academic research, Stanley has a 20-year meditation practice, and has undertaken the two-year Committed Dharma Practitioner Programme at Gaia House, Devon, and Pāli Summer School at Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, Oxford. Currently, he is collaborating internationally on a series of interdisciplinary studies of mindfulness, meditation, and mind wandering. He is leading co-editor of the Handbook of Ethical Foundations of Mindfulness (Stanley, Purser & Singh, Springer Publications, due 2018). Stanley is the Principal Investigator of a three-year research project ‘Beyond Personal Well-Being’, a landmark study of the mindfulness movement in the United Kingdom, funded by The Leverhulme Trust.
Publications
Stanley, S., Purser, R., & N. Singh (Eds.) (in press). Handbook of Ethical Foundations of Mindfulness. New York: Springer.
Stanley, S., Purser, R., & Singh, N. (in press). Introduction. In S. Stanley, R. Purser, & N. Singh (Eds.) Handbook of Ethical Foundations of Mindfulness. New York: Springer.
Stanley, S. & Longden, C. (2016). Constructing the mindful subject: reformulating experience through affective-discursive practice in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. In R. Purser, D. Forbes & A. Burke (Eds.) Handbook of Mindfulness: Culture, Context, and Social Engagement (pp. 305-322). New York: Springer.
Stanley, S. (2015). Sīla and Sati: An exploration of ethics and mindfulness in Pāli Buddhism and their implications for secular mindfulness-based applications. In E. Shonin, W. Van Gordon, & N.N. Singh (Eds.) Buddhist Foundations of Mindfulness (89-113). New York: Springer.
Stanley, S., Barker, M., Edwards, V., & McEwen, E. (2015). Swimming against the stream? Mindfulness as a psychosocial research methodology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, Special Issue: ‘Researching the Psychosocial’, 12 (1), 61-76.
Stanley, S. (2014a). Mindfulness. In T. Teo (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 1186-1192). New York: Springer.
Stanley, S. (2014b). Meditation. In T. Teo (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 1163-1168). New York: Springer.
Crane, R.S., Stanley, S., Rooney, M., Bartley, T., Cooper, L., & Mardula, J. (2014). Disciplined improvisation: characteristics of inquiry in mindfulness-based teaching. Mindfulness, DOI 10.1007/s12671-014-0361-8.
Stanley, S. (2013). "Things said or done long ago are recalled and remembered": the ethics of mindfulness in early Buddhism, psychotherapy, and clinical psychology. European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling, 15 (2), 151-162.
Stanley, S. (2012a). Intimate distances: William James' introspection, Buddhist mindfulness, and experiential inquiry. New Ideas in Psychology, 30 (2), 201-211.
Stanley, S. (2012b). From discourse to awareness: rhetoric, mindfulness, and a psychology without foundations. Theory & Psychology, 23 (1), 60-80.
Stanley, S. (2012c). Mindfulness: towards a critical relational perspective. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6 (9), 631-706.
Stanley, S., & Billig, M. (2004). Dilemmas of storytelling and identity. In C. Daiute, & C. Lightfoot (Eds.) Narrative Analysis: Studying the Development of Individuals in Society (pp. 159-176). London: Sage.
Stanley, S. and Billig, M. (2004). Dilemmi di narrazione e identita. In M. V. Masoni and B. Vezzani, Eds., Le Relazione Educativa (pp. 147-168). Milan, Italy: FrancoAngeli.
Stanley, S. (2001). Disembodiment is a cyberspace myth: discourse and the self in real space. CyberPsychology & Behaviour, 4 (1), 77-93.
Stanley, S. (2001). Discursive cyberpsychology: rhetoric, repression and the loneliness of talking the internet. In G. Riva, & C. Galimberti (Eds.) Towards CyberPsychology: Mind, Cognitions, and Society in the Internet Age (pp. 95-108). Amsterdam: IOS Press.
Stanley, S., Purser, R., & Singh, N. (in press). Introduction. In S. Stanley, R. Purser, & N. Singh (Eds.) Handbook of Ethical Foundations of Mindfulness. New York: Springer.
Stanley, S. & Longden, C. (2016). Constructing the mindful subject: reformulating experience through affective-discursive practice in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. In R. Purser, D. Forbes & A. Burke (Eds.) Handbook of Mindfulness: Culture, Context, and Social Engagement (pp. 305-322). New York: Springer.
Stanley, S. (2015). Sīla and Sati: An exploration of ethics and mindfulness in Pāli Buddhism and their implications for secular mindfulness-based applications. In E. Shonin, W. Van Gordon, & N.N. Singh (Eds.) Buddhist Foundations of Mindfulness (89-113). New York: Springer.
Stanley, S., Barker, M., Edwards, V., & McEwen, E. (2015). Swimming against the stream? Mindfulness as a psychosocial research methodology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, Special Issue: ‘Researching the Psychosocial’, 12 (1), 61-76.
Stanley, S. (2014a). Mindfulness. In T. Teo (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 1186-1192). New York: Springer.
Stanley, S. (2014b). Meditation. In T. Teo (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 1163-1168). New York: Springer.
Crane, R.S., Stanley, S., Rooney, M., Bartley, T., Cooper, L., & Mardula, J. (2014). Disciplined improvisation: characteristics of inquiry in mindfulness-based teaching. Mindfulness, DOI 10.1007/s12671-014-0361-8.
Stanley, S. (2013). "Things said or done long ago are recalled and remembered": the ethics of mindfulness in early Buddhism, psychotherapy, and clinical psychology. European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling, 15 (2), 151-162.
Stanley, S. (2012a). Intimate distances: William James' introspection, Buddhist mindfulness, and experiential inquiry. New Ideas in Psychology, 30 (2), 201-211.
Stanley, S. (2012b). From discourse to awareness: rhetoric, mindfulness, and a psychology without foundations. Theory & Psychology, 23 (1), 60-80.
Stanley, S. (2012c). Mindfulness: towards a critical relational perspective. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6 (9), 631-706.
Stanley, S., & Billig, M. (2004). Dilemmas of storytelling and identity. In C. Daiute, & C. Lightfoot (Eds.) Narrative Analysis: Studying the Development of Individuals in Society (pp. 159-176). London: Sage.
Stanley, S. and Billig, M. (2004). Dilemmi di narrazione e identita. In M. V. Masoni and B. Vezzani, Eds., Le Relazione Educativa (pp. 147-168). Milan, Italy: FrancoAngeli.
Stanley, S. (2001). Disembodiment is a cyberspace myth: discourse and the self in real space. CyberPsychology & Behaviour, 4 (1), 77-93.
Stanley, S. (2001). Discursive cyberpsychology: rhetoric, repression and the loneliness of talking the internet. In G. Riva, & C. Galimberti (Eds.) Towards CyberPsychology: Mind, Cognitions, and Society in the Internet Age (pp. 95-108). Amsterdam: IOS Press.