Integrated Decentering: Validating an Automated Measure of Decentering Expression Across Seven Independent Samples

<title>Abstract</title> <p> <bold>Objectives.</bold> Decentering---relating to one's thoughts and emotions as passing mental events rather than being fused with them---is difficult to measure at scale. We test whether Integrated Decentering (ID), an automated measure of the decentering expressed in short reflective text, shows construct validity as one fixed scoring model. <bold>Methods.</bold> A purpose-trained language-model ensemble scored texts from seven independent samples (self-report, community, essay, diary, and online-argument samples, and two contemplative-practice cohorts). One cohort was a post-hoc secondary analysis of a registered randomized trial; ID was not a prespecified trial outcome. Aggregate-level analyses tested convergent, criterion, discriminant, incremental, reliability, and practice-linked validity, controlling for text length. <bold>Results.</bold> ID converged with established decentering scales (EQ-D r=.36, 95% CI [.20,.50], n=124; MPoDT r=.41[.09,.65], n=35); no prompted general-purpose model, frontier included, reproduced the EQ-D convergence. ID predicted empathic concern (r=.40[.36,.44]), wise-reasoning search-for-resolution (β=.18[.05,.30]), and value--behavior coherence (r=.33[.24,.41]; ΔR²=.027 beyond the Big Five). Predicted nulls held (adjacent wise-reasoning subscales, rumination, negative affect), and length-matched impersonal argument showed no positive discrimination (AUC =.45[.40,.49]). Aggregates were stable over 12 months (r=.69[.52,.81]). ID distinguished practitioners from matched non-practitioner controls (meditation g=1.83[1.08,2.89]; yoga g=1.38[0.68,2.29]); in a post-hoc non-randomized exposure analysis, reported sitting practice tracked 24-month gains (g=.80[0.13,1.56]). ID overlapped with an expert developmental score, as theory predicts, yet predicted decentering-relevant self-report beyond it. <bold>Conclusions.</bold> One fixed scoring model transferred unchanged across all seven samples: ID offers a scalable measure of decentering expression in reflective text for contemplative science and other fields concerned with metacognitive distance. <bold>Trial registration.</bold> ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02628548; registered 11 December 2015. </p>