Individuals around the world report nonordinary experiences that stand out to them compared to their day-to-day or ordinary experiences. Yet, they can be appraised in very different ways, resulting in wellbeing and personal growth, or in marginalization and mental health problems. One challenge is that there are relatively few systematic efforts to explore possible appraisal processes and the...
Abstract Experiences that resemble symptoms of psychosis or dissociation in clinical research do not necessarily impair daily functioning and may instead be interpreted within religious or spiritual frameworks. However, the extent to which such interpretations influence perceived life impact remains unclear. Distinguishing phenomenological experiences from their spiritual or religious...
Non-ordinary experiences such as hearing voices, losing control over one's body or mediumship/possession, are observed across cultures. However, there is a notable lack of instruments specifically designed to measure these experiences from a subject-centered, culturally sensitive perspective, with existing measures offering limited coverage ofexperiences that may be particularly salient for...
Abstract Objectives While Buddhist-derived mindfulness dominates contemporary psychological research on the implementation of wisdom traditions, other wisdom traditions may contain comparable contemplative elements. Stoicism, an ancient Western philosophical tradition, incorporates mindfulness-like practices ( prosochē ) and cognitive approaches that parallel modern therapeutic interventions...
Nonordinary experiences (NOEs) that are subjectively marked as unusual or special have important implications for our understanding of consciousness but are challenging to quantify. Estimates of their prevalence vary widely across disciplines and research traditions, and the reasons for this variation remain unclear. We address this discrepancy in a series of six studies. In study 1, we...
Abstract Consciousness research has largely overlooked systematic examination of nonordinary experiences (NOEs) in the general population. Such experiences are subjectively marked as unusual or special compared to mundane ones, are challenging to quantify and disciplinary biases complicate accurate assessments of population-wide prevalence rates. Using descriptive, non-judgmental phrasing of...
Abstract Objectives We present a bibliometric review of research on trait mindfulness published from 2003 until 2021 to determine the current state of the field and identify research trajectories. Methods A search conducted on Aug 25, 2021, using the search terms “trait mindfulness” OR “dispositional mindfulness” in the Web of Science Core Collection identified 1405 documents. Results Using...
We provide a critical review of mindfulness research, focusing on three core areas and questions. First, a meta-review and bibliometric analysis on mindfulness research trends identified a large number of meta-analyses published in the last 20 years, which tend to show positive effects on average, despite continuing questions on research quality, unclear pathways and uncertainty about the...
Our species-unique capacity for cumulative culture relies on a complex interplay between social and cognitive motivations. Attempting to understand much of human behaviour will be incomplete if one of these motivations is the focus at the expense of the other. Anchored in gene-culture co-evolution theory, we stake a claim for the importance of social drivers in determining why shamans exist.