We examined the relationship of tolerance of ambiguity to severe global factors and specific types of anomalous or paranormal experience. 107 undergraduate students completed MacDonald's 1970 AT-20 and the Anomalous Experiences Inventory of Kumar, Pekala, and Gallagher. Scores on the five subscales of the Anomalous Experiences Inventory correlated differently with tolerance of ambiguity. Global...
In the past in evolutionary psychology both dream theory and content have been largely ignored. Recently exploration of Freudian and Jungian ideas has begun, making a more extensive examination of dreaming desirable. Further, dream content analysis can provide data for testing evolutionary hypotheses concerning behavior.
Reporters of out-of-body experiences (n = 21) and nonreporters (n = 159) showed no significant differences on the Spheres of Control Scale, Self-efficacy Scale, and Purpose in Life Scale. However, reporters of out-of-body experiences showed significantly greater belief in Psi, Spiritualism, and Extraordinary Life Forms than nonreporters.
Two replication studies test in Canada a field theory of the effect of consciousness on social change. The exogenous variable is the number of participants in the largest North American group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program, in Iowa. The first study indicated a significant reduction in violent deaths (homicide, suicide, and motor vehicle fatalities), using both...
The cognitive processes which mediate self-consciousness are unknown. although Morin and others have suggested that inner speech may mediate self-consciousness. We developed a questionnaire which measures the extent to which one talks to oneself about oneself. As expected, the correlation between inner speech and self-consciousness was significant. A German version of the 1979 self-deception...
This paper concerns the efficacy of meditation and relaxation in promoting self-actualization and changes in self-reported stress among 62 college students. Two groups were given mantra meditation and a yogic relaxation technique referred to as Shavasana. Pre- and posttest measures were taken on the Personal Orientation Inventory and the Behavioral Relaxation Scale. Both groups showed...
The effects of opening-up meditation on college adjustment and self-actualization were examined with 45 subjects who were divided into groups for opening-up meditation, relaxation, and control using scores on the Anxiety Scale of the College Adjustment Scales. Subjects also completed the Personal Orientation Inventory. 1 hr. of training for the meditation and relaxation groups was given and 20...
Both theoretical and empirical observations suggest that significant alterations in self-concept should occur following most closed head injuries because of diffuse synaptic modification within the temporofrontal regions; this loss of the sense of self should evoke a grief-like response sequence and should encourage paranormal/religious experiences during the subsequent months to years. The...
Dreams of 20 college women classified as depressed by scores on the Beck Depression Inventory were compared with those of 21 nondepressed college women. The depressed group recalled fewer dreams, had significantly shorter dream length, and displayed less anger in their dreams. They also had fewer characters in their dreams and especially fewer strangers.
The effects of fasting on the intake and subjective effects of marijuana were studied in five marijuana smokers. A within-subjects design was used in which subjects smoked either active (0.8 and 3.6% THC) or placebo (0.0% THC) marijuana after eating normally or after fasting for 24 hr. Six experimental sessions were conducted in a randomized order. Each 3-hr. session consisted of two periods: a...
Descriptions of peak experiences collected from 29 exhibiting artists were compared with parallel data from a comparison group of 123 men and women enrolled in university courses in social sciences. Each person narratively described a personal incident of highest happiness, then rated a series of descriptions on Likert-type scales. A multivariate analysis of variance indicated no significant...
Ménière's disease is generally accepted to be a consequence of distention of the endolymphatic sac of the inner ear. Although the exact etiology is unclear, there is a body of research suggesting that Ménière's disease is of psychosomatic origin. While we do not intend to review the literature exhaustively, we briefly review several frequently cited studies. Even though this literature is so...
The Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Paranormal Belief Scale were given to 383 college students. As hypothesized, significant but small direct correlations were obtained between narcissism and belief in Psi and in Precognition. When the sample was divided into those 56 who reported out-of-body experiences and 327 nonreporters, an interaction emerged. Among the former, narcissism...
The Questionnaire: Peak Performance and Peak Experience is based on both research and theoretical content found through a comparative analysis of literature germane to peak performance, peak experience, and flow. The Dale-Chall Readability Formula indicated that readability of the questionnaire is at the upper limits of the 9th and 10th grades. A Pearson product-moment correlation, based on 33...
A brief inventory of characteristics of “peak communication experiences” was developed from Maslow's model of the generalized peak experience. Data from 74 subjects were submitted to principal components analysis with varimax rotation, yielding six factors which accounted for 66.1% of the total variance, as follows: Loving Acceptance (25.9%), Openminded Insight (10.2%), Spontaneity (9.2%),...
Two experiential phenomena, performance and feeling, were defined operationally by a model that indicated gradients and possible interrelations between phenomena (Privette, 1985). Six events characterize major gradients and interrelations: peak performance, functioning at one's best; peak experience, highest happiness; flow, intrinsic reward, identified as a sport or game; an average event,...
Experience, an internal state or process, has salience, as does behavior, as a basic data category of personality. Two key experiential phenomena, which exemplify experience as a data category, were identified and operationally defined by a model. Peak experience and peak performance were taken to be prototypes of feeling and performance. Possible relations between these phenomena and...
The present study was designed to assess whether individuals reporting experiences of depersonalization or derealization experience higher levels of anxiety than those subjects not reporting these experiences. 221 undergraduates volunteered to complete questionnaires on depersonalization and derealization and the IPAT Anxiety Scale. Analysis indicated that subjects experiencing...
Undergraduate volunteers (16 men, 19 women) were randomly assigned to either a meditation or a control condition balanced for expectancy to compare the function of these treatments in the alleviation of test anxiety. Self-report, performance, and physiological indices were assessed as moderated by gender, Scholastic Aptitude Test score, frequency of practice, repression, and expectancy of...
Psychological ReportsFebruary 1, 1983Phillip T. Griffin, Richard E. Garey, George C. Daul et al.
The medical records of 153 psychiatric admissions who were determined to be Phencyclidine toxic were analyzed for the presence of various categories of psychiatric symptoms. Aggression was observed during the hospital stay by 58% of the patients followed closely by bizarre behavior (55%) and anxiety (53%). 116 males did not differ from 37 females in observed symptoms but 112 blacks showed more...
17 married women who had received instruction in the Transcendental Meditation program were compared to 17 controls (matched for length of marriage, age, and neighborhood) on Locke's Marital Adjustment Inventory. Interviewees did not know the study was related to meditation or that they were contacted because they were meditators. Subjects in the Transcendental Meditation group showed...
Measures of tendency to have mystical experiences, romantic love, and hypnotic susceptibility were positively intercorrelated suggesting that they all involve the ability to suspend contact with objective reality.
147 students were assessed on absorption, hypnotic susceptibility, and three measures of “psychological well-being” (self-esteem, depressive affect, psychosomatic symptoms) and were then invited to participate without cost in a program to learn meditation. Those completing the four-session training program were followed for 5 mo. by phone and mail. Analysis indicated that (a) meditating...
On the basis of performance on the East-West Questionnaire, 69 members of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology were Eastern in their thinking in that they tended to believe in the essential unity of reality and the contention that our society overemphasizes science, technology, rationality, and competition. At the same time they favored a democratic form of government, a free-enterprise...
The successful elimination of depersonalization neurosis through the use of directive therapy was accomplished after other therapeutic techniques had failed. The following case study describes this philosophy and some of the techniques used.