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Do Prevailing Societal Models Influence Reports of Near-Death Experiences?

Geena Athappilly, Bruce Greyson, Ian Stevenson

The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease March 1, 2006 DOI: 10.1097/01.nmd.0000202513.65079.1e (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational cohort Peer reviewed
Sample size 48
Population Individuals reporting near-death experiences
Topics Near-death experience
Keywords Situational ethics Phenomenon Transcendental number Variation astronomy Demography Epistemology Jungian analytical psychology
Citations 52
Key findings Near-death experience accounts after 1975 show increased frequency of tunnel phenomena but no change in the other 14 Moody-defined features, challenging the hypothesis of substantial cultural influence.

Abstract

Transcendental near-death experiences show some cross-cultural variation that suggests they may be influenced by societal beliefs. The prevailing Western model of near-death experiences was defined by Moody's description of the phenomenon in 1975. To explore the influence of this cultural model, we compared near-death experience accounts collected before and after 1975. We compared the frequency of 15 phenomenological features Moody defined as characteristic of near-death experiences in 24 accounts collected before 1975 and in 24 more recent accounts matched on relevant demographic and situational variables. Near-death experience accounts collected after 1975 differed from those collected earlier only in increased frequency of tunnel phenomena, which other research has suggested may not be integral to the experience, and not in any of the remaining 14 features defined by Moody as characteristic of near-death experiences. These data challenge the hypothesis that near-death experience accounts are substantially influenced by prevailing cultural models.

Comparable studies

Other observational and cohort studies on near-death experience, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands Cardiac patients successfully resuscitated after cardiac arrest in ten Dutch hospitals 2001 Prospective cohort study n = 344
Incidence and correlates of near-death experiences in a cardiac care unit Cardiac inpatients at a tertiary care center 2003 Observational cohort n = 1,595
Features of "near-death experience" in relation to whether or not patients were near death Patients who believed they were near death during an illness or after an injury and... 1990 Observational cohort n = 58
The phenomenology of near-death experiences Subjects who reported near-death experiences 1980 Retrospective study n = 78
Near-Death Experiences and the Temporal Lobe Individuals who reported having had a near-death experience during a life-threatening... 2004 Observational cohort

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Near-death experience Philosophy of mind