Highest Happiness: An Analysis of Artists' Peak Experience

Peak experiences—moments of highest happiness—are described similarly by artists and non-artists. Twenty-nine exhibiting artists and 123 university students in social sciences each wrote about a personal incident of peak happiness and rated descriptions on Likert-type scales. Multivariate analysis of variance and t tests found no significant differences between the groups' descriptions. Both groups' accounts aligned with major theoretical descriptions of peak experiences. Demographic differences and triggers varied between groups, but the similarity in experiential descriptions supports Maslow's claim that peak experiences are universal.

Study at a glance

Abstract

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 differences in the two groups' descriptions of peak experience, and subsequent t tests showed no significant differences on any item. Responses from both groups provide a constellation of experiential correlates of the peak experience consistent with major theoretical descriptions of subjective characteristics of the event. Demographic differences between the groups, triggers, and experiential characteristics of peak experiences were examined. Differences on demographic variables and triggers and the absence of significant differences in the descriptions of peak experience suggest one approach that would bolster Maslow's position of the universality of the peak experience.