Transpersonal experiences in childhood: an exploratory empirical study of selected adult groups.
H T Hunt, A Gervais, S Shearing-Johns, F Travis
Perceptual and Motor Skills December 1, 1992 DOI: 10.2466/pms.1992.75.3f.1135 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Exploratory study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Adults with high estimated early transpersonal experiences, practicing meditators, and undergraduate controls |
| Key points | Support was found for both a cognitive skills/precocity model and a vulnerability of self model of early transpersonal experience, depending on experience type, age of recall, and adult meditative practice. |
Abstract
A questionnaire was developed to assess adult recall for a range of transpersonal experiences throughout childhood and adolescence (mystical experience, out-of-body experience, lucid dreams, archetypal dreams, ESP), as well as nightmares and night terrors as indicators of more conflicted, negative states. In two exploratory studies this questionnaire was administered to subjects with high estimated levels of early transpersonal experiences and practising meditators, with respective undergraduate controls. A cognitive skills/precocity model of early transpersonal experience was contrasted with a vulnerability of self model by comparisons of these groups on questionnaire categories, imaginative absorption, neuroticism, and visual-spatial skills, with some support found for both models depending on experience type, age of estimated recall, and adult meditative practice.