Students' Peak Experiences: A Written Exercise
James Polyson
Teaching of Psychology December 1, 1985 DOI: 10.1207/s15328023top1204_7 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Undergraduate psychology students enrolled in a course |
| Topics | Mystical experience |
| Citations | 9 |
| Key findings | Student evaluations indicated the peak-experience writing assignment was a successful learning activity: it facilitated students' understanding of Maslow's theories and provided an enjoyable learning experience. The authors contend the exercise also encouraged students to integrate affect and intellect, consistent with Carl Rogers's views on exploring feelings in academic learning. |
Abstract
In an exercise described in this paper, u:ndergraduate psychology students wrote about peak experiences they have had as a way of helping them understand Masloeiv's theoretical construct by relating it to meaningful events in their own lives. An additional goal of the exercise was to help stua!ents develop their writing skills. At the end of the semester, students completed an anonymous questionnaire assessing whether the assignment had been a worthwhile learning experience cclnsistent with their personal goals for the course. Student evaluations confirmed that this was a successful activity; the course facilitated their understanding of Maslow's theories and provided an enjoyable learning experience. The exercise also encouraged students to integrate affect and intellect, consistent with Carl Rogers's views on the exploration of feelings us an important part of academic learning.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on mystical experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The nature of peak experience in wilderness. Participants who had visited wilderness areas in Victoria, Australia, recruited via a... | 2009 | Qualitative study | n = 39 |
| Qualitative and Quantitative Features of Music Reported to Support Peak Mystical Experiences during Psychedelic Therapy Sessions Individuals with extensive experience administering psilocybin or psilocybin-containing... | 2017 | Survey and qualitative/quantitative analysis | n = 10 |
| Cannabis as entheogen: survey and interview data on the spiritual use of cannabis. Participants recruited from seven online communities, median age 33, 81% male | 2020 | Mixed methods (qualitative interviews and quantitative survey) | n = 319 |
| Clarifying and measuring the characteristics of experiences that involve a loss of self or a dissolution of its boundaries. Adults who reported an experience involving dissolution of self-boundaries or loss of... | 2024 | Cross-sectional survey with confirmatory factor analysis and qualitative thematic analysis | n = 386 |
| The developmental impact of not integrating childhood peak experiences Adults recalling their childhood peak experiences | 2007 | Qualitative study | n = 12 |