Correlates of Mystical and Diabolical Experiences in a Sample of Female University Students

Spaños, Nicholas P.; Moretti, Patricia

doi:10.2307/1387405

Cited by 54 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Nelson's findings concerning the role of psychological absorp tion are perfectly congruent with other studies of the correlates of mystical experience (Mathes, 1982;Spanos and Moretti, 1988) as well as with Harvey Irwin's work on out-of-body experiences, facility for which also seems to be related to absorption tendencies. Furthermore, in the specific context of NDEs, we need to recall Council and Greyson's pioneering study (1985) that likewise found a relationship between absorption and NDE status.…”

Section: Implications and Conclusionsupporting

confidence: 81%

The omega project: An empirical study of the NDE-prone personality

Ring

Rosing²

1990

J Near-Death Stud

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Seventy-four near-death experiencers (NDErs) and 54 persons interested in near-death experiences (NDEs) participated in a mail question naire survey to assess the role of psychological factors in influencing suscep tibility to NDEs and to measure aftereffects stemming from such events. NDErs, while not more fantasy-prone than control subjects, reported greater sensitivity to nonordinary realities as children and a higher incidence of child abuse and trauma. NDErs also scored higher on a measure of psychological dissociation. We discuss the implications of these findings for the concept of an NDE-prone personality. In addition to substantial shifts in values and beliefs, NDErs described far more psychophysical changes, including symptoms of kundalini activation, following their NDEs than did controls. We then discuss the implications of these findings with respect to their possible significance for human transformation and the emergence of a more highly evolved human being, the Omega Prototype.Despite a decade and a half of research on near-death experiences (NDEs), we still know surprisingly little about the psychological makeup of individuals who report these encounters. Of course, we have long been aware that such demographic factors as race, gender, social

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Section: Implications and Conclusionsupporting

confidence: 81%

The omega project: An empirical study of the NDE-prone personality

Ring

Rosing²

1990

J Near-Death Stud

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“…The data found no association between reported mystical experience and psychopathology among the Christian affiliates, the Muslim affiliates, and the religiously unaffiliated. This finding is consistent with the broader literature reviewed above (Caird, 1987;Edwards & Lowis, 2008b;Francis & Louden, 2000a;Francis & Thomas, 1996;Spanos & Moretti, 1988) that responded to the challenge put forward by Caird (1987) to test the association between mystical experience and psychopathology within the conceptual framework proposed by the Eysenckian dimensional model of personality. The limitation with the present study concerns the very brief measures of psychopathology (neuroticism and psychoticism) provided by the abbreviated form of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised (Francis, Brown, & Philipchalk, 1992).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

supporting

confidence: 87%

“…Testing these conflicting theories among a sample of 115 first-year religious studies students at the University of Queensland, using Hood's M Scale (Hood, 1975) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975), Caird found no significant correlations between mysticism and any of the three dimensions of personality: extraversion, neuroticism, or psychoticism. Spanos and Moretti (1988) partly replicated Caird's (1987) study by administering Hood's M Scale (Hood, 1975) …”

Section: Mysticism and Psychopathologymentioning

confidence: 66%

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Religious Identity, Mystical Experience, and Psychopathology: A Study among Secular, Christian, and Muslim Youth in England and Wales

Francis¹,

Robbins²

2014

Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 25

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This study addressed two research questions among three samples of 14-to 18-year-old adolescents: 203 Muslims, 477 Christians, and 378 religiously unaffiliated young people in England and Wales. The first question examined the comparative extent to which the religiously unaffiliated reported mystical experience. The second question examined the association between mystical experience and psychopathology as defined by the psychoticism and neuroticisim scales within Eysenck's dimensional model of personality. The data found a lower level of reported mystical experience among the religiously unaffiliated, although such experiences were reported by between a quarter and a third of this group. The data found no association between reported mystical experience and psychopathology among the Christians, the Muslims, or the religiously unaffiliated.Keywords: Mysticism, personality, psychology, religion, Muslim, Christian RELIGIOUS IDENTITY, MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE 3 Religious Identity, Mystical Experience, and Psychopathology: A Study among Secular, Christian, and Muslim Youth in England and WalesThe notion of mystical experience has been a topic of central interest to the empirical psychology of religion from the early days of the discipline. In his foundational study, The Experience, James (1902 referred to mysticism as "the root and center of religion." Within the broader field of religious studies Hick (1989) maintained that mysticism is integral to all faith traditions. This clear and repeated connection between mystical experience and religious traditions raises a question concerning the continuing prevalence of the underlying experience among three groups of young people: those shaped by the Christian tradition, those shaped by the Muslim tradition, and those growing up outside a living religious tradition. Varieties of Religious Researching Mystical ExperienceStep one in addressing this first research question concerns clarifying how research traditions within the empirical psychology of religion have conceptualized and operationalized assessment of mystical experience. Within the quantitative tradition, two main methods have been employed. The first method has employed single well-defined survey questions. Four questions of this nature have attracted repeated use. Glock and Stark (1965) framed their question: "Have you ever as an adult had the feeling that you were somehow in the presence of God?" Back and Bourque (1970) framed their question: "Would you say that you have ever had a 'religious or mystical experience' -that is, a moment of sudden religious awakening or insight?" Greeley (1974) framed his question, "Have you ever felt as though you were close to a powerful spiritual force that seemed to lift you out of yourself?" Working within the tradition of Hardy (1979), Hay and Morisy (1978) framed their question, "Have you ever been aware of or influenced by a presence or power, whether you call it God or not, which is different from your everyday self?" Two of these classic RELIGIOUS IDENTITY, MYSTICAL ...

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“…In studies focusing on a potential relationship between hypnosis and the appearance of an OBE, the frequency of OBEs was found to be higher among subjects who received higher scores on various hypnotability tests (9,10). Furthermore, in his study on deep trance conditions ("deep hypnosis"), Cardena (11) found that OBE-like conditions are more common in hypnotic states rated as being "deep" by their participants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%