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

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.

Temporality of Features in Near-Death Experience Narratives

“…His 15-element model notably includes the overwhelming feeling of peacefulness and well-being, a sensation of being out of the body, the sight of a brilliant light and the feeling of being surrounded by it, life review, experiencing a tunnel, and decreased fear of death. His description of NDEs can actually be considered as the prevailing societal model of Western societies (Athappilly et al, 2006), notably because of the widespread popularity of his work. However, the author did not specify in his book any ranking of frequency or precise statistical data or figures.…”

Near-Death Experiences and Posttraumatic Growth

“…In the past 40 years, NDEs have been described extensively in mainstream scientific journals (Sleutjes et al, 2014). Although these experiences seem to be influenced by both individual psychodynamics (Greyson, 1983b) and sociological factors (Kellehear, 1993), their core phenomenological features seem to be independent of cultural models (Athappilly and Greyson, 2006;Belanti et al, 2008;Kellehear, 2009).…”

Experiências de quase-morte: implicações clínicas

“…Furthermore, people who had no prior knowledge about NDEs describe the same kinds of experiences as do people who are quite familiar with the phenomenon, and the knowledge individuals had about NDEs previously does not seem to influence the details of their own experiences (Greyson, 1991;Greyson and Stevenson, 1980;Ring, 1980;Sabom, 1982). Experiences that were reported before 1975, when Moody's first book coined the term NDE and made it a well-known phenomenon, do not differ from those that were reported since that date (Athappilly et al, 2006), and young children, who are less likely to have developed expectations about death, report NDEs with features similar to those of adults (Bush, 1983;Gabbard and Twemlow, 1984;Herzog and Herrin, 1985;Morse et al, 1985;Serdahely, 1990). Even the cross-cultural differences observed suggest that it is not the core experience that differs but the ways in which people interpret what they have experienced.…”