Edward Hoffman

Youthful Peak Experiences in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Implications for Educators and Counselors

Since Abraham Maslow’s death in 1970, his concept of peak experience has enlarged our understanding of human spirituality. It has also influenced a host of fields ranging from personality theory to education, health care, organizational psychology, and counseling. Though Maslow contended that children and teens undergo peak experiences, he never explored this topic systematically.

Peak-Experiences Among Japanese Youth

In the 35 years since Abraham Maslows death in 1970, his concept of the peak-experience has remained a lynchpin of humanistic personality theory and has exerted a significant influence on applied fields. In late career, Maslow became interested in the topic of childhood peak-experiences but never explored it empirically. Although it is important for sharpening our understanding of healthy personality development, research on childhood peak-experience has remained dormant. In this study, the authors analyzed 56 retrospective peak-experiences reported by a sample comprising mainly masters-level Japanese students at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. The results affirmed previous findings: (a) Childhood peak-experiences exist among both Westerners and Easterners, and (b) these can be meaningfully categorized into specific types. Also consistent with previous research, Japanese adults retrospectively described three types of childhood peak-experiences unreported by their Western counterparts. The cross-cultural implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Peak-experiences among norwegian youth

This study marks the first empirical investigation of youthful peak-experiences among Nordic persons. The sample comprised 309 native Norwegian college students who generated 318 retrospective reports (occurring below the age of 14). Early peaks involving interpersonal joy--especially the 3 sub-categories of family togetherness, the birth of a baby sibling or cousin, and romantic bliss--were most frequently reported. In frequency, these were followed by peaks involving nature and developmental landmarks. The relevance of these findings for fostering Nordic youth development from a positive, strength-based perspective is discussed. Avenues for future research are highlighted.

Peak-Experiences Among Americans in Midlife

Though much attention, professionally and in popular American culture, has been accorded to midlife angst and turmoil, no published research has been conducted on peak-experiences during this major lifespan period. In this study, 153 people aged 40 to 65 years in the United States responded to a questionnaire asking them to describe a recent joyful experience and its subsequent impact on their outlook on life. They were also asked to rate it numerically on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Their qualitative reports were subsequently coded into 13 categories. Peaks involving interpersonal joy were reported significantly most frequently, more than all other categories combined. These were followed in frequency by those comprising respectively external achievement and personal growth. Small percentages involved religious peaks in either institutional or noninstitutional settings, recovery from illness/accident, nature, skill mastery, philosophical musing, developmental landmark, homecoming, nostalgia, and serenity. The implications for better understanding and optimizing midlife functioning are discussed, and future research avenues are highlighted.

The Kabbalah: Its Implications for Humanistic Psychology:

In recent years, humanistic psychologists have begun to exert a powerful transforming effect on our culture through the study and application of various psycho-spiritual traditions, such as Yoga, Taoism, and Native American shamanism. Such traditions have been found to be veritable store- houses of knowledge about areas including the mind-body relationship, altered states of consciousness, and individual mental health.

Abraham Maslow: A Biographer's Reflections

P sychological and social thinkers are often mistakenly viewed as inhabiting a historical vacuum. This error seems especially prevalent when such individuals are no longer alive, for they can neither rebut their detractors nor correct their exponents. Sometimes, too, influential historical figures are attacked anachronistically: faulted absurdly for neglecting issues that did not loom significantly in their lifetimes or that fell to obscurity soon after their deaths. Perhaps more than other major psychological thinker, such has been the case with Abraham Maslow. In celebrating Maslow’s work and legacy this centennial year, it is therefore important to highlight his life milieu and zeitgeist. As his biographer, I consider it impossible to fully understand Maslow’s intellectual interests, concerns, and self-mission without viewing his life against the backdrop of his era. Due to space limitations for this piece, I am obliged to offer my observations in abbreviated style.

Humanistic Psychology in Japan

This article provides an overview of humanistic psychology in Japan. Its growth is traced from its prehistory up through the establishment of its own organization in 1982. Recent developments and current challenges are also highlighted. A dominant concern for Japanese humanistic psychologists has been to synthesize traditional Eastern spiritualities and modern Western rationalism.

Confidant Relations in Italy

Confidants are often described as the individuals with whom we choose to disclose personal, intimate matters. The presence of a confidant is associated with both mental and physical health benefits. In this study, 135 Italian adults responded to a structured questionnaire that asked if they had a confidant, and if so, to describe various features of the relationship. The vast majority of participants (91%) reported the presence of a confidant and regarded this relationship as personally important, high in mutuality and trust, and involving minimal lying. Confidants were significantly more likely to be of the opposite sex. Participants overall were significantly more likely to choose a spouse or other family member as their confidant, rather than someone outside of the family network. Familial confidants were generally seen as closer, and of greater value, than non-familial confidants. These findings are discussed within the context of Italian culture.

The Psychological Benefits of Receiving Real-Life Altruism

This study investigates the impact of receiving real-life altruism on such positive attitudinal aspects as empathy, optimism, and motivation to help others. A mixed convenience/snowball sample of 148 participants (79 men, 67 women, 2 gender unknown), responded to an online questionnaire. Most were between 21 and 40 years of age, and had at least a college degree; all but eight were born in Venezuela, and the remainder were from other Hispanic/Latino countries. Participants were asked to describe an experience in which they had received unexpected altruism and rate its impact on their subsequent view of life. They were also asked to rate its effect on their optimism about human nature, trust in social relationships, appreciation for life, sense of gratitude, self-esteem, sense of being valued by others, empathy for others, motivation to help others, energy and enthusiasm in general, and religious faith. A total of 64.2% reported an unexpected altruistic experience. Of those, almost 75% reported the experience changed their view of life at least “strongly” and only 4.2% stated that it had little or no effect. The intensity of their change in life view correlated significantly with all 10 dependent variables except for gratitude. Women were significantly more likely to report that their experience boosted their gratitude for others, and participants whose altruistic experiences were attitudinally more life-changing were significantly more likely to indicate that religion was very important to them. The implications of these findings for understanding the psychological benefits of altruistic experience are discussed and avenues for future research are suggested.

The Social World of Self-Actualizing People: Reflections by Maslow’s Biographer:

Maslow’s concept of self-actualization has been a bulwark of humanistic psychology for more than 50 years, and has increasingly gained international appeal beyond its original nexus within the United States. His description of the high achieving characteristics of self-actualizing men and women has influenced theorists and practitioners in such fields as counseling, education, health care, management, and organizational psychology. Through these same decades, Maslow’s formulation has also been criticized as promoting a hyperindividualistic, even narcissistic, orientation to personality growth. Because Maslow by temperament and intellectual style expressed himself in an ever-evolving set of speeches and writings that were seldom explicit about interpersonal relations, his actual outlook on the social world of self-actualizers has remained elusive. The focus of this article, therefore, is how Maslow depicted self-actualizing people with regard to five major interpersonal dimensions of life: friendship, romantic love, marriage and lasting intimacy, parenthood, and communal service. By pulling together Maslow’s comments primarily in his published works, and secondarily in his unpublished works-in-progress, it is possible to explicate his tacit viewpoint. Doing so will not only help dispel the misconception that Maslow depicted self-actualizers as loners or even hermits but also guide future theory and research on personality growth.