Self-transcendence is a
personality trait
In psychology, trait theory (also called dispositional theory) is an approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of ''traits'', which can be defined as habitual patterns of behaviour, tho ...
that involves the expansion of personal boundaries, including, potentially, experiencing spiritual ideas
such as considering oneself an integral part of the
universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. ...
.
Several psychologists, including
Viktor Frankl
Viktor Emil Frankl (26 March 1905 – 2 September 1997)
was an Austrian psychiatrist who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life's meaning as the central human motivational force. Logotherapy is pa ...
,
Abraham Maslow, Pamela G. Reed,
C. Robert Cloninger, Lars Tornstam, and
Scott Barry Kaufman
Scott Barry Kaufman is an American cognitive scientist, author, podcaster, and popular science writer. His writing and research focuses on intelligence, creativity, and human potential. Most media attention has focused on Kaufman's attempt to red ...
have made contributions to the theory of self-transcendence.
Self-transcendence is distinctive as the first trait concept of a spiritual nature to be incorporated into a major theory of personality.
[ Self-transcendence is one of the "character" dimensions of personality assessed in Cloninger's ]Temperament and Character Inventory The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) is an inventory for personality traits devised by Cloninger et al.
It is closely related to and an outgrowth of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ),
and it has also been related to the ...
.[ It is also assessed by the Self-Transcendence Scale and the Adult Self-Transcendence Inventory.
]
Nature of the trait
Several overlapping definitions of self-transcendence have been given. Viktor Frankl wrote, "The essentially self-transcendent quality of human existence renders man ''a being reaching out beyond himself''."
According to Reed, self-transcendence is:
the capacity to expand self-boundaries ''intrapersonally'' (toward greater awareness of one's philosophy, values, and dreams), ''interpersonally'' (to relate to others' and one's environment), ''temporally'' (to integrate one's past and future in a way that has meaning for the present), and ''transpersonally'' (to connect with dimensions beyond the typically discernible world).
Taking a developmental perspective concerning aging and transcendence, Tornstam defined the concept of gerotranscendence as "a shift in metaperspective, from a midlife materialistic and rational vision to a more cosmic and transcendent one, accompanied by an increase in life satisfaction."
In Cloninger's seven-dimensional model of personality, there are four ''temperament'' dimensions that have a strong biological basis, and three learned ''character'' dimensions that are believed to be concept-based. Self-transcendence is a character trait considered to relate to the experience of spiritual aspects of the self.[ The concept was influenced by theories of personality development in humanistic and ]transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology, or spiritual psychology, is a sub-field or school of psychology that integrates the spiritual and transcendent aspects of the human experience with the framework of modern psychology. The '' transpersonal'' is defined ...
. Self-transcendence refers to an identification of the self with the universe conceived as a unitive whole. According to Cloninger, this "may be described as acceptance, identification, or spiritual union with nature and its source."[
]
Components
Self-transcendence as assessed in the Temperament and Character Inventory originally had three subscales,[ but two more were later added:]
# Self-forgetful vs. self-conscious experience
# Transpersonal identification vs. self-isolation
# Spiritual acceptance vs. rational materialism
# Enlightened vs. objective
# Idealistic vs. practical
An independent study found that the five subscales proposed by Cloninger were difficult to replicate using factor analysis
Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. For example, it is possible that variations in six observed ...
and suggested that the self-transcendence scale of the Temperament and Character Inventory is better represented by four sub-dimensions:[
# Spiritual and ]religious
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...
beliefs (e.g., belief in the existence of a higher power)
# Unifying interconnectedness (i.e., an experienced sense of connection with other living beings, the environment, and a higher power)
# Belief in the supernatural (e.g., belief in paranormal
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...
phenomena, such as extrasensory perception
Extrasensory perception or ESP, also called sixth sense, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke Universit ...
)
# Dissolution of self in experience (e.g., absorption, or a loss of sense of separate self while immersed in experience)
The Adult Self-Transcendence Inventory has five subscales:
# Self-knowledge and self-integration
# Peace of mind
# Non-attachment
# Self-transcendence
# Presence in the here-and-now and growth
Relationship to other personality traits
Coward (1996) found positive correlations between self-transcendence, hope, purpose in life, and cognitive and emotional well-being in a study of healthy adults ages 19 to 85. Negative correlation has been found between self-transcendence as measured by Reed's Self-Transcendence Scale and depression in both middle-aged and older adults.
Although there has not been a great deal of research into the validity of self-transcendence as a measure of spirituality, one study found that self-transcendence was significantly related to a number of areas of belief and experience that have been traditionally considered "spiritual".[
A study relating the Temperament and Character Inventory to the ]Five factor model
The Big Five personality traits is a suggested taxonomy, or grouping, for personality traits, developed from the 1980s onward in psychological trait theory.
Starting in the 1990s, the theory identified five factors by labels, for the US English ...
personality traits found that self-transcendence was most strongly related to openness to experience
Openness to experience is one of the domains which are used to describe human personality in the Five Factor Model. Openness involves six facets, or dimensions: active imagination (fantasy), aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings ...
and to a lesser extent extraversion.[ Self-transcendence is largely unrelated to traits in Zuckerman's "]Alternative five The alternative five model of personality is based on the claim that the structure of human personality traits is best explained by five broad factors called impulsive sensation seeking (ImpSS), neuroticism–anxiety (N-Anx), aggression–hostility ...
" model and Eysenck's model which do not include an equivalent to openness to experience. Self-transcendence is strongly related to absorption.
Relationship to psychopathology
Cloninger found that psychiatric patients tend to be lower in self-transcendence compared with adults in the general population.[ Low self-transcendence was found to be particularly evident in patients with many symptoms of schizoid personality disorder but is otherwise not a common feature of people with personality disorders. This is in contrast to the traits of ]cooperativeness
Cooperativeness is a personality trait concerning the degree to which a person is generally agreeable in their relations with other people as opposed to aggressively self-centred and hostile.
It is one of the "character" dimensions in Cloninger's ...
and self-directedness Self-directedness is a personality trait of self-determination, that is, the ability to regulate and adapt behavior to the demands of a situation in order to achieve personally chosen goals and values. It is one of the "character" dimensions in Clo ...
which have been found to be low in personality disorder profiles generally. Cloninger suggested that self-transcendence levels may help differentiate between people with schizoid and those with schizotypal personality disorder
Schizotypal personality disorder (STPD or SPD), also known as schizotypal disorder, is a mental and behavioral disorder. DSM classification describes the disorder specifically as a personality disorder characterized by thought disorder, paran ...
as the latter is more strongly associated with psychotic thinking.
Psychosis proneness and psychotic symptoms
High self-transcendence has been linked to psychotic tendencies, such as schizotypy and mania, particularly in individuals low in both self-directedness Self-directedness is a personality trait of self-determination, that is, the ability to regulate and adapt behavior to the demands of a situation in order to achieve personally chosen goals and values. It is one of the "character" dimensions in Clo ...
and cooperativeness
Cooperativeness is a personality trait concerning the degree to which a person is generally agreeable in their relations with other people as opposed to aggressively self-centred and hostile.
It is one of the "character" dimensions in Cloninger's ...
.
Cloninger proposed that self-transcendence leads to "mature creativity and spirituality" when coupled with high self-directedness.[ However, self-transcendence may be associated with psychotic tendencies when associated with underdeveloped character traits.][ Self-transcendence in itself is moderately related to ]schizotypy
In psychology, schizotypy is a theoretical concept that posits a continuum of personality characteristics and experiences, ranging from normal dissociative, imaginative states to extreme states of mind related to psychosis, especially schizophreni ...
, particularly the cognitive-perceptual component associated with magical thinking and unusual perceptions. A research study found that the specific combination of high self-transcendence, low cooperativeness, and low self-directedness was especially associated with a high risk of overall schizotypy. Another study found that people with schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...
also had a combination of high self-transcendence, low cooperativeness, and low self-directedness compared to non-psychotic siblings and a community control group. Cloninger has referred to the specific combination of high self-transcendence, low cooperativeness, and low self-directedness as a "schizotypal personality style". Low cooperativeness and self-directedness combined with high self-transcendence may result in openness to odd or unusual ideas and behaviours associated with distorted perceptions of reality. On the other hand, high levels of cooperativeness and self-directedness may protect against the schizotypal tendencies associated with high self-transcendence.[
People with ]bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...
have been found to score higher in self-transcendence and harm avoidance, and lower in self-directedness compared to a community control group. Levels of self-transcendence in particular were found to be associated with severity of psychotic symptoms in people with bipolar disorder. This accords with previous research findings linking self-transcendence to delusions and mania. Higher self-transcendence in people with bipolar may reflect residual symptoms of the disorder rather than transpersonal or spiritual consciousness.
MacDonald and Holland argued that two of the four sub-dimensions of self-transcendence identified in their study, belief in the supernatural and dissolution of the self in experience, probably account for the relationship between self-transcendence and psychopathology found by researchers.[ Previous research has found linkages between supernatural beliefs and schizotypy, and they suggested that dissolution of the self is likely to be linked to phenomena such as absorption, ]dissociation
Dissociation, in the wide sense of the word, is an act of disuniting or separating a complex object into parts. Dissociation may also refer to:
* Dissociation (chemistry), general process in which molecules or ionic compounds (complexes, or salts ...
, and suggestibility, which have potentially pathological implications.
Validity
Criticisms have been made of Cloninger's conception of self-transcendence.[ Although Cloninger proposed that character traits, including self-transcendence, are wholly learned, more recent research suggests that biological and genetic factors play an important role in how self-transcendence is expressed. Although humanistic and transpersonal theories of psychology have maintained that spirituality is an essential component of health and well-being, published research using the Temperament and Character Inventory has linked self-transcendence to various aspects of mental illness. Cloninger and colleagues have even proposed more recently that self-transcendence may represent a subclinical manifestation of mood and psychotic disorders.][
Additionally of concern is the paucity of research evaluating the validity of the self-transcendence as a measure of spiritual aspects of personality. Evidence relevant to the validity of the scale is provided by a study by MacDonald and Holland who found that people who were convinced that they had had a spiritual experience scored higher on self-transcendence compared to those who had not.][ Additionally they found that self-transcendence had positive and meaningful associations with four areas of spirituality: beliefs about the existence and relevance of spirituality; spiritual experience; paranormal beliefs; and traditional religiousness. (Although the dissolution of the self sub-dimension of self-transcendence had little relation with these things.) However, self-transcendence was largely unrelated to existential well-being. The latter was most strongly related to the Temperament and Character Inventory traits of high self-directedness and low ]harm avoidance
Harm avoidance (HA) is a personality trait characterized by excessive worrying; pessimism; shyness; and being fearful, doubtful, and easily fatigued. In MRI studies HA was correlated with reduced grey matter volume in the orbito-frontal, occipita ...
. Self-directedness is associated with self-control and adaptability, whereas low harm avoidance is associated with emotional well-being. This suggests that self-transcendence may be a valid measure of areas of spirituality relating to spiritual beliefs, spiritual experiences, paranormal beliefs, and traditional religiousness, but is unrelated to having a sense of meaning and purpose in life which is more related to other features of personality. Additionally, the dissolution of the self in experience aspect of self-transcendence appears to have little relationship with spirituality and may be related to the more pathological aspects of the trait.
Contribution to quality of life
People with schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...
tend to have poorer self-rated quality of life compared to the general population. However, a study of individual differences in people with schizophrenia found that higher scores on self-transcendence and self-directedness and lower scores on harm avoidance were associated with better self-ratings of quality of life. The authors suggested that this finding accords with previous studies finding that spirituality in people with schizophrenia is associated with better adjustment to illness.
Self-transcendence is correlated with schizophrenia, depersonalization disorder
Depersonalization-derealization disorder (DPDR, DPD) is a mental disorder in which the person has persistent or recurrent feelings of depersonalization or derealization. Depersonalization is described as feeling disconnected or detached from one ...
, or the dark triad
The dark triad is a psychological theory of personality, first published by Delroy L. Paulhus and Kevin M. Williams in 2002, that describes three notably offensive, but non-pathological personality types: Machiavellianism, sub-clinical narcissism ...
, mystical experiences, mindfulness, peak experience
A peak experience is an altered state of consciousness characterized by euphoria, often achieved by self-actualizing individuals. The concept was originally developed by Abraham Maslow in 1964, who describes peak experiences as "rare, exciting, oc ...
s, flow and positive emotions. According to David Bryce Yaden, it consists in a reduced role of the personal ego in order to establish an increased relational connectedness
In mathematics, connectedness is used to refer to various properties meaning, in some sense, "all one piece". When a mathematical object has such a property, we say it is connected; otherwise it is disconnected. When a disconnected object can be s ...
with the external world.
Notes
See also
* Altered states of consciousness
An altered state of consciousness (ASC), also called altered state of mind or mind alteration, is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking state. By 1892, the expression was in use in relation to hypnosis, though there ...
* Ecstasy (emotion)
Ecstasy () is a subjective experience of total involvement of the subject, with an object of their awareness. In classical Greek literature, it refers to removal of the mind or body "from its normal place of function."
Total involvement with ...
* Enlightenment (spiritual)
Used in a religious sense, enlightenment translates several Buddhist terms and concepts, most notably ''bodhi'', '' kensho,'' and ''satori''. Related terms from Asian religions are '' kaivalya'' and ''moksha'' (liberation) in Hinduism, '' Keva ...
* Maslow's hierarchy of needs
* Mystical psychosis
Mystical psychosis is a term coined by Arthur J. Deikman in the early 1970s to characterize first-person accounts of psychotic experiences that are strikingly similar to reports of mystical experiences. According to Deikman, and authors from a nu ...
* Mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...
* Nondualism
* Oceanic feeling
* Open individualism Open individualism is the view in the philosophy of self, according to which there exists only one numerically identical subject, who is everyone at all times, in the past, present and future. It is a theoretical solution to the question of perso ...
* Religious ecstasy
Religious ecstasy is a type of altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness, frequently accompanied by visions and emotional (and sometimes physical) euph ...
* Religious experience
A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, or mystical experience) is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense ...
* Soul flight
Originally, soul flight is a technique of ecstasy used by shamans with the purpose of entering into a state of trance. During the ecstatic trance it is believed that the shaman's soul has left the body and corporeal world, not unlike an out-of-b ...
* Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in New England. "Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Wald ...
References
{{Reflist
Personality traits
Personality disorders
Spirituality