Talk:Peak experience

message: the article was pretty shocking previously - written in the first person and comprised of a mish-mash of sprawling quotations.  it also didn't contain any links.  i think the changes i made are for the better, though the article is much shorter and could use some filling-out.  I intentionally divided the article into sections, short they may be, with the intention of provoking further edits, as i was fairly suprised to find the article was such a mess.  i'm pretty new to wikipedia, so if you revert these changes, could you leave a note on my talk page describing what the issues are so i can learn from my mistakes.  thanks. Moe Aboulkheir 00:55, 3 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cleanup 

message: There was a reference to Abraham Maslow and "the peak experience" by the villan Sylar in the popular TV series Heroes (TV series) on Feb 12, 2007. -MrFizyx 00:19, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Popular culture references 

message: I have added a few sentences to flesh out the article - hopefully non-contentious. 20.133.0.14 12:30, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Expansion of article 

message: Many years ago, I read a lot on peak experiences because at that time I started to have such experiences. I have not kept the books so I cannot give references now. But from what I have understood, peak experiences are not necessarily related to religious, transpersonal or ecstatic states. In fact, Abraham Maslow is talking about such experiences in daily life for so called superhumans.
To give an example, once I was doing rock climbing on a very difficult route. My friend climbed up and then I followed, but the others have difficulty to follow. Then we were asked to come down to demonstrate how we did it. But both of us found that we cannot remmember what handholds and footholds we have used. And my friend has to climb the same route again (in slow motion) to demonstrate how he did it. 
This experiences show some typical characteristics of peak experience: 1) We stop thinking during peak experiences, therefore we can't remember what happened - This is somehow a transcendental experience. 2) Time flew (or frozen) during peak experiences. It seems to us that we just started to climb, and then we finished. Don't remember what happen in between. 3) Spontaneity: We don't need to think and plan our steps, what handholds or footholds to use, it is all spontaneous. In some peculiar cases, we don't even need to look - just reach out our hand and found that there is a suitable handhold or foothold there. 4) Focus: We are completely focused on the  peak experiences, not aware of anything outside, people around us.
Some people may have experience that in most days they worked and worked and jobs were never done, but in a certain day or two, they finished a lot of jobs within a few hours. This is an typical example of peak experience. 
And such peak experiences are typically associated with great creativity during which inspiration come and just flows like a river. For example, when I compose a song, when just the first few notes and/or words pop up in my mind, then the whole song will come out within an hour.
But one pre-requisite is to work alone, not connected to the Internet (unless you are working together with a partner who is also capable of peak experience). This is the "Detachment: The Need for Privacy" quality of self actualization.
I am aware that many people interested in transpersonal psychology have associated ecstatic states induced by LSD with peak experiences. But they are really not the same. Because with LSD experiences, the key element of self actualization is missing. Peak experiences are experiences of peak performance for self-actualization: to unfold one's full potential to realize something in action, not just some kind of subjective religious or transcendental experience, but to achieve something.
I hope these comments will help to provide some understanding on what really is peak experience.
Akrishi  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.77.232.158 (talk) 03:04, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Peak experience described here is lacking some most important characteristics 

message: I'm struck by the similarity of both the article and the previous comment to Flow (psychology). Both are about the performance of mental and physical  skills at a high level, and the mental euphoria it produces. This seems an under-researched area by academic psychology; it is difficult to judge whether we ought to have two separate articles or one. Macdonald-ross (talk) 17:12, 14 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Flow 

message: Hi everyone,
A couple others and I are working together in an Education Program with aims at improving this Wikipedia article. There are a few things that we plan to concentrate on which include the following: 
1. distinguishing peak experiences from Flow (psychology) 
2. adding more information to each headline, as well as adding new headline subjects 
3. increasing the amount of citations, therefore increasing the amount of valid information 
4. explaining the history of peak experiences 
Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 04:54, 4 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Work in Progress 

message: The main issues that need improvement are the introduction section and the origins. Both sections could benefit from more detail. ALso, I found a book written by Abraham Maslow that contains much more detail about the criteria of a peak experience. This could be a good source of information. Other than that, perhaps some further organization could be attempted on this page. Leah.moulds (talk) 01:13, 6 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Improving Peak experience 

message: 1. lay out a specific, concise definition of Peak Experience to distinguish it from all other topics (i.e. Flow (psychology) and Self-actualization
2. re-do the outline 
3. provide valid and clear examples of peak experiences
Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 21:25, 14 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  To-Do List 

message: Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 21:09, 14 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Outline 

message: You guys need to add in a section dividing up tasks and making commitments to do your parts. Otherwise, very good! I like your ideas for improving this article. There is certainly credible theory and research out there on this topic. J.R. Council (talk) 19:12, 28 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Division of Labor/Commitments 

message: Amanda: final draft/organization of Introduction, Peak Experiences in Self-Actualization, See Also 
Leah: Introduction, Characteristics of Peak Experiences, See Also 
Steve: Introduction, History, See Also
Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 22:13, 28 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Responsibilities 

message: I deleted the section Quotes and replaced the old section Sustained Peak Experience with Peak Experiences in Self-Actualization. Also, I added a section called Examples. I plan to add information in "Peak Experiences in Self-Actualization" about what self-actualization is and how peak experiences can often occur in those who are self-actualized. However, I will distinguish between the 2, as well as peak experiences from Flow (psychology).Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 15:19, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: Peak Experiences in Self-Actualization and Examples

message: 1. Larsen, R. J. & Buss, D. M. (2008). 'Personality psychology: Domains of knowledge about human nature third edition'. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
2. Maslow, A. (1961). Peak experiences as acute identity experiences. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis.vol 1.issue 2.254-262.
3. Maslow, A. (1959). Cognition of being in the peak experiences. The Journal of Genetic Psychology: Research and Theory on Human Development.Vol. 94.Issue 1.43-66.
4. http://www.hedweb.com/bgcharlton/peak.html
5. Maslow, A. (1968). Toward a psychology of being 2d ed. New York: Van Nostrand.
6. Maslow, A.H. (1971). Peak experiences in education and art. Theory into Practice, 10, 149-153.
7. Maslow, A. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York: Viking Press. 
8. McDonald, M.G., Wearing, S., Ponting, J. (2009). The nature of peak experience in wilderness. Humanistic Psychologist, 37, 370-385.  
SteveBaker93 (talk) 22:00, 16 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  References 

message: Good addition, but this new section needs reference citations. J.R. Council (talk) 22:17, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Characteristics of the Peak Experience 

message: I've started my edits on the History section. I changed the "origins" title to "history," hoping to start with more information on when the idea was introduced. SteveBaker93 (talk) 02:44, 6 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  History Section 

message: How do you guys feel about deleting Shulgin Rating Scale, Sufism, Stendhal Syndrome, and Sehnsucht? and then adding Religious Experience? We could also delete Zen-I'm whatever on this one, kind of relevant but not really.Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 19:26, 13 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: See Also, Introduction, Conclusion?

message: General comments: You’ve already done some good work to improve this article. There’s still a bit to go, but you are well on your way to final wrap-up. There are more ideas and information on the Talk page that should be moved to the main article.
:For organizing an article on a psychological concept, see the brochure, Editing Wikipedia Articles on Psychology, 2nd page, Organizing your article/An article on a psychological concept. 
Comments on specific sections of the main article follow:
 
1. Lead-in
*don’t like the way this starts off: "Peak experience is a kind of transpersonal and ecstatic state,...."
:*also, this statement needs to be backed up with a reference citation
Finally, the lead-in should give a brief overview – names/schools of thought associated with the concept, how it originated.
2. History
*This section looks pretty good
3. Characteristics
*This is also fine
4. Peak Experiences in Self-Actualization
*add a reference to Czikszentmihalyi
*cite a source associating self-actualization with flow
5. Examples of Peak Experiences
*need to add list of peak experiences
6. Need an ending: section on “Reception/implications
J.R. Council (talk) 22:33, 13 November 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Right now, the article doesn't really have concluding section that states what is important about the concept of peak experiences, what its impact has been, how it has affected the field. These points are already touched upon in the article - just a brief wrap up statement.
One more thing to add: In our textbook, pages 543-544, there is some material about how Maslow's concept of the peak experience was influenced by Wertheimer/Gestalt. You should add this in at the beginning of the history section.
J.R. Council (talk) 18:58, 18 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Feedback for Assignment 9 

message: Here's my sample intro: 
Peak experience is a euphoric mental state achieved by self-actualizing individuals. The concept was originally developed by Abraham Maslow, who describes peak experiences as “rare, exciting, oceanic, deeply moving, exhilarating, elevating experiences that generate an advanced form of perceiving reality, and are even mystic and magical in their effect upon the experimenter.” Loss of time and special orientation, sudden clear insight, and a feeling of complete wholeness are typical of the peak experience. There are several unique characteristics of the peak experience, but each element is perceived together in a holistic manner that create the moment of reaching one’s full potential. Leah.moulds (talk) 17:58, 18 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rough Draft Intro 

message: OK guys, I have the Introduction on the article, and I fixed/updated the Further Reading Section. I believe the article is complete! Remember to submit to SafeAssign on BB (in case you weren't in class). Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 21:22, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: Wrapping it Up

message: An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect :Sense of achievement and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at  until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion.  MB 03:38, 18 December 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Sense of achievement" listed at [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion|Redirects for discussion]]