Talk:Peak experience

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 19 August 2021 and 10 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Omarialukie. Peer reviewers: AlanieNF.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 06:17, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Cleanup
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)

Popular culture references
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)

Colin Wilson uses Maslow's theory of peak experiences as one of the bases of his 1969 science fiction novel The Philosopher's Stone (and gives a readable insight into the phenomenon). PhilUK (talk) 19:05, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

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

The Peak experience described here is lacking some most important characteristics
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)

Flow
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)

A Work in Progress
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)

Improving Peak experience
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)

To-Do List
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)

4. Re-organize the "Nature of Peak Experience" section into clear and concise bullet points

5. Remove the "Quotes" Section

6. Incorporate "Sustained Peak Experience" into another section Leah.moulds (talk) 21:55, 14 October 2014 (UTC) 7. Establish a solid history section that incorporates parts of the current "origins" section. SteveBaker93 (talk) 22:01, 16 October 2014 (UTC) 8. Provide a better layout for the page in general to make it look better.

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

1. Introduction: Give a brief definition of Peak Experiences and present a clear introduction for the following sectionsCanvaswrtr13 (talk) 21:35, 15 October 2014 (UTC)

2. Characteristics of Peak Experiences

3. History Establish a defined History section, inclusive of parts currently included in the 'origins' section. SteveBaker93 (talk) 21:53, 16 October 2014 (UTC) 4. Peak Experiences in Self-Actualization: Explain the commonality of peak experiences in self-actualization, as well as distinguish peak experiences from self-actualization and flow (psychology)Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 17:36, 16 October 2014 (UTC) 5. Examples: Give examples of peak experiences that have been documented/recordedCanvaswrtr13 (talk) 21:35, 15 October 2014 (UTC)

6. See Also Leah.moulds (talk) 15:31, 15 October 2014 (UTC)

Division of Labor/Commitments
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)

Responsibilities
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)

Characteristics of Peak Experiences
I removed the content under "nature of peak experiences." It seemed that it might become redundant of information that should be in the introduction paragraph. It is an important category though, so I tried to condense it down to a concise list Leah.moulds (talk) 22:51, 4 November 2014 (UTC)

I just made the list for Characteristics of Peak Experience heading. I don't know if I like how it looks - feel free to give me any feedback on how you think it could be improved. I'm thinking of maybe adding more detail to the bullet points? Leah.moulds (talk) 22:34, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Don't forget to add refs! J.R. Council (talk) 22:56, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Hey Leah, I don't know if the following information would be good to incorporate into this section of yours, but since I replaced the headline, I saved what was written in the old "Sustained Peak Experience" section...

"Sustained Peak Experience" Maslow defined lengthy, willfully induced peak experiences (plateau experiences) as a characteristic of the self-actualized. He described it as a state of witnessing or cognitive blissfulness, the achievement of which requires a lifetime of long and hard effort, and also self-actualization.Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 15:19, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
 * I think you've made a great start to this section. I like the neat organization of the bullet points. I do agree that maybe you could add more detail to them, or possibly write a paragraph of some information before or after the list?

Peak Experiences in Self-Actualization and Examples
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) I added 2 [small] paragraphs to the Peak Experiences in Self-Actualization section (including 2 references), giving an over-cap of what the section will be including. I plan to go into more detail to decipher peak experiences from flow, as well as describe peak experiences a little more (I plan to have this reflect the intro a little bit).Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 01:35, 7 November 2014 (UTC) If you guys come across any good examples you think I should take a look at, please let me know! Some examples I'm contemplating elaborating on include sports activities, exercise, group tasks, musical sessions, and video games. Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 01:35, 7 November 2014 (UTC) plus scientific discoveries and birth of a childCanvaswrtr13 (talk) 19:26, 13 November 2014 (UTC)

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

History Section
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)

See Also, Introduction, Conclusion?
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) Does someone want to take on the ending/conclusive section Dr. Council suggested? I'd prefer not to do it since I'm doing 2 sections already. Also, another thought came up. Due to the fact that experiences like peak experiences can be elicited through drugs (LSD and psilocybin), I think we need to make it clear that peak experiences are reached through climax and euphoria that is natural. Should this go in the Characteristics section or the Intro?Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 16:35, 14 November 2014 (UTC)

Amanda, I think we could add the drug distinction into the introduction. I also agree with what you want to do with the See Also. I could work on the conclusion section - what kind of information do you think should be included in this part? Leah.moulds (talk) 17:45, 17 November 2014 (UTC) I'm not totally sure... Dr. Council said "implications" so I'm not really sure what he means there... All I can think of is that people with peak experiences are often self-actualized but I'm going over that in my section. Maybe email him for clarification of what he meant? He must have something in mind if he's telling us to add it, right? I'll re-work the See Also section, too!Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 21:05, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Feedback for Assignment 9
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 3. Characteristics 4. Peak Experiences in Self-Actualization 5. Examples of Peak Experiences 6. Need an ending: section on “Reception/implications J.R. Council (talk) 22:33, 13 November 2014 (UTC)
 * This section looks pretty good
 * This is also fine
 * add a reference to Czikszentmihalyi
 * cite a source associating self-actualization with flow
 * need to add list of peak experiences

Ending. Leah emailed "My group is working on Peak Experiences for the Wikipedia assignment. You indicated that we should have a conclusive section, "Reception/Implications." I was wondering if I could get some more details and clarification on this - what type of information would be included in this? Should it be pretty brief?"
 * 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)

List of peak experiences: The examples Amanda added aren't really peak experiences. They are actually activities during which peak experiences could happen. J.R. Council (talk) 22:54, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

Rough Draft Intro
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) What do you think of this?

Peak experiences describe moments accompanied by a euphoric mental state often achieved by self-actualizing individuals. The concept was originally developed by Abraham Maslow in 1964, 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 characteristics of a peak experience. There are several unique characteristics of a peak experience, but each element is perceived together in a holistic manner that create the moment of reaching one’s full potential. Peak experiences can range from simple activities such as a family moment or engaging in an extreme sport. Peak experiences are not necessarily about what the activity is, but the ecstatic, care-free feeling that is being experienced during it. Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 23:08, 25 November 2014 (UTC)

I like both of these, but I think we need keep in mind that it should be streamlined so we don't fully cover everything right away in our intro. SteveBaker93 (talk) 23:40, 25 November 2014 (UTC)  I agree, I tried to be mindful of that. So what are your suggestions? Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 00:55, 26 November 2014 (UTC) Ok, I made a few slight changes and I will post this up on the article page by 2:30pm unless there you guys want to make any changes! :) Peak experiences describe moments accompanied by a euphoric mental state often achieved by self-actualizing individuals. The concept was originally developed by Abraham Maslow in 1964, 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.” There are several unique characteristics of a peak experience, but each element is perceived together in a holistic manner that create the moment of reaching one’s full potential. Peak experiences can range from simple activities to intense events  however, it's not necessarily about what the activity is, but the ecstatic, care-free feeling that is being experienced during it. Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 16:40, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Sorry I'm a little bit late getting back to you on this. Amanda, I think this looks great! I see what Steven is saying, but I think this intro provides a good starting point for the article and each of our sections. Thanks for putting it together! Leah.moulds (talk) 21:12, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Wrapping it Up
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)  Looks like our article is good on SafeAssign-no plagiarism. Good job group!Canvaswrtr13 (talk) 20:57, 1 December 2014 (UTC) Yep all clear! Leah.moulds (talk) 22:48, 1 December 2014 (UTC)

"Sense of achievement" listed at Redirects for discussion
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)