Defining Transformative Experiences: A Conceptual Analysis

The concept of transformative experience (TE) has been widely explored by several disciplines from philosophy to neurobiology, and in different domains, from the spiritual to the educational one. This attitude has engendered heterogeneous models to explain this phenomenon. However, a consistent and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in psychology 2022-06, Vol.13, p.790300-790300
Main Authors: Chirico, Alice, Pizzolante, Marta, Kitson, Alexandra, Gianotti, Elena, Riecke, Bernhard E., Gaggioli, Andrea
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
complex emotions
conceptual analysis
psychological change
Psychology
transcendence
transformative experiences
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Summary:The concept of transformative experience (TE) has been widely explored by several disciplines from philosophy to neurobiology, and in different domains, from the spiritual to the educational one. This attitude has engendered heterogeneous models to explain this phenomenon. However, a consistent and clear understanding of this construct remains elusive. The aim of this work is to provide an initial comprehensive interdisciplinary, cross-domain, up-to-date, and integrated overview on the concept of TEs. Firstly, all the models and theories on TEs were reviewed to extract and analyze TEs’ main components emerging from different disciplines. Then, this preliminary analysis was integrated with an in-depth examination of redundancies and particularities across domains and disciplines, to provide an integrated theoretical framework of TEs and a preliminary interdisciplinary operational definition of TEs. This examination, in turn, can help organize current research and theories, thus providing suggestions for operationalizing TEs as well as encouraging new interdisciplinary research endeavors.
ISSN:1664-1078
1664-1078
DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.790300