Introduction: Anomalous Experiences in Perspective

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Introduction: Anomalous
Experiences in Perspective
Copyright American Psychological Association. Not for further distribution.
Etzel Cardeña, Steven Jay Lynn, and Stanley Krippner
Evolution . . . is a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity,

to a definite coherent heterogeneity.
—Herbert Spencer, First Principles
Unusual, extraordinary, and unexplained experiences and encounters

with the “unknown” have long fascinated artists, scientists, and the lay audi-
ence and have had a profound effect on individuals and societies throughout
history and across cultures (Cardeña & Winkelman, 2011). Eminent scien-
tists and many Nobel Prize winners (including one of the most important
neuroscientists in history, Santiago Ramón y Cajal; Sala et al., 2008) have
researched ostensible parapsychological (psi) phenomena and alterations
of consciousness. Literature works of considerable stature, such as George
Eliot’s The Lifted Veil (2009), feature psi as a central part of their plot, and in
the last three centuries various artistic movements including the symbolists,
the abstractionists, and the surrealists embraced altered states of conscious-
ness and dreams as well as ostensible psi phenomena as sources of inspiration
(Cardeña, Iribas, & Reijman, 2012).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/14258-001
Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence, Second Edition, E. Cardeña,
S. J. Lynn, and S. Krippner (Editors)
Copyright © 2014 by the American Psychological Association. All rights reserved.
3
As far as popular interest in anomalous phenomena is concerned, one
need look no further than the enormous and international popularity of such
television programs as The Twilight Zone or The X-Files, during the second half
of the 20th century, or to recent films such as Biutiful (González Iñárritu, 2010),
Hereafter (Spielberg & Eastwood, 2010), Inception (Nolan & Thomas, 2010),
or Melancholia (Foldager, Vesth, & von Trier, 2011). Many anomalous experi-
ences hold great significance for those who have them or even those who just
vicariously partake of them.
In contrast to the public fascination with these phenomena, mainstream
psychology has mostly ignored or even derided them after an initial interest at
the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. Anomalous experiences
have been examples of what postmodernists refer to as “the other,” phenomena
that fall between the cracks of the house built by contemporary mainstream
psychology. However, psychology now has the maturity and breadth required
to take a serious look at unusual but important experiences.
Before we proceed, it is important to clarify how we use the term anoma-
lous experience. The English word anomalous derives from the Greek anom-
alos, meaning “irregular,” “uneven,” or “unequal,” in contrast to homalos,
which means “the same” or “common.” An “anomalous experience” is “irreg-
ular” in that it differs from common experiences, and “uneven” in that it is
not “the same” as experiences that are “even” and “ordinary.” Typically, it is
also “unequal” in that it does not draw the same attention, at least in aca-
demia, as that given to “regular” experiences. There is one additional sense
of “anomalous” discussed by Robert K. Merton (1975) that is particularly apt
for our purposes, namely that anomalous observations are surprising because
they seem to be inconsistent with prevailing theory or accepted facts. In an
important article, Marcello Truzzi (1971) wrote that anomalous phenomena
“contradict commonsense or institutionalized (scientific or religious) knowl-
edge” and are “anomalous to our generally accepted cultural storehouse of
truths” (p. 367).
We define an anomalous experience (AE) as an uncommon experience
(e.g., synesthesia), or one that, although it may be experienced by a significant
number of persons (e.g., psi experiences), is believed to deviate from ordinary
experience or from the usually accepted explanations of reality according to
Western mainstream science. The focus of this book is on experiences, not on
testing the ontological nature of such experiences. Thus, for instance, the pos-
sibility of veridical psi occurrences is mentioned in the section of explanatory
theories in the psi-related experiences chapter, but its focus is on the experi-
ences people have.
Although these concepts overlap, we can distinguish anomalous expe-
riences from altered states of consciousness (Tart, 1969; see also Cardeña &
Winkelman, 2011). Whereas some of the former occur during an alteration
4 cardeña, lynn, and krippner

of consciousness (e.g., near-death experiences; see Chapter 12, this volume),
AEs such as synesthesia (Chapter 4) may be part of the ordinary state of
consciousness of some people. We also distinguish experience from proce-
dures such as hypnosis or meditation that may or may not produce unusual
experiences, depending on the interaction between the person’s traits and the
induction procedure and implicit or explicit suggestions (Cardeña, 2011a).
We also contrast anomalous, a term that does not necessarily imply dysfunc-
tion, with abnormal, a term that denotes pathology. Despite some overlap,
research shows that AEs often occur in the absence of psychopathology and
may even be indicators of better than average psychological health (see

Chapters 3 and 14). This is the case even in hallucinations, which are often
used as indicators of psychopathology (Chapter 5).
Other disciplines have also used the term anomalous, anomalies, or
anomalistic to refer to seemingly unexplainable events (i.e., a demonstrable
occurrence), rather than to subjective experiences (i.e., which may or may
not be associated with such events). For instance, parapsychologists often
use these terms to denote an event in which there is a purported access of
information not mediated by the senses or logic (Thalbourne, 1982), such
as ostensible telepathic communication, regardless of whether the person
evidenced an unusual subjective experience.
Individual and Cultural Importance
A striking aspect of AEs is that even when isolated or transitory, they

may have an enormous impact on the experient. An individual may undergo
a change in values after a near-death experience (see Chapter 12), or mystics
describe experiences that connote a different view of reality that may influ-
ence many others (Chapter 13). The attribution of personal meaning to AEs
was addressed by sociologist James McClenon (1994b), who referred to them
as “wondrous events” (suggesting that they stimulated the development of
religious ideologies). Daniel A. Helminiak (1984) called them “extraordinary
experiences” (depending on whether they further the experient’s “authentic
growth”), and Rhea A. White (1995) described them as “exceptional human
experiences” (noting their transformational potential in people’s lives).
Naturally, to determine what is uncommon or anomalous, we have to con-
sider the cultural and historical framework in which the experience is evalu-
ated. Decades ago, Ruth Benedict (1934) reminded us that what is normal (or
pathological) in one culture may not be so in a different culture.
Summarizing a number of surveys conducted in the United States,
William L. MacDonald (1994) concluded that age, education, gender, race,
religion, and socioeconomic status influence the likelihood of reporting
introduction: anomalous experiences in perspective 5

“paranormal” experiences, and he attributed this to the “shaping of individ-
ual realities.” He conjectured that “the reality of human experience is socially
constructed and is therefore subject to variation depending on the social con-
text” (p. 36). McClenon’s (1994a) review of the altered states of conscious-
ness literature and of cross-cultural surveys of AEs persuaded him that such
traits as absorption, dissociation, fantasy proneness, and hypnotic susceptibility
need to be considered to understand alterations of consciousness (see Chapter
14, this volume). He considered these traits to be “normal human capacities
which have not been thoroughly studied in non-clinical populations” (p. 129).
Recent work has also proposed different neurotransmitter systems associated

with some of these traits (Cardeña & Winkelman, 2011).
A Brief History
Some of the topics covered in this book, including mystical and psi-
related experiences, have had important roles in the history of psycho
dynamic (cf. Ellenberger, 1970) and research psychology and psychiatry
(Watt, 2005). In this section, we give an overview of the psychological study
of AEs, which has, at times, also included the study of anomalous events or
misattributions.
The first systematic inquiry into a variety of AEs can be traced to
the founding of the Society for Psychical Research in London in 1882.
Notable scientists and philosophers gathered “to investigate that large body
of debatable phenomena . . . without prejudice or prepossession of any kind,
and in the same spirit of exact and unimpassioned inquiry which has enabled
Science to solve so many problems” (Society for Psychical Research, 1882–
1883, p. 2). Although the goals of the society centered on testing claims of
purported psi phenomena, such as telepathy and clairvoyance (see Chapter 9),
it also investigated dissociative phenomena, hypnosis, preconscious cogni-
tion, and related topics (Chapter 7). A few years after the founding of the
Society for Psychical Research, a similar organization, led by William James
and others, was established in the United States. The Parapsychological
Association, founded in 1957 and an affiliate of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science since 1969, consists of professional members
from different countries. It is committed to looking for scientific explana-
tions of purported anomalous events and experiences, as is the Society for
Scientific Exploration, founded in 1982.
Within the realms of clinical and general psychology, William James
(1890/1923) provided a comprehensive survey of the “Science of Mental
Life, both of its phenomena and of their conditions” (p. 1). With his vast
erudition and incomparable prose, James discussed anomalous phenomena in

chapters dealing with more general topics such as memory and the self. Our
book follows the spirit of James’s “radical empiricism,” which aims to study
the totality of human experience. Our title, of course, pays homage to James’s
(1902/1961) classic volume, The Varieties of Religious Experience.
Besides James, F. W. H. Myers attempted a bold integration of such areas
as personality, psychopathology, sleep, psi phenomena, and hypnosis (Myers,
1903/1961), and other leading members of the Society for Psychical Research
studied AEs. Among them, the influential philosopher Henry Sidgwick and
collaborators (Sidgwick, Johnson, Myers, Podmore, & Sidgwick, 1894) ana-
lyzed some 17,000 responses to the question “Have you ever . . . had a vivid
impression of seeing, or being touched, or of hearing a voice; which impression,
so far as you could discover, was not due to any external cause?” Affirmative
answers were obtained from about one in 10 respondents and were categorized
as sensory hallucinations (visual being more common that auditory or tac-
tile), ordinary sense perceptions, dreams, and what today would be considered
eidetic imagery. It is striking how well the results of this study have withstood
the test of time (see Chapter 5). Another landmark in the study of AEs was an
inquiry into reputed psi-related phenomena, Phantasms of the Living (Gurney,
Myers, & Podmore, 1886).
Théodore Flournoy (1901/1994) wrote an in-depth case study of a
medium that spoke in different voices, wrote in different handwriting styles,
and used different names. Rather than positing deception or accepting the
medium’s claim of contact with the spirit world, Flournoy explained it as
dissociated psychological aspects of the medium and offered a sophisticated
interpretation of the psychodynamic foundations of the imaginary languages
involved. The eminent psychiatrist, writer, and progressive thinker Frederik
Van Eeden (1902), who also coined the term and described lucid dreaming,
researched various AEs and proposed a parallel between the state of con-
sciousness of a medium and dreaming.
A friend of Flournoy, Carl Gustav Jung (1902/1970), conducted a land-
mark study on another medium to trace the origins of the names she gave to
her own “spirit guides” and of the “forces” that guide the universe, using a
word-association test he had developed. Jung terminated his work when the
medium, Jung’s young and enamored cousin, exhausted her flights of fancy.
Later on, it was found that at least part of her mediumistic performances,
which may have been designed to keep Jung’s interest, had fraudulent aspects
(Ellenberger, 1970).
Sigmund Freud’s goal was to build a psychoanalytic theory that would
explain all normal, as well as anomalous and abnormal, experience and
behavior. Examples include his analyses of unusual experiences and behav-
iors in The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1914) and A Seventeenth-Century
Demonological Neurosis (1923). Within the clinical tradition, we cannot fail

to mention the undervalued General Psychopathology (1913/1963) by Karl
Jaspers, who aimed to understand abnormal and anomalous events through
detailed descriptive analysis of experiences, providing an alternative to tra-
ditional psychodynamic and diagnostic classifications of psychopathology
(Sims, 1995).
French psychological researchers at the turn of the 19th century were
invested in developing a general psychology of cognition, emotion, and experi-
ence that would be informed by AEs and abnormal conditions. Alfred Binet,
mostly known to psychologists as the suffix of the Stanford–Binet IQ test, wrote
an important treatise on the dissociation of identity, On Double Consciousness

(1890), whereas Charles Richet did experiments on hypnosis and psi phenom-
ena (Alvarado, 2008). The most influential author in this school was Pierre
Janet, who researched and theorized on, among other things, dissociation,
hypnosis, memory, emotions, ecstatic experiences, and the sense of time
(Janet, 1926/1991; Van der Hart, 1998).
The decades-long dominance of behaviorism, launched by J. B. Watson’s
call to arms (1913) against the study of consciousness within psychology,
explains why the more comprehensive program for psychology proposed by
James and others lay dormant for a number of decades. The ascent of modern
cognitive psychology as a dominant force in the 1950s and 1960s provided a
valid framework to study mental processes (Gardner, 1985), but the study of
subjective experiences, especially anomalous ones, had to wait even longer.
The Psychology of Anomalous Experience, by Graham Reed (1972, 1988), was
a systematic attempt to explain AEs and is still worth revisiting. He discussed
anomalies of attention, imagery and perception, recall, recognition, experi-
ence of self, judgment and belief, qualities of consciousness, and flow of con-
sciousness from a cognitive/experiential perspective. Andrew Neher (1980)
provided an accessible and comprehensive account of a number of AEs and
events, along with possible naturalistic explanations.
As far as unusual beliefs or explanations, a student of Wilhelm Wundt,
the Danish psychologist Alfred Lehmann, published a book titled Superstition
and Magic (1898) in which he focused on observational errors, such as the
misinterpretation of optical effects, which were responsible for erroneous
belief systems. He granted that some extraordinary phenomena could not be
explained away by these errors and would have to wait for a scientific expla-
nation. A few years later, the psychologist Joseph Jastrow collected some of
his essays in a book titled Fact and Fable in Psychology (1900), which pro-
vided conventional scientific explanations for anomalous beliefs. In a later
book (1935), he posited that “wishful thinking” interferes with rationality,
and he applied this hypothesis to a number of AEs. James criticized Jastrow,
Hugo Münsterberg, and other psychologists of the time for doing little, if any,
research before criticizing psi phenomena (Sommer, 2012).

More recently, Leonard Zusne and Warren H. Jones (1989) treaded a
similar path to that of Jastrow in their book Anomalistic Psychology. They
contended that “magical thinking is wholly or partly at the root of any expla-
nation of behavioral and experiential phenomena that violates some law of
nature or suggests, without supporting evidence, the existence of principles,
forces, or entities unknown to science” (p. 13). To them, “anomalous psy-
chological phenomena” are “those behaviors and experiences that seem to
violate natural laws” (p. ix), although it is worth pointing out that even
physicists are by no means in unison as to what constitutes inviolable natural
laws (e.g., Stapp, 2001; Vedral, 2008).

Thomas Gilovich (1991) discussed cognitive (e.g., misperception and
misinterpretation of random data), motivational (e.g., seeing what we want
to see), and social (e.g., biasing effects of secondhand information) determi-
nants of questionable beliefs in anomalous events. Theodore Schick and Lewis
Vaughn (1995) examined a number of ways in which valuable information
can be ignored or misrepresented and false value given to such questionable
forms of evidence as tradition or the authority of the person making a pro-
nouncement (an argument also applicable to a scientist speaking of an area
in which he or she has no expertise; Sagan, 1976). They proposed instead a
formula to evaluate claims: They need to be clearly stated, the evidence for
the claims must be looked at carefully, and alternative hypotheses must be
considered and rated according to certain criteria of adequacy. To their credit,
they concluded that their “considerations should not be taken as the final
word on the matters investigated here” (Schick & Vaughn, 1995, p. 281) and
pointed out that at least one psi researcher had met some of the challenges
from his harshest critics (p. 231). Ray Hyman (Hyman & Honorton, 1986), a
noted critic of psi research, agreed that some data obtained under controlled
conditions “cannot reasonably be explained by selective reporting or multiple
analysis . . . (and) the final verdict awaits the outcome of future . . . experi-
ments” (pp. 352–353). Especially with regard to psi, a vigorous debate has con-
tinued, although, unfortunately, it has often disregarded discussion of actual
evidence and respectful scholarly discourse (Cardeña, 2011b).
Purpose of This Volume
When we completed the previous edition of this book in 2000, we knew

that we had assembled an array of authoritative reviews of fascinating human
experiences that had not been paid proper attention in psychology. Yet, we
were pleasantly surprised by the impact of that first edition not only in psy-
chology but in related disciplines. A cover article in Science News (Bower,
2001) was largely devoted to our volume, which was called “a manifesto of

sorts for the study of mystical experiences and other extraordinary psychologi-
cal happenings” (p. 104). Shortly thereafter, the Science & Technology cover
story in Newsweek discussed “neurotheology” with substantial references to
some of the chapters in Varieties (Begley, 2001). Our book was positively
reviewed in journals of diverse disciplines (e.g., psychology, anthropology,
religion, psi) and by authors representing different perspectives. The success
of the first edition was due foremost to the very high quality and evenhanded-
ness of the chapters, but it also helped that contributors followed a specific
structure and clarified and unified their terminology so that readers could
compare various experiences. By and large, previous anthologies in this area

have not been as comprehensive or have not followed a unifying structure.
To enhance the integrative goal of our tome, we have added a summarizing
chapter in this edition.
Although we would not claim that the first edition of Varieties was the
only catalyst for these developments, it may have supported the noticeable
increase in research during the past decade in areas that it covered, such
as synesthesia and mystical experiences. In addition, “anomalous” (or, some-
times, “anomalistic”) has become a popular moniker for university centers
in Europe that focus on studying unusual experiences irrespective of their
ontological nature. One of our goals in 2000 was to integrate the study of AEs
into mainstream psychology, and this seems to be happening, at least in the
United Kingdom, whose leading pre-university level psychology examining
board, Assessment and Qualification Alliance, introduced an anomalistic
psychology option to their syllabus in 2008. Throughout these years, Varieties
has served as a text for many courses on this topic area throughout the world
(e.g., the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Brazil) and has been
translated into Portuguese; some chapters have been translated into Spanish
and French.
Considering the enormous amount of research published in the areas
covered in our first edition, and the increasing import of neuroscientific
methods to supplement introspective and other psychological techniques, we
decided that a new edition of Varieties that gave credit to recent findings and
emphasized clinical and neuroscientific perspectives was due. Our point of
departure continues to be psychology. For those interested in finding out more
about how the related construct of “altered consciousness” relates to addi-
tional areas such as sociology, philosophy, anthropology, the arts, the humani-
ties, the neurosciences, and psychopharmacology, two recent volumes provide
comprehensive overviews (Cardeña & Winkelman, 2011).
We may not have come so far in terms of solving the ontological sta-
tus of some of the phenomena in this book, but readers will discover that
psychology and related areas have started to seriously investigate AEs. An
integration of psychology, the neurosciences, and the social sciences will help

us understand better the “dome of many-coloured glass” of life, to use Percy
Bysshe Shelley’s (1901) resplendent phrase. This anthology is the work of
recognized international authorities, and the chapters generally follow the
same outline so that they can be compared. We asked contributors, regardless
of their own theoretical stance and philosophical predilection, to evaluate in a
critical but evenhanded manner the empirical support for alternative explana-
tory models. Another important goal for us was to cover basic research, along
with topics that would also be useful to clinicians who have to evaluate the
impact of AEs on the lives of individuals. Finally, we requested that chapters
cover relevant neuroscientific research. Our aims have been to satisfy the
reader who wants a “state of the science” account, to provide useful informa-
tion to the clinician, and to do justice to the experiences themselves.
Our list of AEs is not comprehensive. We sought to include experiences
(a) for which there is a substantial body of research (as compared with, for
instance, the sensed presence phenomenon; cf. Suedfeld & Mocellin, 1987),
(b) that are generally considered more than transient curiosities by the expe-
rient (e.g., déjà vu; see Brown, 2003), and (c) that are not considered primar-
ily a type of dysfunction (e.g., sleep paralysis; Hufford, 2005).
Overview of the Book
Part I of this volume is devoted to methodological and conceptual

issues. Etzel Cardeña and Ronald J. Pekala’s chapter defines and discusses the
strengths and weaknesses of various methods used to study inner experience.
After reviewing variables that may distort or even invalidate introspective
reports, the authors describe and give examples of introspective methods
that have proved useful in the study of anomalous (and more conventional)
experience. Because reports of AEs are often accompanied by little or no
corroborating physiological data or physical evidence, it is important to
have a balanced evaluation of the limitations, reliability, and validity of
psychological methods to study experience and how they can be integrated
with neuroscientific methods (which also have their limitations), so as to
develop a sophisticated neurophenomenological account of AEs. This chap-
ter emphasizes research methodology, but its treatment of potential threats
to the validity and reliability of subjective reports should make it valuable to
the clinician as well.
John G. Kerns, Nicole Karcher, Chitra Raghavan, and Howard
Berenbaum provide a useful model to understand peculiar sensations, expe-
riences, and beliefs, and their relation to AEs and psychopathology. The
authors explore ways in which various factors such as personality traits,
trauma, and atypical patterns of brain functioning may contribute to both

psychopathology and AEs. They conclude their chapter with inspiring rec-
ommendations for investigators who wish to advance our knowledge of the
relationships among AEs, peculiarity, and psychopathology.
The chapters in the first section of Part II review AEs that relate mostly
to perceptual processes. Lawrence E. Marks addresses synesthesia, the phe-
nomenon in which sensory stimuli such as black letters are also experienced
in another modality within the same or another sense (e.g., seeing a particu-
lar letter as colored, seeing a color associated with a particular tone). Marks
maintains that synesthesia should be placed within a spectrum of phenomena
that are not quite as unusual as we used to believe even a few years ago. He
describes how different kinds of synesthesia are subjectively experienced and
expressed behaviorally and neurophysiologically and evaluates the dominant
theories in the field.
Richard P. Bentall’s chapter on hallucinations reviews the perceptlike
experiences that occur in the absence of an appropriate stimulus yet have the
full force or impact of the actual corresponding percept. Although auditory
and visual hallucinations are the most frequently reported, any sense modal-
ity can have its corresponding hallucinatory equivalent. Some individuals
adapt to recurring hallucinations, while others have difficulty coping with
them, becoming tortured and distressed. Of particular interest to clinicians is
that large-scale surveys have identified fairly large percentages of nonclinical
populations that report occasional hallucinations that are not deleterious and
are even, at times, beneficial. Thus, and contrary to common belief, halluci-
nations are not the exclusive province of psychopathology.
Next follows a group of chapters that are primarily or secondarily related
to sleep and/or dreams. In his contribution, Stephen LaBerge defines lucid
dreaming as dreaming with reflective awareness that one is dreaming and,
sometimes, with control of various dreaming events. He contends that this
experience is clearly anomalous in comparison with the typical hallucina-
tory experience of nonlucid dreaming. Concurrent reports while the per-
son is having a lucid dream have brought a plethora of information that has
expanded our views of the dreaming mind. LaBerge summarizes the research
in this area and discusses different theoretical models. Although lucid dream-
ing is a rare experience for most people, a variety of techniques have been
developed for inducing it.
The chapter by Etzel Cardeña and Carlos S. Alvarado covers anoma-
lous self and identity experiences. They include a sense of fusion or blending
of body boundaries, and “trance” and spirit possession/mediumship, in which
people experience that their identity is partially or totally substituted by that
of another being. Out-of-body experiences are the best-studied self-alteration
phenomenon and refer to the experience of the “self” or center of awareness as
located outside of the physical body. Out-of-body experiences include sensations

of floating, traveling to distant locations, and observing one’s own physical body,
and they are related to lucid dreams. The chapter discusses the various theories
offered for nonpathological alterations in identity and bodily sensations.
The alien abduction experience (AAE) is also a type of “corporeal move-
ment” experience, like out-of-body experiences, which may be very disturbing
to the experient, as described by Stuart Appelle, Steven Jay Lynn, Leonard
Newman, and Anne Malaktaris. AAEs are characterized by subjectively
real memories of being taken secretly and/or against one’s will by apparently
nonhuman entities, usually to a location interpreted as an alien spacecraft,
and subjected to complex physical and psychological procedures. The AAE

is a dynamic, elaborate, and involved experience that, despite its disturbing
nature, does not necessarily denote psychopathology. Aspects of AAEs have
been explained in terms of fantasy proneness, parasomnias (especially sleep
paralysis), and sociocognitive variables. AAEs do not suffer from a lack of
hypotheses, but none so far has accounted for all observations.
The next group of chapters begins with psi-related experiences that, if
veridical, could also explain some instances of anomalous healing and past-life
experiences. Caroline Watt and Ian Tierney examine ostensible experiences
of direct mind-to-mind communication, knowledge of distant occurrences,
information about the future, and direct mental influence on the environ-
ment (collectively referred to as psi by psi investigators). These experiences
have been reported by a majority of individuals sampled in various countries.
Theoretical explanations for psi-related experiences include the presence of
cognitive deficits or misattributions, social marginality, and psychodynamic
needs as well as the possibility that experients may be reporting veridical
phenomena that should be taken seriously by mainstream science.
It would be difficult to find someone who has not at least heard about
purportedly remarkable or unusual healing experiences and events. Stanley
Krippner and Jeanne Achterberg make an essential distinction between
anomalous healing events (unusual and unexplained treatment outcomes)
and anomalous healing experiences (unusual experiences associated with
diverse forms of treatment). The chapter includes a classification of various
types of healing practitioners and describes their anomalous experiences and
those of their patients. The authors warn of the potential clinical risks of
endorsing any therapeutic practice exclusively because of a belief system or
an unusual experience, and they provide an account of the leading explana-
tory models for anomalous healing experiences and events.
Antonia Mills and Jim B. Tucker define a past life experience as the dis-
tinct impression that an individual holds of having been a different person
in a previous time and in which the overlay of the past identity does not
deny the current identity. The authors contrast past life experience cases
that seem to arise spontaneously during hypnosis or are directly suggested

with spontaneous cases, reported mostly by children. They evaluate various
theories and conclude that, as in the case of AAEs, fraud and chicanery can
be ruled out in many, if not most, instances, and no single theory seems to be
able to explain all observations, especially with regard to spontaneous rather
than hypnosis-induced reports.
We conclude our review of AEs with two that, prima facie, seem to chal-
lenge some ontological and metaphysical accounts of reality. Bruce Greyson
characterizes near-death experiences (NDEs) as “profound psychological
events with transcendental or mystical elements” that typically occur close to
death or in situations of intense physical or emotional danger. The experience

often permanently and dramatically alters attitudes, beliefs, and values in ben-
eficial ways, reducing fears of death and heightening the experient’s apprecia-
tion of life. Greyson argues that NDEs cannot be explained away as culturally
constructed, expectancy-driven hallucinations; as the product of medications
given to dying patients; or as the metabolic disturbances or brain malfunctions
of a person close to death. He favors a biosociological approach, based on
information and systems theories, which focuses on the structure and process
of the NDE, rather than its content. The author also discusses the hypothesis
that mental events may be partly independent from brain processes.
The claims of mystics about having an intuitive sense of the universe
that belies current everyday assumptions have inspired most religions and,
directly or indirectly, touched the lives of most, if not all, humans. Following
a similar path to James’s seminal study of religious experience, David M.
Wulff’s chapter centers on these potentially life-changing events. He dis-
cusses the difficulty in providing a definition of mysticism and gives various
examples and useful classifications of these experiences. He also describes the
various means, including meditation and psychedelic drugs, that have been
associated with mysticism. His chapter steers away from the twin dangers of
false reductionism and uncritical overacceptance.
Our final, integrative chapter discusses the AEs included in this vol-
ume in terms of how they relate (or not) to psychopathology, personality
variables that may mediate at least some of them, cultural beliefs that may
foster or hinder their experience and/or report, and whether, at least at this
point, there seems to be common neurological indicators across AEs. Current
research has produced more questions than answers, in search of bright and
courageous explorers.
Why Anomalous Experiences Matter
There are a number of reasons why the study of anomalous experience

remains an important part of psychology:

1. As William James reminded us, psychology cannot claim to
be comprehensive if it fails to account for varieties of experi-
ences distinct from those considered normal. To fully under-
stand human beings, we need to provide reasonable accounts
of phenomena that, although unusual or apparently far-fetched,
contribute to the totality of human experience.
2. As the quotation by Spencer at the beginning of the chapter
implies, the current interest in evolutionary psychology should
make us suspect that variety in experience, as in behavior, is
to be expected. The strong normative impact of language and

social conventions may deceive us into believing that we are
more alike than we really are. To refer to James again, it is
likely that at least some AEs have their “field of application
and adaptation” (James, 1902/1961, p. 298), whether for practi-
cal matters such as healing or for an epistemological account
of all there is.
3. It is essential for the clinician to be able to distinguish what is
merely unusual from what is pathological or abnormal. Whereas,
at times, the unusual experiences of prophets and mystics have
been uncritically regarded as “divine,” or neurological condi-
tions have been wrongly identified as spiritual enlightenment
(cf. Sacks, 1995), the pendulum may have swung too far to
the other side when mysticism is described as brain failure
(e.g., Rose, 1976) or authors greatly exaggerate what can be
concluded from limited data to state that dysfunctions in neural
activity are a sufficient or even necessary explanation for altered
spiritual and religious attitudes and behaviors (cf. Urgesi,
Aglioti, Skrap, & Fabbro, 2010). Despite the media’s hunger
for oversimplified explanations, especially if they somehow
involve images in color of the brain, we hope that the reader
of this tome will get the sense of how complicated the vari-
ous philosophical, conceptual, and methodological issues are
in this area.
As the many contributions to the volume make clear,
there is no evidence that AEs per se imply psychopathology.
We hope that the clinician will consult this, or a similar vol-
ume, along with more conventional taxonomies such as the
fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) or the
10th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (World
Health Organization, 1992), to help clarify the extent to which
an experience may, or may not, denote pathology.

4. It seems that some AEs may developmentally precede more
usual ones, as the greater prevalence of synesthetic phenomena
in childhood suggests, that ordinary perceptual experiences may
have arisen from what adults consider AEs. Deikman (1966)
suggested that an understanding of mysticlike experiences is
necessary to clarify the development and nature of cognition in
general, and Stern (1985) made the related point that diverse
forms of self-experience precede and underlie our sense of an
integrated self.
5. Anomalous phenomena can elucidate the importance, and lim-

its, of biological and sociocultural variables on human experi-
ence. A good example is the study by Athappilly, Greyson, and
Stevenson (2006) that investigated which aspects of NDEs
seemed to be affected by cultural changes and which did not.
It is also worth bearing in mind that although a psychologi-
cal approach tends to privilege the individual, a full apprehen-
sion of AEs also demands a deepened understanding of the
roles of sociocultural and historical dynamics (cf. Cardeña &
Winkelman, 2011).
6. Some AEs may enhance our appreciation of life (e.g., mysti-
cism) or have other long-lasting beneficial effects (e.g., NDEs).
In Western industrialized countries and other cultures, people
will continue searching for ways to affect their states of con-
sciousness and achieve various AEs. As both the craving for
and enormous individual and social cost of drug addiction sig-
nal, we need to know much more about AEs to assess their risks
and benefits.
7. In some cases, such as in psi-related experiences, results of con-
trolled and replicated experiments challenge widely held tenets
about the relationship between consciousness and the physi-
cal world. Although this evidence is more persuasive to some
researchers than to others, we need to continue investigating
diverse hypotheses scientifically considering all the evidence
obtained before we can claim to have a full understanding of
the relation between consciousness and reality.
After their long exile during behaviorism, AEs are becoming once again
scientifically respectable topics, and we are now in a better position to start
addressing the challenge that William James offered us (1902/1958):
Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is
but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by
the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely

different. We may go through life without suspecting their existence;
but apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are there in all com-
pleteness, definite types of mentality which probably somewhere have
their field of application and adaptation. No account of the universe in
its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness
quite disregarded. (p. 298)
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Introduction: Anomalous Experiences in Perspective

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1

Etzel Cardeña, Steven Jay Lynn, and Stanley Krippner

Evolution . . . is a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity,

Unusual, extraordinary, and unexplained experiences and encounters

4 cardeña, lynn, and krippner

may even be indicators of better than average psychological health (see

Individual and Cultural Importance

A striking aspect of AEs is that even when isolated or transitory, they

introduction: anomalous experiences in perspective 5

Recent work has also proposed different neurotransmitter systems associated

6 cardeña, lynn, and krippner

introduction: anomalous experiences in perspective 7

an important treatise on the dissociation of identity, On Double Consciousness

8 cardeña, lynn, and krippner

laws (e.g., Stapp, 2001; Vedral, 2008).

Purpose of This Volume

When we completed the previous edition of this book in 2000, we knew

introduction: anomalous experiences in perspective 9

compare various experiences. By and large, previous anthologies in this area

10 cardeña, lynn, and krippner

Overview of the Book

Part I of this volume is devoted to methodological and conceptual

introduction: anomalous experiences in perspective 11

12 cardeña, lynn, and krippner

and subjected to complex physical and psychological procedures. The AAE

introduction: anomalous experiences in perspective 13

death or in situations of intense physical or emotional danger. The experience

Why Anomalous Experiences Matter

There are a number of reasons why the study of anomalous experience

14 cardeña, lynn, and krippner

to be expected. The strong normative impact of language and

introduction: anomalous experiences in perspective 15

5. Anomalous phenomena can elucidate the importance, and lim-

16 cardeña, lynn, and krippner

introduction: anomalous experiences in perspective 17

(Original work published 1901)

18 cardeña, lynn, and krippner

introduction: anomalous experiences in perspective 19

Thalbourne, M. (1982). A glossary of terms used in parapsychology. London, England:

20 cardeña, lynn, and krippner

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