Event and experience design

Event design is an important aspect of planned events, and events have the power to transform individuals. An emerging focus in event design is the focus on meanings and event experiences (Getz & Page, 2016). Event design, a core ‘domain’ or function of event management offers the potential to achieve, or at least facilitate these transformations. The emergence of the so-called transformation economy has been at least partly responsible for a movement in the focus of planned events beyond extraordinary experiences towards experiences that could be regarded as transformative or even life-changing. Described as peak experiences, these transformational events have important implications for event design.

Educating for Eupsychia: Maslow’s Unfinished Agenda and Aldous Huxley’s Role in Its Advancement

Although Abraham Maslow never specified how eupsychia (his paradigm for the best possible human society) might be achieved, he was inspired in the 1960s by Aldous Huxley’s notions that major changes in education were vital for its attainment: in Maslow’s view, spurring personality growth and fulfillment and ultimately leading to self-actualization on a societal level. In this light, Maslow’s scattered writings on the necessity for revisioning education provide meaningful direction for realizing the eupsychian ideal. Drawing particularly on his enthusiasm for revamped pedagogy as presented in Huxley’s utopian novel Island and related writings, we highlight three elements that Maslow deemed crucial: valuing children’s constitutional and temperamental differences, incorporating somatic and movement education including dance, and, related to peak experiences, fostering a sense of wonder. We also add a fourth element that Maslow was beginning to embrace at the time of his death—eudaimonic education comprising aspects such as volunteerism, mentoring, and civic engagement.

ВІДМІННОСТІ СУБ’ЄКТИВНОГО ДОСВІДУ ПІКОВИХ ПЕРЕЖИВАНЬ ТА ГІПОМАНІЇ: ФЕНОМЕНОЛОГІЧНЕ ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ З ВИКОРИСТАННЯМ ІНТЕРВ’Ю PEXI

The borderline nature of hypomania may be a cause of widely reported issues with accurate bipolar disorder or recurrent depression differential diagnosis. It is understandable as long as there is a subtle difference between criteria for hypomania and normal (more or less extreme) elevated mood conditions, such as peak experiences of a self-actualizing person. In such cases, there are possibilities for taking one for another that leads both to a false-positive hypomania diagnosis for healthy subjects and subjects suffering from recurrent depression rather than from bipolar disorder, and to a false-negative perception of actual hypomania as just a highly good mood, brilliant efficiency and holistic existential feelings. This paper focuses on the phenomenological study of subjective experiences of such states in groups of healthy individuals with high or moderate self-actualization levels and individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder without comorbidity. A Peak Experiences Interview has been developed to collect phenomenological data for further extraction of substantial features of subjective experiences for both groups. The study shows that the differences in phenomenology of peak experiences and hypomania state encompass various components, such as cognitive, emotional, somatic, behavioural, imaginative, existential. These findings may be used for developing diagnostic manuals and inventories as well as self-monitoring tools for patients and psychoeducational materials. The PEXI itself has shown its capacity for collecting phenomenological data and detecting relatively subtle differences in experiences of various modalities. Nevertheless, it shall undergo more trials with larger samples and cross-validation. Theoretical and practical insights from using such an approach may contribute greatly both in clinical psychology and personality studies.

Interactive performance: the digital of theatre

The purpose of this MRP is to explore the nature of Peak Experiences, which Maslow refers to as the combined response of the emotions, senses, intellect and imagination that are often experienced by people who have achieved self actualization. Using the theatre as an environment that creates meaning and fulfillment and exploring the relationship between theatrical engagement experiences and digital media experiences, the goal of this paper is to determine how engagement practices between both media can function in harmony, in order to produce the hedonic experiences that Maslow describes. This analysis is done by comparing various immersive theatre companies and interactive design companies who are pushing the boundaries of their fields and attempting to produce infectious and enlightening experiences in their area of expertise.

Interactive performance: the digital of theatre

The purpose of this MRP is to explore the nature of Peak Experiences, which Maslow refers to as the combined response of the emotions, senses, intellect and imagination that are often experienced by people who have achieved self actualization. Using the theatre as an environment that creates meaning and fulfillment and exploring the relationship between theatrical engagement experiences and digital media experiences, the goal of this paper is to determine how engagement practices between both media can function in harmony, in order to produce the hedonic experiences that Maslow describes. This analysis is done by comparing various immersive theatre companies and interactive design companies who are pushing the boundaries of their fields and attempting to produce infectious and enlightening experiences in their area of expertise.

Travel as a Catalyst of Peak Experiences Among Young Chinese Adults

Humanistic psychology has pioneered in investigating travel as a contributor to personality growth. In this study, 182 native Chinese undergraduates responded to a survey inquiring if they had ever experienced “wonderful happiness” while engaged in tourism, and if so, to indicate the purpose of their travel, how recently and where their peak-experience occurred, whether they were alone or with others at the time, its intensity and subsequent impact on their view of life. Participants were also asked to describe the “trigger” of their peak-experience; these were coded into nine categories. A total of 86.8% (N=158) responded affirmatively, most of whom were touring within China. Peaks involving nature were reported significantly most frequently. A cluster involving interpersonal joy, serenity, and personal growth were reported second-most frequently, with relatively small frequencies relating to culture/aesthetics, culinary delight, and particularly materialism, skill mastery, and external achievement. More than 75% of participants rated their peak as “moderately” or “very” intense and 53.5% reported that it impacted their subsequent view of life. No significant gender differences emerged. The implications of these findings for understanding growth aspects of tourism among Chinese young adults are discussed, and future avenues of research are highlighted.

Peak-experience and the entheogenic use of cannabis in world religions

This paper demonstrates that cannabis can evoke “peak-experiences”—the name psychologist Abraham Maslow gave to fleeting moments of expanded perception indicative of self-transcendence—when used alongside more traditional religious practices such as meditation, fasting, contemplative prayer, and sacramental ritual. For that reason, religious seekers around the globe have deployed cannabis as a deliberate psychoactive to trigger the peak-experiences that stir feelings of ecstasy, wonder, and awe and resolve the “dichotomies, polarities, and conflicts of life.” As such, peak-experiences exemplify a form of spiritual revelation that has played a pivotal role in the history of religion, and because of its ability to elicit unitive consciousness at the heart of mystical insight, cannabis has been utilized as a mild entheogen across culture and tradition for millennia.