Retrospective Peak‐Experiences Among Chinese Young Adults in Hong Kong

An investigation of early peak-experiences among 226 Hong Kong college students, all born in Hong Kong or mainland China, generated 161 retrospective reports. The most frequent peak-experiences involved interpersonal joy, followed by those of external achievement and materialism. Implications of the findings for fostering Chinese youth development from a strength-based perspective are discussed. Keywords: peak-experiences, Abraham Maslow, Hong Kong youth, humanistic psychology, positive psychology ********** Abraham Maslow, wEiose writings helped to lay the theoretical foundations of the humanistic psychology movement, regarded peak-experiences as a key facet of higher human functioning. Maslow (1959,1964) characterized such experiences as comprising intense feelings of happiness and personal fulfillment, and often, perceptions of greater oneness with the world. Initially comparing the accounts of peak-experiences that he obtained from college students and colleagues to the ecstatic accounts of history's great spiritual teachers and sages, Maslow (1971) later reported that peak-experiences varied considerably in both their immediate intensity and their enduring impact on the individual. Maslow (1970, 1971, 1996) regarded peak-experiences as generally having powerful effects for personality growth, creativity, and learning. For precisely this reason, he regarded peak-experiences as the foundation for a new approach to counseling that is centered on strengthening and actualizing individual potentialities. In addition, he believed that peak-experiences, although cross-cultural, have been interpreted within the framework of particular cultural or personal belief systems (Schneider, Bugental, & Pierson, 2002). Hoffman and Ortiz (2009) showed that early peak-experiences (i.e., those occurring before the age of 14 years) can be elicited in cross-cultural studies using retrospective recall methodologies. They reviewed the existing literature and categorized self-report youthful peak-experiences into the following types: (a) interpersonal joy, such as celebrating a birthday with family members or friends; (b) uplifting experience involving nature, such as a summer mountain hike; (c) external achievement, such as winning a school spelling bee; (d) developmental landmark, such as traveling abroad for the first time; (e) materialism, that is, receiving a personally valued gift; (f) skill mastery, such as learning to ride a bicycle; (g) aesthetic bliss, such as listening to live orchestral music; (h) recovery from accident or illness; (i) peak moment during intense and personalized prayer; (j) exalted perception in a formal religious setting; (k) spontaneous moment of bliss; (1) profound musing, such as about self-identity or life-and-death; (m) uncanny perception (e.g., visions, bodily kinesthetics); and (n) unforgettable dream. Eight types of early peak-experience were found to be salient in Canada, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, and Venezuela, suggesting that youthful peak-experiences are widely experienced rather than being unique to specific cultures. One of the most common ways of characterizing differences in cultures is to examine individualism and collectivism. Hofstede (2001) observed that salient differences have been found between Eastern and Western cultures regarding individualism/collectivism. Many Eastern cultures (e.g., Hong Kong and Korean) tend to be rated high on collectivism, whereas numerous Western cultures (e.g., U.S. and Canadian) tend to be rated high on individualism. According to Hofstede and other researchers (Gambrel & Cianci, 2003; P. B. Smith, Dugan, Peterson, & Leung, 1998), Hong Kong is a highly collectivist culture. In such cultures, the importance of the collective is emphasized much more than is individuality, and ingroup goals and loyalty are valued more than is self-expression. As Koch and Koch (2007) noted, the finding that collectivism and individualism influence people's behaviors is quite robust. …