Transliminality

Transliminality (literally, "going beyond the threshold") was a concept introduced by the parapsychologist Michael Thalbourne, an Australian psychologist who is based at the University of Adelaide. It is defined as a hypersensitivity to psychological material (imagery, ideation, affect, and perception) originating in (a) the unconscious, and/or (b) the external environment (Thalbourne & Maltby, 2008). High degrees of this trait have been shown by Thalbourne to be associated with increased tendency to mystical experience, greater creativity, and greater belief in the paranormal, but Thalbourne has also found evidence that transliminality may be positively correlated with psychoticism. He has published articles on transliminality in journals on parapsychology and psychology.

See also

* Schizotypy

Further reading

* Lange, R., Thalbourne, M.A., Houran, J., & Storm, L. (2000). The Revised Transliminality Scale: Reliability and Validity Data From a Rasch Top-Down Purification Procedure. "Consciousness and Cognition", 9, 591-617
* Thalbourne, M.A., Bartemucci, L., Delin, P.S., Fox, B. & Nofi, O. (1997). Transliminality: Its Nature and Correlates. "Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research", 91, 305-332
* Thalbourne, M.A. & Delin, P.S. (1994) A common thread underlying belief in the paranormal, mystical experience and psychopathology "Journal of Parapsychology," 58, 3-38
* Thalbourne, M.A. & Delin, P.S. (1999). Transliminality: Its Relation to Dream Life, Religiosity and Mystical Experience. "The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion," 9, 45-61
* Thalbourne, M.A. & Houran, J. (2005). Patterns of Self-Reported Happiness and Substance Use in the Context of Transliminality. "Personality and Individual Differences," 38, 327-336
* Thalbourne, M.A. & Maltby, J. (2008).Transliminality, thin boundaries, Unusual Experiences,and temporal lobe lability. "Personality and Individual Differences," 44, 1617–1623.