science

Varieties of Anomalous Experience

Varieties of Anomalous Experience is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Varieties of Anomalous Experience rather than just read about it. In short: Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence is a book edited by Etzel Cardeña, Steven Jay Lynn and Stanley Krippner and published by the American Psychological Association. The first edition was published in 2000 and a second edition in 2014.

Key takeaways

Varieties of Anomalous Experience belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Varieties of Anomalous Experience to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Varieties of Anomalous Experience from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence is a book edited by Etzel Cardeña, Steven Jay Lynn and Stanley Krippner and published by the American Psychological Association. The first edition was published in 2000 and a second edition in 2014. The book is dedicated to the research of William James. The authors of the book explore "anomalous experiences" defined as unusual but not necessarily psychopathological phenomena that may hold great significance for those who have them. The book focuses on psychological and neuroscientific research on the experiences, rather than on their ontological nature, and includes near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, hallucinations, lucid dreams, mysticism, psi-events, and reincarnation. The second edition has 14 chapters written by twenty-two contributors. It has a clear and readable style which makes it suitable for a general audience.

See also Extra-Sensory Perception Parapsychology: Frontier Science of the Mind The Conscious Mind Irreducible Mind

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Varieties of Anomalous Experience

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Varieties of Anomalous Experience claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Varieties of Anomalous Experience before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Varieties of Anomalous Experience ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Varieties of Anomalous Experience

In research: Varieties of Anomalous Experience appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Varieties of Anomalous Experience in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Varieties of Anomalous Experience is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2000 non-fiction books, American Psychological Association books, Edited volumes, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Varieties of Anomalous Experience outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Varieties of Anomalous Experience in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Varieties of Anomalous Experience means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Varieties of Anomalous Experience out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Varieties of Anomalous Experience in simple terms?

Why does Varieties of Anomalous Experience matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Varieties of Anomalous Experience?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Varieties of Anomalous Experience.