Six Research-Based Elements of Self-Transcendence
According to researchers Reischer, Roth, Villarreal and McAdams (2020) in the Journal of Personality, self-transcendence “is the phenomenon of experiencing one's self as expanding both backward and forward in time; a feeling of connectedness to all of humanity, the earth, and the cosmos; and a turn toward existential concerns such as the meaning of life and future death.”
They note further that self-transcendence is connected with positive outcomes: greater well-being, positive emotions, optimism, higher self-esteem, greater self-integration and enhanced life purpose, and with lower depression and neuroticism.
Study authors describe that self-transcendence is related to important personal development concepts, including Maslow’s concept of self-actualization; the ancient Greek notion of sympatheia (“the inextricable connectivity between all beings on earth and in heaven”); connection not just with people but also cosmic or “transpersonal” connection with divinity, nature and the universe; integration of oneself across past, present, and future; and importantly Erik Erikson’s notion of “ego integrity versus despair”, the final stage of human development requiring finding meaning as one approaches the end of life.
Symbolic immortality and self-transcendence
Self-transcendence and death-transcendence are inter-related. Successfully achieving a state of self-transcendence is therefore about not only greater emotional and physical well-being as one ages, but also with coming to terms with major existential challenges including mortality and the meaning of life. Self-transcendence may go hand-in-hand with symbolic immortality, the sense that the significance of one’s life will extend beyond one’s lifespan.
A recent study of terror management theory looked at how death anxiety (“mortality salience”) is buffered by symbolic immortality. Symbolic immortality was associated with higher self-esteem, lower rates of depression, less isolation and loneliness, and reduced preoccupation with death among people asked to reflect on their own mortality and various aspects their lives (Lifshin et al., 2021).
Stories of self-transcendence
While there is a substantial body of work examining how various elements of self-transcendence and related concepts track with various outcomes, research has not looked closely at the components of self-transcendence as people actually use these concepts in their lives. In order to get a better understanding, Reischer and colleagues worked with participants in the Foley Longitudinal Study of Adulthood, a 9-year exploration into adult personality development. In two sub-studies, they focused on adults in their late 50s and early 60s, approaching but not yet within the final stage of adult development.
In the first study done within the first year of the overall work, researchers gathered narratives from 10 participants which were analyzed with statistical approach called "qualitative analysis” to extract repeating common themes. Participants completed an in-depth 2 hour Life Story Interview, the Adult Self-Transcendence Inventory1 and the Northwestern Ego Integrity Scale2.
The second study took place 4 years later with a group of 125 participants. They completed the same measures, and the themes identified in the first study were correlated with these measures along with variables including race/ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic factors.
The ingredients of self-transcendence
Six key narrative themes emerged:
Closure: How much past regrets do or do not define oneself in the present. Self-transcendence is associated with a greater sense of closure and lower feelings of victimization.
Interconnectedness: How much we do or do not feel connected with humanity as a whole. Greater connection with humanity signifies greater self-transcendence.
Lifelong learning: How much life is seen as a learning experience, both in terms of formal school as well as personal development. This is also referred to as having a “growth mindset” versus a “fixed mindset”, which is itself associated with greater psychological resilience among those with childhood trauma (Boullion et al., 2021)
Secure attachment: The extent to which one describes safe and stable relationships with primary caregivers. Attachment security is associated with many positive outcomes in a range of studies, and is itself a target for therapeutic intervention.
Self-actualization: How much we feel like we have achieved our full potential and status in life.
Spiritual pluralism: A combination of having a personal spiritual belief system along with the acceptance that other people’s spiritual beliefs are valid even if different from one’s own.
Additional findings
In the second study, self-transcendence showed the strongest correlations with closure, interconnectedness, self-actualization and spiritual pluralism. Participants reporting the greatest self-transcendence “describe events and challenges in their lives as laced with themes of self-actualization, acceptance, deep spirituality and respect for other spiritual traditions, dynamic growth and change, and a sense of broad interconnectedness.”
Though commonly among participants and important for satisfaction, lifelong learning was not correlated with self-transcendence. Researchers noted that this may be because only people invested in long-term views would likely enroll in a 9-year study in the first place, washing out significant effects. Surprisingly, given the importance of relationships in general and the strong evidence for attachment and well-being, the theme of security was not described frequently enough in the second study to be analyzed.
Self-transcendence was not significantly associated with sex, income or educational level. In terms of specific themes, there were significant findings. Spiritual pluralism went down with increased income. Lifelong learning themes were more common among those with higher educational achievement.
Black participants reported significantly greater self-transcendence than White participants, with stronger themes of self-actualization and spiritual pluralism. While distinct, different themes were correlated with one another, supporting the overall coherence of the self-transcendence concept while also highlighting the distinct themes.
The real-world importance of self-transcendence
Given that self-transcendence is associated with many positive late-life outcomes, it is naturally desirable to cultivate. The current study identifies possible targets for intervention through analysis to identify key themes. In this study, self-transcendence was significantly correlated with closure, interconnectedness, self-actualization and spiritual pluralism. Working on these issues might therefore be expected to drive self-transcendence.
Research on positive psychology shows that it is possible to train-up character strengths and change personality using daily journaling and practicing signature associated behaviors. Focusing on zest for life, for example, helps people cope with chronic pain, improving among other things the sense of self-efficacy. Similarly, various psychotherapeutic, personal development and spiritual approaches are likely to increase the experience of self-transcendence, allowing people to age optimally.
Ongoing research will help to develop useful practices by looking at the complex relationships among key factors required for savoring and flourishing throughout the lifespan: self-transcendence, coming to terms with mortality, cultivating resilience and post-traumatic growth, nurturing broad sense of belonging to humanity and the cosmos, and cultivating a growth mindset in facing life’s many uncertainties with steadiness and flexibility.