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Research article2023Peer reviewed

The Core of Me Is That Which Observes: A Mixed-Methods Study of Trait- Level Sense of Self

Lindström, Lena; Stålhammar, Sanna; Cardeña, Etzel

Abstract

This study examines trait-level sense of self in 32 participants with varying meditation experience, with a special focus on the sense of self-boundaries and the sense of being a subject of experience, what is here referred to as perspectival ownership of experience. Results from qualitative and quantitative analyses of in-depth phenomenological interviews suggested a quadratic relation between self-boundaries and perspectival ownership of experience, so that participants with either a strong or weak sense of self-boundaries reported little or no sense of perspectival ownership of experience, while participants in the middle range mentioned a salient sense in their everyday life. This is in contrast to the expected linear relation between these two aspects of the sense of self. We additionally highlight issues with self-report measures of trait self-transcendence and recommend the use of an ungraded visual analogue scale as a quick and reliable measure of the sense of self-boundaries.

Keywords

self-boundaries; perspectival ownership of experience; spatial self-location; phenomenological interview; mixed-methods

Published in

Psychology of consciousness
2023,