Transliminality, the Mental Experience Inventory and tolerance of ambiguity

Transliminality is a hypothesised tendency for psychological material to cross (trans) thresholds (limines) into or out of consciousness. In this survey (conducted with 138 members of the general Australian population and 135 members of the general US population) it was predicted that transliminality (as measured by a 29-item scale: Thalbourne, M. A. [in press]. Transliminality: correlates and a short measure. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.) would be positively related to the eight subscales of the Mental Experience Inventory (Kumar, V. K., & Pekala, R. J. [1992]. The mental experience inventory. Unpublished psychological test. West Chester, PA: West Chester University.). In both samples, the highly transliminal subject was indeed found to believe in more psi-related and unusual events, to report more paranormal and unusual experiences, to have a greater sense of being high and that the mind is tremendously powerful, to be more given to introspection and to daydreaming and to experience altered consciousness. Transliminality was not, however, significantly related to age, nor to tolerance of ambiguity. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.