In the 35 years since Abraham Maslow's death in 1970, his concept of the peak-experience has remained a lynchpin of humanistic personality theory and has exerted a significant influence on applied fields. In late career, Maslow became interested in the topic of childhood peak-experiences but never explored it empirically. Although it is important for sharpening our understanding of healthy personality development, research on childhood peak-experience has remained dormant. In this study, the authors analyzed 56 retrospective peak-experiences reported by a sample comprising mainly master's-level Japanese students at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. The results affirmed previous findings: (a) Childhood peak-experiences exist among both Westerners and Easterners, and (b) these can be meaningfully categorized into specific types. Also consistent with previous research, Japanese adults retrospectively described three types of childhood peak-experiences unreported by their Western counterparts. The cross-cultural implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.
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