Out-of-Body Experiences: Alterations of Consciousness and the Five-Factor Model of Personality

Abstract

Spontaneous out-of-body experiences (OBEs) were studied in relation to spontaneous alterations of consciousness and to laboratory-induced alterations of consciousness in the ganzfeld in ninety-seven artists. We predicted positive relationships between claims of OBEs and claims of parapsychological phenomena, spontaneous alteration of consciousness, lucid dreams, openness to experience, and alterations of consciousness in the ganzfeld. Three of the predicted relationships were statistically significant. The OBE group (N = 42) had a higher mean index of parapsychological experiences than the non-OBE group (N = 24). OBE experiences also reported a significantly higher frequency of spontaneous experiences of losing awareness of surroundings and losing a sense of time. These results were consistent with Blackmore's OBE model in the sense that individuals who claimed to experience OBEs also experienced other spontaneous changes in their cognitive maps.