Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

This article describes the development of a psychometric instrument called The Embodied Transcendence Scale, a psychometric instrument, is designed to measure the phenomenological features of the felt and lived experience of transcendence. Its development began with interviews on experiences of awe, gratitude, and compassion, from which 77 unique items were identified; a survey with these items was completed by a diverse demographic sample (N = 408). An exploratory factor analysis reduced these items to a 4-factor structure of 20 items. A confirmatory factor analysis (N = 358) showed good fit indices for the factor structure and a reliability coefficient of 0.942. Validity tests showed positive correlations with other measures of transcendence, ego-dissolution, interoception, compassion, and self-esteem; negative correlations with indifference; and no correlation with alienation. A test of criterion validity demonstrated that the scale could predict a range of self-reported transcendent experiences. Conclusions are drawn about the utility of the measure for comparing phenomenological experience across a variety of transcendent experiences.

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