Skip to main content

Literature Review #3

 



Citation:

Haraldsson, Erlendur. “Persistence of Past-Life Memories: Study of Adults Who Claimed in 

Their Childhood to Remember a Past Life.” Journal of Scientific Exploration, vol. 22, no. 

3, Fall 2008, pp. 385–394. EBSCOhost, 

login.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc

t=true&db=aph&AN=37332879&site=ehost-live.


Summary:

The article named “Persistence of Past-Life Memories: Study of Adults Who Claimed in 

Their Childhood to Remember a Past Life” refers to the case study done on adults from the ages of 19 to 49 who once had past life experiences. The study used a questionnaire and also took into account the relatives of these subjects as a way to verify the information; they too received a questionnaire.  The study finds that over ⅓ of the participants have retained this childhood memory. From this, 55% of people found that their memories have been wiped, but 12% claim to have clear memories, and 45% are in the middle, but more towards having some type of memory. While some children had negative experiences that worked into their adult life, for the most part, the adults have not been magnificently affecting by their past life experiences as a child. 


Author(s):


The author is Erlendur Haraldsson, who is a professor of psychology at the University of Iceland. He has published several academic papers and books about parapsychology. His contribution to children’s past-life memories was expanded when he was involved with research with well-known psychiatrist Ian Stevenson. This academic journal of one of many that tackles both reincarnation/children’s past lives. 


Key Terms:


Past life memory: The study uses the term memory to describe how well the subjects still remember their childhood past life experiences. 


Adult life: The study also emphasized the effects of one’s adult life since these subject’s childhood could be viewed as “abnormal.”


Three Quotes:

“Of 16 persons who reported still having past-life memories as a continuation of their childhood memories, five stated that they most clearly remembered persons that they knew in the previous life, four remembered clearly events or circumstances that led to their death, or how they died, and three most clearly remembered what they used to do or sometimes did.” (Haraldsson 388)

“Half of the subjects (51%) stated that their memories had been helpful and had a positive impact on them.” (Haraldsson 390)


“Generally speaking, these children seem to have fared well in life, and a larger number of them than their peers managed to reach a high level of education” (Haraldsson 392) 


Value:


When looking at “the fade” or the cross-section of when childhood memories and adult memories merge, this study considers the realities for adults with past lives. The statistical numbers mentioned will provide a reasonable basis for any additional information that I find to support or deny these claims and feed into exploring this faded memory. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Topics for Consideration

For this assignment, I had some difficulty deciding on the main topic that I would want to tackle. At first, I was considering looking into the Mandela Effect. I found this idea fascinating in terms of how a group of individuals can form a collective memory that somehow, in some cases, years later find out was misheard or misread. However, looking into the matter, I realized that some of the Mandela Effect’s examples were already things that I have always thought to be correct. In searching for another exciting topic, I came across the frequently asked question of what life is beyond death. As a child, like most other kids, there was this idea exposed to us of heaven and hell or this fantasy land that long-awaited us after death. However, having a Hindu upbringing, there is a major tenet towards reincarnation. For this project, I feel it would be interesting to explore the different ways that life after death is carried through different cultures, religions, and even how it is present...
1 comment
Read more

Scouting the Territory

My topic has not changed since the first blog post. I have not redefined it, but I know that I would like to also focus on the cases of children who remember their past lives. So while I explore the afterlife, I want to incorporate and add on the reincarnation aspect seen with these cases. Looking on Google, keywords like “afterlife,” “reincarnation,” and “children with past lives” opens up a realm of possibilities for exploring routes for the paper. The word “afterlife” showcased a variety of shows and documentaries from Time and Netflix. Using “reincarnation” brought me to links that we’re defining what the term meant, but interestingly, it also showed results of ways in which it’s real and the signs that prove it. On Wikipedia, most of the information was based on the different types of ways religions saw the afterlife and dove into the issue's psychological and philosophical sides. The arguments presented were just trying to find ways to prove what the afterlife is like and had...
1 comment
Read more

Research Questions and Scholarly Sources

Shifting away from the afterlife and into past lives, there needed to be a little bit of adjustment; however, I believe I included the research questions I’d like to explore. Many children are able to vividly remember and provide descriptions of what they preserve as their “past life.” How accurate are these cases, and do these cases pose any benefits for children? Are children just highly imaginative, and does a child’s highly developmental mind play a role in their experiences? Could there be any overlap between these children? Sources: Haraldsson, Erlendur. “Children Who Speak of Past-Life Experiences: Is There a Psychological Explanation?” Psychology & Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, vol. 76, no. 1, Mar. 2003, p. 55. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1348/14760830260569256. Kean, Leslie. Surviving Death: a Journalist Investigates Evidence for an Afterlife. Three Rivers Press, an Imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2018.  Pasricha,...
1 comment
Read more