Abstract

Discusses popular beliefs about the concept of heaven of 66 female, 28 male, and 2 nondisclosed gender students enrolled in introductory psychology at the University of New England, Australia. Factor analysis showed several popular stereotypes of heaven--pastoral scene, cosmic state, biblical characterization, and earthly biosocial milieu. Data on these stereotypes are of intrinsic interest and importance in explaining the uniformity of descriptions of near-death experiences (NDEs). Two different theories of this concurrence on NDEs are that the experience has been a literal separation of the physical and the consciousness, with the consciousness preceding to some nonphysical realm of reality; and that these NDEs have been more of a relatively uniform "hallucination" that has been triggered by a common cultural heritage. Studies of conceptual stereotypes of heaven are more complex than first believed and may give insight to the commonality of NDEs.