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Belief |
Paranormal beliefs are relatively common. Polls find that around 50% of the population report believing in one or more paranormal phenomenon, and about half of these believers say they have had paranormal experiences. This area of KPU research is primarily concerned with exploring the psychological factors underlying people’s paranormal beliefs and experiences. References can be found at the foot of this page.
Anomalous experiences. Many anomalous experiences, for example out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, past-life experiences, and spontaneous psi experiences, are not uncommon and psychologists and parapsychologists are beginning to build a picture of their phenomenology and psychological function (e.g., Cardeña, Lynn, & Krippner, 2000). For example, one KPU study of individuals claiming aura vision found this to be positively correlated with imagery abilities, as did experiences of being out of one’s body (Alvarado & Zingrone, 1994).
Other work has looked at 'ghostly' experiences. It has become fashionable to send teams of ‘investigators’, often accompanied by TV crews, to spend the night in allegedly haunted locations. Even uncontaminated by the complex motives of TV companies, such vigils tend not to be very productive from a research perspective due to difficulties in interpreting any phenomena that occur. In collaborative research led by Professor Richard Wiseman, Dr Caroline Watt and Dr Paul Stevens have investigated the psychological and environmental factors that may cause people to report unusual experiences in such locations. The research has taken a systematic approach, in effect turning the haunted location into a psychological laboratory. These studies have been conducted at Hampton Court Palace, and Edinburgh’s Vaults. Volunteers visit different parts of the locations, some ‘haunted’ (according to experienced guides), some not. Participants complete questionnaires about any unusual sights or sensations that they may experience, and mark the location of these experiences on a floorplan. Prior to touring the locations, participants also complete questionnaires about their paranormal beliefs, and their prior knowledge and expectations of the venues. In addition to these psychological measures, we measure various physical characteristics of the locations.
These studies’ findings include:
The results suggest that these physical factors may trigger unusual experiences in some sensitive individuals (Wiseman, Watt, Stevens, Greening & O'Keeffe, 2003).
Functions of paranormal beliefs. Another line of research, into childhood factors associated with the development of paranormal belief, found evidence supporting a psychodynamic model of belief, because having experienced a traumatic or abusive childhood was associated with paranormal belief (Lawrence, Edwards, Barraclough, Church, & Hetherington, 1995). This suggests that, for some, paranormal belief serves the function of providing a sense of control in an otherwise chaotic and traumatic environment. More recently, Watt, Watson and Wilson (2007) found that a lack of a sense of control during childhood, caused for instance by parents divorcing or by frequently moving home, may also be associated with the development of paranormal beliefs. This means that childhood trauma is just a subset of a wider class of relatively common experiences of diminished childhood control that can, for some, lead to the development of paranormal beliefs.
These findings about the link between paranormal belief and a sense of control are in line with a wider body of research that has examined how superstitious beliefs can provide an illusory sense of control. Further work on the function of superstitious beliefs was reported by Wiseman and Watt (2004).
Discursive parapsychology. As part of what has been called Discursive Parapsychology (Wooffitt & Allistone, 2005), we also take a discursive approach to beliefs about the paranormal. An alternative to asking whether people believe in the paranormal is to examine how people ‘frame’ particular events (e.g. as paranormal or fake), and how such frames are justified (Lamont, 2006). This discursive approach recognises that avowals of belief have social implications in particular contexts (such as implying wishful thinking on the part of the speaker). Thus, belief in the paranormal is often expressed alongside an avowal of prior scepticism (Lamont, 2007).
Alvarado, C. S., & Zingrone, N. L. (1994). Individual
differences in aura vision: Relationships to visual imagery and imaginative-fantasy
experiences. European Journal of Parapsychology, 10, 1-30.
Cardeña, E., Lynn, S. J., & Krippner, S. (Eds) (2000). Varieties
of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence. Washington,
DC: American Psychological Association.
Lamont, P. (2006). Magician as conjuror: A frame analysis of Victorian mediums. Early Popular Visual Culture, 4, 131-142.
Lamont, P. (2007). Paranormal belief and the avowal of prior scepticism. Theory and Psychology, 17(5), 681-696.
Lawrence, R., Edwards, C., Barraclough, N., Church, S., & Hetherington, F. (1995). Modelling childhood causes of paranormal belief and experience: Childhood trauma and childhood fantasy. Personality and Individual Differences, 19, 209-215.
Watt, C., Watson, S., & Wilson, L. (2007). Cognitive and psychological mediators of anxiety: Evidence from a study of paranormal belief and perceived childhood control. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 335-343. Download pdf (Draft: 309KB)
Wiseman, R. & Watt, C. (2004). Measuring superstitious belief: Why lucky charms matter. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 1533-1541. Download pdf (Draft: 220KB)
Wiseman, R., Watt, C., Stevens, P., Greening, E., & O’Keeffe, C. (2003). An investigation into alleged ‘hauntings’. British Journal of Psychology, 94, 195-211. Download pdf (220KB)
Wooffitt, R. & Allistone, (2005). Towards a discursive parapsychology: Language and the laboratory study of anomalous communication. Theory and Psychology, 15(3), 325-355.
Coelho, C., Tierney, I., & Lamont, P. (2008). Contacts by distressed individuals to UK parapsychology and anomalous experience research units - a retrospective survey looking to the future. European Journal of Parapsychology, 23(1), 31-59.
Lamont, P., Coelho, C., & McKinlay, A. (2009). Explaining the unexplained: justifying disbelief in the paranormal. Discourse Studies, 11(5), 543-559.
Rabeyron, T. & Watt, C. (2010). Paranormal experiences, mental health and mental boundaries, and psi. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 487-492. Download pdf (draft paper: 505KB)
Lamont, P. (in press). Debunking and the psychology of error: a historical analysis of psychological matters. Qualitative Research in Psychology.
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