Anomalistic Psychology Studies

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Cottingley Faries

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A series of 5 photographs taken in 1917 by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, two cousins living in Cottingley, England depicting them interacting with faries. They claimed right up until their deaths in the 1980's that they were authentic.

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Hines (2003)

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Points out that, historically, fraud is more common in parapsychology than any other area.

It skips peer review, lacks theory to explain observation, not carefully controlled and not replicable.

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Bem (2011)

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Offered statistical evidence for parapsychology focusing on premonition and precognition. He tested participants by making some participants rehearse words before and some participants rehearse afterwards.

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Mousseau (2003)

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Peer-reviewed parapsychology mainstream journals and articles and found the journals to report more - results than the articles, this shows selective reporting. She did although find that a significant proportion of mainstream parapsychological is embracing the goals of science.

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Honorton (1974)

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Developed the Ganzfeld technique because it allowed optimal comfort and relaxation for participants, thus allowing receptive psi communication. Needs two participants; a sender and receiver (the one in the ganzfeld)

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Wooffitt (2007)

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Found evidence of researcher bias by analysing the ganzfeld interviews. He found that skeptic researchers tended to not press for elaboration as those who believed in psi did.

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Hyman (1985)

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Claimed ganzfeld studies were flawed in aspects such as security and erroneous statistical analysis- saying there was no proof of psi.

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Wisenman and Greening (2005)

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Said that belief was important. Showed two groups a video of a fake psychic who put a bent key on the table; in one condition in the tape he claimed that he was still bending the key. These participant were more likely to report further bending than those who had no expectation.

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Hansel (1989)

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Reported that well controlled studies didn't tend to produce results that supported PK. Out of the 30 studies only 13 produced adequate results but said to have flawed methodology to produce positive results.

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Stevens (1998)

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Conducted a internet experiment inviting remote participants to influence the effects of a split-beam laser (experimental condition). It was found that more laser activity was found in the experimental condition.

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Blackmore (1987)

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Visited Carl Sargent during research using ganzfeld and was met with suspicious activity, Sargent defended himself but left the field thereafter meaning that these allegations may be true.

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Radin and Nelson (2003)

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Conducted a meta-analysis of over 500 studies of micro-PK conducted between 1959 and 2000. After assessing the methodological quality and the outcomes he found no relationship.

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Bierman (2000)

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Analysed a mass of paranormal studies conducted since J.B.Rhine and found there had been a steady decline in effect size suggesting that the phenomena is not real.

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Brugger (1990)

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Found people with higher amounts of dopamine in their brain are more likely to find significance in coincidence and create false meaning to things. I.e be a sheep

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Blackmore (1997)

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Asked over 6000 participants to identify which of the statements they'd say where true for them and what they think it would be true for a stranger on the street and found the difference between themselves and others were about the same for sheep and goats. Concluding that probability misjudgement is not related to paranormal belief.

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Jones (1977)

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Found that 58 per cent of a sample of students believed in half or more of a list of paranormal phenomena and 27 per cent claimed to have experienced a paranormal phenomenon. Indeed the most common reason given for belief in the paranormal is one's own experience.

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Wiseman and Watt (2006)

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Concluded from a general survey that sheep and goats only differ in respect to syllogistic reasoning rather than cognitive ability generally.

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Gray (1987)

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Reported that research has found lower levels in academic performance in sheep than goats

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Pronin et al (2006)

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Produced evidence of magical thinking. Asked students to put pins in voodoo dolls in order to make a target victim (confederates) get a headache. 1/2 of the victims saw their 'victim' behaving stupidly beforehand so presumably they'd felt greater annoyance when pressing pins into the voodoo doll. Later these participants said they'd felt more responsible over the 'headaches' which is evidence of magical thinking.

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Freud (1913)

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Identified magical thinking as a form of childlike thought projected on the outer world. In adults he classed it as a defence mechanism- regressing to deal with anxiety.

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Piaget (1954)

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Considered the intuitive nature of children's thought. In the pre-operational stage a characteristic mode of thinking is animism, where children ascribe feelings to physical objects.

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Whitson and Galinsky (2008)

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It is said that people adopt cultural superstitions because they provide a sense of control. They showed that people who were given a reduced sense of control were more likely to develop superstitions.

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Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1968)

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Said that magical thinking acts as a placebo- making the person more optimistic and confident. This may lead to self-fulfilling prophesy.

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Hutson (2008) + Mohr (2005)

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People who are depressed usually have 'depression realism' (less magical thinking), suggesting a fully accurate of ones own abilities can be psychologically unhealthy.

Lack of magical thinking and anhedonia has been linked to low levels of dopamine

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Skinner (1947)

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Did an experiment using pigeons. For a few minutes each day food pellets were dispersed at regular intervals in no relation to the behaviour of the pigeons. However the pigeons started to associate behaviours with the arrival of food because the inevitability of them doing certain behaviours and immediately after, the dispersal of food. These behaviours became ritualistic, for example: turning anti-clockwise at the allotted time food would come. Showing random behaviour is reinforced by the expected result

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Williams (2007)

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Tested nearly 300 Welsh school children and found a significant correlation (.32) between paranormal beliefs and neuroticism; none between extraversion or psychoticism.

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Peltzer (2002)

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Found extraversion was correlated with paranormal belief but neuroticism and psychoticism weren't

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Honorton (1992)

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Conducted a meta analysis of 60 studies relating extraversion to ESP performance and found a positive correlation.

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Dixon (1996)

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Said that those who believe in the paranormal are more 'fantasy prone'- for example he found a link between belief and mental imagination.

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Wiseman (2003/2004)

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(2003) showed how becoming very absorbed in something

Allows people to overlook facts and believe in events they know aren't true. The study involved a mock seance and during this seance an actor suggested the table was levitating (it wasn't); after the seance more believers than non-believers said the table had moved.

(2004) analysed over 4k responses to their questionnaire involving both bad and good luck superstitions. Finding a strong link between neuroticism and positive symptoms rather than negative.

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Hergovich (2003)

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Proposed that suggestibility might also be linked to paranormal belief become some known phenomena are the product of deception.

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French and Kerman/Wilson (1996/2006)

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(1996) Found a relationship between fantasy proneness, childhood trauma and paranormal beliefs; it's said this is because it gives the 'Illusion of control'.

(2006) Gave 100 participants a questionnaire. Four of the five items were about real events an one was fictitious, 36% of participants claimed they did see the fictitious footage; these participants scored higher on tests about paranormal belief and experience.

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Auton (2003)

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Tested 105 participants using the Paranormal Belief Scale, Anomalous Experience Inventory and Personality Research Form and found that believers and non believers do not have significant personality differences.

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Clancy (2002)

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Tested 3 groups:

- People who claim to have been abducted and remember the experience.

- People who claim to have been abducted but to not have remembered the experience.

- Control

using a variant of the Deese/Roediger– McDermott paradigm. Both non control groups showed more false recognition and recall. The groups did not differ in correct recall or recognition. Hypnotic suggestibility, depressive symptoms, and schizotypic features were significant predictors of false recall and false recognition.

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Solfvin (2005)

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Psychic healing:TT

Said that TT is a popular treatment that has been taught to 10000 nurses in the US alone.

He also criticised Wirth's research because he has not been able to replicate some of his research and researchers wishing to discuss his research are unable to contact him.

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Kiecolt-Glaser (1984)

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Said psychic healing may be explained in terms of beneficial effects of contact with a sympathetic person. Social support is known to reduce anxiety and stress and enhance the effectiveness of the immune system.

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Wirth (1990)

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In this study patients who were wounded were treated TT or no treatment in a single blind study, thus eliminating any placebo effects. He found those who were treated with TT healed faster.

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Wiseman (2001)

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Did research into psychic mediumship and said that their abilities are down to the Barnum effect (cold reading).

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Hines (2003)

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Said that because spiritualism is a big business it is likely that mediums use strategies to pick up relevant information about their client. So for example an accomplice could steal something from the regular sitter and then tell them where it can be found.

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Schwartz (2001)

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Tested 5 mediums- two women were sitters (although one of the sitters only saw 2 mediums), neither had previously known the mediums, both had experienced a number of deaths recently and were over 40. The mediums could not see the sitters and were only allowed to answer yes or no. The women then judged the statements accuracy (83% and 77%). When giving the same statements to undergraduates, they had 36% accuracy. This suggests the mediums performance was well above chance with the original sitters.

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Rock and Beischel (2008)

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Tested six mediums ability to give accurate and specific information on the deceased without cues. In both conditions the medium was talking over the phone to the sitter (an experimenter) but in one condition the loved one was deceased and in the other the loved one was living. The medium was blind to this and was given very little information yet the information retrieved was significantly different.

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Roe (1996)

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Reports that many sitters are aware that mediums use Barnum statements but still remain convinced of the sitters authenticity.

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Blackmore (1982)

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Suggested that normally we view the world as if we were behind our eyes. In situations where sensory input breaks down the brain attempts to reconstruct what we are seeing using memory and imagination. Memory images are usually at a birds eye view so the constructed view appears to be viewing oneself from above.

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Green (1968)

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Studies 400 personal accounts of OOBEs and classified them as parasomatic (20% of the accounts) or sometimes asomatic (no sense of another body). She found that 25% were associated with psychological stress and 12% occurred during sleep.

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Alvarado (1982)

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Reviewed a range of lab studies where OOBEs were introduced by various mean for example: by hypnosis or audio-visual simulation. The participants were then asked to identify targets out of sight to their physical self. In one experiment a participant was successfully able to read out a random five-digit number that was placed in another room.

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Blanke (2002)

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Induced OOBEs accidentally by electrically stimulating the temporal-parietal junction in a woman who suffered from epilepsy in that region. This lead them to then study this phenomena on normal subjects as well. Stimulation of the TPJ using transcranial magnetic stimulation resulted in OOBEs whereas stimulation in other areas did not.

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Carr (1982)

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Suggested that the feelings of euphoria and detachment during NDEs was down to endorphins released in times of stress or pain

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Ring (1980)

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Interviewed 100 people who had NDEs and

Found that around 60% of survivors reported a sense of peace, 33% reported OOBEs and 25% said that they had entered a tunnel; a few said that they had experienced a kind of life review.

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Nelson (2006)

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Studied 55 people who'd had NDEs and an equal group of controls, finding that the NDE group were more likely to experience 'REM intrusions'.

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Jansen (1993)

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Experimented on patients using the drug ketamine, finding that it can produce NDE like symptoms.

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Augustine (2008)

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Presented a comprehensive review of NDEs in different cultures and provided examples, for example in India there was encounters with Hindu figures. He did although find similarities such as going through a tunnel, feelings of peace and meeting the barrier between life and death

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Ehrsson (2007)

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Provided support for the link between sensory disturbance and OOBEs. Using participants he placed a pair of video displays on the participants eyes, on the display is a live film of the participant replayed by 2 video cameras 2m behind the participant (left camera left eye and so on). They see their own back as if they were sitting behind themselves. The experimenter then placed a rod on the chest of the participant and another where the illusory body would be located just below the cameras view. Participants reported that they felt as though they were sitting behind their physical body. He tested the reality of the illusion by threatening the illusory body- participants elicited a physiological fear response.