Psychology of Anomalous Experiences Research Papers (original) (raw)

Chpt in R. Kunzendorf (Ed.) Imagery: Recent Developments, NY: Plenum Press, 1991, p. 101-112.

- by Deirdre Barrett
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- Neuroscience, Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Applied Psychology

The supposed UFO landing at Turís (Valencia, Spain) of July 1979 was field-inquired in depth in 1979, reinvestigated 2008. It remains as the paradigm of the “close encounter of the third kind”. The story shows unique shapes for both the landed craft and the related humanoids. There was only one witness, apparently credible. Ground traces were found as circumstantial evidence. Did the witness invent or hallucinate the event under the influence of the current publicity of the “Star Wars” movie?

Resumen en español/English abstract
Presentación y análisis de cerca de 600 informes de "aterrizaje ovni" (explicados e inexplicados) ocurridos en España y Portugal hasta 1985. Libro publicado por Plaza & Janes (Barcelona), 1986. Autores: Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos y Juan Antonio Fernández Peris.
Presentation and analysis of nearly 600 reports of "UFO landings" (explained and unexplained) occurred in Spain and Portugal until 1985.
Book published by Plaza & Janes (Barcelona), 1987. Authors: Vicente-JUan Ballester Olmos and Juan Antonio Fernández Peris.

- by VICENTE-JUAN BALLESTER OLMOS
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- Mythology And Folklore, Sociology, Folklore, Folktales

Contribuições da psicologia para a compreensão das relações entre a espiritualidade, a religiosidade e as experiências anômalas 1 Resumo Em todas as épocas e culturas investigadas, há relatos de experiências insólitas, hoje conhecidas academicamente como experiências anômalas. Contudo, ainda há muita controvérsia e lacunas de conhecimento sobre elas e sobre suas relações com espiritualidade, religiosidade e temas tra-dicionais da psicologia como atitudes, percepção, correlatos neuronais e influência social. O as-sunto tem grande relevância para a psicologia e para áreas afins não unicamente por tais lacu-nas, mas por essas experiências apresentarem grandes implicações sociais e clínicas, como ao considerarmos seu papel nevrálgico em diversos contextos sociais e o diagnóstico diferencial entre elas e transtornos mentais. À guisa de síntese, este capítulo discute diversas interfaces en-tre experiências anômalas, espiritualidade, religiosidade e construção de conhecimento em psi-cologia, ressaltando suas controvérsias e direções promissoras. Abstract In all known ages and cultures there have been reports of unusual experiences, nowadays academically known as anomalous experiences. However, there is still much controversy and gaps of knowledge about them and their relationship with spirituality, religion and traditional themes in psychology such as attitudes, perception, neural correlates, and social influence. This subject is greatly relevant to psychology and related areas not only due to such gaps, but because these experiences have large social and clinical implications when we consider their fun

"Mathijsen (2009) argues that in the study of alleged paranormal phenomena psychology should move beyond the ontological debate. In practice this seems to mean focusing only on the psychology of paranormal beliefs and the phenomenology of anomalous experiences. From my point of view, this proposition is not really moving beyond the debate, but instead standing somewhat safely aside from it. This view, that I would like to critically examine, is fairly common in the social sciences. I am arguing here that psychology should not be so quick to move beyond the ontological debate. I also advocate that psychologists studying alleged paranormal phenomena should at least be able to state what their own beliefs are on the topic they are studying. I think that transparency (stating one's own beliefs about the subject one is studying) is preferable to staying safely outside the ontological debate."

The October 1973 Pascagoula abduction story inspired other alien photograph jokes in the US.

- by Dr Jason J Braithwaite
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- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Parapsychology, Philosophy
- by Jack Hunter and +1
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- Religion, Parapsychology, Anthropology, Folklore

The Classification and Statistical Manual of Extrasensory Experiences (CSM-EE) is a classification of extrasensory experiences (i.e. telepathy, clairvoyance, mediumship, precognition, synchronistic events, etc.) with associated criteria designed to facilitate more reliable classification. CSM-EE assists in identifying like experiences that are similar in phenomenology, but otherwise widely differ in narrative due to culture, language, and religious/spiritual belief. Whereby, the CSM-EE can assist in accurate classification and is therefore a valuable resource for clinicians and students, and a valuable reference for researchers, dealing with extrasensory experiences in a wide diversity of context. The criteria and associated phenomenological features and specifiers serve in part as a textbook for students who require a well-structured method to understand and classify extrasensory experiences as well as for experienced professionals encountering these experiences for the first time.

- by Theresa M. Kelly
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- Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Parapsychology, Psychiatry

Welcome to the twelfth issue of Paranthropology. This issue begins with a comprehensive overview of UFO research from an anthropological perspective, by Steven Mizrach titled "The Para-Anthropology of UFO Abductions: The Case for the UTH." UTH (Ultraterrestrial Hypothesis) is Mizrach's alternative to the "nuts and bolts" approach of UFO sightings and the crash sites of alien spaceships, and those who are totally skeptical of UFO's. UTH offers anthropologists of consciousness an opportunity to reexamine UFO research as a transpersonal way of knowing. Although controversial, the UTH thesis is heuristic and worth consideration as an invitation to n-dimensional knowing. The next four articles provide a variety of perspectives on the work of Rupert Sheldrake-a timely endeavor needing clarity in light of the recent TED talks re-evaluation of Sheldrake's work. We begin with a general overview of Sheldrake's recent book

- by Jack Hunter and +2
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- Parapsychology, Social Anthropology, Anomalistic Psychology, Anthropology of Consciousness

Dr Jason Braithwaite is a Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience at the Behaviorual Brain Sciences Centre, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, UK. He is regarded as a world expert on the neurocognition of anomalous experiences and hallucinations. He established and heads the Selective Attention and Awareness Laboratory (SAAL) in the School of Psychology, a unit dedicated to scientifically examining aberrant experiences and distortions of self-consciousness. His current resear ch interests include exploring 'dysconnection' accounts of anomalous experience and Bayesian accounts of emotion, perception, and interoceptive awareness as a framework for understanding aberrations of self-consciousness.

This article presents an overview of the fields of transpersonal anthropology, the anthropology of consciousness and, the most recent development in this lineage, paranthropology. After outlining the contributions of these fields to the development of a new approach to the investigation of so-called non-ordinary realities Hunter highlights the need for ethnographers to participate in the transpersonal practices and experiences. With link to the work of Fiona Bowie and Edith Turner, Hunter argues that one must learn to ‘see as the Native sees’ in order to truly grasp the experiential foundations of religious and spiritual belief, and escape from the hegemonic dismissal of alternative ontologies.

- by Jack Hunter
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- Parapsychology, Anthropology, Ethnography, Social and Cultural Anthropology

It has been postulated that creativity is associated with aspects of both ‘health’ (e.g., resilience, thriving, happiness) and ‘ill health’ (e.g., bipolar disorder, schizophrenia) (Andreasen, 1987; Jamison, 1993; Maslow, 1971; Panells &... more

Clinical Parapsychology: Extrasensory Exceptional Experiences is a graduate-level textbook designed to facilitate more reliable diagnosis, classification, treatment, and research. It is designed for clinicians, educators, and researchers challenged with investigating into the nature of distressing extrasensory (psychic) exceptional experiences. This textbook assists in interpreting extrasensory experiences reported in a wide diversity of context that are often viewed as religious, spiritual, anomalous, or transpersonal, and that vary greatly in subjective experience. This textbook is a valuable resource for both students and experienced professionals and is designed to be utilized by both individuals and educational institutions. Part I: Diagnosis (Differential & Co-Diagnosis), Part II: Classification (Dimensional & Categorical), Part III: Treatment Options (Recovery & Prevention), and Part IV: Research Methods & Measures.

- by Theresa M. Kelly
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- Sociology, Psychology, Parapsychology, Psychiatry

The Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology (JEEP) welcomes research articles, personal accounts, artwork, music, creative writing, book reviews, and letters to the editor regarding subjectively anomalous experiences. Many times these experiences can be considered psychical, transformative, spiritual, transpersonal, etc. Examples of exceptional experiences include (but are not limited to) near-death experiences (NDEs), synchronicities, out-of-body experiences (OBEs), and precognitive dreams. JEEP is published twice a year online via ISSUU (https:// issuu.com/exceptionalpsychology) and in-print via Magcloud (www.magcloud.com/user/ exceptionalpsychology).

- by Erika Annabelle Pratte and +4
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- Parapsychology, Spirituality, Creativity and Exceptional Human Experiences, Psychology of Anomalous Experiences

In this paper we review the main contributions of Swiss psychologist Théodore Flournoy (1854–1920) to psychical research. Flournoy always advocated the scientific study of psychic phenomena as an important area that should not be ignored. After a short discussion of Flournoy’s attitudes to psychic phenomena we focus on his main work, his study of Hélène Smith (1861–1929) published in Des Indes à la Planète Mars (1900), in which he summarized communications about
previous lives in France and India, as well as those coming from the planet Mars, which Flournoy attributed to subconscious abilities involving imagination and cryptomnesia. In addition, we review his other investigations of mental mediums, observations of physical mediums, and writings about telepathy and precognition. We argue that Flournoy’s work with mental mediums made him a significant
contributor to the study of the capabilities of the subconscious mind, work that was important to the theoretical concerns of both dynamic psychology and psychical research.

- by Everton Maraldi
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- Psychical Research, Psychology of Anomalous Experiences, Dissociation, Mediumship
- by Erika Annabelle Pratte and +1
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- Parapsychology, Creativity and Exceptional Human Experiences, Psychology of Anomalous Experiences

OVER RECENT years, findings from a number of laboratory studies have suggested that anomalous hallucinatory haunt-type experiences can be artificially induced by applying temporally complex, weak-intensity magnetic fields to the outer cortex of the brain (see Persinger, 2001, for a review). The implication from these studies is that some spontaneous haunt-reports may be explained, at least in part, as magnetically induced hallucinations. However, although this view is very popular, it is often misunderstood by scientists, sceptics, paranormalists and the general public. Quite often in the popular literature and on the unregulated non-peer-reviewed internet this 'neuromagnetic' account is cast as one claiming that strong magnetic fields may exist in reputedly haunted locations as metaphorical 'hot-spots' and as such may be responsible for some anomalous perceptions, that any 'blip' on an EMF meter is meaningful, or worse still, that such fields may well be some physical correlate of the paranormality of a haunting. In addition, it appears to be the case that the idea is being accepted somewhat uncritically by some researchers as its apparent basis in physics and biophysics can be quite seductive at first glance. As a consequence of these observations, it appears to be a good time to take a closer and more evidence-based look at an argument that while tantalising, may well be, at the very least, insufficient as it currently stands.

- by Dr Jason J Braithwaite
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- Psychology, Parapsychology, History of Science, Embodiment

Parapsychology claims to be a scientific discipline. How has it adjudicated this claim? This article traces parapsychology’s understanding of its scientific practice beginning with William James, continuing through J. B. Rhine, and up until the present day. What this reveals is that Rhinean experimentalism has been insufficient to legitimize parapsychology as a widely established science. What’s more astonishing is that experimentalism’s philosophical assumptions may actually be incoherent with the nature of psi phenomena. Returning to an approach similar to that as articulated by William James, parapsychology can realign itself with a human method of science as found in phenomenology. Flowing from this analysis, future directions are offered for parapsychology as it relates to using its philosophy of science as a commentary on legendary science and further exploring the tricky nature of psi.

- by Jacob W Glazier
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- Critical Theory, Philology, Sociology, Psychology

This field study assessed whether areas in an alleged haunt and a control site, and active and inactive areas within the haunt site, differed with respect to the presence of contextual variables that might contribute to haunt experiences and exhibited differential incidences of photographic anomalies. Contextual (aesthetic, physical, and structural) variables were measured, and randomized photographic (black-and-white, color, digital, infrared, and Polar-oid) data were recorded under blind conditions in fourteen representative areas of the two sites. The haunt site displayed lower ambient temperature and higher humidity levels than the control site, but only suggestive differences were found between the active and inactive areas of the haunt site. Ratings from experimentally-blind photographic consultants indicated that the haunt site exhibited a higher incidence of photographic anomalies than the control site, as did the active areas of the haunt site, relative to the inactive areas. Color prints exhibited a higher incidence of photographic anomalies than all other media types. The results are discussed within the context of contemporary theoretical accounts of hauntings and methodological protocols employed in haunt research.

- by Annalisa Ventola
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- Psychology, Psychology of Anomalous Experiences, Hauntings

The purpose of this short article is to help bridge the subjective experience of someone who has received many subtle energy treatments called attunements, with a few helpful concepts from integral philosophy in order to provide a map to help guide the adventure that is attunement. The four main concepts that I want to describe are states of consciousness, structures of consciousness, bodies and subtle energies. In more immediate terms, we can talk about these ideas as feeling, thinking, seeing and sensing. I will explain them in ways that I hope will make good sense to you as we go along.

Understanding the phenomenological range of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), or voice hearing (VH) experiences, is important for developing etiological models. To circumvent potential methodological limitations of previous studies, we used unsolicited online self-reports to examine the kinds of experiences people describe when they say they hear voices. Content analysis was used to examine 499 online posts about VH, the largest VH sample studied to date. Most posters did not report having a psychiatric diagnosis. Unusual bodily sensations and third person voices were less prevalent than in previous studies. Volume of voices was mentioned significantly more often when voices were externally localized, but acoustic qualities were mentioned even when voices were internally localized. Some voice features previously considered atypical, such as unclear voices and voices that are not self-relevant, were described in almost 15% of coded posts. Only 21% described commanding voices, a feature previously considered typical of VH. Individuals sometimes reported voices both consistent with, and inconsistent with, inner speech accounts of VH. These results may have implications for subtyping AVHs. This novel method allowed description of a large sample of self-reports relatively untainted by demand characteristics or social desirability biases.

- by Ruvanee Vilhauer
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- Psychosis, Schizophrenia, Hearing Voices, Psychology of Anomalous Experiences

Introduction to 'Strange Dimensions: A Paranthropology Anthology' (2015).... more

- by Jack Hunter
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- Sociology of Religion, Parapsychology, Paranormal, Carl G. Jung

This review article looks at some of the parallels between the contents of this special issue on the paranormal and insights from the anthropology of religion, the anthropology of consciousness, transpersonal anthropology and the anthropology of the paranormal. The paper introduces the history of anthropology’s engagement with the paranormal, from the early evolutionist perspectives of anthropology’s pioneers to the most recent experiential approaches of the anthropology of consciousness. The paper concludes by highlighting the potential benefits of a cross-pollination of psychotherapeutic and anthropological research on the paranormal.

- by Jack Hunter
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- Parapsychology, Anthropology, Ontology, Psychotherapy and Counseling

Resumo Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar, de modo conciso, uma visão geral da pro-dução em Psicologia da Religião oriunda de estudos da Psicologia Anomalística. Essa produção está aumentando uma vez que estudos acadêmicos estão... more

International research sustain a correlation between dissociative experiences and religious
beliefs or alleged paranormal experiences. In addition, such beliefs and experiences often correlate with
other variables related to dissociation, as somatic complaints and childhood trauma. However, there is a
scarcity of research in Brazil. The present study employ a quali-quantitative methodology, covering 1,450
respondents. Members from mediumistic religions, esoteric groups, and individuals with no defined
membership do not differ in terms of cognitive dissociation, but score above atheists, agnostics, Catholics
and Pentecostals. Mediumistic religions show significantly higher scores in somatoform dissociation
(conversion and psychosomatic symptoms) compared to the other groups. The higher is the level of
paranormal belief, dissociation and transliminality (a measure of mystical experiences and altered states of
consciousness) of participants, the greater the reported level of religious syncretism and individual
religiosity. There is no difference between groups for reports of childhood trauma. Dissociative
experiences play a legitimizing role of religious and spiritual beliefs, especially in contexts highly influenced
by new age syncretism, as they facilitate alterations in consciousness and the transition of daily life
framework to religious frames of reference.

Within the last few years, several Internet communities have sprung up around so-called "tulpas". One website (tulpa.info) describes a tulpa as "an independent consciousness in the mind [...] an internal personality separate from your own, but just as human. They are sentient, meaning they have their own thoughts, consciousness, perceptions and feelings, and even their own memories." Members of these communities discuss ways of actively creating tulpas, and exchange experiences and techniques. Tulpas may interact with their hosts via e.g. auditory, visual, or tactile hallucinations, appearing as real people.

- by Kaj Sotala
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- Consciousness, Personal Identity, Psychology of Anomalous Experiences, Mental Imagery

Spontaneous combustion occurs when an object self-ignites. The cause may be chemical, as when lithium oxidises explosively in water, or biological, as when a haystack catches fire due to heat generated from bacterial fermentation. There is no scientific evidence that the human body can self-ignite. However, spontaneous human combustion (SHC) as an alleged cause of death has a long and controversial history. If true, the mechanism of ignition is mysterious and challenges what we know about the human body.....

- by Anna Madill
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- Religion, Psychology, Parapsychology, Music
- by Dr Jason J Braithwaite
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- Neuroscience, Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Philosophy

Recent findings from studies of epileptic patients and schizotypes have suggested that disruptions in multi-sensory integration processes may underlie a predisposition to report out-of-body experiences (OBEs: Blanke et al., 2004; Mohr et al., 2006). It has been argued that these disruptions lead to a breakdown in own-body processing and embodiment. Here we present two studies which provide the first investigation of predisposition to OBEs in the normal population as measured primarily by the recently devised Cardiff anomalous perception scale (CAPS; Bell et al., 2006). The Launay-Slade Hallucination scale (LSHS) was also employed to provide a measure of general hallucination proneness. In Study 1, 63 University students participated in the study, 17 of whom (26%) claimed to have experienced at least one OBE in their lifetime. OBEers reported significantly more perceptually anomalies (elevated CAPS scores) but these were primarily associated with specific measures of temporal-lobe instability and body-distortion processing. Study 2 demonstrated that OBEers and those scoring high on measures of temporal-lobe instability/body-distortion processing were significantly impaired, relative to controls, at a task requiring mental own-body transformations (OBTs) (Blanke et al., 2005). These results extend the findings from epileptic patient studies to the psychologically normal population and are consistent with there being a disruption in temporal-lobe and body-based processing underlying OBE-type experiences.

- by Emma L Broglia
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- Neuroscience, Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Science

Considering different types of creativity and different traits of schizotypy, this chapter reviews the evidence for a link between the two. It is argued that there are multiple connections between schizotypy and creativity, some direct and some indirect, some potentially facilitating creativity, and others inhibiting it. Ultimately, a dual-factor model is proposed, where positive schizotypy plus adaptive factors (such as intelligence and resilience) best predict creativity (especially in the arts). However, further research is required to specify parameters and mechanisms.

- by Nicola Jane Holt
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- Creativity, Mental Health, Psychology of Anomalous Experiences, Schizotypy

What is the Paranormal?
“The paranormal” is a comparative category that serves as a dumping ground for a wide variety of beliefs, experiences and claims that fall outside the normative boundaries of our culture’s notions of scientific reasoning and conventional religious doctrines. By default, both scientific and religious elites have left it to experimental psychology and psychiatry to try to make sense of these domains of human experience, and more than a century of such research has much to tell us about how to critically evaluate this material. However, psychology is not enough to grasp all of the dimensions of the paranormal. Therefore, as we develop our “tool kit” of critical thinking skills we will need to also approach this material from perspectives in philosophy, sociology, comparative religions, anthropology, history and investigative journalism. This course, then, will be multidisciplinary in its approach, with insights from psychological research providing the Ariadne’s thread to help us find our way through and out of this labyrinth. After all, we don’t really want to meet the Minotaur (or Mothman), now do we?

- by Richard Noll
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- Comparative Religion, Cryptozoology, Parapsychology, Non Euclidean Geometry

Η πίστη στην ημι-μαγική, «μεταφυσική» αιτιοπαθογένεια ορισμένων –συμβατικά ανεξήγητων- σωματικών (ή/και ψυχικών) νόσων ή συμπτωμάτων μοιάζει να συνιστά μια αρχαία -αλλά επιμένουσα- διαπολιτισμική δεισιδαιμονία, η οποία συχνά ανθίσταται σθεναρά στη σύγχρονη επιστημονική κατανόηση της ασθένειας και της υγείας. Επιπλέον, εξίσου διαδεδομένη είναι και η επακόλουθη εφαρμογή (αποκλινουσών) «ενεργειακών», «εναλλακτικών» και λοιπών «συμβολικών» τελετουργιών πρόληψης αλλά και θεραπείας, με στόχο την προσδοκώμενη ψυχοσωματική ευημερία.
Στο σημείο αυτό αξίζει να επιχειρήσουμε κατ’ αρχήν μία ιστορική αναδρομή της «μεταφυσικής» αυτής θεώρησης της νόσου, καταλήγοντας εν τέλει σε ορισμένες παράδοξες –δυσφορικές, κατά κύριο λόγο- σωματικές εμπειρίες, οι οποίες παραμένουν μέχρι και σήμερα στο περιθώριο της επίσημης ιατρικής κατανόησης.

The aim of this paper is to present the psychometric properties, factor structure and evidence of convergent validity of the Brazilian version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) in a non-clinical sample. The study included 1,450 respondents (67.9% male), 18 and older (M=29.32; SD=11.27), from several Brazilian states, who joined an online survey about the role of dissociative experiences in religious practices and their relation to sociodemographic and psychopathological variables. The exploratory factor analysis indicated that the best solution would be tri-factorial. The factors were named as absorption, depersonalization/derealization and amnesia. The Brazilian DES denoted satisfactory internal consistency. The DES also correlated positively with expected variables, as measures of
somatization and conversion symptoms, and reports of religious experiences. Participants with a score greater than or equal to 30 in the DES presented significantly higher scores in emotional abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse.

- by Wellington Zangari and +1
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- Psychology of Anomalous Experiences, Dissociation, Dissociation and trauma, Dissociative disorders