Factors underlying Anomalous Experience

1. Factors underlying Anomalous Experience Cognitive Personality Biological

2. Are you a sheep or a goat? Believer – Non-believer

3. Sheep – Goat Effect • Sheep think they see anomalous events – when they actually don’t! • Jones and Russell (1980) - Sheep and goats observed successful and unsuccessful demonstrations of ESP. Sheep recalled the unsuccessful trials as successful. • Wiseman et al (1995) Séance with sheep and goats. Objects placed on a table – p’s were asked to try and move them, nothing actually moved. 14% goats 40% sheep said something had moved.

4. Cognitive Bias in Horoscopes.. • Wiseman & Smith (2002) – asked p’s to read horoscopes and rate them for accuracy and generality. Believers (sheep) gave higher accuracy and lower generality scores. Non believers (goats) gave higher generality and lower accuracy scores.

5. Cognitive Ability… • Research shows believers perform less well on reasoning tasks. • However: The finding of cognitive ability linked to paranormal experience hasn’t been confirmed in all studies. In a survey of 1500 readers of ‘New Scientist’ (intelligent people) 67% regarded ESP as an ‘established fact’ or a ‘likely possibility’ • Conclusion: that with the exception of syllogistic reasoning research does not support a difference in terms of Cognitive Ability.

6. Finding links between distantly related materials: • Seeing a circle in the sky and perceiving a UFO • More likely to see faces where none exist • Brugger – tested sheep and goats, they were shown faces, words, scrambled faces and scrambled words, sheep reported seeing words and faces when they weren’t here.

7. Personality Factors • FP • Creativity • EPI • Cause and effect • Generalisability Red = AO2/3

8. Personality • Personality of believer differs to personality of non-believer • Fantasy proneness (FP) • Wilson and Barber (1983) – compared females who were excellently hypnotic and those who weren’t – childhood – toys – feelings and emotions – fantasy play. Continued to adulthood (fantasising during the day).

9. Gow et al (2001) – people who claimed to see a UFO – looked at prevalence of FP in these compared to a control group. • The UFO group had a much higher prevalence. • Roberts (1997) – review – only one study actually showed a link between UFO experiences and FP. • This was carried out post event.

10. Creative personality • Imaginative, inventive and artistic • How creative are you? Are you a sheep or a goat? • Linked to anomalous experience • Thalbourne (2001) review – those who are more creative are more likely to believe that paranormal activity is real. • Most studies were conducted on students

11. Eysenck Personality Inventory • Parra and Villaneuva (2003) – EPI (extraversion) then pre-Ganzfeld questionnaire (relaxation, motivation etc) then completed Ganzfeld. • Extraverts had more successful trials (motivation etc. had no effect). • Extraverts are open to new experiences. • Results could be contaminated by personality of p’s or different types of people are receptive to ESP.

12. Rattet and Bursik (2001) • Results from this review indicate that more research needs to be carried out into the link between this personality and ESP experience.

13. Biological Factors • Temporal lobe lability (stimulation of the temporal lobes of the brain) • Electrohypersensitivity (electromagnetic ‘pollution’ causes anomalistic experience • Nature / nurture • Retrospective research

14. Temporal lobe lability hypothesis (Persinger, 1983) • Exposure to electromagnetic energy affects brain functioning. • TL has the lowest electrical output so would be affected by electromagnetism the most. • Direct stimulation of the TL: modified consciousness, perceptual processes and memory. • Any perceptual process happening in this time would stand out beyond normal functioning. • TL houses memories and fantasies – over stimulation of it could lead to strange occurrences – ‘anomalous experience’.

16. Persinger evidence • Studies that show a positive correlation between temporal lobe stimulation and paranormal beliefs / experience • Correlation

17. Blackmore 1994 - Horizon • Can stimulation of the temporal lobe lead to ‘experiencing an alien abduction’. • Two hands grabbed her and pulled her upwards then her leg was grabbed, distorted and dragged to the ceiling. • She new it was due to stimulation, but this could explain reported events.

18. Blackmore and Cox (2000) • 12 people who had been ‘abducted by aliens’ • 12 matched controls • Questioned on sleep disorders and temporal lobe lability • No difference in temporal lobe lability but difference in temporal lobe lability • Shows abduction is more likely linked to sleep disorder than TL lability. • Small sample • Matched controls

19. Electrohypersensitivity • Budden (1994) – gathered case studies and evidence that linked a range of electromagnetic sources to apparitions and alien abduction experiences. • Live near electricity sub-stations, mobile phone transmitters, pylons, TV masts etc.

20. ‘Targeted’ people • Those who experience it a lot are electrically hypersensitive • Ideas not tested – retrospective case studies – no experimental method

21. Jawer (2006) • Controls and ‘sensitives’ groups • ‘Sensitives’ reported being struck by lightening and affecting electrical appliances. • ‘Sensitives’ reported significantly more paranormal events. • Supports the link. • Retrospective

22. Genes • Biological explanation for belief (not just experience) • Twin studies have supported this • Koenig found that identical twins are more likely than non-identical twins to share the same religious views and previous research has showed a link between religious beliefs and belief in the paranormal. • Hasn’t been directly tested for belief in the paranormal