What type of people experience anomalous events?

1. What type of people experience anomalous events? Fantasy prone Extravert Creative Electro-hypersensitvity Temporal Lobe Lability

2. Why do people believe? • Psychodynamic – Irwin • Trauma • Locus of control • Combined • To create social unity • Reinforcing norms and values • Social control - Pelyzer • Transferring of fear - Jahoda

3. 1. Psychodynamic Childhood experiences mould adult behaviour and beliefs Irwin Childhood trauma (abuse) Childhood fantasy (coping mechanism) This shows itself in a paranormal experience or a strong belief in paranormal activities All in the unconscious

4. Hetherington et al (1995) • 80 students • Measured childhood trauma, paranormal experience and belief and childhood fantasy • Significant correlation between: • Experience and trauma • Insignificant correlation between: • Belief and trauma • Adapted it to: Trauma – experience – belief

5. Locus of Control - Rotter • Dag (1999) found that internal LOC correlated with fate and chance – opposite to what you would expect. Internal – telepathy / clairvoyance (own control) External – superstitions and spiritualism (external control) Internal – in control of own behaviour and outcomes External– outside factors control my behaviour and outcomessuperstitions and spiritualism

6. Linked together Not just a trauma anymore – any event where they experience loss of control. Childhood trauma / experience of lack of control (siblings, parents, moving) Lack of control Paranormal Beliefs That is almost all children!!

7. Function • Therefore the function of paranormal beliefs, according to the psychodynamic approach is as an: ‘unconscious mechanism for coping with everyday uncertainty and lack of control’.

8. 2. Unifying society in times of hardship • Examples of times when belief might be high….. Poverty, war, dictatorships… • Peltzer (2002) – looked at Black South African Students and found that their beliefs about the paranormal worked to strengthen their organisation and motivation, especially during times of oppression (Apartheid).

9. Cultural differences • Can these explanations account for cultural differences in belief of superstition and anomalous experience? • They are ethnocentric, they ignore the cultural significance of belief and how they differ between cultures. A good function would account for this. • Method, sample, belief, researchers.

10. Cultural Differences Sleep Paralysis – when the same person is simultaneously awake and asleep. • Ourculture – a sleep disorder • ThailandandCambodia – pee umm – ghosts holding you down • SouthChina – dab tsog – crushing demon • Hungary – witches, fairies and demon lovers • Kurdish – same but only happens to bad people • NewGuinea – SukNinmyo – trees need human essence to survive • Mexico – spirit of a dead person sitting on you

11. Taiwan • The number "4" has also means "die", so no hospital has a fourth floor. Even some hotels don't use the number "4" for a room number or a floor number. • The crow is considered a very unlucky animal. If you see a crow in the morning, it means that you will have a bad day. • The colour red means luck and happiness. For example, during the Chinese New Year period, we decorate everything in our house, using the red colour. At a wedding, we also wear everything red. The bride needs to wear red shoes, and the bridegroom also needs to wear something red, such as a red tie or a red handkerchief. Brazil • If you always put the sugar in the cup before the coffee, you'll become rich. • If you put a broom behind the front door, you'll keep away bad visits. If a future bride eats directly from the pot, it will rain on her wedding day.If you eat lentils on January 1st, you'll make good money during the year. • Thailand • The number 6 will bring reverse results, good luck will turn into bad luck because the number 6 can be the number 9 if you turn it over. So, if you get a number 6 on your examination ID card, you might get the opposite result even though you have done well on your test. • If you sing in the kitchen you will have a very old spouse. • Your ship could sink if you do not completely turn a fish over. • Japan • If you put your head to the north when you sleep, you will have bad luck because (in Japan) only dead people lie with their head to the north. Most people believe this superstition. KITA MAKURA. • If someone finds a white snake, he will be lucky in life. • Four is an unlucky number because the number four has the identical pronunciation as the word 'death', so most people tend to avoid it and most hotels don't use the number four.

12. 3. They represent and strengthen cultural norms and beliefs – that’s why they differ from culture to culture • Irwin (1993) p668 • What has been reported to happen in near death experiences represent the beliefs and values of the culture. E.g. Jesus / Heaven. • Indians – snakes, eagles and moccasins – worshiped

13. 4. Social Control • By reinforcing beliefs in what happens after life, behaviour is changed when alive. E.g the reward of heaven. • Extremists - very small society - http://www.islam-watch.org/IbnWarraq/Virgin_Paradise.htm • Blaisdell (2002) – used Human Relations Areas File (HRAF) and previous research to look at 122 different cultures. • Warring cultures had a belief in vengeance in the Afterlife • In societies with large pops. The central theme is kinship In the afterlife.

14. 5. Transferring of fear onto a mythical object so the culture does not fear their surroundings • Jahoda: cultures generalising fear from real threats to paranormal dangers – representing the fear. • New Guinea Tribe – fear the Marsalai (a monster) but is actually a culmination of fear of animals / punishments etc.