Overview of Anomalistic Psychology (Unit 4)

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PseudoscienceB.L.L.L.L.

• Burden of proof – in science the burden lies with the scientist, but in pseudoscience, the burden lies with the sceptic

• Lack of falsifiability – science is about testing hypotheses. Proving or falsifying. Jealous Phenomena

• Lacks carefully controlled, replicable research – Most studies in this area are not well controlled e.g. Ganzfeld. Failure to replicate findings by sceptics

• Lack of ability to change – in science, theories evolve (change) based on the outcome of results. This isn’t the case in pseudoscience – despite years of no proof, things remain the same

• Lack of theory – the aim of science is to develop theories to explain findings. Most paranormal phenomena hasn’t been explained theoretically

Commentary on pseudoscience

• Paranormal psychology isn’t the only pseudoscience – e.g. Freud

• Respectable research – some suggest that paranormal research is better than scientific research because it reports negative findings (selective reporting)

• American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) allowed Parapsychological Association to become a member in 1969

Ganzfeld- ESP• Honorton (1974)• Sensory deprivation• Receiver is isolated in a red lit room• Halved table tennis balls over eyes• Earphones playing white noise• Sender in another room and chooses one of four images

to send telepathically (random)• Afterwards sender is shown a set of images and asked to

select the target image from several• Independent judge rates the matches

Methodological Issues of ESP

• Research bias – Wooffitt (2007) analysed Ganzfeld interviews and found EVIDENCE of researcher bias – researcher expectations appeared to have biased results.

• File drawer effect - many pieces of research are meta-analyses. Believers tend to leave out negative studies and only include positive studies – studies which show ESP

• Lack of control - poor controls e.g. Poor sound proofing in Ganzfeld – receivers might have been able to hear videos being played.

Also, what about the order of presentation of images? Most people tend to select the first image shown. Thus, presentation should be RANDOM (as in Auto Ganzfeld).

Auto Ganzfeld

Auto Ganzfeld – introduced to improve reliability of Ganzfeld technique:

• Random presentation of images• Sound proofed room• Steel walls• Electromagnetically shielded rooms

Psychokinesis (PK)• Lack of control – well controlled studies of PK don’t produce

support for PK. E.g. Two researchers, true randomisation of targets and independent recording = well controlled. Hansel (1989) reviewed 30 PK studies and found 13 produced positive results; none of which were adequately controlled (file drawer effect)

• Ecological validity - newer researchers often use random number generators. Critics argue that these are an inappropriate way to investigate PK... Originally PK was about observable physical changes. But random generators used today, look at unobservable changes. Perhaps PK doesn’t function at the unobservable level?

Role of Coincidence

When two events happen at about the same timei.e. People assume that one thing causes the other

thinge.g. You think of a friend and she calls you! In this

situation there isn’t an obvious causal connection.

This is referred to as=Illusion of Causality

Role of Coincidence continued...

• Illusion of Control – makes people feel in control (even though they really have no control)

• Believing in paranormal makes the world around them more orderly

Role of Coincidence continued...

• General Cognitive Ability - might be lower in believers than non believers (including lower academic attainment – Gray, 1987)

• Low in syllogistic reasoning

• Makes them less likely to judge the role of coincidence

Commentary on Coincidence

• Illusion of causality might have an adaptive significance – allows to control the environment e.g. to predict that eating a particular mushroom results in death

• May lead to Type 1 error in order to avoid making a Type 2 error

• Poor cognitive ability in believers hasn’t been found in all studies – some have even found the opposite!

Role of Probability

• Probability is the likelihood of an event occurring, e.g. A horse winning a race

• Sheep may underestimate the role of probability and wrongly attribute causality

• To test this researchers use tasks such as *repetition avoidance

*questions about probability e.g. Birthday Party Paradox

*Conjunction Fallacy

Commentary on Probability

• Contrasting evidence - not all research has found that believers are poor at judging probability

• Correlation is not cause – there may be other factors e.g. Cognitive ability -

There is some evidence for this...Tversky (1972) who found that probability judgements are due to low cognitive ability rather than directly causing belief in PSI

Explanations for Magical Thinking (MT)

i.e. Objects have magical (special) properties e.g. Michael Jackson’s white gloves

Psychodynamic explanation – MT is a childlike thought where inner feelings are projected onto the outside world

Dual Processing Theory – MT is based on a child’s mode of thought – intuitive & lacks internal logic. Some adults continue to use a lack of internal logic

Law of Contagion – states that things continue to act on each other even after the physical contact stops...why? Our evolved fear of contagion? It is adaptive to avoid touching certain things, for fear of harm or death

Personality FactorsEysenck’s biologically based theory of personality• Neuroticism – negative emotional states e.g. anxiety. Belief in

paranormal is a defence mechanism which allows distance from reality. Supported by Williams (2007) who studied 300 Welsh children and found a significant positive correlation between paranormal belief and neuroticism

• Extraversion – positive emotions and tendency to seek extra stimulation. Extraversion is associated with paranormal beliefs, but not neuroticism (Pelzer, 2002)

Honorton (1992) also found a significant positive correlation between extraversion and belief in paranormal (meta analysis of 60 studies)

Explanations for Superstitious Behaviour

• Type 1 and Type 2 errors – Superstitions arise from wrongly making causal links. This might be adaptive. It is better to make a Type 1 error (assuming that two events are causally linked) than to make a Type 2 error (assuming no causal link when there is one)

• Behaviourist explanation - Skinner said superstitions develop through operant conditioning – pigeon study – ritualistic behaviours reinforced by appearance of food

Personality Factors continued

Other Personality Factors• Fantasy Proneness – some people get so deeply

engrossed in a fantasy that they think it’s real. Evidence suggests that believers are more likely to fantasising. Wiseman (2003) showed how getting deeply involved in a task (deep absorption) means you often miss important details (Mock séance)

Creative Personality – People who are more creative may be more able to make links between unrelated items (Thalbourne, 1998)

Commentary on Personality Factors

• Is belief a sign of a mental disorder? For example people with schizoaffective disorder have a tendency to believe in the paranormal. This isn’t surprising considering one of the criteria for schizophrenia is ‘having magical and superstitious belief’. Some say that believing the paranormal simply meets a psychological needs, rather than reflecting an underlying psychopathology

Commentary on Personality continued...

• Some critics argue that some accounts of paranormal are actually false memories – Clancy (2002) found that people who claimed to have experienced alien abduction were more susceptible to suggestion. Thus, how reliable are personal accounts of anomalous experience?

• Perhaps belief occurs because people have strong imaginations? There is evidence to support this idea...French (2006) gave 100 ps a questionnaire (1 false event and 4 real events) about CCTV footage. 36% claimed to have seen the fictitious footage! These people had scored higher on t

Psychic Healing• Refers to treatments used to deal with health problems by purely

mental means, e.g. Faith health and therapeutic touch TT (healing hands)

Explanations:1. Energy fields – TT detects energy fields without touching body.

Health is restored by realigning energy fields2. Anxiety reduction – Psychic healing involves being around a

sympathetic person. In the same way as social support from friends and family works to reduce anxiety and enhance the immune system (Keicolt- Glaser, 1984)

3. Placebo effect – real, measureable improvement being the result of belief. Spontaneous recovery might also explain healing in some instances.

Research Studies into Psychic Healing

• Wirth (1990) studied wound healing. Some patients had TT and some had no treatment. TT patients = wounds healed quicker

• Cha (2001) studied the effects of prayer on infertile women. Christians were instructed to pray for the infertile women. These women were twice as likely to become pregnant as the women who didn’t receive any prayers

Commentary of Psychic Healing• Believing in psychic healing could act as a placebo,

creating positive expectations?• There is a lack of support for psychic healing – Benson

(2006) studied cardiac patients. Some were told they were being prayed for and some not. Results showed NO benefits for the placebo effect & in fact, the group that received prayers suffered complications!

• Wirth (1997) failed to replicate his own findings & he has been uncontactable. He was convicted with fraud. Also Cha has been accused on plagiarism! Despite this the Wirth wound study is still cited as evidence for TT!!

Psychic Mediumship• Ability to communicate with people in spiritExplanations1. Sensitivity to cues – A medium can pick up on cues to

provide accurate readings (cold reading)2. Barnum Effect – Reader starts off with general statements

(Barnum statement) which elicits a response from the sitter...reader uses these responses later on in the reading

3. Fraud – mediumship generates a lot of money. Thus people will resort to extremes, such as paying helpers to listen in on people talking in queues or in the toilets, and feeding it back to the ‘medium’

Research Studies into Mediumship• Schwartz (2001) tested five mediums filmed by a US TV

network. Two women were sitters and only one woman saw two of the mediums.

• The mediums couldn’t see the sitters and the sitters could only answer yes or no.

• The women were over 40 and had experience deaths recently• Both women judged accuracy of statements – 83% and 77%.• Same statements were given to undergraduates – 36% accuracy• Conclusion = mediums’ performance was well above chance

with original sitters

• Rock (2008) tested the idea the mediums can report specific information about deceased people without cues

• Condition 1 – loved one was deceased• Condition 2 – loved one was living• Reader had to do a reading over the phone• = significant differences were found between

the two conditions

Commentary on Psychic Mediumship

• Are believers willing to be deceived? Roe (1996) reports that many sitters are aware of the Barnum effect but remain convinced (supported by Wiseman’s mock seance study)

• There is contradictory evidence – O’Keeffe and Wiseman (2005) did a well controlled study which involved 5 mediums reading for 5 sitters. Ratings were actually lowest for the statements written for them!!

Out of Body Experiences (OOBE)

• Sensation of being awake and seeing your body from a location outside your physical body

Explanations1. Paranormal – something beyond our

understanding is happening. We can’t explain it!2. Biological – sensory disturbance – sensory inputs

break down so the brain attempts to reconstruct what we are seeing using memory and imagination

Research Studies in OOBEsNaturally occurring OOBEs – Green (1968) studied 400 accounts

of personal and classified them as follows:• 20% parasomatic (in a duplicate body)• Asomatic (no sense of another body)• 25% were associated with psychological stress• 12% occurred during sleepArtificially induced OOBEs - e.g. Through relaxation, hypnosis etc.

Ps had to identify target objects out of sight to their physical body. Miss Z was able to read out a randomly selected 5 digit number placed in another room (Alvardo, 1982). Overall evidence was weak, with occasional striking findings.

Commentary on OOBEs

• Evidence doesn’t support paranormal explanations of OOBEs. In cases where some evidence was claimed, could be explained by poor methodology (e.g. Ps being able to see target object before test)

• There is support for biological explanations – sensory disturbance. Ehrsson (2007) scrambled a person’s visual and touch sensations. Ps reported feeling they were sitting behind their physical body .

Near Death Experiences (NDEs)• When a person is close to death, or after fainting or in a stressful

situationExplanations• Psychological – Believers are more likely to interpret events in

terms of paranormal explanations – e.g. Seeing NDEs as spiritual experiences, rather than explaining them by a more rational biological cause

• Biological – endorphins are released during pain and stress and lead to feelings of euphoria and detachments (Car, 1982). Also, lack of oxygen (hypoxia), e.g. During cardiac arrest or fainting. Hypoxia could result in REM INSTRUSIONS which create a mixed sleep/wake state and disturbs our sensory informtion.

Research Studies into NDEsNaturally Occurring NDEsRing (1980)Interviewed 100 people who had NDEs60% reported a sense of peace33% reported OOBEs25% said they entered a tunnel

Nelson (2006) Studied 55 people with NDEs55 controlsNDEs were more likely to experience REM intrusions

Artificial NDEs

Jansen (1993)Gave the drug Ketamine to patientsProduced the same symptoms as NDEs

Commentary on NDEs• NDEs aren’t experienced by all near death patients – suggests

there is a psychological component – e.g. Do some people expect to have a NDE, making them more likely to think they have one?

• What about cultural differences? Augustine (2008) found that NDEs in India involved encounters with Hindu figures and in Japan there was no evidence of NDE at all. But there were consistent similarities – such as a sense of peace and going through a tunnels. This suggests both physiological and psychological factors are at play

• Methodological issues – early studies into NDE lacked appropriate controls. Also interviewer bias may have influenced results in earlier studies.

How might the Anomalistic section look in the exam?

1. Discuss issues of pseudoscience in relation to the study of anomalous experience (4+6 marks)

2. Mr Smith’s wife wants to see a psychic healer. Mr Smith thinks such performances are just acting but Mrs Smith is a real believer. Use your knowledge of personality factors to explain why people differ in their beliefs about anomalous experience (4 marks)

3. Outline and critically evaluate research into out of body and/or near death experience (4+6 marks)

Total marks available for Anomalistic section = 24 marks