Skeptics: This is Why it is Pointless to Argue

The purpose of this blog is to examine some of the cultural issues surrounding paranormal, conspiracy theory, and related belief systems. But it has also increasingly had a skeptical bent, I will admit.

So I give this advice: Trying to argue with people who strongly disagree with scientific findings, facts about reality, and so on, really will do nothing other than wear you down. Address their claims, try to educate others who might be interested, and move on. Arguing with them is pointless.

And here is some experimental evidence to back up this hypothesis, from psychology researchers at the University of Kent. Conspiracy theory believers are more likely to believe other, completely contradictory conspiracy theories, than mainstream narratives.

"They also asked 102 students about the death of Osama bin Laden last year. The students rated how much they agreed with statements purporting that: bin Laden had died in the American raid; he is still alive; he was already dead when the raid took place; the Obama administration appears to be hiding information about the raid.

Once again, people who believed bin Laden was already dead before the raid were more likely to believe he is still alive. Using statistical analysis, the researchers determined that the link between the two was explained by a belief that the Obama administration was hiding something.

The central idea — that authorities are engaged in massive deceptions intended to further their malevolent goals — supports any individual theory, to the point that theorists can endorse contradictory ones, according to the team."

In other words, these theories are not driven by facts, or "questions" (as many conspiracy theorists will put it when they want to suggest an idea that is unpopular). They're driven by already existing emotions or opinions about the subject, generally animosity about some individual, group, institution, or possibly even society itself. And then any theories that come along which serve this emotion or opinion, are more likely to be accepted and touted.

I'm not saying it is impossible for someone to ultimately break out of this cycle. We can find ourselves in such a situation, believing things more out of emotion than anything else, but ultimately coming to our senses. I've been there. But if we are heavily emotionally invested in such a belief, it is going to be much harder, and rarely are we divested of this belief by being lectured from the outside. Finding those answers ourselves is more effective.

Openly fighting with believers in such ideas, with the goal of convincing them, I think is pointless if they really are committed to them, and is a waste of time, energy, and sanity. The true motivations for their beliefs likely have little to do with the arcana of the particular conspiracy theory in question.

Instead, focus on those willing to listen, and educate them before their curiosity takes them to places less interested in sticking to reality. I would once again laud the podcast Monster Talk for doing this very, very well, in my opinion.

Spooky Dissertations Part 5: The Paranormal and Belief

This is the final installment of the Spooky Dissertations miniseries.

Part 1 introduces the series and covered cryptozoology
Part 2 explores the increasingly popular topic of UFO culture
Part 3 finishes off the UFO topic and included the larger context of Theosophy
Part 4 examines ghost culture and parapsychology
Part 5 covers paranormal culture

Finally in part 5, we conclude with a general overview and miscellaneous of paranormal culture, largely but not exclusively falling under the rubric of "the occult" (though as noted, I've been fairly limited in what goes here, so as not to replicate the vast literature on anthropology of magic and religion). We then have a number of belief-oriented more quantitative studies of belief in psychic powers, and general paranormal beliefs and thought processes.

I will add to this when any new dissertations and theses on any of these topics comes to my attention, and if you know of one, feel free to leave a comment.


Paranormal Culture

Libraries and the Occult – 2004 MA, Cecile Dubuis, University College London

Industrial light and magic: Popular science, technology, and the occult in the late Victorian period – 2003 PhD, Sylvia Amy Pamboukian, Indiana University

Spectral realities: Intersections of science and the occult in modern American literature – 2003 PhD, Stephanie Lee Hawkins, State University of New York at Buffalo

Faith by demonstration: The connection between the history of paranormal phenomena and a New Age spirituality – 2003 PhD, Sonja C. St. Amant, State University of New York at Albany

Rhetorics of darkness: Modern occultism and the popular imaginary - 2002 PhD, Joshua Gresham Gunn, University of Minnesota

Wonder shows: Science, religion, and magic on the American stage, 1845-2001 - 2002 PhD, Fred Robert Nadis, University of Texas – Austin

Multiple views of multiple realities: The rhetorical and social construction of the occult - 2000 PhD, John Dale Richards, Ohio University

H. Rider Haggard and the Victorian occult – 2000 PhD, Janet Elizabeth McIntire, Northeastern University

Avatars of the soul: Cultures of science, medicine, and the occult in modern Germany - 1999 PhD, Corinna Adele Treitel, Harvard University

The significance of the near-death experience in Western cultural traditions – 1999 MA, Alan J. Pew, California State University, Dominguez Hills (DASH)

Psychics, readers, visionaries and other paranormal personalities: A social movement analysis of “gifted” people in the metaphysical movement – 1999 PhD, Gary A. Steward, Jr., Oklahoma State University

Witchcraft and occult crime within a contemporary Canadian context – 1999 MA, Tracesandra Jade McDonald, University of Ottawa

The profession of brujeria on spiritual entrepreneurship in Puerto Rico – 1998 PhD, Raquel Romberg, University of Pennsylvania

Dark star rising: The emergence of modern occultism, 1800-1950 – 1997 PhD, Bradford J. M. Verter, Princeton University

Places of power: sacred sites, Gaia's pilgrims, and the politics of landscape. An interpretive study of the geographics of New Age and contemporary earth spirituality, with reference to Glastonbury, England, and Sedona, Arizona – 1997 PhD, Adrian Iwachiw, York University (Canada) (DASH)

Identifying the spiritual experience – 1996 PhD, Sara Horsfall, Texas A&M University

Belief, Explanation and Rhetoric in the Crop Circle Phenomenon of Southern England – 1991 MA, Bruce Lionel Mason, Memorial University of Newfoundland (PUFOI)

Mysticism: A comparative historical study – 1988 PhD, Jess Byron Hollenbeck, University of California, Los Angeles

Spiritism and science in Brazil: An anthropological interpretation of religion and ideology – 1987 PhD, David John Hess, Cornell University

Otherworld journeys: A comparative study of medieval Christian and contemporary accounts of near-death experience. (afterlife, visions, imagination) – 1984 PhD, Carol Goldsmith Zaleski, Harvard University

Irrationality in current American culture – 1983 PhD, Kathleen Ann Dempsey, Saint Louis University

The new transcendentalism in post-industrial society: life styles and the search for meaning in the New Age – 1980 PhD, Gloria Ann Young, The University of Texas at Austin


Belief and Psychology – General Paranormal

Development of an instrument to measure understanding of the nature of science as a process of inquiry in comparison to pseudoscience – 2008 MS, Brighton Oothoudt, California State University, Long Beach

From Bigfoot in the backyard to ghosts in the attic: Predictors of paranormal belief – 2010 MA, Jeff Tranguch, West Virginia University

Psychological processes in perceived paranormal phenomena- 2008 MA, Stephanie Ann Van Arsdall, California State University, Fresno (UFOs vs. Bigfoot)

Psychopathological symptoms and their relation to paranormal belief and illusory judgment – 2006 PhD, Michael P. Cofrin, University of New Hampshire

Attributional style and irrational beliefs as related to para-psychological belief – 2004 Psy.D, Jennifer I. Millman, Hofstra University

The relationship between paranormal beliefs and the personality trait Openness to Experience: A comparison of psychology majors with students in other disciplines- 2003 PhD, Eric Dogan Ozkan, Central Michigan University

Information seeking and interest in the paranormal: Towards a process model of information action – 2001 PhD, Jarkko Teuvo Johan Kari, Tampereen Teknillinen Korkeakoulu (Finland)

Paranormal beliefs: Developmental antecedents, perceived control, and defensive coping – 2001 PhD, Stefanie L. Perkins, Long Island University, the Brooklyn Center

Belief and reasoning: The effects of beliefs on syllogistic reasoning – 1999 PhD, Mary Merla-Ramos, Long Island University, The Brooklyn Center

The influence of religious affiliation and religious orientation on beliefs in science, religion and the paranormal – 1998 PhD, Brigham Young University

The relationship of ego identity status and ego development stage to a belief in paranormal phenomena in Puerto Rican females – 1993 PhD, Rosie Rodriguez, New York University

The structure and correlates of metaphysical beliefs among a sample of behaviorally committed participants – 1993 PhD, Richard Peter Kaczynski, Wayne State University

The pseudoscientific beliefs of high school students – 1992 Ed.D., Duane Starrett Nickell, Indiana University

A description of the paranormal beliefs of preservice teachers at Indiana University – 1991 PhD, Robert Martin Craig, Indiana University

The influence of undergraduate research methods and statistics courses on the transfer of reasoning skills to everyday events, and belief in the paranormal – 1990 MA, Davina Mill, Concordia University

The Relationships Among the Experience of the Dying, the Experience of Paranormal Events, and Creativity in Adults – 1987 PhD, Mary Dee McEvoy, New York University

An Investigation of the Empirical Relationships Among Beliefs in Science, Religion, and the Paranormal – 1985 PhD, Carl Ben Taylor, Brigham Young University

Beliefs in paranormal phenomena: Their relationship to involvement in esoteric practices and locus of control – 1979 PhD, James Joseph McGarry, Kent State University


Belief and Psychology – Psychic Powers

Paranormal belief, personality traits, and subjective well-being - 2010 PhD, Inga Simonian, Alliant International University

Illusory judgments under conditions of uncertainty: Reasoning errors related to paranormal and religious beliefs - 2008 PhD, Erin C. Goforth, University of New Hampshire

Critical Thinking Ability, Dogmatism, Ambiguity Tolerance and Belief in Paranormal – 1987 PhD, Michael James Nanko, United States International University

Childhood Development and Personality Functioning of the Psychic (Parapsychology, Hypnosis, Multiple) – 1985 PhD, Mark Howard Goldenthal, Georgia State University

Interrelationships among belief in psychic abilities, psychic experiences, and sensation-seeking – 1982 PhD, James Stephen Anthony, United States International University

Personality Variables Associated with Response in Dissonant Situations – 1981 PhD, Caren Rae Gertner, The University of Texas at Austin

Spooky Dissertations Part 4: Ghost Culture and Parapsychology

Ongoing series on Spooky Dissertations

Part 1 introduces the series and covered cryptozoology
Part 2 explores the increasingly popular topic of UFO culture
Part 3 finishes off the UFO topic and included the larger context of Theosophy
Part 4 examines ghost culture and parapsychology
Part 5 covers paranormal culture

We've previously had bibliographies of dissertations and theses on cryptozoology, UFO culture, and a grab bag of other UFO topics with an emphasis on the past. Today we take a look at studies of ghost culture, spiritualism and parapsychology, and actual paranormal research. Tomorrow, we conclude with works on general belief in the paranormal.

Ghost Culture

Never Give Up the Ghost: An Analysis of Three Edinburgh Ghost Tour Companies - 2005 MA, Joy Fraser, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Gothic Realities: The Emergence of Cultural Forms through Representations of the Unreal - 2005 PhD, Lawrence Andrew Cooper, Jr, Princeton University

Visions of an unseen world': the production and consumption of English ghost stories, c.1660-1800 – PhD 2005, Sasha Handley, University of Warwick (DASH)

Possessions: The history and uses of haunting in the Hudson Valley – 2001 PhD, Judith Ann Richardson, Harvard University

Specters of war: An analysis of ghost stories and other stories of the occult set in the American Civil War – 1994 MA, Maureen Rush Bradley, University of Hawai’i

Aspects of supernatural belief, memorate and legend in a contemporary urban environment – 1985 PhD, Gillian Bennett, University of Sheffield


Spiritualism

The commercialization of the afterlife: Spiritualism's supernatural economy, 1848—1900 – 2010 MA, Richard W. Fink, II

Ventriloquising the dead: representations of Victorian spiritualism and psychical research in selected nineteenth and late twentieth century fiction – 2006 PhD, Tatiana Kontou, University of Sussex (DASH)

Rei(g)ning mediums: Spiritualism and social controls in 19th-century American literature – 2006 PhD, Mitzi Schrag, University of Washington

Sacred conspiracies: Spiritualist and occult politics in Britain, 1843 – 1916 – 2005 PhD, William J. Dotson, The University of Chicago

Automatic writing: A history from Mesmer to Breton – 2004 PhD, Diane Dearmont, University of Washington

Materialisation Phenomena in British and French Spiritualism and Psychical Research – 2004 PhD, Corinne Montenon, University of Birmingham (DASH)

"I saw it with my own eyes": An ethnography of visions and other anomalous phenomena among participants in Candomble, Umbanda and Spiritism from Rio de Janeiro and Abadiania, Goias – 2002 PhD, Yves Marton, University of California, Los Angeles

Without crucible or scalpel: A sympathetic history of American Spiritualism - 2002 PhD, Robert Sayre Cox, University of Michigan

Feminine channeling: Technology, the occult, and women's mediation of communications, 1870—1915 – 2001 PhD, Jill Nicole Galvan, University of California, Los Angeles

'Fifty-cent sybils': Occult workers and the symbolic marketplace in the urban United States, 1850-1930, - 1998 PhD, Tammy Lee Stone-Gordon, Michigan State University

Soft murder by the camera eye: Photographic fears and the Victorian writer – 1992 PhD, Nancy Martha West, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Spiritualism and psychology in the works of Robert and Elizabeth Browning and Henry and William James – 1991 PhD, Charles Lloyd Meredith, University of Cambridge

Subversive spirit: women and nineteenth century spiritualism – 1987 PhD, A. Owen, University of Sussex

A harmony of worlds: spiritualism and the quest for community in nineteenth-century America – PhD 1981, Michael Anthony O’Sullivan, University of Southern California


Parapsychology and Science

To the Summerland: William James, psychical research and modernity – 2003 PhD, Krister Dylan Knapp, Boston College

"The coping stone on psycho-analysis": Freud, psychoanalysis, and the Society for Psychical Research – 2002 PhD, James P. Keeley, Columbia University

Fantasies of transmission: Psychical research and the mediation of intimacy, 1880 – 1916 – 1998 PhD, Pamela N. Thurschwell, Cornell University

Interpretations of quantum physics, the mystical and the paranormal: Einstein, Schroedinger, Bohr, Pauli and Jordan – 1989 PhD, Peter Anton Degen, Drew University

The penumbra of science: A sociological investigation of the debate between parapsychology and science – 1988 PhD, Catherine Boyd Withers, York University (Canada)

Deviant Science: The Case of Parapsychology – 1981 PhD, James Maris McClenon, University of Maryland College Park


Paranormal Research

Field notes from the light: An ethnographic study of the meaning and significance of "near-death experiences" – 2007 PhD, Laura Suzanne Gordon, University of Maryland, College Park (DASH)

Moments of transcendence: A psychospiritual interpretation of psychic, conversion, and mystical experiences – 1998 M.Ed., Marie H. Bousquet, Acadia University

Beyond the near-death experience: An investigation of the effects of near-death experiences – 1996 PsyD, Patricia H. Carr, Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (DASH)

L'épreuve de la preuve. La photographie et le phénomène des ovnis - 1994 MA(?), Jean-Phillipe Dain, Université Paris VIII, UFR Arts - Dep. Image Photographique (EUROUFO)

Event horizons of the psyche: Synchronicity, psychedelics, and the metaphysics of consciousness – 1993 PhD, David Bruce Albert, Jr., University of California, Riverside

The social dialogue of the near-death experience – 1992 PhD, Liane Gail Pedersen-Gallegos, University of Colorado at Boulder

The Relevance of Philosophy to Psychical Research: A Critical Examination of Claims and Methods – 1988 PhD, John Anthony Lord, University of Surrey

Archaeology and parapsychology – 1976 MA, Constance C. Cameron, California State University, Fullerton

An Investigation of the relationship between paranormal phenomena and altered states of consciousness – 1975 PhD, Justin Donald Fair, United States International University

Spooky Dissertations Part 3: Ancient Aliens, Theosophy, and the Science of Belief

Ongoing series on Spooky Dissertations

Part 1 introduces the series and covered cryptozoology
Part 2 explores the increasingly popular topic of UFO culture
Part 3 finishes off the UFO topic and included the larger context of Theosophy
Part 4 examines ghost culture and parapsychology
Part 5 covers paranormal culture

Over the last two days we've had listings of dissertations and theses on cryptozoology, and on UFO culture. Today is a shorter list, combining several topics. Two of these explore the relationship between more mystical folkore and UFOs or ET's. Some of these topics are covered in the larger UFO culture bibliography yesterday, but these narrower works get their own listing here. The similarity between fairylore and UFO lore has been recognized for decades, whereas the recognition of roots of much of UFO-lore in theosophy and related beliefs has largely been ignored. Even obvious cases, such as the Shaver mysteries, end up getting more absorbed into the weird field of UFOs rather than suggesting UFOs are just an atomic age version of theosophy. But with the explosion in ancient astronaut beliefs, this becomes really apparent.

Also up today are sociological and psychological studies on the nature of UFO belief. In addition to this we have a persistent subfield looking at anomalous events or structures in the brain and anomalous experiences. While the results of this field of work have been used to suggest many different culturally-determined experiences may be the result of explainable temporal lobe or other activity, this has been particularly contentious when offered as a partial explanation for alien abduction accounts, and so I have put it here.

Over the next two days, we will conclude with cultural studies of ghost experiences and ghost stories, the history and conduct of parapsychology, spiritualism, and a slew of works on psychic powers and paranormal beliefs in general.


Fairy Folklore and UFO Lore

The otherworld vessel as metatraditional motif in northern European literature and folk narrative – 2009 PhD, Kimberly Ball, University of California, Irvine

Comparing stories of extraterrestrials with stories of fairies – 2003 MLA, David Harl Hinson, The University of North Carolina at Asheville

Shamanism and alien abductions: A comparative study – 2000 MA, Simon Brian Harvey-Wilson, Edith Cowan University (PUFOI)

L’irrationnel et ses habitants - A deux periodes distinctes de l’histoire: les OVNI au XXeme siecle et les fees, les lutins, le diable et la mort du XV au XVIIIeme siecle - 1992 MA(?), Christophe Campiglia, Université de Nantes (France) (EUROUFO)


Theosophy and Ancient Aliens

Constructions of Mythology: Mount Shasta, Atlantis, and the Ancient Lemurians - 2006 MA, Tiffany Darlene Strickland, California State University, Fullerton

A world according to Pana-Wave Laboratory: An extreme response to globalization in Japan – 2005 PhD, Salvador Jimenez Murguia, University of California, Santa Barbara

Theosophy, culture, and empire - 2000 PhD, Matthew Mulligan Goldstein, University of Texas – Austin

The SS-Ahnenerbe and the 1938/1939 German-Tibet expedition – 2000 MA, Mark Jonathan Rogers, Georgia State University

The urban gothic in British fantastic fiction, 1880—1930 – 1987 PhD, Kathleen Louise Spencer, University of California, Los Angeles

The archaeology and geoglyphs of Nazca, Peru, or, The extraterrestrial foundations of Andean civilization – 1985 PhD, Persis Banvard Clarkson, University of Calgary


Belief and Psychology – UFOs

Psychological correlates of the UFO abduction experience: The role of beliefs and indirect suggestions on abduction accounts obtained during hypnosis – 1998 PhD, Duncan Jon Andrew Day, Concordia University

Belief in UFOs and alien abduction phenomena as a function of paranormal beliefs, fantasy proneness, dissociative experience, and psychological adjustment – 1994 MA, Kevin M. Harkins, Bridgewater State University, Massachusetts (PUFOI)

Témoignage d'OVNI et psychologie de la perception - 1994 PhD, Manuel Jeménez, Université Paul Valery, Montpellier (France) (EUROUFO)

Factors influencing attitudes toward controversial research: Quantitatively disentangling the social from the scientific (consensus in science) – 1994 PhD, Mark John Rodeghier, The University of Illinois at Chicago

Personality Characteristics on the MMPI, 16PF, and ACL of Persons Who Claim UFO Experiences – 1986 PhD, June Parnell, University of Wyoming

The Relationship of Anomie and Externality to Strength of Belief in Unidentified Flying Objects - 1975 MA, Stephen P. Resta, Loyola College, Baltimore (PUFOI)


Neuroscience and the Paranormal

Numinous-like auras and spirituality in persons with focal seizures – 2008 PhD, Rima Dolgoff-Kaspar, City University of New York

Isolated sleep paralysis and its associations with anxiety sensitivity, history of trauma, paranormal beliefs, and life stress in a black sample – 2005 PhD, Holly Joy Ramsawh, Boston University

Volatile spirits: An ecopsychological perspective on experiences of paranormal assault in contemporary America - 2001 PhD, Tina Rae Fields, California Institute of Integral Studies

The prevalence of sleep paralysis and temporal lobe lability in persons who report alien abduction - 1995 PhD, Marcus Cox, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom (EUROUFO)

Temporal lobe soft signs as indicators of fantasy proneness – 1993 MA, Scott Probst, Simon Fraser University

Differentiation of uncommon beliefs as a function of the proficiency of interhemispheric processing – 1992 MA, Ross J. Skirda, Laurentian University of Sudbury

An investigation of the relationship between subjective paranormal experience and temporal lobe symptomatology – 1979 M.Med., Vernon Michael Neppe, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Cat Registered as Hypnotherapist

I wonder what recovered memories a cat could find?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8303126.stm

"The regulation of hypnotherapists in the UK is so lax that even a cat can become accredited, the BBC has found.

Chris Jackson, presenter of Inside Out in the North East and Cumbria, registered pet George with three industry bodies.

Each one accepted a certificate from the non-existent Society of Certified Advanced Mind Therapists as proof of George's credentials.

It follows a similar investigation by an American clinical psychologist."

Inside the Science Fiction Event Horizon: Implications for Other Cultural Ideas

I really like this essay.

http://www.computercrowsnest.com/features/arc/2008/nz12191.php

It points out the spiral in science fiction, of how entertaining stories using dodgy science in the 1930s then created a genre with tropes that increasingly made no sense. But because they were initially allowed to stand as tropes, they became time-honored, to the point where much science fiction, once seen as real speculation on science and society, became ever more like magical fantasy.

I think it speaks volumes about how once tropes in a genre, or a subculture, become widespread and popular, they don't go away, regardless of outside stimuli.

My first original post in this blog (the first two were a welcome and reposting of a review I had previously written) was about this very issue. How transhumanists were picking fights with the UFO community, because the UFO ideas were badly out of date in regards to technology and biology (though as I note, I think the transhumanists are generally clueless when it comes to human behavior). Likewise, Cameron Mcormick suggests a similar problem with the cryptozoological focus on big "monsters," and the regular invocation of colonial "discoveries" in the early 20th century as models for the hunt in the early 21st century. Pamela McElwee voiced a similar concern over the label of "lost world" being applied to populated areas in Vietnam, in turn spurring interest in hunting mystery wild men. And I can tell you from personal experience that many ideas in alternative archaeology have roots in very old ideas long since discarded by those doing professional academic research.

I don't know when, but I want to develop this point more. But I think it is a crackerjack way of thinking about the development of ideas outside of the realm of falsifiability.

Stephenville UFO Flap, pt. 6 - The first videos and photos

As I previously mentioned, a video surfaced from near Shreveport that was initially linked to the Stephenville sightings, but didn't seem that impressive. In the last day, three sets of photos have appeared that are being tied to the case of the Stephensville UFO, this time from Texas (at least one case, the other doesn't have much contex).

1.) An incredibly difficult to see cellphone video of what looks to be a light in the sky. CNN has been playing it today, and it can be seen on their website. It, and the "videographer," are unimpressive and the clip is presented poorly.

2.) More images come from a suburb of Austin, 130 miles south of Stephensville. The reporting outlet specifically states that this is not the Stephensville UFO, but nonetheless it is being linked to it by many people. The UFO was only noticed by photographer Virgil Fowler after he took the pictures. In contrast, the Stephensville sightings are supposedly of something very big, very fast, and looking unmistakably odd.

3.) A photo and sighting description only 45 miles from Stephenville, on the night in question. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't look like much, and has been suggested to be a sundog.

Given the huge media attention, I suspect more photos will appear that may have nothing to do with the Stephensville case, or be glommed onto it by excited news or bloggers. This phenomenon, of noticing unexpected things once they are pointed out elsewhere, is discussed by mori in the essay Attack of the Invisible Gorillas.

Update: More photos, but this time from sightings Monday night (January 14, 2008) south of Fort Worth (Stephensville is to the northwest of Fort Worth). And another video, released on January 23.

The inability to recognize the real

An interesting essay by Geoff Olsen at Common Ground uses UFOs as an example of how hard it is for many people to think outside of the box (to use a spent marketing term).

I don't fully agree with everything there, and I get so tired of the use of quantum mechanics to wave anything into possibility, but the core truth is that when faced with an even slightly deniable experience that fits outside of the expected, so many people will dive for the exits of convoluted but familiar explanations.

For me, I feel this effect in people the most with politics. Not just party politics but the bigger picture. You can present people with basic facts, and if they mean the world they know is slipping away or untenable, they won't flip out, they simply ignore it. It helps of course if there are billion-dollar companies that aid and abet in making it easy to ignore the world.

World Magnetic Anomaly Map

The first global map of the world's magnetic anomalies has been produced (BBC story, project website). The notion that magnetic energy and anomalies could be responsible for paranormal events and sightings has existed for decades. A major strand of of parapsychology believes that ghostly activity has an electromagnetic component, or is even a "playback" of electromagnetically "recorded" past events stored in stones or bricks. Paul Deveraux and his Dragon Project argue that ancient European megalithics were built to interact with electromagnetic energy or ley lines. One aspect of this includes earthlights, which is similar to Michael Persinger's research into EM stimulation of the brain. Persinger has gotten more attention for his attempts to recreate alien abductions in the laboratory. But his initial work was on electromagnetic anomalies, earthquakes, earth lights, and UFOs.

So I suspect someone down the line in spooky studies will do something with this EM geography research.

The Different Phenomena of the Social History of UFOs and Other Weird Things

On Monday, I started the section of my class on UFOs, slightly behind schedule. One of the points that I wanted to get across was a frustrating thing that I see all too often when columnists and sometimes academics pontificate on "the phenomenon": the broad brush appeal to big causes.

What I mean by this is the tendency people have to want to sweep the whole thing away with a pat pseudo-psychological or sociological or common sense explanation. For example, in his social history of UFOs, Watch the Skies, Curtis Peebles (1994) suggests that UFOs are more likely to be seen, and waves and flaps appear, in times of uncertainty. The vast majority of the book is a straightforward accounting of the changes in UFO beliefs and in UFO advocate groups, but in the last chapter, Peebles borrows the notion from Otto Billig ( ) that flaps and waves of UFOs appear in times of vague, poorly defined crises. He then proceeds to note crisis after crisis and fears, from the McCarthy era to economic downturns to presidential campaigns. This is a just-so story of the worst sort. Depending on how you define it, every day of our lives is a vague, poorly defined crisis, in fact several are probably going on simultaneously. Had Peebles not pushed this back to Ezekiel's Wheel and the Babylonian Captivity, I might not have to be so harsh. Yes, visionary experiences can arise from times of crisis, they're part of what anthropologists (in particular Anthony Wallace) call revitalization movements. But as in Wallace's excellent study, Death and Rebirth of the Seneca, he points out the specific details, how Handsome Lake's visions came from the specifics of the Seneca having sold their land, being on new land, and becoming desperate and destitute. And furthermore, how influences specifically from neighboring Christian farmers were incorporated into Handsome Lake's visions. This level of detail is needed before even beginning to suggest a correlation.

A question I get asked all the time by academics is if I've read Carl Jung's (1978) writings (they typically haven't) on flying saucers. I have, and they're terrible. Mystical claptrap on how the saucer, being round, is a symbol of oneness in a dangerous age. Jung works largely with dreams and artwork that is only tangentially linked to UFOs. And yet because of Jung's name, this is top-shelf stuff. Saranov (1981) pciks up the torch and jumbles up a bunch of vague similarities between 19th century Airship stories and various folktales, says it is all symbolic of something, and calls it a day.

The list continues. Lawson (1984) is regularly cited for his idea that the Gray image is actually a memory of birth, of sterile doctors appearing strange in the eyes of a newborn. Of course, if you haven't actually read the article, you might not realize how heavily symbolic and divorced from attempts to verify the hypothesis the study actually is. Donald Warren's (1970) article in one of the world's most prestigious journals, Science, argues that people who are out of their expected social status or under social stress (aka educated white men in under-performing jobs and "Negro" women) will be more likely to see UFOs as a form of rebellion against the status quo. The article isn't much cited these days, as you might imagine, though George Cowgill (1971) took Warren to task the following year in Science by suggesting that what Warren found was statistically weak and did not explain sightings but explained interpretation (more on this below). Saler (Saler, Ziegler, and Moore 1997) leaves the details of Roswell to his co-authors and mostly talks about general notions of myth in his book on different versions of the Roswell Incident.

Many of these studies fail on one or two levels. First, they typically show minimal research into the topic before popping off. Second, presumably because of the first, they have no idea what they are studying. As an archaeologist, we are trained and constantly reminded that we must understand what it is we are studying as data: observations we make of remnants of material culture that have been modified by an unknown number of factors over the course of centuries or millennia. In addition to dealing with rigor in making our observations, we have to understand and communicate how we are making the bridging arguments that take us from broken bits of pottery to statements about past events and cultural trends. The studies would benefit from such explicit reasoning.

What is being studied? Where do the data come from? As I told my students, we can study people who are interested in UFOs and ideas about what they are. We can study people that create artwork (for mass media entertainment or not) inspired by or featuring UFOs. We can study people (ufologists and others) who have changed their lives in some fashion because of UFOs, in order to study them or otherwise engage the topic. We can study people who join religious groups that have beliefs concerning UFOs (contactees, a topic that has been studied extensively by anthropologists and sociologists because it is similar to small scale groups they have traditionally studied). And we can study people who report seeing UFOs.

What we cannot do is try to make those all the same people. Because if you do, your carelessness will simply muddy the water, and you'll just end up telling yourself a just-so story. These are different phenomena requiring different tools and theories to study. This happens all the time in conversation, or in informal study. Someone will put forth some vague broad brush notion to explain a social phenomenon. In this case, it might be "People see UFOs because they are concerned about some problem in society" or "People see UFOs because of status inconsistency" or "People see UFOs because of a symbolic need." But it then makes it into more formal opinion columns and essays in publications and blogs, and as I cite above, into scientific and academic articles.

GAH!

This wouldn't be accepted in my archaeological work, why is it accepted here? Such ideas don't take into account the levels of analysis. That a sighting involves an interpretation of something seen as being a "UFO." That someone has to report it. Who they report it to, a ufologist, a reporter, the government, someone else. Whether that researcher or institution then publicizes the account, and how they do so. Westrum (1977) wisely does break this issue down. Then if you want to talk about waves or flaps and their relationship to some broad social trend, all of the above has to be understood for a large number of accounts. And all too often, authors will go that extra step, and conflate pop culture (AKA, was The X-Files on TV?) as part of their "UFO" evidence.

Not all studies do this. As mentioned earlier, Cowgill's small response to Warren isn't a study, but it does take this problem into consideration. Festinger, Reicken, and Schachter (1956), for all their other faults, made it clear that they were studing a Contactee group in order to test a specific hypothesis about cognitive dissonance in apocalyptic religious movements. Zimmer (1985) surveyed college students on their interest and belief in UFOs as extraterrestrial craft as a way of looking at interest in relationship to the students themselves, not sightings or popularity of the whole concept. Brenda Denzler (2001) undertook fieldwork with various elements of the UFO community, including investigators, people with interest in the topic, and abductees. She is careful with her terms and data (including demographic data), though she does offer some overall broad suggestions for interest in the topic. Matheson (1998) didn't do fieldwork, but instead undertook textual analysis of published books on abduction with the primary goal of analysing the authors, the abduction researchers. He too tries to, unfortunately, give a broad brush answer, but the data about the textual analysis is carefully discussed and separate from this conclusion.

While I have focused on academic articles, this is a regularly occurrence in less formal essays. I am reminded of the months after 9/11/2001. Article after article in the mainstream press, both opinion pieces but also news articles, discussed how ufology is on the decline. They would ask "Why don't people see UFOs anymore?" and then answer that we now had a more substantial hidden threat, terrorists, to worry about. These would also often include the news that some UFO group was disbanding after several decades, not noting that as private organizations the appearance and disappearance of such groups is a regular occurrence. And yet, there have been spectacular sightings all over the mainstream media in the last year, touched off by the O'Hare sighting, but continuing into the new year and being revived by pilot sightings, UFO flaps, etc. And on the pop front, as I just blogged yesterday, Roswell's UFO festival is booked up and healthier than it has been for years. Maybe I could construct some complex or broad social reason. Or maybe if I had actually been paying attention, I could note that there has been a shift in the management of the festival, with more activities and speakers, and more advertising. But that would actually be investigating the question, wouldn't it?

These same essays often took a similar tack to others after 9/11, about how the culture was going to have to be serious now, that we couldn't have the excesses and goofyness of the 1990s. Clearly, I for one am glad that American Idol doesn't exist nor is a top-rated show. Or that Paris Hilton never got famous and became a media sensation. Or that no one repeatedly aired Britney Spears shaving her head. Or Howard Dean's manufactured scream. Or that Deal or No Deal disappeared after the pilot episode. Or that the media and a couple of activists didn't fight full-scale wars over Christmas, or Janet Jackson's nipple. Thank goodness they were right, and had consulted all the requisite data.

Works cited

Cowgill, George
1971 People Who See Flying Saucers. Science, New Series, Vol. 171, Issue 3975: 956 - 959.

Denzler, Brenda
2001 The Lure of the Edge: Scientific Passions, Religious Beliefs, and the Pursuit of UFOs. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Festinger, Leon, Henry W. Riecken, and Stanley Schachter
1956 When Prophecy Fails. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

Jung, C.G.
1978 Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies. Translated by R. F. Hull, C. MJF Books, New York.

Lawson, Alvin H.
1984 Perinatal Imagery in UFO Abduction Reports. The Journal of Psychohistory 12(2):211-239.

Matheson, Terry
1998 Alien Abductions: Creating a Modern Phenomenon. Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York.

Peebles, Curtis
1994 Watch the Skies!: A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D. C.

Saler, Benson, Charles A. Ziegler, and Charles B. Moore
1997 UFO Crash At Roswell: The Genesis of a Modern Myth. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.

Sanarov, Valerii
1981 On the Nature and Origin of Flying Saucers and Little Green Men. Current Anthropology 22(2):163-167.

Warren, Donald I.
1970 Status Inconsistency Theory and Flying Saucer Sightings. Science 170:599-603.

Westrum, Ron
1977 Social Intelligence About Anomalies: The Case of UFO's. Social Studies of Science 7:271-302.

Zimmer, Troy A.
1985 Belief in UFO's as Alternative Reality, Cultural Rejection or Disturbed Psyche. Deviant Behavior 6:405-419.

Why I call it the Spooky Paradigm: Bones, Stones, and Cryptozoology

I believe a productive way of looking anthropologically at what others call "the paranormal," or "esoterica," or "forteana," or who subdivide it into specific fields is by considering it a Paradigm, a way of looking at the world. Rather than a trait list of things that fall into say "forteana," we should be boiling down how people think about these things, and how they use it to map the world. A worldview, a paradigm, a mental framework, whatever you want to call it.

This is not an attack or a skeptical critique. All humans do this. We have mental templates and worldviews we use to map reality, our dealings with other people and the rest of the universe. These worldviews are at least some degree unique to each of us, influenced by the sum of our experiences, our personalities, and who knows what else. They are also influenced by the people we interact with, that we live with and learn from. That means we share these worldviews, at least to some degree, with other people. What anthropologists call culture. Even at the basic level of language, of using agreed upon sounds and symbols to categorize the world.

We may detect some of our mental mapping, consciously knowing that perhaps we see things differently than others do. Other parts of our worldview may be largely invisible to us unless some contradiction or anomaly changes it. That of course goes back to Kuhn's scientific paradigms and revolutions. But our mental maps cover so much more in our everyday lives, as well as in more esoteric or theoretical realms.

We may have any number of different, and sometimes conflicting, mental maps we lay down on the universe. Morality, religion, economics, science, class, race. You name the worldview or classification system, and it can both contradict and co-exist with other templates held by one person. Travel writer, and pop sociologist of people with non-mainstream beliefs, Louis Theroux talks about this, and basically describes culture without calling it that. I am alternately skeptical in many things, yet I find myself seeing say politics or social theory in ways that do not pass Occam's Razor for other people. People who might see me as "eccentric."

What I call the Spooky Paradigm views the world through, I believe more than any other elements, hidden mystery. This is what unites what many people would consider disparate topics like cryptozoology, UFOs, numerological and mystical relationships and ideas, parapsychology, conspiracy politics, and other topics. Those interested or working in these different subjects might be offended to be linked to others in that list or similar topics. But they would be hard pressed to deny that many, many people who become interested in the one are not more likely to be interested in at least some of the others. And I think the thing that links these all is that their subjects are hidden and mysterious. Anomalies. Often contradicting mainstream science, religion, politics, or even "common sense."

From this perspective, mysteries and anomalies attract the attention of those who see the world through the Spooky Paradigm. And to be clear, I would include myself as someone who does. Whether I believe in specific ideas about anomalies, or whether specific anomalies really are anomalous, I still find myself on the lookout all the time for the mysterious, it piques my attention, and the Spooky Paradigm will be one of the templates I may turn to for cataloging a particular mysterious datapoint.

That sounds all kinds of abstract, so here are some related examples.

Archaeologists working in Ivory Coast have found ancient tools they believe to have been used not by humans, but by chimps. The 4300-year old tools appear to be what archaeologists call nutting stones, rocks used for smashing nuts open as part of food processing. No chimp bones were found in association with the tools, but chimps are known in modern times to use tools like these, and residue on the stones is from species of nut supposedly more likely to be eaten by chimps than humans. The archaeologists suggest humans didn't use the tools because they would not be a good fit for human hands, but would be for larger chimp hands.

On the other hand, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman suggests at least the possibility that a massive hominoid cryptid described in this region might have used the tools. Why does this lend itself to a cryptid explanation? Because of the sightings of a huge (really huge) primate a century ago. But I believe in large part because of that element of mystery. That since no chimps were found in association with the tools, even though chimps are known to have undertaken such behavior in more recent centuries, there is that bit of mystery. And that mystery opens the door to interpreting this through the Spooky Paradigm.

In a related vein, a severed foot found in a landfill in Virginia has elicited a similar reaction. The foot has been examined by a medical examiner, and found not to be human. This raises other possibilities including another known primate (though unlikely due to the size) or a bear (EDIT: Yes, it's a bear). Or a bigfoot. Despite the small 8" size,

William Dranginis of Manassas has a more unusual opinion--he believes the foot could be that of Bigfoot. He heads the Virginia Bigfoot Research Organization and has been passionately studying the elusive creature for more than 10 years.

Others, including at least one primatologist, have also stepped into the breach to try and identify the foot based on photos. But the point is, there is only the vaguest connection to cryptids (it looks kind of human, Bigfoot tracks look kind of human), but nonetheless attracts attention and speculation along those lines.

I first noticed this temptation to re-view the news through the Spooky Paradigm during the Kursk disaster. Early reports from Russian authorities said the Kursk collided with an unidentified object. Many interepreted this as an attempt by Russian authorities to put the blame on the US or other navies, rather than the eventual conclusion that an accident sank the submarine. Yet this initial mystery, and the mention of an unidentified something immediately brought up speculation about USO's, Unidentified Submerged Objects.

Like I said, we all do this in our own ways. For example, in the realm of politics, a series of strange federal judicial retirements brings speculation about cronyism and solidification of power by the White House. Many would not consider this a conspiracy theory, though some might for political reasons or others might because there are some similarities to classical conspiracy theory. Others, like myself, would say that based on past experience, suspecting ulterior and hidden motives in this case is only logical. The point is, we all become attuned to certain things that make more sense in the way we view the world, that mesh well with the gears of our minds. And in the case of the Spooky Paradigm, the key elements are mystery and anomaly.

Skeptics, Believers, Public Parapsychology and Anomalistic Psychology

I've linked and discussed several times, on parasychology and academia, posts on the blog Public Parapsychology. I'll continue to do so, but would also point the reader to that blog for futher perusal. I've linked to Public Parapsychology in the sidebar.

Two posts attract my attention. The first is a list of academic journals focused on or otherwise publishing on parapsychology.

The second is a discussion of anomalistic psychology. Public Parasychology defines it as:

In simplest terms, parapsychology is the scientific and scholarly study of certain unusual events associated with human experience. Anomalistic psychology is the scientific and scholarly study of unusual beliefs or experiences.

Anomalistic psychologists attempt to explain paranormal beliefs and paranormal experiences in terms of known psychological and physical factors. Such research is directed towards understanding the bizarre experiences that many people have without assuming that there is anything paranormal involved. In my opinion, the best kind of research in anomalistic psychology also avoids assuming that there is not anything paranormal involved. In such research, the reality of psi has little or no direct relevance to hypotheses under study.

In turn, Public Parapsychology points to the Goldsmiths University of London, it's Research Unit in this field, and its definition of the topic

Anomalistic psychology may be defined as the study of extraordinary phenomena of behaviour and experience, including (but not restricted to) those which are often labeled "paranormal". It is directed towards understanding bizarre experiences that many people have without assuming a priori that there is anything paranormal involved. It entails attempting to explain paranormal and related beliefs and ostensibly paranormal experiences in terms of known psychological and physical factors.

While psychology, neurology, and other scientific disciplines are rich with explanatory models for human experiences of many kinds, these models are rarely extrapolated to attempt to explain strange and unusual experiences. The paranormal is here defined as "alleged phenomena that cannot be accounted for in terms of conventional scientific theories", although it is recognised that new discoveries in physics, biology, and other sciences may be of relevance in understanding anomalous experiences.

It is notable that Public Parapsychology sees this field as working in tandem with parapsychology, while the Goldsmiths department would probably be less open to that approach (it publishes The Skeptic journal). Yet the two co-exist and can see a similar mission. I find much of this echoing my mission here with the Spooky Paradigm. In particular, the Goldsmiths department notes the "multidisciplinary" nature of the field, from a behavioral perspective.

The definition of the paranormal adopted by those working in this area typically goes beyond the core phenomena of ESP, PK, and life after death, and includes such topics as belief in astrology, UFOs, dowsing, the Bermuda triangle, and so on. It should be noted that the aims of anomalistic psychology would still be valid even if the existence of paranormal forces were to be established beyond doubt because there is little question that most paranormal claims can be plausibly explained in non-paranormal terms.

I would probably widen that definition, at least for the worldview and principles of the Spooky Paradigm, to all sorts of areas. But this in part is due to my interest in culture, rather than understanding cognition or individual "anomalous" experiences.

The Literary History of Repressed Memories and the Implications for Alien Abduction

A new study in the journal Psychological Medicine suggests that repressed memories are a recent cultural concept, and not a biological universal. But how do the authors of the study come to this conclusion? By reading literature. In what one might call a case of historical literary anthropology, the researchers looked for descriptions of characters who suffered amnesia because a past event was too painful to remember. And they found that historical mentions of the concept are relatively new, dating to the era of the birth of modern psychiatry (including Freud).

The implications of such a finding would be important in a number of ways. The idea of repressed memories became central in the 1970s to an entire subculture of fundamentalist Christianity in American society, concerned with ritual Satanic abuse of children. Repressed memories became associated with child abuse in general, outside of the more specific claims of Satanic cults, "breeders," and other horrors. Repressed memories, and their recovery under hypnosis, were used in criminal investigations into past alleged abuse. By the 1990s critical voices were increasingly finding support, suggesting that hypnotic therapies for recovering memories were actually creating memories of events that did not occur or were greatly distorted. Hypnotic regression and repressed memories have largely been pushed out of use in criminal and legal investigation.

The other major role for hypnotic regression has been in alien abduction. Regression goes back to the early case, which Matheson argues is also very influential on later writings by abduction researchers, of Betty and Barney Hill. The use of hypnosis to recover memories has continued to be a common if contentious element of abductionism to the present day. Many abductees or other interested parties would note that there are a number of cases that are not recovered through hypnosis, and would argue that the phenomenon stands on its own without recovered memories.

Others might suggest that even if people don't repress memories, perhaps abductors might do so, that missing time might not be a defense mechanism but memory wiping by the abductors. Regardless, regression and memory recovery as a way to investigate missing time and abductions clearly has its roots in the notion of repressed memory from 20th century psychiatry.

The study in question suggests that the concept of repressed memories is relatively new. From this, it implies that repressed memories are not a biological universal in humans, but instead a cultural malady of Westerners starting in the late 19th Century. It is an intriguing approach, but it must be remembered that the researchers are studying cultural ideas. They suggest that the lack of a cultural notion for a malady in literature and other cultural texts is evidence that it is not a biological phenomenon. I am no psychiatrist or physician, nor am I a supporter of repressed memory ideology, but it would seem to me as an archaeologist that to go from a study of cultural texts and memes to conclusions concerning material and biological reality requires some "ground-truthing."

EDIT: New study suggests that traumatic memories don't get repressed, they are easier to remember than the good times. This certainly fits my experience. As with the story mentioned above, one could argue abductions and missing time involve mind-altering technology or methods, and not a psychological defense mechanism. But as I note, the whole thing is framed by the Freudian concept of repressed memories.