Paranormal Experiences Research Articles

Personality, cognition, and morbidity in the understanding of paranormal belief.

A large number of theories about the development and maintenance of paranormal beliefs have been raised in the literature. There is, however, a lack of studies designed to integrate the different perspectives. We reviewed the literature and explored a series of factors in a sample of 180 individuals. Seven variables showed significant correlation indices at α = .01. A regression analysis revealed subjective paranormal experience as the variable that contributed the most to the explanation of paranormal belief, z = .43, 95% confidence interval (CI) [.24, .56]. Need for achievement (z = .31, 95% CI [.11, to .46]), conditional reasoning (z = .10, 95% CI [.09, .28]), and schizotypy (z = .29, 95% CI [.09, .45]) also contributed significantly in the equation. The associations found between the subscales of the Needs Questionnaire and belief in the paranormal support the hipothesis that paranormal belief may serve basic psychological needs. Similarly, the association found in the case of schizotypy suggests that paranormal belief might be held within the context of psychopathology. There was no evidence, however, supporting the hypothesis of a reasoning deficit in believers. It was concluded that, once paranormal beliefs develop, there is an interaction between belief and experience that strongly contributes towards its maintenance.

Gaming With Stigma: Analysis of Messages About Mental Illnesses in Video Games.

BackgroundVideo game playing is a daily activity for many youths that replaces other media forms (eg, television); it serves as an important source of knowledge and can potentially impact their attitudes and behaviors. Researchers are, thus, concerned with the impact of video gaming on youth (eg, for promoting prosocial or antisocial behavior). Studies have also begun to explore players’ experience of gameplay and video game messages about violence, sexism, and racism; however, little is known about the impact of commercial video games in the sharing and shaping of knowledge, and messages about mental illness.ObjectiveThe aim of this review was to identify how mental illness, especially psychosis, is portrayed in commercial video games.MethodsWe performed keyword searches on games made available between January 2016 and June 2017 on Steam (a popular personal computer gaming platform). A total of 789 games were identified and reviewed to assess whether their game content was related to mental illness. At the end of the screening phase, a total of 100 games were retained.ResultsWe used a game elements framework (characters, game environment/atmosphere, goals, etc) to describe and unpack messages about mental health and illness in video games. The majority of the games we reviewed (97%, 97/100) portrayed mental illness in negative, misleading, and problematic ways (associating it with violence, fear, insanity, hopelessness, etc). Furthermore, some games portrayed mental illness as manifestations or consequences of supernatural phenomena or paranormal experiences. Mental illness was associated with mystery, the unpredictable, and as an obscure illness; its treatment was also associated with uncertainties, as game characters with mental illness had to undergo experimental treatment to get better. Unfortunately, little or no hope for recovery was present in the identified video games, where mental illness was often presented as an ongoing struggle and an endless battle with the mind and oneself.ConclusionsThe game elements of the identified commercial video games included mental illness, about which many perpetuated well-known stereotypes and prejudices. We discuss the key findings in relation to current evidence on the impact of media portrayals of mental illness and stigma. Furthermore, we reflect on the ability of serious video games to promote alternative messages about mental illness and clinical practices. Future research is needed to investigate the impact that such messages have on players and to explore the role that video games can play in fostering alternative messages to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.

Negative Experiences in Childhood, Parental Style, and Resilience Among People Reporting Paranormal Experiences.

There are relatively few studies examining the parental style, childhood trauma, and paranormal experiences/beliefs; therefore, the aim of this study is to measure the dominant parental style of those who have experienced paranormal events and their correlation with negative events in childhood and resilience. Four questionnaires were administered to 644 participants. The results showed high frequency of experiences such as sense of presence, premonitory dreams, telepathy, mystical experiences, apparitions, and out-of-body experiences, among others. The results confirmed three hypotheses that predict a positive and significant correlation between the paranormal experiences in adult life and negative experiences in childhood, such as abuse and neglect. One possible interpretation is that "flexible" parental style is the more permissive ones (greater openness and sensitivity to capture alternative realities), in contrast to "rigid" parental style (whose perspectives generate restrictions to capitalize on the unconventional experiences of their children).

The Taiji Path to Non-Duality: The Universal Energy Dance

The Taiji Path to Non-DualityThe Universal Energy Dance Denise Meyer (bio) It is said that we are the same in essence but different in feeling. There is no difference in feeling either; it is just that habits develop unnoticed, evolving in a stream, continuing to the present, so that their defiling influence cannot be shed. Ultimately this is not the fault of essence. —The Secret of the Golden Flower (Cleary 2000, 320) Cloaked in the vessel of the body and the garments of mind, it is easy to obscure the fundamental premise of non-duality—that we are all Dao. For practitioners of taijiquan, supersensory or paranormal experience and frequency are a window through which to understand the ineffable and examine its individualized manifestations. Practitioners often report new abilities to see auras, hear high frequencies, sense the qi of plants in their hands, and to witness more synchronicity and precognition in their lives. Some develop energetic healing abilities for people both near and far. Others find themselves interacting with wildlife in new and intimate ways or witnessing the bending of time or space. Through quantum physics, and its application to biology and biochemistry, science has begun to align itself behind prime reality, Dao. Physicists have taught us that all matter is composed of energy, coagulated energy that takes the dual forms of particles and waves. From that point of view, the difference between the energy of a thought and my bones becomes a difference in frequency. Energetic waves can change [End Page 156] frequency, merge with other waves, or decay. When two waves merge they may harmonize, gain resonance, and flow more freely. Taijiquan promotes shifts in body mechanics that allow qi (life force energy emanating from Dao) to gradually soften internal tension and blockages or to release held energetic patterns, thus promoting healing and a sense of wholeness. When rooted and aligned in the structure of the body, taiji players are able to tap into the life force energy in the ground and the surrounding air. It also allows change in one's relation-ship with one's own essence (jing), allowing an inner calm and vibration with greater coherence and amplitude in relation to external forces. Music and musical instruments offer a useful metaphor for understanding this paradox. All sound is generated by vibration, and pitch is determined by a fundamental or root tone. Musical tones are shaped by overtones, neatly mapped out by Pythagoras, that are responsible for the color and quality of musical sound. The first overtones are the consonants: the octave, then a perfect fifth and a perfect fourth above that. Then shades of the imperfect consonants enter the spectrum, through the thirds and sixths. Lastly we reach the dissonant sevens, seconds, and tri-tones. This pattern continues well beyond the frequencies audible by the human ear. (See the graphic below, based on Schottenbauer 2013, 166). Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 157] Now, imagine that you and I are different instruments in the orchestra. We can each play a beautiful A, but they will not sound the same. The A of an oboe is not the same as the A of the violin or trumpet, despite sharing the same fundamental pitch. That difference in sound quality is timbre. Timbre is the spectral compilation of a fundamental and its overtones. The bell tones of the brass family have strong octaves, fifths and fourths. The rich moodiness of the oboe is colored by the relative strength of the thirds and sixths. The determinants of those overtones are the shape of the resonating body, the materials it is made from, and the means of creating the vibration, i. e. buzzing air through a metal mouthpiece, blowing through two slices of reed cane, pulling a bow across a string, plucking a string, etc. When combined tones of two instruments played by competent musicians tune to each other, they gain harmonic resonance. This "intensification and enriching of a musical tone by supplementary vibration" (Webster on m-w.com) may emanate from the air surrounding an oscillating string or the bell of a wind instrument. Or it may come from another instrument or player of...

Feeling spirits: sharing subjective paranormal experience through embodied talk and action

Abstract This article examines how subjective paranormal experiences are shared and understood through embodied talk and action. Paranormal experiences often possess subjective qualities, regularly experienced as “senses” or “feelings”; however, the ability to share these experiences collectively provides the opportunity to validate such events. Drawing upon video data selected from over 100 hours of recorded footage during UK-based paranormal investigations, this study uses conversation analysis to examine how individuals communicate their experiences to others and through this evoke a way of understanding their experience as potentially paranormal. It is argued that embodied talk and action invite others to not only see the subjective paranormal experiences of others, but to understand and become co-experiencers in these events.

Paranormal tourism: Assessing tourists' onsite experiences

Paranormal tourism is one of the new forms of special interest tourism. It is defined by tourists' interests in topics which challenge realist ontologies and representational epistemologies. The aims of this study were to outline the facets of tourists' experiences when visiting key sites of paranormal interest in Bali, Indonesia. The work also assessed the way context influences tourists' paranormal experiences. The researchers used the conceptual framework of the Orchestra Model of tourists' experiences to inform this work. Highlights from the comprehensive descriptive assessment include high levels of emotional excitement, joy, and surprise, some specific visual sensations, as well as instances of noteworthy sounds, smells, and tastes. Different settings (ghost versus spiritual sites) affect the tourists' onsite reactions. This foundation study on paranormal tourism contributes to an understanding of the emerging area of paranormal tourism. Through understanding tourists' experiences, this study also offers directions for tourism marketing of relevant destinations.

A Study on Reported Contact with Non-Human Intelligence Associated with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

This study, conducted by the Dr. Edgar Mitchell Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial and Extraordinary Experiences (FREE), represents the first comprehensive investigation on individuals (N = 3,256) who have reported to have had various forms of contact experience (CE) with a non-human intelligent being (NHI) associated with or without an unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP). Our research methodology utilized two comprehensive quantitative surveys totaling 554 questions administered in subjects with reported non-hypnotic memory recall of their CE. This survey addressed a diverse range of physical, psychological, perceptual, and paranormal aspects of reported non-hypnotic based recall of both physical and/or non-physical interactions with a NHI being. The results revealed complex reported CEs that involve both physical and non-physical (psychological outcomes, non-ordinary states of consciousness, and paranormal experiences) events. What may be the most significant aspect of the interim results is that approximately 70% (N=2,279) of the study population claimed that their CE changed their life in a “positive way.” In contrast, only 15-20% reported a “negative” impact from their CE. Further, the majority of subjects did not report events typically associated with the traditional held beliefs regarding the “alien-abduction” phenomena. That is, the results suggest that the reported CE with NHI is largely non-physical and can occur via telepathy, during an out-of body experience, being floated into a matrix-like reality, as well as through physical interaction on board a craft. Consequently, the results suggest that a non-physical (“contactee”) CE is distinctly different than the physical (“abduction”) CE and should be studied as separate but interrelated anomalous events. In fact, the CE associated with a UAP is not the predominant form of CE and that sighting a UAP is not necessarily associated with a CE. Consequently, future studies should not focus exclusively on the analysis of UAP sightings and traces alone which, based on decades of research, have not advanced our understanding of the possible force which governs and regulates this complex phenomenon. This is an important consideration since the FREE study dispels the notion that contact with NHI beings must always entail either a physical abduction or a landed craft with beings interacting with humans. This study may serve as a needed foundation for researchers to build upon for validation purposes to better understand a unique and diverse range of reported physical and non-physical type CEs with a NHI associated with or without a UAP.

The use of religion in coping with grief among bereaved Malay Muslim parents

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to explore the influence of religion on bereaved parents after the death of a child. Literature had attempted to understand how religiosity may influence parental grief both in positive and negative ways. However, this area is scarcely explored in the Malaysian context. This qualitative study involved 11 bereaved parents who lost their children due to accidents (n = 9) and homicide (n = 2). Open-ended questions that focused on the importance, activities, and role of religion in the grieving process among Malay parents were asked. According to the thematic analysis, some of the main themes found were that the bereaved parents described religion as a beneficial mechanism in helping them to adapt with their losses through various responses that indicated the perception that religion as a guidance. However, other than the positive impact, religiosity can also lead the bereaved parents to experience negative effects of using religion as a coping strategy. The influence of culture is prevalent in the current study as the theme of mystical belief and paranormal experiences were also reported. This study provides some professional implication from the possible use of religion in intervention.

The Relationship of Mental Telepathy to Trauma and Dissociation

When we regard telepathy as a weird new-age concept, we can easily lose sight of how psychoanalysis seems to so many patients to be a form of mind-reading. The paranormal has always been controversial in psychoanalysis, and Freud’s deep interest in it has been marginalized. Several studies have found that a person with a history of trauma and dissociation will be more likely to report a high frequency of psychic or paranormal experience than a person who does not have such a history (Carpenter, 2015). The reasons for this will be explored, and a case demonstrating telepathic communication between a very dissociated, traumatized patient and her therapist will be presented. Using an information-processing model, I will illustrate how the patient’s subsymbolic information became converted to the verbal symbolic by means of my use of evoked images.

Becoming a Telepathic Tuning Fork: Anomalous Experience and the Relational Mind

Although we tend to regard telepathic communication as anomalous or uncanny, outside the range of scientific explanation, many paranormal experiences can be understood scientifically as the type of unconscious affective communication about which there is a growing body of scientific research and evidence. An information-processing model illuminates how a patient’s dissociated attempts to communicate through sensory experiences may be converted to the verbal symbolic via the analyst’s use of evoked images in the dissociative process. Understanding projective identification as a dissociative process of communication by which the patient projected his own unacceptable emotions into the analyst, who could then know experientially what the patient was feeling, can be understood scientifically as telepathic communication. When a patient experiences the effects of severe trauma and is very dissociative, as in the case presented, it is difficult to track and reflect upon these processes as they occur, making it virtually impossible to become and remain empathically attuned to his many self states. In the dissociative attunement deconstructed here, the therapist–patient dyad resonated increasingly in a telepathic attunement, despite much discord and confusion.

Paranormal Survivors: Validating the Struggling Middle Class

:Over a dozen reality TV shows are based on first-hand accounts of paranormal experiences. Shows like A Haunting and Paranormal Witness feature “ordinary Americans” who use paranormal terms to express the effects of the 2008 housing crisis as they seek validation of their suffering.

Curious Objects: Milstein Exhibition Centre, Cambridge University LibraryNovember 3, 2016–March 21, 2017https://exhibitions.lib.cam.ac.uk/curiousobjects/

Curious Objects: Milstein Exhibition Centre, Cambridge University LibraryNovember 3, 2016–March 21, 2017https://exhibitions.lib.cam.ac.uk/curiousobjects/

Between Electricity and Spirit: Paranormal Investigation and the Creation of Doubt in England

ABSTRACTIn contemporary England, amateur paranormal investigators actively seek empirical evidence of the paranormal. These investigators are self‐fashioned experts who aim to balance scientific and spiritual perspectives in hopes of researching the existence of ghosts from an objective perspective. Despite actively seeking out ghosts and amassing firsthand paranormal experiences, investigators remain deeply doubtful about the nature of their evidence and the existence of the paranormal. Here, I explore the production and experience of doubt by examining paranormal investigators’ struggles to define and quantify the paranormal. Competing ideas about the substance or nature of ghosts lie at the heart of this struggle. Paranormal investigators agree that collecting and analyzing electromagnetic energy offers the most promising pathway for establishing empirical evidence of the paranormal. However, there is analytic uncertainty regarding the meaning of electromagnetic energy: it might indicate a spiritual or natural presence. Here, I argue that these two competing frames of interpretation engender and sustain states of doubt among investigators; however, paradoxically, these very states of doubt allow them to maintain and sustain embodied encounters with the very paranormal forces they doubt. [doubt, knowledge production, science, spirituality, paranormal, electromagnetic energy, embodied encounters, England]

An interpretative phenomenological analysis exploring synesthesia as an exceptional experience: insights for consciousness and cognition

ABSTRACTPrevious research has indicated that there may be a role for synesthesia in exceptional experiences, including experiences which have been labeled “paranormal.” The current project sought to further understand what it is like to experience the world synesthetically and how synesthesia can inform our understanding of exceptional experiences (ExE). A case study was undertaken with a 27-year-old male participant (“Harry”) who experienced several forms of strong synesthesia in addition to exceptional experiences and cognitive and perceptual abilities (e.g., subjective paranormal experiences, musical ability, mathematical ability, enhanced memory skills). A semi-structured interview exploring his experiences was undertaken. An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was conducted on the interview transcripts, which resulted in the identification of five main themes. The themes can be summarized as relationship with synesthesia, complexity/kaleidoscope of representations, access to meaning, control of synesthesia and manipulation of representations, and exceptional abilities. The synesthesias appear to bestow an ability to represent (and access meanings associated with) subtle and abstract aspects of Harry‘s lived experience including ExEs and appear to be aligned with strong metacognitive abilities. Findings corroborate recent research in neuroscience which suggest that synesthetic experiences are associated with the activation of concepts.

Creativity, paranormal beliefs and cognitive impairment in the elderly

In the case of older people, aesthetic thought and creativity are ways to keep mind and imagination active by contributing to prevent cognitive decline. Furthermore, having a religious belief system or even a belief system or paranormal experiences has proved to be beneficial for the health of the elderly. The objective was to study the relationship between creativity, degree of cognitive impairment and paranormal beliefs. The existence of differences depending on sociodemographic characteristics was analyzed. A group of 36 elderly people (16 men) aged between 66 and 95 years were administered the Mini-Mental State Examination (MEC), the CREA Test and the Paranormal Beliefs Scale. The main outcomes include that: those with better cognitive status are more creative; the less creative subjects had more traditional religious beliefs and even greater superstition; the elderly with better cognitive status were the least superstitious. It is remarkable that men were more creative, while women excelled in traditional religious beliefs. The study allows reflecting on the importance of professionals who work with the elderly to carry out programs to encourage creativity and even collect information about the belief system.

Creativity, paranormal beliefs and cognitive impairment in the elderly

In the case of older people, aesthetic thought and creativity are ways to keep mind and imagination active by contributing to prevent cognitive decline. Furthermore, having a religious belief system or even a belief system or paranormal experiences has proved to be beneficial for the health of the elderly. The objective was to study the relationship between creativity, degree of cognitive impairment and paranormal beliefs. The existence of differences depending on sociodemographic characteristics was analyzed. A group of 36 elderly people (16 men) aged between 66 and 95 years were administered the Mini-Mental State Examination (MEC), the CREA Test and the Paranormal Beliefs Scale. The main outcomes include that: those with better cognitive status are more creative; the less creative subjects had more traditional religious beliefs and even greater superstition; the elderly with better cognitive status were the least superstitious. It is remarkable that men were more creative, while women excelled in traditional religious beliefs. The study allows reflecting on the importance of professionals who work with the elderly to carry out programs to encourage creativity and even collect information about the belief system.

Anomalous experiences and schizotypy: which comes first? The Hermit Crab syndrome hypothesis

This study confirms findings of previous research as they state that some triggering events or anomalous experiences can give rise to a disruption of cognitive processes and emotional changes in a predisposed person. Furthermore, our research states that the cognitive process and change of world view (paradigm shift (PS)) accompanying some paranormal experiences (PEs) could facilitate the development of a schizotypal personality structure. For the purposes of this study, 675 young people aged between 13 and 25 years old (M = 16.8, SD = 1.9) completed the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, the Revised and Modified Paranormal Belief Scales, the measurement of eight kinds of PE and a self-reported measurement of change of world view. The results confirm the mediating role of PS between paranormal practices and schizotypy as the cognitive process contributing to symptom formation as well as to symptom maintenance. The said results also confirm the existence of cognitive–emotional stages, also called Hermit Crab syndrome, in the process of the “paranormalisation” of reality.

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) , “déjà vu” phenomenon and religious experiences

A lot of controversies appear regarding temporal lobe epilepsy to bridge the gap between religion and neuroscience. TLE was described in literature in 1869 by Russian writer Dostoievski (who suffered from epilepsy), in his work ”The Idiot”, when the hero Prince Myshkin described his epileptic feelings of sublime sacredness of the inner light. Neurotheology is the science trying to understand the brain activities and to find an integration in religion concepts. TLE aura or psychic crisis is defined by simple or complex hallucinations, mystic divine experience, unpleasant experience of fear and deja vu phenomenon. Neppe and Funkhouser (2006) described the notion as already seen, but it means also already heard,met, heard or visited. The“deja vu” phenomenon is always a subjective experience which can appear in normal subjects or in pathologic states like TLE, schizophrenia or other types of psychosis. It can also be a subjective paranormal experience. Neppe’s definition is now universally used, defined as ‘any subjectively inappropriate impression of familiarity of the present experience with an undefined past’ (Neppe, 1983). Deja vu has an impact on neuroscience and descriptions from history and literature and the multitude of descriptions from experiences demand various scientific explanations.

Dissociative disorders and possession experiences in Israel: a comparison of opiate use disorder patients, Arab women subjected to domestic violence, and a nonclinical group.

This study examined the association between exposure to domestic violence and dissociative symptoms. A sample of 68 Israeli opiate use disorder patients in recovery, 80 battered Arab Israeli women, and 103 respondents from a community sample participated in structured interviews that included the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule (DDIS), the Dissociative Trance Disorder Interview Schedule (DTDIS), and the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES). As predicted, community participants reported significantly less exposure to traumatizing events and lower levels of dissociative psychopathology than individuals sampled from specialized treatment centers. In all, 91% of battered female participants were taxon-positive for dissociative disorder with 1 of every 2 respondents reporting symptoms corresponding to dissociative amnesia and depersonalization disorder, suggesting that this group may be particularly vulnerable to dissociative psychopathology. Extrasensory and paranormal experiences (ESP) and dissociative trance disorder experiences were strongly related to dissociative experiences and features of dissociative identity disorder (DID). These statistical associations suggest that dissociative disorders and ESP/trance experiences may share an underlying construct. Further research is needed on trauma and dissociation among female victims of domestic abuse in patriarchal, collectivist societies, particularly in the Arab world.

The Paranormal is (Still) Normal: The Sociological Implications of a Survey of Paranormal Experiences in Great Britain

Historically, there has been limited sociological interest in the paranormal and no systematic study of reported paranormal experiences. There are also few medium-to-large-scale survey results with nationally representative populations focusing on paranormal experiences. This paper provides details of an exploratory survey conducted in 2009 with a nationally representative sample of 4,096 adults aged 16 years and over across Great Britain [1] . Our findings show that 37% of British adults report at least one paranormal experience and that women, those who are middle-aged or individuals resident in the South West are more likely to report such experiences. These results establish incidence levels of reported paranormal experiences in contemporary Britain. We argue also that they merit a more sustained sociological consideration of the paranormal. In this respect we renew and update the robust justification and call for serious research positioning the paranormal as a social phenomenon, originally proposed well over thirty years ago by Greeley (1975) .