Psychologist takes part in massive online Q&A on the psychology of the paranormal

On 29 June 2015, Professor Chris French took to the social network reddit – the self-styled ‘front page of the internet’ - to discuss the psychology of all things paranormal, including UFO abduction claims, conspiracy theories, the existence of ghosts and cases of reported demonic possession.

Each day, reddit gives researchers from around the world the opportunity to directly engage with a truly global audience. The ‘AMA’ (Ask Me Anything) session was hosted by reddit’s 8.5 million strong science community and generated over 1400 comments and questions. The discussion was extremely popular and was voted onto the website's front page, which attracts over 170 million visitors a month. 

As a direct result of the AMA, Chris has been contacted by a US literary agent, the BBC and many participants with first-hand accounts of sleep paralysis.

Read the top 5 questions and responses below, and the entire discussion on reddit.

I see dead people

Q: What correlations are there between belief in the paranormal and other belief systems. For example, would a person be more likely to "see a ghost" were they Christian or Hindu?

What about different socioeconomic classes?

A: There are some cross-cultural differences in terms of the details but the underlying concepts tend to be quite similar. For example, belief in spirits of the dead are to be found in all societies, both historically and geographically, but the details can vary a lot. What people experience reflects their own cultural background strongly supporting the idea that such experiences reflect cultural expectations. For example, Christians never meet Hindu gods during a near-death experiences – but people from all cultures can experience NDEs.

With respect to socioeconomic status and superstitious thinking, it tends to be the case that lower SES folk adopt more traditional superstitious beliefs whereas the educated middle-classes go for such superstitions as feng shui, crystal healing, and other forms of complementary medicine – not least, I suppose, because they are the only ones who have money to waste on such practices!

The Truth is Out There

Q: Have you ever come across a case that has truly stumped you? Additionally, what is the most common pitfall that people fall into that leads to "false" paranormal beliefs? Thanks for the AMA!

A: I would not claim that I always have a definite non-paranormal explanation for every case that is put before me but there are usually several plausible possibilities. One thing to bear in mind is the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. The account that you hear may be sincere but inaccurate. There is also the possibility of deliberate hoaxes (famous examples include the Fox Sisters, the Amityville Horror, the Roswell autopsy footage – the list is endless).

There are many reasons why people might believe in the paranormal, the most common being direct personal experience. But, as I’m indicating, those experiences may well have mundane if unusual explanations. If I had to sum up the one “most common pitfall”, I’d opt for our wonderful but imperfect cognitive systems – so many biases that we are not even normally aware of!

The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli

Q: Another question - with regards to sleep paralysis, there is a very common theme in regards to what people experience during an episode - the classic "old hag" and shadow figures. In the context of the paranormal it is easy to see why people would think that these are malignant spirits and entities - what then is the explanation for the common reoccurrence of these same figures during sleep paralysis attacks, given that they generally take on a sinister tone?

A: That is another great question – and one to which I have no definitive answer. I’d speculate that the common themes that recur during SP episodes might have their roots in our evolutionary history but I confess that I do not really know. Having said that, there is in fact a great variety in terms of the details of what people experience – including gremlins, rapidly growing pot-plants, faeries…

If it wasn’t for those meddling kids…

Q: How often do you get creeped out doing your job? Like that feeling you get from a good horror movie. What’s some of the times that it has (If it does) happened?

Any good stories of debates with people who were a little on the paranoid side of conspiracy theories?

Anything cool you could never disprove?

And what lead you into this career? Why did you chose it? (Was it too much scooby-do?)

A: I've spent more nights in supposedly haunted houses than I care to remember. As a kid, I was terrified of the dark. These days, I find sitting in the dark in "haunted houses" about as exciting as watching paint dry. If I'm doing it for a TV show, I sometimes find myself thinking, "Why am I doing this? I used to have a proper job." Then I remember - they pay me! ;-)

Nothing has ever happened during these programmes that scared me one little bit - and I am not a brave man!

Lots of good stories about conspiracy theorists but I'm running out of time. Look out for a forthcoming book by my ex-PhD student, Robert Brotherton, called "Suspicious Minds: Why we Believe in Conspiracy Theories" - highly recommended! (He now owes me a drink!)

Loads of stuff I can't disprove. Even if I debunked every ghost claim to date (I couldn't!), who is to say that the next one isn't genuine?

I love working in this area. As well as being just great fun, it also raises some really interesting and profound questions about human nature.

And you just CAN'T have too much Scooby-Doo!

Weird Science

Q: Have you personally ever experienced any paranormal events/activity? What do you believe the scientific explanation for the paranormal is?

A: With respect to the former question, I’ve had occasional experiences that, if I were a believer, I may well interpret as paranormal. Nothing too dramatic, just things like occasional episodes of sleep paralysis, striking coincidences, etc. But I now believe that all of them have non-paranormal explanations.

With respect to the latter question, there’s no quick answer to that one. I teach a 20-hour module on Anomalistic Psychology as part of our BSc (Hons) Psychology programme here at Goldsmiths, University of London. In that module, I consider all of the main sub-disciplines of psychology – cognitive, social, neuro, clinical, developmental, and so on – in terms of what insights they might provide to help us to understand paranormal beliefs and ostensibly paranormal experiences. Some of the factors that I believe are relevant: cognitive biases, hallucinations, false memories, wishful thinking, confirmation bias, media coverage, etc.