Paranormal Psychology PSY410

This course will evaluate the psychological theories, phenomena, and explanations for paranormal experiences including but not limited to ghosts, possessions, aliens, demons, out of body experiences, and psychic/telekinetic abilities.

In this class, we will explore the psychological research relating to the paranormal, with a particular emphasis on the psychological explanations for such phenomena. This course is designed to examine how psychologists have conducted research with regard to such phenomena and consider the real-world impact of this research. Importantly, the goal of this class is not to change your mind or make you believe a certain thing (or not believe a certain thing)

– the purpose is to educate you about how psychologists interpret paranormal phenomena.

As the instructor for this course, I have several goals that I hope you will accomplish this semester: An appreciation of the theoretical, empirical, and applied sides to studying paranormal phenomena from a psychological perspective. An ability to think critically about and analyze the theories, methods, and findings related to paranormal phenomena. Cultivate a lasting awareness of the impact of the psychological research that has been conducted on paranormal phenomena in the real world.

There are a number of guiding principles central to my teaching philosophy. First, the purpose of this course is to gain a broad depth of knowledge. Therefore, an emphasis will be placed on learning and integrating concepts. Second, this course covers a very broad range of topics and draws from several different sub-disciplines of psychology. Because our emphasis is on how psychology interacts with these phenomena, most of the required materials for the course are focused on that. I provide more basic information (e.g., classifications of different types of aliens) as supplemental material so that everyone can be on the same page. I also provide other information that is psychological in nature but relatively less important as supplements as well. My hope is that this allows you to prioritize your time in the most efficient way possible.

This is a really great synopsis of many psychological phenomena that can be employed in understanding many of the paranormal experiences we discuss in class. Much of it will be review by this point, so feel free to skim sections that seem repetitive and focus more on new information. In particular, pay attention to the links the author makes between childhood trauma, fantasy proneness, and belief in paranormal experiences.

This chapter is a great synopsis and is not very kind to the notion that astrology can make valid predictions about the future. One thing that I think it interesting with this is that much of the work was done by Hans Eysenck, one of the most famous psychologists of all time. He was famous for research in personality and intelligence and was one of the first to claim that racial differences in intelligence test scores were due to environmental/cultural influences and not due to inherent differences (e.g., most people thought that Blacks were just mentally inferior to Whites based on biology). He got punched in the face, bomb threats, and threats against his family for going against this racist narrative. He was also the most cited living psychologist in the world when he died in 1997.