Psychology of the Paranormal Email Network

New paper on measuring belief in conspiracies out today

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:45:00 GMT

Hi All,

For those of you with an interest in the psychology of belief in conspiracy theories, you might like to check out a new paper by Rob Brotherton, myself, and Alan Pickering in Frontiers in Personality Science and Individual Differences on measuring belief in conspiracies. It's open access, so help yourselves:

http://bit.ly/Z9UMnZ

It's part of a Research Topic including other articles:

http://bit.ly/12S2lNr

Best wishes,
Chris

The Incredibly Interesting Psychology Book ebook by David Webb - Kindle edition FREE!!!!

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:46:00 GMT

Hi All,

For those of you with Kindles, here is an offer from David Webb that you simply cannot miss (see below)!

Best wishes,
Chris

++++

Dear Chris,

The kindle version of The Incredibly Interesting Psychology Book is now up and running and will be available for free for the next 5 days (May 17-21) See following links.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CR1DX22 (USA Link)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CR1DX22 (UK Link)

I'd be very grateful if you could let your twitter followers know and anybody else you think might be interested.

Many thanks for your support.

Cheers

David

This Morning, tomorrow, on Near-Death Experiences

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:49:00 GMT

Hi All,

Just a quick email to let you know that I'll be appearing on ITV's "This Morning" programme tomorrow chatting about near-death experiences.

Best wishes,
Chris

CFI-UK: Can Science Solve Every Mystery? Conway Hall, 8/6/13

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:38:00 GMT

Hi All,

Interesting event coming up at conway Hall on 8/6/13. Details below and at:

http://www.cfilondon.org/

Best wishes,
Chris

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Can science solve every mystery? A scientist, a philosopher and a Christian discuss

Peter Atkins, David Papineau, Peter S. Williams

Can science answer every question? Should scientists show a little humility and acknowledge there are questions that only religion can answer? Are science and religion “non-overlapping magisteria”, as the scientist Stephen Jay Gould claimed, or is science capable of showing that religion is false, as Richard Dawkins believes? And what, exactly, do philosophers do?

Presented and chaired by Stephen Law (Philosophy, Heythrop and Provost of CFI UK).

Saturday June 8th, 2013

Conway Hall
25 Red Lion Square
Holborn
London
WC1R 4RL

(indicative prices not confirmed) £7 (£4 students) Free to friends of CFI UK. Tickets on door. Book signings.

10.30am registration. 11am-2.30pm

Speakers

Professor Peter Atkins (Univ. of Oxford). Chemist, atheist and author of many books including Galileo’s Finger and Four Laws That Drive the Universe:

“Religion closes off the central questions of existence by attempting to dissuade us from further enquiry by asserting that we cannot ever hope to comprehend. We are, religion asserts, simply too puny.”

“Sitting around thinking about the world … is philosophy. And we know where that leads to in understanding. My argument is – nowhere.”

Peter S. Williams (Damaris Trust). Philosopher and leading British Christian apologist. Author of C.S. Lewis vs the New Atheists and A Faithful Guide to Philosophy:

“The existence of scientific laws is inexplicable unless we move beyond science into the realm of metaphysics, postulating a God who intends those laws for a reason.”

Professor David Papineau (KCL). One of Britain’s leading philosophers and humanists and author of Philosophical Devices:

“Philosophical problems are characterized by a special kind of difficulty, a difficulty which means that they cannot be solved, as scientific problems normally are, simply by the uncovering of further empirical evidence. Rather they require some conceptual unravelling, a careful unpicking of implicit ideas, often culminating in the rejection of assumptions we didn’t realize we had.”

Anyone believe in "cellular memory"?

Fri, 10 May 2013 15:52:00 GMT

Hi All,

I have just finished doing an interview for a very nice young lady named Ellie Austin who is writing an article on cellular memory (as it relates to organ transplants) for her project on an MA course in Magazine Journalism. In case you don't know what cellular memory is, here is the definition from Wikipedia:

"A variation of body memory, the pseudoscientific hypothesis that memories can be stored in individual cells."

You can find more on the topic here:

http://skepdic.com/cellular.html

As you might imagine, I am rather sceptical regarding the idea that receiving an organ donation can result in a person taking on characteristics and memories from the donor, so she's got the sceptical side of the debate reasonably well covered. But she's finding it difficult to locate people to interview who believe in the claim, either as a result of their assessment of the available evidence or perhaps because they themselves had an organ transplant. Can you help? Do you believe in cellular memory or know someone who does who would be willing to be interviewed? If so, please contact Ellie directly at: ...@hotmail.com">elli...@hotmail.com

Best wishes,
Chris

Dr David V. Barrett on The Fragmentation of a Sect @ Conway Hall, 12/5/13

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:36:00 GMT

Hi All,

David V Barrett is giving a public lecture based on his new book The Fragmentation of a Sect at Conway Hall on Sunday (full details below).

Best wishes,
Chris

++++++++

Hi Chris

I'll be giving a public lecture based on my new book The Fragmentation of a Sect at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London, at 11am on Sunday 12th May. See http://www.conwayhall.org.uk/dr-david-v-barrett for details (and https://www.facebook.com/TheFragmentationOfASect for the book, which is based on my doctoral thesis).

All welcome! (I know it's a Sunday morning, but it would be good to see a few friendly faces in the audience -- and we can get together in the pub afterwards.)

This will be similar to the APRU talk I gave at Goldsmiths in February, so if you missed it then, you can hear it on Sunday -- and hear me explaining to a roomful of rationalists and atheists why studying religion is important...

David V Barrett

Mystical-type experiences of atheists

Fri, 10 May 2013 08:56:00 GMT

Hi All,

Alice Herron at the University of Surrey is carrying out an investigation into the spontaneous, transformative, enlightening and/or mystical-type experiences of atheists. If you are an atheist and have had one or more of these experiences and would be willing to participate in this study, please contact her directly at ...@surrey.ac.uk">a.he...@surrey.ac.uk. The research has received a favourable ethical review from the University of Surrey.

[NB: This is not an APRU project, so all comments and questions relating to it should be sent to Alice not me.]

Best wishes,
Chris

Unfounded food fears

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:47:00 GMT

Hi All,

Occasionally I send out emails to this list about important stuff that does not relate at all to the "psychology of the paranormal". Prepare yourself for one such email. The message below is from one of my postgrads...

Best wishes,
Chris

+++++

Hi Chris,

I've been recently volunteering as a research assistant for the campaign group Sense About Science's junior wing - the Young Voices of Science. We have recently launched a campaign that calls for supermarkets to put evidence at the heart of their policies. We have been asking supermarkets for evidence behind claims and policies on products that are claimed to be free from GM, parabens and MSG.

The supermarkets were asked to give reasons for advertising products as “free from” these substances. Without exception, those supermarkets which responded did not provide evidence of health effects. Instead they blamed customer concerns. In response, we have written an open letter to ten supermarket CEOs, calling on supermarkets to stop misleading customers about health risks.

It's started to pick up some press in the guardian blogs which I have attached below, but it would be great if you feel happy to, to share this with your mailing list? I appreciate it may not be directly related to paranormal research but it is an important campaign regarding the use of bad misleading science that can contribute to unfounded public health fears.

Many thanks for any help you can give in raising awareness!

http://www.senseaboutscience.org/pages/afe-negative-claims.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/may/09/supermarkets-unfounded-fears-food-health

Many thanks,

Christopher

Christopher Thresher-Andrews MSc MBPsS AMRS Visiting Tutor & PhD Student

Want to see some magic tricks?

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:37:00 GMT

Hi All,

If you have a spare 10 minutes, please would you take part in a brief experiment investigating reactions to magic tricks?

Click on the link below to start:

http://webprojects.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/hw301/MagicVideos1/

Feel free to forward the link on.

Thanks and best wishes,
Chris

Psychology of the Paranormal Email Network Message

Sat, 04 May 2013 13:56:00 GMT

Hi All,

This may be of interest? Note that I am simply forwarding this on, I am not involved in organising this conference so please do not send me any queries relating to it.

Best wishes,

Chris

Exploring the Extraordinary 5th Conference

View this email in your browser

Fifth Conference
20th-22nd September, 2013
York, UK

FRIDAY

1.00-1.15              Introduction

Parapsychology I: Research
1.15-1.45              Varieties of childhood trauma as predictors of adult paranormal and New Age worldviews Dr Paul Rogers, Viathehey Shanmugam and Emma Lowrie
1.45-2.15              ‘Third eye dreaming’- The role of the pineal gland, transliminality and music in dream ESP.7 Sarah Grierson

2.15-2.30              Coffee Break

Parapsychology II: Reflections and Legacies
2.30-3.00              Dr Alex Tanous: The life of a psychic psychical researcherCallum Cooper
3.00-3.30              How to get psychologists talking about precognition: A review of the Bem experiments and the reaction to them Dr Chris Roe

3.30-3.45              Coffee Break

Extraordinary Journeys
3.45-4.15              In search of the philosopher's stone Maria Papspyrou
4.15-5.00              Shamanic journey Dr Zoe Bran

7.00-                      Dinner and drinks in hotel

SATURDAY

Spiritualism and shamanism
10.00-10.30         Spirits, séances and Stoke-on-Trent: Visualising the hidden world of Spiritualism in a post-industrial city Dr Sara MacKian with Daniele Sambo, Dr Steve Pile and Dr Nadia Bartolini
10.30-11.00         Hidden apprenticeships: The transmission of enhanced awareness in mediumistic and other shamanic traditions Dr David Gordon Wilson

11.00-11.15         Coffee Break

Ghosts and hauntings
11.15-11.45         Exploring the phenomenological aspects of the apparitional experience Aaron Lomas
11.45-12.15         Scared to death and other ghost stories from Victorian Sheffield Dr David Clarke
12.15-12.45         Book hauntings Mark Valentine

12.45-2.00           Lunch

Imagination, space and the extraordinary in culture
2.00-2.30              The alien mind: Outer space and extraterrestrial spiritualitiesDr Andrew Fergus Wilson
2.30-3.00              Cinema and its double Andy Sharp

3.00-3.15              Coffee Break

Theory and experience
3.15-3.45              Is there need for increased awareness courses in the (anthropological) academic curriculum? Reflections on experiences of synchronicity Dr Christel Mattheuws
3.45-4.15              Visions of interiority Dr Donnalee Dox
4.15-5.00              Sacred Caves: Exploring sensory experiences in our natural and urban landscape
Dr. Patricia ‘Iolana, Dr. Sara MacKian & Daniele Sambo

7.00-                      Dinner and drinks in town (venue tbc)

SUNDAY

Methods and tools
10.00-10.30         Seeing what is 'unseen': Using video to enrich our social understanding of paranormal experiences Rachael Hayward
10.30-11.00         Altered States of Consciousness as a principle for sonic arts composition Dr Jonathan Weinel
11.00-11.30         Playback Hex: William Burroughs and the magical objectivity of the tape recorder Dr James Reily

11.30-11.45         Coffee Break

Ghosts and hauntings in Asia
11.45-12.15         Death becomes us: Karma and reincarnation in the Killing Fields Caroline Bennett
12.15-12.45         Reviving Chinese ghosts Prof Charles Emmons

12.45-1.15           Closing remarks and conference discussion

1.15-                      Lunch

Registration is now open for our fifth conference. You can download the registration booklet on our website. Abstracts and biographies will be uploaded shortly. We're very excited about the papers we have lined up, and very much hope to see you there. Please forward on to friends, colleagues, students and associates. For more information, send us an email.

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Loftus online!

Fri, 03 May 2013 08:23:00 GMT

Hi All,

For those of you who could not make it to Prof Elizabeth Loftus's excellent talk for the APRU at Goldsmiths on 20 March, you can enjoy an audio-recording of it (with pictures, including slides) here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-K0SjZqoMQ

Also, you can listen to an interview with Prof Loftus here:

http://www.gold.ac.uk/podcasts/

A version of this interview will be published in a future issue of The Skeptic magazine:

http://www.skeptic.org.uk/

Best wishes,
Chris