Anomalistic Psychology Lesson 1

Do you have any paranormal beliefs? Are you a believer or a sceptic? Find out, using the ‘Paranormal Beliefs Questionnaire’

Recap of Unit 4 topics Section A: Depression (Total = 24 marks. Essay – same as Unit 3) Section B: Psychology in Action: Anomalistic Psychology (Total = 24 marks) Mixture of short and long answer questions which often require application to a scenario) Section C: Research methods (Total = 35 marks. Mixture of short and long questions based on scenarios)

Anomalistic Psychology This is on the front page of your packs

What is anomalistic psychology? Anomalistic psychology is the study of extraordinary phenomena including (but not restricted to) those which are often labelled "paranormal“ It is directed towards understanding bizarre experiences that many people have without necessarily assuming that there is anything paranormal involved It entails attempting to explain paranormal and related beliefs and Ostensibly (apparently but perhaps not actually) paranormal experiences in terms of known psychological and physical factors.

Anomalistic psychology investigates the imperfections of the human cognitive system that could lead us to conclude that we have experienced the paranormal when in fact we have not. The cognitive biases include not only those affecting perception and memory, but also those related to reasoning and judgment.

Hints for things anomalistic psychologists may study Clairvoyance, telepathy, extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis Uri Geller, strange beliefs, predictions people make... Uri Geller claims he uses something called ‘psychokinesis’ to bend spoons (and do various other things). What do YOU think he is doing? 863jRA9Q

Parapsychology Parapsychology is slightly different to anomalistic psychology; it is the scientific investigation of the "paranormal" – phenomena that cannot be explained in terms of currently accepted scientific theories. Parapsychologists also tend to try to find evidence supporting the paranormal, whereas anomalistic psychologists are more sceptical. Attempt to provide evidence that supports the existence of genuine paranormal phenomena Using these descriptions of anomalistic psychology and parapsychology, make notes or revision aids on them.

What we’ll study Explaining these phenomenon using psychology (cognitive biases, personality factors, memory, deception) Results from studies which have tested these things The scientific rigor of these studies (pseudoscience) vs. the idea that as parapsychology is anomalistic it does not fit the mould for scientific testing Some of the factors which may account for these beliefs

Paranormal belief scale Lets have a go at the quiz How to score this is on the next slide

Scoring the revised paranormal belief scale Reverse score Item 23. This means 1=7, 2=6, 3=5, 4=4 Traditional Religious Belief = Mean of Items (1, 8, 15, 22); Psi (paranormal processes such as extra sensory perception and psycho-kenesis) = Mean of Items (2, 9, 16, 23); Witchcraft = Mean of Items (3, 10, 17, 24); Superstition = Mean of Items (4, 11, 18); Spiritualism = Mean of Items (5, 12, 19, 25) Extraordinary Life Forms = Mean of Items (6, 13, 20) Precognition = Mean of Items (7, 14, 21, 26).

Terms & Definitions - Click here to watch video and write down definitions for the key terms opposite Terms & Definitions - Click here to watch video and write down definitions for the key terms opposite What is psychic healing? What is ESP? What is telepathy? What is clairvoyance? What is precognition? What are psychokinesis and telekinesis? What is pseudoscience?