Psy 429. Paranormal Phenomena and Experience Andrew D. Dewald



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PSY 429. Paranormal Phenomena and Experience

  • Andrew D. Dewald


What are we going to do?

  • Social Science + Natural Science

  • Religion + Philosophy

  • Importance of skepticism, scientific analysis, and valid logic when evaluating fringe science/paranormal claims



What do I call you?

  • Dr. Dewald?

  • Mr. Dewald?

  • Professor Dewald?



The Books



Penn and Teller



What do you have to do?

  • 1. Midterm

  • 2. Final

  • 3.Reading Responses

  • 4. Paper

  • 5. SPEAK UP!

  • There is no attendance, but you must be present on the day that responses are do….somebody else may NOT hand them in.



Reading Responses

  • Based on Chapters in the book

  • You do it…you get credit

  • Write a short description of your reaction to the reading, anything you have in your life that relates and 1-3 questions.

  • We will go over them in class and discuss.



The Paper

  • 1. Pick a Paranormal Topic

  • 2. Explain the history and current information about it.

  • 3. Using techniques learned in class, explain why this is a paranormal belief and the tactics used to convey it’s reality.

  • 4. Show evidence against the proposed phenomena based on science and empiricism.

  • October 3rd: Due date for proposed topic.



Examples

  • Big Foot

  • God

  • Creationism

  • Aliens

  • UFO’s

  • Psychics

  • Monsters.

  • Faith Healing

  • Levitation

  • Ghosts

  • Conspiracy theories



Extra Credit

  • Experiments:

    • 2.5 points for participation
    • No more than 3/ semester
  • Local Publication coverage of paranormal events

    • Must be a local and current.
    • Cut out/ print, bring in and present.
    • 3 points
    • (cat example)


What we are not going to do

  • This class is NOT a witch hunt.

  • We will not bash other beliefs

  • One person’s “weird” thing could be another’s cherished belief!

  • We will be thinking about things in an empirical and skeptical manner, NOT ripping on, making fun of, or taunting others.



What are we going to do?

  • Baruch Spinoza

    • Dutch Philosopher
      • “I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to UNDERSTAND them.”


However…

  • Some things are just absolutely insane….

  • We can have a chuckle at their expense, but be sure to respect the views and feelings of your peers in the class so as not to make enemies.

  • Discuss……don’t Argue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



About me…

  • Pennsylvania native



About me

  • Undergrad:

  • Lebanon Valley College (PA)

  • London Metropolitan University (UK)



About me

  • Hershey Inc…..



About me…

  • Guitars, Guns, Baseball ….



Lets talk….

  • Name:

  • Year:

  • Where you from?

  • Why did you take this class?



What are some things you have heard of?

  • Has anybody experienced anything paranormal?

  • Have you known anybody who has made these claims?

  • What is the general consensus in the United States about this sort of stuff?



What will we cover?

  • Ghosts

  • Afterlife

  • Channeling

  • Near-death experiences

  • Psychics

  • Psychology and all it’s BS!

  • UFOs and alien abductions

  • Creationism vs. evolution

  • Religious miracles



How will we cover?

  • 1.Reviewing the myriad of events that are considered to be paranormal

  • 2. Addressing the public’s interest in paranormal phenomena

  • 3. Evaluating and dispelling the myths surrounding paranormal events

  • 4. Encouraging scientific rigor when examining paranormal events

  • 5. Reviewing the consequences of erroneous belief systems.



Psychology?

  • Unknown to most people

  • Information concerning human behavior and the unconscious

  • Most who are considered to be in the field of psychology (as determined by the general population) are far from it.

  • SO WHAT?!



Psychology?

  • Requires critical thinking skills!!!

  • More so than any other science.

  • Example: Chemistry

  • Hydrochloric Acid and Aluminum Foil: Predictions?

  • Example: Psychology

  • Josh’s parents get divorced when he is 7….when he turns 25 he will be __________________



Skeptic?

  • What is a skeptic?

  • Do you know of any?



Skeptic?

  • Skeptic

    • Greek: “thoughtful or full of though”
    • 2500 years old!
    • Plato and Socrates
      • “all I know is that I know nothing”


Skeptics?

  • Modern Skepticism:

    • Science based movement
    • First “Pop” skeptic: James Randi (the amazing)
      • 70’s and 80’s-debunked many psychics and spiritualists on the Tonight Show.


Skepticism

  • Embodies in the scientific method

    • Skepticism is a METHOD leading to conclusions
    • A skeptic is “one who questions the validity of a particular claim by calling for evidence to prove or disprove it”
    • “That’s nice…prove it”


Skepticism

  • 1.Universal Skepticism:

      • “The reality of the senses and the validity of rational inference should be mistrusted.”
      • Philosophy: this has led to Extreme Solopsism:
        • “The reality of the external world and even one’s existence are doubted.”


Universal?

  • Problems?

  • Overall, it can be seen that “Universal Skepticism is negative, self-defeating, and contradictory



Skepticism

  • 2. Selective Skepticism

    • If a finding seems scientifically valid, it is accepted, until a better theory comes along to replace it.
      • there are NO absolute laws !!!
      • …a bit better


Science?

  • What the heck is science?



What science is NOT

  • 1. Not defined by subject matter

      • Bio, Chem, Psych, Physics…..what about selling cars?
  • 2. Not defined by use of particular instrumentation and tools.

      • Do I have to blow stuff up?


So what is it then?

  • You tell me……

  • A way of thinking!



Science!

  • Science and Skepticism

    • “a set of methods designed to describe and interpret observed or inferred phenomena, past or present, and aimed at building a testable body of knowledge open to rejection or confirmation.”
    • What are some VERY important words here?


Scientific Principles

  • Induction

    • Forming a hypothesis from existing data
  • Deduction

    • Making specific predictions based on hypothesis
  • Observation

    • Gathering data, driven by our hypothesis that tells us what to look for
  • Verification

    • Testing the predictions against further observations to confirm or falsify the initial hypothesis.


Scientific principles

  • Via the scientific method we can come to the following conclusions:

    • 1.Hypothesis
      • A testable statement accounting for a set of observations
    • 2.Theory
      • A well-supported and well-tested hypothesis
        • evolution
    • 3.Fact:
      • A conclusion confirmed to such an extent that it would be reasonable to offer provisional agreement.
        • The earth is not flat


Rationalism

  • Basing conclusion on logic and evidence

    • How do we know the world is round?
    • Dogmatism:


Scientific Principles

  • How to ALWAYS think about explaining the universe…

  • Systematic Empiricism

  • Production of Public Knowledge

  • Examination of Solvable Problems



Systematic Empiricism

  • Empiricism?

  • Relying in observation…good enough?

  • STRUCTURE!!!!

  • My car is scratched: Who did it?



Production of Public Knowledge

  • “No man is an island”

  • Must be public and repeatable.

  • Why is this necessary?

  • Findings must be presented to the community in such a way that they can be replicated, criticized or extended by anyone



Cold Fusion?



Empirically Solvable Problems

  • Predict Control Explain

  • What are some questions?

  • What are NOT some questions?

  • Pinker: Mysteries to Problems?

      • Jefferson and Sally?! Mystery back then…Problem now!


Pseudoscience/ Paranormal

  • Characteristics:

  • 1. non-falsifiable or irrefutable hypothesis.

  • What does non-falsifiable mean?

    • No evidence can show the hypothesis to be wrong.


Falsifiability?

  • Scientific theories must be presented in a way so as that they can be shown to be false.

  • What “SHOULD” happen and what will “NOT” happen

  • Predictions on Josh: He SHOULD develop some sort of behavior related to the divorce of his parent, how it manifests itself is TBD.

  • Josh will NOT develop the power to kill a deer from 40 yards with mind bullets, on account of his parents divorce.



Lets try one…

  • I, Andrew D. Dewald: am God

  • I created all of you

  • I control all of you

  • And you all have no free will.

  • I determine everything



Characteristic 2

  • Unwillingness to look closely at the phenomenon they claim exists.

    • Need for hard data completely ignored.
    • We never landed on the moon


What if science can’t explain?

  • If science can’t fully explain the phenomena COMPLETELY, reasonable explanations are ignored or dismissed and the proponent concludes that pseudoscience is supported.

  • Why is this dangerous?



Santa?

  • Who has seen him?

  • NASA Apollo 8 saw him

  • Santa produces

  • Who does the burden lie on?

  • The proponent or the Skeptic?

  • -shifting the burden to the Skeptic is NOT a legitimate means of defending unattainable hypothesis.



Because I’m a nerd….

  • 2 Billion Children in the World

      • (Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children no need to apply)
      • = 378 Million Children (Assuming they are good)
  • 31 Hours to work= 821.6 visits per second

        • 1/1000th of a second/ kid
  • 650 miles per second, 3000 times the speed of sound =14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy per SECOND



Conspiracy Theories

  • Not paranormal in nature but pop up in the belief systems of proponents of claims.

  • Who knows some?

  • Biggest Problem?

      • HUGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE TO NOT COME FORWARD!


Polywater

  • 1960’s: Russia

  • Boils way high, freezes way low

  • More stable than H20

  • If allowed to contaminate actual water…BOOM!

  • Skeptics could not make it

  • Russia: You’re not doing it right!



Conclusion:

  • Extraordinary claims need extraordinary proof!

  • Science is open minded: Believers are NOT!



What is the Paranormal?

  • A subset of pseudoscience

  • “any phenomenon that in one or more respects exceeds the limits of what is deemed physically possible according to current scientific assumptions”

  • A reliance on explanations for alleged phenomena that are WELL outside the bounds of established science.

  • ParanormalPseudoscience



Pseudo vs. Paranormal

  • UFO’s-You tell me.

  • We have been visited by aliens who use wormhole technology to warp space to reach us.

  • All UFO space craft is actual psychic projections from the dead spirits of the Universe.



Who cares?

  • What does it matter if people believe crazy stuff?

  • What do you think?



Who cares?

  • Late 19th/ Early 20th century:

    • People started to care
    • Spiritualists were exposed by magicians.
    • Today:
    • CSICOP (1970)
      • Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.


CSICOP

  • CSICOP established several goals:

    • A. “to encourage the investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims in a responsible, scientific way”
    • B. “to obtain and disseminate to the public accurate, scientifically reliable information about the paranormal.”


Who cares?



Question:

  • Is teaching skepticism harmful to curiosity and creativity?

  • What do you think?



Why do they care?

  • I. Claims might be true!

    • A.Hypnotism
      • Franz Anton Mesmer 1700’s
    • B. Stones from space?(17th c)
    • C. Acupuncture?(70’s)
    • Aliens?
    • (sure)


Why do they care?

  • II. Responsibility to inform the public:

    • America is easy:
    • Nisbet (1998)
      • 45%-Faith Healing
      • 30%-UFO’s (like actually here now)
      • 37%- Astrology (like in the paper!)
      • 25%-Reincarnation (Christians)


Why do they care?

  • II. Responsibility to inform the public:

    • The public spends a lot of time and MONEY on this junk.
    • Fraud (John Edward)
    • Uncritical coverage of paranormal claims (Faith healers, prayer, Mary on toast)
    • Alternative Medicine (10 BILLION/ year)


Why do they care?

  • III. Dangers in belief:

    • So what if I believe?
    • 3 levels of why this is trouble:
      • 1.Philosophical
      • 2. Practical
      • 3. Social


Philosophy:

  • False beliefs about how the world actually works= DANGEROUS!

  • Truth=good

  • Holding an incorrect view of how the world works is referred to as a?



Practical

  • New Kona Coffee:

  • 200% the regular caffeine! (only has 10%)

  • Problems?

  • The Amish (sorry boys):

  • Prayer over inoculation



Social Bringing it to the masses!

  • Uncritical acceptance of paranormal belief systems can be extremely damaging

  • Examples:



Conclusion:

  • Those are extremes

  • However: If one accepts faulty evidence, intellectual shoddiness and fraud and twisted logic for little things…it be comes EASIER to accept the same type of evidence in support for REALLY bad stuff.





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