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?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycE
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).
•
•
•
•
•
•
What is psychic healing?
What is ESP?
What is telepathy?
What is clairvoyance?
What is precognition?
What are psychokinesis and
telekinesis?
• What is pseudoscience?
Terms &
Definitions
- Click here to watch
video and write down
definitions for the key
terms opposite