PSY 429. Paranormal Phenomena and Experience

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PSY 429. Paranormal Phenomena and Experience

• Andrew D. Dewald

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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

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What do I call you?

• Dr. Dewald?
• Mr. Dewald?
• Professor Dewald?

ANDY!
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The Books
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Penn and Teller
Penn and Teller are bad men They say bad
words. If you are easily offended by the F
word, and other brilliant profanities.dont
watch. .its the lawthey have to talk like jerks.
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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.

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Reading Responses

• Based on Chapters in the book
• You do ityou 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.

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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 its reality.
• 4. Show evidence against the proposed phenomena
  based on science and empiricism.
• October 3rd Due date for proposed topic.

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Examples

• Big Foot
• God
• Creationism
• Aliens
• UFOs
• Psychics
• Monsters.
• Faith Healing
• Levitation
• Ghosts
• Conspiracy theories

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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)

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What we are not going to do

• This class is NOT a witch hunt.
• We will not bash other beliefs
• One persons weird thing could be anothers
  cherished belief!
• We will be thinking about things in an empirical
  and skeptical manner, NOT ripping on, making fun
  of, or taunting others.

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vzrzMhU_4m-g

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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.

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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.
• Discussdont Argue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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About me

• Pennsylvania native

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About me
My Flat!!!!!!!!

• Undergrad
• Lebanon Valley College (PA)
• London Metropolitan University (UK)

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About me

• Hershey Inc..

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About me

• Guitars, Guns, Baseball .

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Lets talk.

• Name
• Year
• Where you from?
• Why did you take this class?

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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?

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What will we cover?

• Ghosts
• Afterlife
• Channeling
• Near-death experiences
• Psychics
• Psychology and all its BS!
• UFOs and alien abductions
• Creationism vs. evolution
• Religious miracles

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How will we cover?

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

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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?!

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Psychology?

• Requires critical thinking skills!!!
• More so than any other science.
• Example Chemistry
• Hydrochloric Acid and Aluminum Foil
  Predictions?
• Example Psychology
• Joshs parents get divorced when he is 7.when he
  turns 25 he will be __________________

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Skeptic?

• What is a skeptic?
• Do you know of any?

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Skeptic?

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

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Skeptics?

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

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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
• Thats niceprove it

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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 ones
  existence are doubted.

Nothing is real?!
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Universal?

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

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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

I existfor now
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Science?

• What the heck is science?

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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?

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So what is it then?

• You tell me
• A way of thinking!

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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?

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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.

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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

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Rationalism

• Basing conclusion on logic and evidence
• How do we know the world is round?
• Dogmatism
• Basing conclusion on authority
• Parents said so
• I said so
• Textbook says so

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Scientific Principles

• How to ALWAYS think about explaining the
  universe
• Systematic Empiricism
• Production of Public Knowledge
• Examination of Solvable Problems

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Systematic Empiricism

• Empiricism?
• Relying in observationgood enough?
• STRUCTURE!!!!
• My car is scratched Who did it?

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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

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Cold Fusion?

• What is it?
• Pons and Fleischmann
• Faulty measures
• Required Special Instruments

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Empirically Solvable Problems

• Predict? Control? Explain
• What are some questions?
• What are NOT some questions?
• Pinker Mysteries to Problems?
• Jefferson and Sally?! Mystery back thenProblem
  now!

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Pseudoscience/ Paranormal

• Characteristics
• 1. non-falsifiable or irrefutable hypothesis.
• What does non-falsifiable mean?
• No evidence can show the hypothesis to be wrong.

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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.

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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

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Characteristic 2

• Unwillingness to look closely at the phenomenon
  they claim exists.
• Need for hard data completely ignored.
• We never landed on the moon

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What if science cant explain?

• If science cant fully explain the phenomena
  COMPLETELY, reasonable explanations are ignored
  or dismissed and the proponent concludes that
  pseudoscience is supported.
• Why is this dangerous?

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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.

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Because Im 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

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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!

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Polywater

• 1960s Russia
• Boils way high, freezes way low
• More stable than H20
• If allowed to contaminate actual waterBOOM!
• Skeptics could not make it
• Russia Youre not doing it right!

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Conclusion

• Extraordinary claims need extraordinary proof!
• Science is open minded Believers are NOT!

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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

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Pseudo vs. Paranormal

• UFOs-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.

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Who cares?

• What does it matter if people believe crazy
  stuff?
• What do you think?

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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.

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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.

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Who cares?
?
http//www.csicop.org/
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Question

• Is teaching skepticism harmful to curiosity and
  creativity?
• What do you think?

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Why do they care?

• I. Claims might be true!
• A.Hypnotism
• Franz Anton Mesmer 1700s
• B. Stones from space?(17th c)
• C. Acupuncture?(70s)
• Aliens?
• (sure)

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Why do they care?

• II. Responsibility to inform the public
• America is easy
• Nisbet (1998)
• 45-Faith Healing
• 30-UFOs (like actually here now)
• 37- Astrology (like in the paper!)
• 25-Reincarnation (Christians)

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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)

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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

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Philosophy

• False beliefs about how the world actually works
  DANGEROUS!
• Truthgood
• Holding an incorrect view of how the world works
  is referred to as a?

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Practical

• New Kona Coffee
• 200 the regular caffeine! (only has 10)
• Problems?
• The Amish (sorry boys)
• Prayer over inoculation

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SocialBringing it to the masses!

• Uncritical acceptance of paranormal belief
  systems can be extremely damaging
• Examples

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Conclusion

• Those are extremes
• However If one accepts faulty evidence,
  intellectual shoddiness and fraud and twisted
  logic for little thingsit be comes EASIER to
  accept the same type of evidence in support for
  REALLY bad stuff.

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