Tuesday, May 15, 2018   8:18 PM

Convention Spotlight: Skeptics’ Experiences of the Exceptional

How do skeptics describe induced exceptional experiences? Christine Simmonds-Moore, Donadrian Rice (University of West Georgia, GA, USA), and Chase O’Gwin (Northwest Missouri State University, MI, USA) performed a study that explored how disbelievers in paranormal phenomena described exceptional experiences (ExEs) that occurred in the context of a laboratory experiment. The experiments were intentionally designed to encourage ExEs through suggestion and sensory deprivation. Thirty-three strong disbelievers took part in 3x30 minute sessions where they were asked to relax in a reclining chair, whilst wearing ear plugs and an eye mask. On two out of three of these occasions, they wore a sham head device that resembled a device that was previously associated with ExEs. Verbal descriptions of ExEs reported by a subset of skeptics were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Which experiences did the skeptics have and how did they describe them? Come to the 61st Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association and find out!

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