Hauntings and poltergeist-like episodes as a confluence of conventional phenomena: A general hypothesis

Author(s): Lange, R.

Journal/Book: Percept Mot Skills. 1996; 83: PO Box 9229, Missoula, MT 59807. Perceptual Motor Skills. 1307-1316.

Abstract: Hauntings and poltergeist-like episodes are argued to be products of contagious reactions to ambiguous environmental or cognitive events. In particular, evidence suggests that the subjective and objective effects reported by percipients are the function of independent, nonparanormal etiologies whose constitutions have been previously established and described. According to this multivariate model, the labeling of ambiguous events as ''abnormal'' or ''paranormal'' initiates the reactive process which is subsequently sustained by perceptual contagion, i.e., flurries of paranormal observations due self-reinforcing attentional processes.

Note: Article Lange R, Univ Illinois, Psychol Program G11, Springfield,IL 62794 USA

Keyword(s): GEOPHYSICAL VARIABLES; TEMPORAL-LOBE; PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES; GEOMAGNETIC-ACTIVITY; SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE; BELIEF CHANGE; APPARITIONS; BEHAVIOR; HALLUCINATIONS; POPULATION

Zurück | Weiter