Scouting the Territory

    I'd like to mostly keep my original topic but focus more on the history of séances and the occult (possibly just in America, but I'm not entirely certain for now). I'd also like to talk about why people seem to be so fascinated with the idea of ghosts and contacting the dead. I still think it would be interesting to further explore more "modern" and "scientific" ways of contacting spirits today as well; however, after looking into the topic some more, I think I will end up discussing actual scientific explanations for why people think they see ghosts as well as the reasons for why different technologies used to detect or contact ghosts actually prove nothing. Originally, I wanted to touch on both sides of the "Are ghosts real?" argument, but after doing some further research, it would be far easier for me to explain why ghosts do not exist, as I am now thoroughly a skeptic. Thinking ahead, I think I'd like to open my paper with the history of séances and the evolution of our methods of supposedly contacting ghosts. Then I'd like to debunk these methods and finish off by exploring our fascination with the undead. 

    I was able to find some interesting resources online using key terms such as "séances," "ghosts," "ghosts and EMF," and "electric voice phenomenon" (EVP). All of these terms were pretty useful to me, but "séances" gave me some amazing and detailed history about the occult and people's fascination in general with contacting the dead. In general, most of the reliable-looking sources that I could find were all debunking ghosts and the pseudoscience behind them. 

The link below is an article explaining EVP and debunking it. It offers a lot of scientific explanations and provides examples of studies about EVP and human perception. This link is particularly useful because there are many links to sources embedded in the article, which can further help me research the topic.

https://theconversation.com/hearing-ghost-voices-relies-on-pseudoscience-and-fallibility-of-human-perception-48160


Here is a link that I found through Google Scholar for a book that explains some of the history of ghosts and séances. I can use this for some information about how séances first began and how they caught on in popularity. 

https://books.google.com/books?id=zYgxL5pmPlsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false


Here is a link to another book. I can use this source to talk more about the history of ghosts/séances in America and further explore why people are so interested in communicating with the dead. 

https://books.google.com/books?id=woZD4S3yO2YC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false


Unfortunately, I was really only able to find one side of the "Are ghosts real?" debate. All of the sources I found just explained why ghosts do not exist. 

Comments

  1. Michael GoellerFebruary 8, 2021 at 8:58 AM

    An interesting book I read long ago on this topic is Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death by Deborah Blum. You might find it at your local library. It has a lot of history on this topic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael GoellerFebruary 8, 2021 at 9:01 AM

    I saw this interesting article on how spiritualists and mediums might be an alternative to psychologists for some people:
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/style/wellness-mediums.html

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Research Blog #10: Abstract and Works Cited

 Abstract The rise in popularity of paranormal media has been followed by a growth of paranormal belief throughout the twenty-first century. The gadgets used in paranormal media results in a scientific presentation of ghosts and paranormal existence. This paper explores how the technology-heavy representation of ghost-hunting tools in paranormal media misleads viewers into believing that ghosts can currently be scientifically proven with evidence like EMF and EVP. This paper also examines the factors behind viewers’ tendency to paranormal belief, such as the naturalizing effect, the public’s lack of scientific understanding, and social influence.  Works Cited (Note: Formatting may be odd on Blogger despite my attempts at reformatting) Axtell, Cassie C., "Assessing Electronic Voice Phenomena through Speech Science"  (2017).   Honors Theses . 415. https://encompass.eku.edu/honors_theses/415 Buckner V, John E., and Rebecca Anders Buckner. “Talking to the Dead, Listening...
Read more

Research Proposal

Working Title: The Effect of Cognitive Ability and Scientific Misrepresentation on Paranormal Belief Topic :       I will examine the possible reasons behind people’s continued belief in the paranormal. This paper will link people’s cognitive ability to scientific misrepresentation, particularly in media, and explore the unreliability of ghost-hunting techniques, such as EVP.  Research Question:       What sparked people’s interest in contacting spirits? How have our methods of reaching the undead evolved, and are these methods reliable? Despite the mounting evidence against the existence of spirits, why do people continue to believe in the paranormal? Theoretical Frame: In the study by Gordon Pennycook et al. “Analytic Cognitive Style Predicts Religious and Paranormal Belief,” and the study “Probability Misjudgment, Cognitive Ability, and Belief in the Paranormal” by Jochen Musch et al., researchers looked into the link between people’s c...
Read more