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forests
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 27
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:10 am Post subject: Scientific investigations into ghosts |
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Some people haver said there has never been a scientific investigation/paper published on ghosts/hauntings. They are wrong. You can find that information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomalistic_psychology
Quote: | A psychological study (Klemperer, 1992) of ghosts wrote that visions of ghosts may arise from hypnagogic hallucinations ("waking dreams" which are experienced in the transitional states to and from sleep).[13] In an experiment (Lange and Houran, 1997) 22 subjects visited five areas of a performance theatre and were asked to notice the environment. Half of the subjects were informed that the locations they were in were haunted, whilst the other half were told that the building was simply under renovation. The subjects' perceptions in both groups were recorded to an experiential questionnaire which contained 10 subscales related to psychological and physiological perceptions. The results showed more intense perceptual experiences on nine of the ten subscales from the group that was told the building was haunted which has indicated that demand characteristics alone can stimulate paranormal experiences.[14]
A study (Lange and Houran, 1998) suggested that poltergeist experiences are delusions "resulting from the affective and cognitive dynamics of percipients' interpretation of ambiguous stimuli".[15]
Two experiments into alleged hauntings (Wiseman et al. 2003) discovered that the data supported the "notion that people consistently report unusual experiences in ‘haunted’ areas because of environmental factors, which may differ across locations." Some of these factors included "the variance of local magnetic ˇfields, size of location and lighting level stimuli of which witnesses may not be consciously aware".[16] |
Yep and these studies were published in decent well respected scientific journals.
Klemperer, Frances. (1992). Ghosts, Visions, And Voices: Sometimes Simply Perceptual Mistakes. BMJ: British Medical Journal , Vol. 305, No. 6868 (Dec. 19 - 26), pp. 1518-1519.
Lange, R., and J. Houran. (1997). Context-induced paranormal experiences: Support for Houran and Lange's model of haunting phenomena. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 84, 1455-1458.
Lange, R., Houran, J. (1998). Delusions of the paranormal: A haunting question of perception. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 186 (10), 637–645.
Wiseman, R., C. Watt, P. Stevens, et al. (2003). An investigation into alleged “hauntings”. British Journal of Psychology, 94: 195-211
Last edited by forests on Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:15 am; edited 1 time in total |
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D B Sweeney
Joined: 27 Aug 2010 Posts: 2842 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:15 am Post subject: |
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The science and logic of ghosts, here's my thoughts on the subject.
Personal experience is one thing, but scientific evidence is another matter. Part of the difficulty in investigating ghosts is that there is not one universally agreed-upon definition of what a ghost is. Some believe that they are spirits of the dead who for whatever reason get "lost" on their way to The Other Side; others claim that ghosts are instead telepathic entities projected into the world from our minds.
Still others create their own special categories for different types of ghosts, such as poltergeists, residual hauntings, intelligent spirits and shadow people. Of course, it's all made up, like speculating on the different races of fairies or dragons: there are as many types of ghosts as you want there to be.
There are many contradictions inherent in ideas about ghosts. For example, are ghosts material or not? Either they can move through solid objects without disturbing them, or they can slam doors shut and throw objects across the room. Logically and physically, it's one or the other. If ghosts are human souls, why do they appear clothed and with (presumably soulless) inanimate objects like hats, canes, and dresses — not to mention the many reports of ghost trains, cars and carriages?
If ghosts are the spirits of those whose deaths were unavenged, why are there unsolved murders, since ghosts are said to communicate with psychic mediums, and should be able to identify their killers for the police. And so on; just about any claim about ghosts raises logical reasons to doubt it.
Ghost hunters use many creative (and dubious) methods to detect the spirits' presences, often including psychics. Virtually all ghost hunters claim to be scientific, and most give that appearance because they use high-tech scientific equipment such as Geiger counters, Electromagnetic Field (EMF) detectors, ion detectors, infrared cameras and sensitive microphones. Yet none of this equipment has ever been shown to actually detect ghosts.
Other people take exactly the opposite approach, claiming that the reason that ghosts haven't been proven to exist is that we simply don't have the right technology to find or detect the spirit world. But this, too, can't be correct: Either ghosts exist and appear in our ordinary physical world (and can therefore be detected and recorded in photographs, film, video, and audio recordings), or they don't. If ghosts exist and can be scientifically detected or recorded, then we should find hard evidence of that — yet we don't. If ghosts exist and cannot be scientifically detected or recorded, then all the photos, videos, and other recordings claimed to be evidence of ghosts cannot be ghosts. With so many basic contradictory theories — and so little science brought to bear on the topic — it's not surprising that despite the efforts of thousands of ghost hunters on television and elsewhere for decades, not a single piece of hard evidence of ghosts has been found.
Why many believe
Many people believe that support for the existence of ghosts can be found in no less a hard science than modern physics. It is widely claimed that Albert Einstein suggested a scientific basis for the reality of ghosts; if energy cannot be created or destroyed but only change form, what happens to our body's energy when we die? Could that somehow be manifested as a ghost?
It seems like a reasonable assumption — unless you understand basic physics. The answer is very simple, and not at all mysterious. After a person dies, the energy in his or her body goes where all organisms' energy goes after death: into the environment. The energy is released in the form of heat, and transferred into the animals that eat us (i.e., wild animals if we are left unburied, or worms and bacteria if we are interred), and the plants that absorb us. There is no bodily "energy" that survives death to be detected with popular ghost-hunting devices.
While most ghost hunters engage in harmless (and fruitless) fun, there can be a darker side. In the wake of popular ghost-hunting TV shows, police across the country have seen a surge in people being arrested, injured, and even killed while looking for ghosts. In 2010, a man died while ghost-hunting with a group of friends hoping to see the ghost of a train that crashed years earlier. The ghost train did not appear — but a real train came around a bend and killed one man.
The evidence for ghosts is no better today than it was a year ago, a decade ago, or a century ago. There are two possible reasons for the failure of ghost hunters to find good evidence. The first is that ghosts don't exist, and that reports of ghosts can be explained by psychology, misperceptions, mistakes and hoaxes. The second option is that ghosts do exist, but that ghost hunters are simply incompetent. Ultimately, ghost hunting is not about the evidence (if it was, the search would have been abandoned long ago). Instead, it's about having fun with friends, telling stories, and the enjoyment of pretending they are searching the edge of the unknown. After all, everyone loves a good ghost story.
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forests
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 27
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:18 am Post subject: |
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You have just been given scientific papers mate and yes they support the second option you mentioned psychology, misperceptions, mistakes and hoaxes. |
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forests
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 27
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Sharla Tann
Joined: 03 Dec 2011 Posts: 161
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:48 am Post subject: Re: Scientific investigations into ghosts |
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Just a list of summarised conclusions that offer proof of nothing. One would have to read the books mentioned, however I doubt they go further than to suggest unprovable theories.
I'm still waiting for some unquestionable dashcam footage. It'll come. |
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Scary bloke
Joined: 17 Jan 2013 Posts: 58 Location: Sheffield
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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Dear me Mr Sweeny!
Copying and steeling other peoples words and saying its yours!
You may think I talk crap, but at least its my own!
This is a very sad day. Very sad. |
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thecactus
Joined: 07 Mar 2011 Posts: 3196 Location: Northern Ireland
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:59 am Post subject: |
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Scary bloke wrote: | Dear me Mr Sweeny!
Copying and steeling other peoples words and saying its yours!
You may think I talk crap, but at least its my own!
This is a very sad day. Very sad. |
Have the Japs attacked Pearl Harbour again or are you still just talking about DB copying and pasting? |
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D B Sweeney
Joined: 27 Aug 2010 Posts: 2842 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 4:59 am Post subject: |
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Ooops, forgot to credit my sources...sorry everyone
DB |
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forests
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 27
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:57 pm Post subject: |
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Lets look at one of these papers:
Two experiments into alleged hauntings (Wiseman et al. 2003) discovered that the data supported the "notion that people consistently report unusual experiences in ‘haunted’ areas because of environmental factors, which may differ across locations." Some of these factors included "the variance of local magnetic ˇfields, size of location and lighting level stimuli of which witnesses may not be consciously aware.
Wiseman, R., C. Watt, P. Stevens, et al. (2003). Aninvestigation into alleged “hauntings”. British Journal of Psychology, 94: 195-211.
You can read it online here:
http://www.richardwiseman.com/resources/BJP-hauntings.pdf
Abstract:
Quote: | In cases of alleged hauntings, a large number of seemingly trustworthy witnesses consistently report experiencing unusual phenomena (e.g. apparitions, sudden changes in temperature, a strong sense of presence) in certain locations. The two studies reported here explored the psychological mechanisms that underlie this apparent evidence of ‘ghostly’ activity. The experiments took place at two locations that have a considerable reputation for being haunted—Hampton Court Palace (Surrey, England) and the South Bridge Vaults (Edinburgh, Scotland). Both studies involved participants walking around these locations and reporting where they experienced unusual phenomena. Results revealed signiˇ cantly more reports of unusual experiences in areas that had a reputation for being haunted. This effect was not related to participants’ prior knowledge about the reputation of these areas. However, the location of participants’ experiences correlated signiˇ cantly with various environmental factors, including, for example, the variance of local magnetic ˇ elds and lighting levels. These ˇ ndings strongly suggest that alleged hauntings may not necessarily represent evidence for ‘ghostly’ activity, but could be, at least in part, the result of people responding to ‘normal’ factors in their surroundings. |
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D B Sweeney
Joined: 27 Aug 2010 Posts: 2842 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
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Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 4:18 am Post subject: |
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The key word being 'alleged' in relation to so called hauntings...
DB |
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carlos2010
Joined: 23 Oct 2010 Posts: 288
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Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 7:04 pm Post subject: |
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forests wrote: | Sweeney your post is a copy and spam job, and plagarism from someone else: |
Pot, Kettle & Black spring to mind, care to wiki? |
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carlos2010
Joined: 23 Oct 2010 Posts: 288
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Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 7:06 pm Post subject: |
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Scary bloke wrote: | Dear me Mr Sweeny!
Copying and steeling other peoples words and saying its yours!
You may think I talk crap, but at least its my own!
This is a very sad day. Very sad. |
Quoting is not stealing, consider it a link to what is considered a correct and accurate explanation.
You dont talk crap, you type it.
Why is it a sad day? because you couldnt magic up an explanation? |
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