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"...the self is hardly a neutral observer of the world." --Daniel Schacter, The Seven Sins of Memory
Anomalistic psychology (AP) is the study of extraordinary experiences, including those that are labeled paranormal or supernatural. AP studies such things as experiences of apparent telepathy or clairvoyance, experiences of UFOs, experiences of ghosts or angels, and experiences of healing touch. AP does not assume that a bizarre experience is paranormal or supernatural. AP attempts to explain extraordinary experiences in terms of known psychological and physical factors, including frauds and hoaxes.*
Chris French, who has taught AP for many years, thinks that AP is "a fantastic way to teach critical thinking skills."* I once taught such a course and can vouch that it is a fruitful and interesting way to teach critical thinking. By studying extraordinary experiences as a way of understanding fundamental imperfections of the human mind, one can explore such topics as the nature of perception, memory, eyewitness testimony, and other factors that hinder accurate cognition.
Anomalistic psychology is an effective way to study the unreliability of personal experience as a guide to truth. It is also an attractive way to draw students to the study of critical thinking: just about everybody has an interest in extraordinary experiences.
Topics that would be studied in anomalistic psychology include the following:
altered states of consciousness
communication with the dead
dissociative identity disorder
Neher, Andrew The Psychology of Transcendence (1980). This Prentice-Hall book is out of print. Used copies may be available from Amazon.com. It was reissued in 1990 by Dover Books as Paranormal and Transcendental Experience.
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