Uncanny: A Discursive Psychological Analysis of Scientific Presentation in Paranormal Media

Felicity A. Woodhouse, Jenny L. Hallam, & Malcolm B. Schofield

University of Derby, Derby, United Kingdom

Within psychology, belief in paranormal and unexplainable phenomena has become an area of increasing interest. Research in this area is often characterized by a quantitative framework focusing on the underlying causes of paranormal belief. Cognitive deficits such as lower levels of critical thinking are robustly implicated in the development of paranormal belief. This has led to paranormal belief being conceptualized as opposed to the scientific worldview that has dominated Western society since the Enlightenment. Consequently, paranormal belief has been categorized as pseudoscience, which requires immunization through scientific education.

To further understand the relationship between science and the paranormal, qualitative researchers have focused on examining the discursive accounts provided by paranormal believers. Studies in this area highlight how believers position their arguments to improve their credibility and objectivity and thus align themselves with a scientific worldview. For instance, accounts often begin with an avowal of prior skepticism, which mitigates claims of bias against the speaker. Believers have also been found to boost the credibility of an alleged paranormal phenomena through the assertion that they were in no way impaired during their observation, as well as through drawing upon witnesses and experts. These studies have been important in understanding the discursive features at play within paranormal accounts within interview data. The current study shifts the focus to examining the discursive features of paranormal accounts in popular media. This is significant as Hill reported that media interest in the paranormal is on the rise. This has been found to influence people’s perceptions of the validity of paranormal experiences.

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Program chaired by Jacob W. Glazier. Download the Abstracts at https://parapsych.org/uploaded_files/pdfs/00/00/00/01/26/2023_pa_abstracts_of_presented_papers.pdf

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Published on January 26, 2025