Scepticism and Secularism

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Details to be confirmed...

This event is part of the new Oxford 'Think Week'.

Think Week, a series of high profile (free!) events organised jointly by the Oxford Atheist Society, Oxford Secular Society, Oxford Humanists, Oxford Sea of Faith and Oxford Skeptics in the Pub. The aim of the week will be to expose the type of discussion and debate that the various non-theistic societies in Oxford offer to a wider audience and hence raise the profile of the issues involved. We won't be covering base questions like "Does God exist?" but instead be providing events in a similar vein to those our various societies provide during the rest of the year. The events will be intended to make people think about things they probably haven't thought about before.

 

http://www.thinkweek.co.uk/

The Psychology of Anomalous Experiences

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Ever since records began, in every known society, a substantial proportion of the population has reported unusual experiences many of which we would today label as "paranormal". Opinion polls show that the majority of the general public accepts that paranormal phenomena do occur. Such widespread experience of and belief in the paranormal can only mean one of two things. Either the paranormal is real, in which case this should be accepted by the wider scientific community which currently rejects such claims. Or else belief in and experience of ostensibly paranormal phenomena can be fully explained in terms of psychological factors. This presentation will provide an introduction to the sub-discipline of anomalistic psychology, which may be defined as the study of extraordinary phenomena of behaviour and experience, in an attempt to provide non-paranormal explanations in terms of known psychological and physical factors. This approach will be illustrated with examples relating to a range of ostensibly paranormal phenomena.

Chris French is a Professor of Psychology and Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit in the Psychology Department at Goldsmiths. He has published over 100 articles and chapters covering a wide range of topics within psychology. His main current area of research is the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences. He frequently appears on radio and television casting a sceptical eye over paranormal claims. He is the editor of The Skeptic and writes a regular column for the Guardian's online science pages.