When we perceive the world around us, our expectations and previous experiences shape our observations.When we hear a siren, we expect to see a fire engine, but we would not be surprised to see a police vehicle or ambulance because those are associated with the same sound.We would be surprised to encounter a small bicycle with a siren mounted on the handlebars when that sound rings through our mind.Jung (1919) identified archetypes as instinctual patterns of expectation that are commonly recognized by all humans, but he also acknowledged the role that prior experience has in generating patterns of expectation in our minds.It is unlikely that humans have a common archetype for a bicycle, but if we live in a neighborhood where bicycles with sirens are the norm, we may develop an experiential expectation of this image.Our expectations often influence our perceptions of the physical world, but they also influence the construction of our thought processes.Our understanding of the world is causally based, mostly designed by our observations of the physical events and how they seem to arise from previous events.For example, when we see a ball bouncing down a driveway, we immediately look to see who threw the ball.There is an expectation that a bounding ball would be set in motion by a causal event that would proceed the movement, like a child throwing or kicking the ball.We would not assume that the ball would move on its own since we expect that the movement was initiated by something that caused the movement to begin.These patterns of anticipation or expectations of causality allow us to easily adapt to the world around us and to navigate our environment efficiently.Stanford's (1974) Psi Mediated Instrumental Response (PIMR) model incorporated psi into cognitive processing and provided a utility for the use of psi in our daily activities.When weighing our options, Stanford recognizes that we will use every resource available to resolve our situation most effectively.By acknowledging that psi is available to us at all times, Stanford proposes that we would use information obtained by ESP just as we would use any other information available to address our needs.Carpenter (2004) expanded on this theory in his First Sight Model of Psi by describing ESP as the primary source of information in our decision-making process.Information obtained by extra-sensory means guides our choice of archetype or experiential pattern and provides additional information to determine which perceptions should become conscious and which should remain hidden in the shadows of the subconscious.These models discuss psi information as a tool to help guide our thought processes, make better
This book is the result of a five-year research program and it shows.Overall, Ghosted! is an excellent representation of what a scientific approach to ghost hunting looks like.The introduction makes it clear that "Our team takes these anomalous experiences seriously, but not necessarily at face value."The book covers so much territory that I felt it best to describe it by chapter.Chapter one begins with the results of a survey that the "Ghost Gang" conducted where they list a "Haunt Hierarchy" and divide experiences into objective and subjective noting that the differentiation can be blurred.By including controls where they had people imagine haunt-type experiences, they were able to note differences between how the two groups reported events which, in turn, allowed them to differentiate real spontaneous experiences from the rest.They list some examples such as "Mass Psychogenic Illness, "Imaginary Friends that Come Alive" and "Group (Gang)-Stalking."Chapter two logically progresses to examining the types of people who experience hauntings noting that transliminal, or "haunted" people, whose characteristics are outlined in the book, are the most likely to have a haunting experience.They discuss other psychological layers of ghost experiences in which a belief of some sort is the most common secondary factor.They also note that place and time can affect whether these experiences take place particularly if heightened emotions are involved.In chapter three, having set the stage, they look at social factors that can bias people's perceptions of these experiences noting that paranormal stories, either real or made up, can increase the number of reported hauntings while other social factors can have the opposite influence and create an environment of debunking.They explain that your ideological camp can dictate the nature of your experience.In chapter four, the authors look at haunted settings which they explain are more likely to be the results of the experiences of haunted people than the locations themselves.Variables are discussed, such as "embedded cues" like a historical battlefield, which can cue people to have certain types of experiences.Also discussed are the effects of light levels, air quality, temperature, infrasound and EM fields.The discus-
