I may as well break cover...

Greetings, O paranoid ones! I thought I might as well make my appearance on the Introductions thread. Big Brother knows everything about me anyway, so I'll say that I'm a psychology student with too much time on his hands.

I'm into flying, space travel, government conspiracies, military hardware, UFOs, aliens, psychic stuff and all manner of other matters! I look forward to getting to know some of you fine people and hearing what you have to say!

Given that you are a psychology student, what is your preliminary opinion on people who think extraterrestrial visitation is happening? Is it mass hallucination as is suggested most of the time? Or indeed are those that witness something actually percieving a physically real event?

I dunno how early you are into your studies, but some conclusions should be able to be drawn on your educational background.

[Edited on 21-9-2003 by heelstone]

I say hello, and that you have very similar interests to me (and probably 70 percent of the people here). Good to have you onboard, Lampy.

Psychology student, eh? I'm studying Cognitive and Developmental Psychology alongside Physics.

Well, welcome to the Boards, enjoy your stay. I'm sure you must be mad enough to come here in the first place

Originally posted by heelstone
Given that you are a psychology student, what is your preliminary opinion on people who think extraterrestrial visitation is happening? Is it mass hallucination as is suggested most of the time? Or indeed are those that witness something actually percieving a physically real event?

I dunno how early you are into your studies, but some conclusions should be able to be drawn on your educational background.

[Edited on 21-9-2003 by heelstone]

I'm a first year psych student, but I've also studied anatomy and some basic biochemistry and neurology.

Let me just say that I used to think UFOs were a load of bunk. I mean, come on, they should be breaking the sound barrier every time they accelerate! I used to tell everybody they were fools for believing in them.



Well, suffice it to say that I soon found out how wrong I was!!

As for your question, I do believe there are nutters out there who genuinely believe what they've seen. Some of those nutters are nuts because of what they've seen. Other people are just plain old liars. Some people tell the truth, maybe embellish it. Other people don't want to tell it. After years of sitting on what I've seen and known, you get used to it.

From a psychological standpoint, people who suffer from distorted realities and perceptions are usually suffering from either paranoid schizophrenia, hallucinogenic drugs or some form of dissocative disorder. Disorders severe enough to miss with your everyday reality usually show other effects: cognitive problems and so forth.
There are stickier issues when people are more or less sane, but their perceptions are misjudged or colored by other factors.

MASS HALLUCINATION:
No. I have never heard of such a phenomena and do not let anybody tell you otherwise. Hallucinations are a purely subjective thing. Even at religious festivals where you have other people going into trances, nobody else sees what the other sees.
Also, there are UFO encounters with the vehicle tracked on radar, chased by aircraft and seen by witnesses on the ground and photographed. To say that those are mass hallucinations is pure folly, in my opinion.

However, people whose jobs require them to be sane are usually the most reliable sources of information: airline pilots, military pilots, air traffic controllers, police and other emergency workers, engineers, doctors and so on.

Also, bear in mind that a person can tell you point blank he/she does not believe in UFOs, aliens, and so on and yet they may actually have the lowdown on exactly what's going on. Catch that person in the right mood, earn their trust and they may spill the beans.

[Edited on 21-9-2003 by Lampyridae]