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Are people conscious of Scopaesthesia? Do the number of starers and the introduction of Acoustathesia effect hit rates? – A pilot investigation

(Image from Shutterstock)

Hello, my name is Rebecca O’Connell and I am a third year combined honours psychology student and this is my final research project and submission to the Parapsychology Convention 2018.

Scopaesthesia, derived from the Greek words for thinking and knowing. In this paper, the phenomenon of Acoustathesia, the idea that individuals are able to sense when they are being spoken about has been introduced, with the hope that this may increase the hit rates produced by participants. Many people within their day to day lives comment on the fact that they feel as though people’s eyes are on them, but this may actually be a sense which individuals possess. In the 1890’s Titchener, a famous psychologist received comments from his students that they could feel people’s eyes on them, he took this to an experimental method and reported positive results, but without a method attached. The first psychologist to report a method along with his findings was Coover in 2013, of simply having a starer sit behind a subject. The influence behind the idea of including the phenomenon of Acoustathesia has been developed from research produced by Friday and Luke (2017), in this research the idea of being able to sense when someone is staring at you has been linked with the idea that it is possible to feel when you are being spoken about. The ability to feel when someone is staring at you and to feel when you are being spoken about has been said to be evolutionarily advantageous, which would suggest that in the past survival may have been dependant on these abilities (Friday & Luke, 2017).

This study is a new idea in the way that the concepts of Acoustathesia and Scopaesthesia have not been researched in conjunction with the notion of multiple starers but the idea of Scopaesthesia is being looked into again the in the hoped that the positive significant results that had been found in the past would be produced. Within the study there were 2 conditions, a group stare, 3 starers and 1 subject, and another condition of 1 starer and 1 subject. The paranormal belief levels of each subject was measured along with their mood and confidence of their input into the study after the trials were complete.

The hypothesis behind this study was that when an individual is being spoken about and stared at with multiple starers that they would be able to sense this more strongly, than if they were only being stared at. It has also been hypothesised that individuals with higher levels of Paranormal Belief will produce higher and more accurate hit rates. The mood and confidence levels of the participants were measured at the end of the study and have been correlated with the hit rates scored by the participants.

The results of this study have been shown to be contrary to the hypothesis, although some interesting aspects have been highlighted. The paranormal belief and multiple starers did not have a significant correlation with the hit rates produced although the higher the mood and the higher the confidence levels of the participants the higher their hit rates. This opens up further areas of future research into the moods and confidence levels of the participants and also allows for future researchers to look into higher numbers of starers within the group stare condition.

This research has been accepted to be presented at the 61st Annual Convention of Parapsychological Association 2018, in Petaluma, California.

 

Roundtable discussing domestic abuse

 

The first Psychology and Criminal Justice Round Table, funded by the Canterbury Centre for Policing Research (CCPR) was run on the 21st February, 2018 and focused on Domestic Abuse: Traditional Assumptions and Modern Realities.

We had an amazing turnout of just under 100 people ranging from academics, students, police officers and the general public. We were also fortunate enough to have speakers from a range of areas including: the Metropolitan Police, CCCU’s Expect Respect Research Lead and Rising Sun, which is an amazing local charity that supports domestic abuse victims and their families.  We also had a service user of Rising Sun give an empowering talk about her own personal experience of domestic abuse and pathway to recovery.

Two hours is not enough time to go into great detail on such a complex and challenging topic, however we hoped we were able to continue to dispel frequently held myths on domestic abuse, alongside highlighting the importance of our role as individuals in a community to recognise, and support those who may be victims.  Crucially, it is important to remember that domestic abuse is not limited to any one gender, sexuality, socio-economic background or culture. Domestic abuse can occur between both family members as well as intimate partners.   The UK Home Office (2018) defines domestic abuse as:

 “any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. The abuse can encompass, but is not limited to: psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional harm” (Home Office, 2018 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/domestic-violence-and-abuse)

To date, there is no specific crime of ‘domestic abuse’, instead perpetrators tend to be convicted of other offences such as sexual, assault and harassment offences. Interestingly, the day after our event Judges were given new domestic abuse sentencing guidelines, replacing those published in 2006, which are due to come into effect on the 24th May, 2018 (Sentencing Council, 2018 https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/news/item/sentencing-council-publishes-new-guideline-on-domestic-abuse/).

These new Guidelines are expected to inform Judges sentencing of an offenders by taking into account the seriousness of an individual’s offending behaviour, aggravating and mitigating factors and ensure  ‘sufficient thought’ is given to address the offender’s behaviour and prevent reoffending.

We look forward to seeing you at our next event in February 2019, on stalking and harassment.

If you, or someone you know may be experiencing Domestic Abuse don’t keep this to yourself, seek help.  Please find below services you can access:

 

 

 

 

For: Women in Canterbury and East Kent

Phone: 01227 452 853

Times: Mon-Fri, 9-4:30

Website: http://wwwrisingsunkent.com

 

For: Women and children in the UK

Phone: 0808 2000 247

Times: 24 hour, 7 days per week

E-mail: helpline@womensaid.org.uk

Website: https://www.womensaid.org.uk/

For: CCCU Students and Staff

 Website: http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/expect-respect

For: Men in the UK

Phone: 0808 801 0327

Times: Monday-Friday, 9-5pm

E-mail: info@respectphoneline.org.uk

Website: http://www.mensadviceline.org.uk/

 

 

Guidance on Domestic Violence and Abuse:  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/domestic-violence-and-abuse

 

Authors: Belinda Siesmaa, Kristina Massey and Sofia Graca

First Annual Technicians’ Symposium

On the 8th May 2017, and with panoramic views of Canterbury cricket grounds, CCCU hosted a meeting of technicians from all departments of our University, as well as the University of Kent and the University of Greenwich. Organised by Laboratories and Professional Services Manager Pamela Lithgow, and colleagues in CCCU’s life sciences department, the event provided workshops, talks and networking opportunities to aid and support technicians, while focusing on acknowledging

Creative is as creative does: UK Creativity Research Conference

Nobody is sure, quite yet, where ideas comes from, but we know that the idea for the UK Creativity Researchers Conference emerged over burgers in Barcelona, where Lindsey Carruthers, Shelly Kemp and Gillian Hill were attending last year’s BPS Cognitive Section Conference. Their feeling was that a creativity-specific gathering was needed for researchers to bring together their work and ideas. They imagined forty or so people might turn up. There were considerably more than that, and the conference was a great success. The organisers were particularly concerned with generating impact, and judging by the emails I’ve received this morning from potential collab