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he following article was provided by Peter McCue who has a long standing and active interest in psychical research and the UFO phenomena. He worked for many years as a clinical psychologist and his qualifications include a Ph.D from the University of Glasgow – awarded for research on hypnosis.

 

Scepticism is a matter of degree. At one end of the spectrum, there’s credulity, an unhealthy lack of scepticism; at the other end, there’s hyper-scepticism.1 Neither is a good qualification for the objective investigation of anomalous phenomena. In this article (which is based on a lecture given at the UFO DATA Magazine Conference in October 2008), I’ll discuss two cases of interest in connection with credulity and hyper-scepticism: one from West Sussex in southern England , andone fromUtahin the
USA. Both feature UFO sightings and other phenomena. Evidentially, the British case isn’t very strong, but it’s been treated with a degree of credulity by some commentators (for example, on the
internet). The Utah case, though better substantiated, has attracted hyper-sceptical comments via book reviews. The reviews are interesting for what they indicate about the hyper-sceptical mindset. Peter has written numerous articles on anomalous phenomena and he remains open-minded about their nature.

REFLECTIONS ON CREDULITY AND HYPER-SCEPTICISM

There are probably multiple
paths into credulity and hyper-scepticism. With the former, for example, a ‘will
to believe’ might triumph over critical thinking. On the other hand, someone –
let’s call him Joe Bloggs – could become a hyper-sceptic simply by adopting the
opinions of hyper-sceptical friends. If he allowed them to do his thinking for
him, he might presume that all UFO
cases were explicable in mundane terms and that there was no good evidence for
paranormal phenomena. That would be naïve
hyper-scepticism. Paradoxically, though, by uncritically accepting his friends’
hyper-sceptical ideas, Joe would be displaying credulity!
Imagine, now,
that Joe, the naïve hyper-sceptic, is confronted with evidence of truly
enigmatic UFO activity. If he manages to ‘forget’ the evidence or convince
himself that it’s of no significance, he’ll remain an arch-sceptic – but at the
price of self-deception. I would call this delusional
hyper-scepticism.By the same token, someone might resort to self-deception
in order to neutralize the impact of information that challenged an
emotionally-invested positive belief.
Some people might
pretend to be arch-sceptics. Their stance could be described as synthetic hyper-scepticism. The Harvard
astronomer Donald Menzel (1901-1976) was a prominent UFO sceptic. UFO
researcher Stanton Friedman notes that Menzel had a high level of security
clearance with US government agencies such as the CIA and NSA. Rightly or
wrongly, Friedman suggests that Menzel was involved in a secret official cover up
of the UFO phenomenon.
Characteristics of hyper-scepticism

Some hyper-sceptics describe themselves as adherents of the ‘psychosocial hypothesis’ (PSH), which contends that anomalous experiences are generated by psychological and cultural factors. Advocates of the PSH draw attention to parallels between UFO experiences and science fiction. Of course, with some people, science fiction might well foster a fascination with UFOs and ideas of alien visitation, which could result in their looking at the sky and mistaking aircraft, balloons, bright planets, etc., for alien spaceships. With particularly imaginative and suggestible individuals, cultural stereotypes influenced by science fiction might engender believed-in fantasies and pseudo-memories with a UFO or alien theme. But if some UFO experiences are choreographed paranormal events, it wouldn’t be surprising if they resembled science fiction and reflected contemporary preoccupations.
Some hyper-sceptics describe themselves as adherents of the ‘psychosocial hypothesis’ (PSH), which contends that anomalous experiences are generated by psychological and cultural factors. Advocates of the PSH draw attention to parallels between UFO experiences and science fiction. Of course, with some people, science fiction might well foster a fascination with UFOs and ideas of alien visitation, which could result in their looking at the sky and mistaking aircraft, balloons, bright planets, etc., for alien spaceships. With particularly imaginative and suggestible individuals, cultural stereotypes influenced by science fiction might engender believed-in fantasies and pseudo-memories with a UFO or alien theme. But if some UFO experiences are choreographed paranormal events, it wouldn’t be surprising if they resembled science fiction and reflected contemporary preoccupations. Like the followers of a religious faith, hyper-sceptics tend to associate with one another. Some join organizations that specifically promote scepticism, which no doubt serves to reinforce their mindset. Similarly, people at the other end of the spectrum – credulous believers – also tend to associate with one another, which no doubt strengthens their beliefs.