Invited Speaker Series 2007
Abstracts and biographies
Dr Brian Hughes
Abstract
Making Sense of Miracle Cures: How Psychology Makes Alternative Medicine ‘Work’.
“Complementary and alternative medicine retains considerable popularity
despite there being little or no empirical evidence of any reliable
therapeutic effect. Many people who use complimentary medicine appear
to infer its efficacy from the very fact that many other people use it
too. In healthcare, however, popularity is rarely a guide to efficacy:
research in the psychology of medicine has repeatedly shown that
consumers: (a) base their perceptions of medicines more on psychosocial
factors than on technical outcomes (b) are prone to misattributing
causality to inert interventions; and (c) manifest various
physiological responses to care that can result in actual or perceived
recovery (the so-called placebo effect). This lecture will present an
overview of the relevant research literature, as well as some
illustrative primary data, and will argue that the placebo effect is
just one of several psychological phenomena that lead to complimentary
medicine’s undeserved reputation as a useful source of medical
treatments.”
Biography
Brian M. Hughes is Director of the Centre for Research on Occupational
and Life Stress, at the National University of Ireland, Galway. As well
as lecturing at his own university’s School of Psychology, he has held
visiting scholar appointments at the University of Missouri-Columbia,
Leiden University Medical Centre, the University of Birmingham, and the
Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London. His research
activities have focused on psychological aspects of the human stress
response (particularly its impact on physiology and health) and on the
psychology of empirically dubious claims, especially as they pertain to
health and medicine.
His work has been funded by several agencies, including the Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences, and has been published in journals such as Annals of Behavioral Medicine, the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Clinical Psychology Review, and Behavioral and Brain Sciences. In 2007 he received the Early Career Achievement Award from the international Stress and Anxiety Research Society.
Professor Richard Wiseman
Abstract
For over sixty years, parapsychologists have been investigating the
possible existence of psychic ability via laboratory-based
experiments. But what have the results of these studies revealed, and
will they ever help resolve the debate concerning ESP and PK? This talk
will review the problems to date, and then focus on strategies designed
to enhance future progress, including the need for pre-registration of
experiments and analyses, a possible moratorium on certain types of
research, and an increased reliance on skeptic-proponent collaboration.
Psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman currently holds Britain’s only Professorship in the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He frequently appears on the media, and has written over 60 academic articles and several books, including The Luck Factor (2003) and Quirkology (2007). Much of his research has examined the possible existence of psychic ability.
Dr Michael Heap
Abstract
The work of social psychologists has always emphasised the extent to
which our behaviour, beliefs and experiences are shaped by the
requirements of the various roles - implicit and explicit, formal and
informal - that we occupy in the course of everyday life. One important
need for us is that the roles we occupy should be perceived as
authentic or legitimate. We therefore strive to maintain the perceived
authenticity of our role at any particular time. This can be seen as a
mutual endeavour by participants in reciprocal role relationships such
as doctor-patient or therapist-client interactions. I hope to
demonstrate the usefulness of this way of thinking with reference to
certain practices (orthodox, unorthodox and anomalous) and certain
sexual crimes on which I have provided an opinion for the Courts.
Biography
Michael Heap is a clinical forensic psychologist in private practice.
He has a part-time contract with Wathwood Medium Secure Hospital in
Rotherham. He is a founding member of the Association for Skeptical
Enquiry (ASKE) and is its current Chairman and Secretary.
Dr Peter Fenwick
Abstract
In
our Western culture there are very few studies looking at the process
of dying and the mental states that are present just before death.
Eastern cultures are much more sophisticated and they not only have
detailed descriptions of the phenomena which occur when dying, but also
detailed description of the mental states that the dying can expect to
experience. To fill this gap we have carried out three studies and
collected data in response to a Daily Mail article and an appearance on
Richard and Judy. The three studies were interviewing carers of the
dying in the Camden palliative care team, interviewing the carers in
two hospices and in one nursing home. The hospice and nursing home
studies were both retrospective and prospective, although they are not
all yet completed. We designed a questionnaire to obtain information
about the phenomena which occur in the last week of life. These
phenomena consist of deathbed visions, deathbed coincidences, and other
miscellaneous phenomena occurring at the time of death. The results of
the carer interviews showed that there was a great reluctance amongst
carers of the dying to discuss these deathbed phenomena, although once
the institution had been given permission to discuss this by the team
asking questions, the culture in the institutions changed. Deathbed
visions consist of apparitions, usually of dead relatives who
specifically state that they have come to help the dying through the
death process. Deathbed coincidences are when the dying person contacts
someone emotionally close to them at the time of death. Other
phenomena reported by carers at the time of death are shapes leaving
the body, light and feeling of love and peace in the room. Also
sometimes reported are associated phenomena such as clocks stopping or
strange animal behaviour. Care workers felt that they had not been
given sufficient training to deal with these phenomena.
Biography
Dr. Fenwick was for many years Consultant in charge of the
neuropsychiatric and epilepsy unit at the Maudsley Hospital. He is at
present Co-Director of both research and clinical programmes at the
Department of Neurophysiology at Broadmoor Hospital and Consultant
Neuropsychiatrist at the London Sleep Centre, running a clinical and
forensic neuropsychiatric practice. For the last seven years he has
spent several months at the RIKEN Neuroscience Institute in Japan,
studying the use of magnetic field tomography in various psychological
and motor paradigms. In the UK he is carrying out research into near
death experiences in coronary care units, and surveys of approaching
death experiences in hospices and nursing homes in southern England.
Gordon Smith
AbstractGordon will recount his experiences as one of Britain’s most successful mediums. He will recount how he first became aware of the fact that he appeared to be able to talk to the dead and where this discovery has led him. Unlike most mediums, Gordon has taken part in scientific studies of his mediumistic abilities with apparently positive results. He will talk about both his experiences as a medium in dealing with the bereaved on a day to day basis as well as his experiences of working with parapsychologists and the media. (Warning: This summary was telepathically transmitted from Gordon Smith to Chris French rather than making use of more conventional means of communication. Any errors in transmission are entirely the responsibility of Gordon Smith.)
Biography
Gordon Smith is a medium. The seventh son of a seventh son, Gordon travels around the world to appear before audiences, read for celebrities and demonstrate his abilities, but his feet have remained firmly on the ground. Gordon has attracted the attention of university scientists researching the paranormal and countless numbers of journalists and documentary makers. Gordon first appeared on TV in 2003 on BBC 2’s Everyman programme “Talking to the Dead”. Since then he has featured in many respected documentary programmes. More recently Gordon was a presenter on the Most Haunted team.