Goldsmiths - University of London

Professor Christopher French

BA PhD CPsychol FBPsS FRSA

Psychology of paranormal beliefs and of ostensibly paranormal experiences, cognition and emotion

Research interests

My current research focuses on two main areas. The first is the psychology of paranormal beliefs and of ostensibly paranormal experiences. Although a large proportion of the population believes in the paranormal, the evidence presented to support paranormal claims is generally not very convincing in scientific terms. It would appear that on most (and perhaps all) occasions when individuals claim to have directly experienced the paranormal, plausible non-paranormal alternative explanations can be found. These alternative accounts often rely on the imperfections in human information-processing studied by cognitive psychologists, such as those related to memory, perception, and judgement. The psychology of deception and self-deception is also of relevance in this area. I often appear on the television and radio offering a sceptical perspective on a variety of paranormal claims. I have recently set up the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit within the Department to act as a focus for research in this area. You can find out more about the Unit's activities by checking out the website at http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/apru/

My second major area of research is the relationship between cognition and emotion, particularly the effects of anxiety on a range of psychological processes including attention, implicit and explicit memory, the interpretation of ambiguous stimuli, and the use of imagery. This research examines the ways in which anxiety can bias information processing, in particular the processing of threat-related stimuli. I have been funded by both the ESRC and the MRC for research in this area.

In total I have authored or co-authored around one hundred articles and chapters on these and other topics, and I have co-edited three books.

Selected publications

In refereed journals

In press

French, C. C., Haque, U., Bunton-Stasyshyn, R., & Davis, R. The “Haunt” Project: An attempt to build a “haunted” room by manipulating complex electromagnetic fields and infrasound. Cortex.

French, C. C., Santomauro, J., Hamilton, V., Fox, R., & Thalbourne, M. Psychological aspects of the alien contact experience. Cortex.

Thompson, T., Keogh, E., French, C. C., & Davis, R. Anxiety sensitivity and pain: Generalisability across noxious stimuli. Pain, 123, 187-196.

2007
Hunt, C., Keogh, E., & French, C. C. (2007). Anxiety sensitivity, conscious awareness and selective attentional biases in children. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 497-509.

Richards, A., French, C.C., Nash, G., Hadwin, J. & Donnelly, N. (2007). A comparison of selective attention and interpretation processing biases in typically developing children high and low in self-report trait anxiety. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 481-495.

2006
Blagrove, M., French, C.C., & Jones, G. (2006). Probabilistic reasoning, affirmative bias and belief in precognitive dreams. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 65-83.

French, C.C., & Wilson, K. (2006). Incredible memories: How accurate are reports of anomalous events? European Journal of Parapsychology, 21, 166-181.

Hunt, C., Keogh, E., & French, C.C. (2006). Anxiety sensitivity, the role of conscious awareness and selective attentional bias to physical threat. Emotion, 6, 418-428.

Wilson, K., & French, C.C. (2006). The relationship between susceptibility to false memories, dissociativity, and paranormal belief and experience. Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 1493-1502.

2005
Crawley, S. E., & French, C.C. (2005). Field and observer viewpoint in remember-know memories of personal childhood events. Memory, 13, 673-681.

French, C.C. (2005). A closer look at Sheldrake’s treatment of Rattee’s data. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 12, 92-95.

French, C.C. (2005). Near-death experiences in cardiac arrest survivors. Progress in Brain Research, 150, 351-367.

2004
Keogh, E., Bond, F. W., French, C.C., Richards, A., & Davis, R. E. (2004). Test anxiety, susceptibility to distraction and examination performance. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 17, 241-252.

2003
French, C.C. (2003). Fantastic memories: The relevance of research into eyewitness testimony and false memories for reports of anomalous experiences. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 10, 153-174.

Hadwin, J. A., Donnelly, N., French, C.C., Richards, A., Watts, A., & Daley, D. (2003). The influence of children’s self-report trait anxiety and depression on visual search for emotional faces. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 432-444.

2002
Crawley, S. E., French, C.C., & Yesson, S. A. (2002). Evidence for transliminality from a subliminal card guessing task. Perception, 31, 887-892.

Holden, K. J., & French, C.C. (2002). Alien abduction experiences: Clues from neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 7, 163-178.

Richards, A., French, C.C., Calder, A. J., Webb, B., Fox, R., & Young, A. W. (2002). Anxiety-related bias in the classification of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions. Emotion, 2, 273-287.

2001
French, C.C. (2001). Dying to know the truth: visions of a dying brain, or just false memories? [Invited Commentary] Lancet, 15 December 2001, 358(9298), 2010-2011.

Keogh, E., and French, C.C. (2001) Test anxiety, evaluative stress, and susceptibility to distraction from threat. European Journal of Personality, 15, 123-141.2000
Richards, A., French, C.C., Keogh, E., and Carter, C. (2000) Test anxiety, inferential reasoning and working memory load. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 13, 87-109.

Books, Chapters and Monographs

In Press

French, C.C. (in press) Parapsychology in the new millennium: Reflections of a (relatively) moderate skeptic. In Coly, L. (ed.). A New Millennium in Parapsychology. New York: Parapsychology Foundation.

2007
French, C. C., & Santomauro, J. (2007). Something wicked this way comes: Causes and interpretations of sleep paralysis. In S. Della Sala (ed.). Tall Tales About the Mind and Brain: Separating Fact from Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 380-398.

French, C. C., & Wilson, K. (2007). Cognitive factors underlying paranormal beliefs and experiences. In S. Della Sala (ed.). Tall Tales About the Mind and Brain: Separating Fact from Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 3-22.

2005
French, C.C. (2005). Fantastic memories: The relevance of research into eyewitness testimony and false memories for reports of anomalous experiences. In R. Wiseman & C. Watt (eds.) The International Library of Psychology: Parapsychology. London: Ashgate Publishing. [Originally published in Journal of Consciousness Studies, 10, 153-174.]

French, C.C. (2005). Scepticism. In Henry, J. (ed.) Parapsychology: Research into Exceptional Experiences. London: Routledge. Pp. 80-89.

2004
French, C.C. (2004) Parapsychology. In A. Kuper and J. Kuper (eds.) The Social Science Encyclopaedia. Vol. 2. 3rd. ed. London: Routledge. Pp. 702-703.

2003
French, C.C. (2003). Fantastic memories: The relevance of research into eyewitness testimony and false memories for reports of anomalous experiences. In Alcock, J., Burns, J., & Freeman, A. (eds.), Psi Wars: Getting to Grips with the Paranormal. Exeter: Imprint Academic. [Originally published in Journal of Consciousness Studies, 10, 153-174.]

2002
Holden, K. J., & French, C.C. (2002). Alien abduction experiences: Clues from neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry. In Spence, S. A., & Halligan, P. W. (eds.) Pathologies of Body, Self and Space. Hove: Psychology Press. Pp. 163-178. [Reprinted from Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 7, 163-178.]

2001
French, C.C. (2001). Alien abductions. In Roberts, R., & Groome, D. (eds.). Parapsychology: The Science of Unusual Experience. London: Arnold. Pp. 102-116.

French, C.C. (2001). The placebo effect. In Roberts, R., & Groome, D. (eds.). Parapsychology: The Science of Unusual Experience. London: Arnold. Pp. 35-47.

French, C.C. (2001) Paranormal perception? A critical evaluation. London: Institute for Cultural Research. Monograph Series No. 42. [25 pp.]

2000
French, C.C., & Colman, A. M. (eds.) (2000). Psichologiah kognitivit (Emma Braverman, trans.). Holon, Isreal: Ach. Pp. 168. (Hebrew translation of French & Colman, 1995; ISBN: 965-267-183-5)

Conference and other presentations

2007
French, C. C. (2007). Anomalistic psychology and critical thinking. Presentation to the 13th Congress of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations, “The Assault on Science: Constructing a Response”, Dublin, 7-9 September 2007.

French, C. C. (2007). Why do we believe in strange things? Invited presentation to the Royal Society of Edinburgh Conference “Tall Tales About Mind and Brain”, Edinburgh, 5-7 September 2007.

French, C. C. (2007). Seven years of weird science at Goldsmiths: An overview of the work of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit. Invited presentation to the 31st International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Cardiff University, 31 August – 2 September 2007.

French, C. C. (2007). The psychology of anomalous experiences. Invited presentation to the London and Home Counties Branch of the British Psychological Society, London, 28 February 2007.

French, C. C. (2007). Near-death experiences: Glimpses of the afterlife or visions of a dying brain? Invited presentation at “Entrances and Exits: The art and science of birth and death”, Theatre Royal, Winchester, 9-11 March 2007.

2006
French, C.C. (2006) Memory for anomalous experiences. Invited presentation to the Bial Foundation’s 6th Symposium "Behind and Beyond the Brain", Porto, Portugal, 29 March to 1 April 2006.

French, C.C., Santomauro, J., Fox, R., Hamilton, V., & Thalbourne, M. (2006) Psychological and parapsychological aspects of the alien contact experience. Bial Foundation’s 6th Symposium "Behind and Beyond the Brain", Porto, Portugal, 29 March to 1 April 2006.

French, C.C. (2006) Invited participant in chaired discussion with Rupert Sheldrake, Peter Fenwick and Deborah Delanoy ("Is there any evidence that the mind extends beyond the brain?") at the British Association for the Advancement of Science Festival of Science, University of East Anglia (subsequently broadcast on Radio 4’s "Material World" programme), 5 September 2006.

French, C.C. (2006) Memory for anomalous experiences. Presentation to Eyewitness Workshop, Stirling University, 19 September 2006.

French, C.C. (2006). Paranormal experiences and memory for anomalous events. Invited presentation to Skepsis Congres, Hogeschool Domstad te Utrecht, Netherlands, 28 October 2006.

French, C. C. (2006). Has Rupert Sheldrake proven the existence of telepathy? Invited presentation to the Ethical Society, Conway Hall, London, 5 November 2006.

2005
Blagrove, M., French, C.C., & Jones, G. (2005). Probabilistic reasoning, affirmative bias and belief in precognitive dreams. 22nd Annual Conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. Berkeley, California, 24-28 June 2005.

French, C.C. (2005) Invited participant in chaired discussion with Rupert Sheldrake on the paranormal at Cheltenham Festival of Science, 8-12 June 2005.

French, C.C. (2005) The psychology of superstition. Invited presentation at the British Association for the Advancement of Science Festival, Dublin, 8 September 2005.

French, C.C. (2005) Weird science: The psychology of anomalous experience. Invited presentation, British Psychological Society Edinburgh Lectures, 8 November 2005.

French, C.C., Haque, U., Davis, R. E., Bunton-Stasyshyn, R., Kim, S., & Bejanyan, K. (2005) The "Haunt" Project: Can we build a "haunted" room? European Skeptics Congress, Brussels, Belgium, 13-16 October 2005.

French, C.C., Santomauro, J., Fox, R., Hamilton, V., & Thalbourne, M. (2005) Psychological and parapsychological aspects of the alien contact experience. Invited presentation, Conference on Developing Perspectives on Anomalous Experience, Liverpool, 4 June 2005.

French, C.C., Wright, D., & Ost, J. (2005) Ten years on from the BPS report. Invited presentation to the British False Memory Society Annual General Meeting, London, 23 April 2005.

Ivtzan, I., & French, C.C. (2005) Exploring territory of no-boundary: RNG-meditation experiment. Ninth Annual Conference of the Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society: Reconstructing Consciousness, Mind and Being. St Anne’s College, Oxford University, 16-18 September 2005.

Wilson, K., & French, C.C. (2005) The relationship between the creation of false memories and belief in the paranormal. PsyPAG 20th Anniversary Conference, University of Exeter, 23-25 August 2005.

2004
French, C.C. (2004) Weird science at Goldsmiths: The psychology of anomalous experiences, Inaugural lecture, Goldsmiths College, 13 January 2004.

French, C.C. (2004) The psychology of anomalous experiences: Seeing shouldn’t always be believing. Invited presentation to the Irish Skeptics, Dublin, 2 June 2004.

French, C.C. (2004) The psychology of paranormal belief and experience. Invited presentation to the Scottish Society for Psychical Research, Glasgow, 2 September 2004.

French, C.C. (2004) The state of British scepticism. Invited presentation to the Fifth World Skeptics Congress, in Abano Terme, Italy, 8-10 October 2004.

French, C.C. (2004) Weird science: The psychology of anomalous experience. Invited presentation, British Psychological Society London Lectures, Kensington Town Hall, 6 December 2004.

French, C.C., & Wilson, K. (2004) The psychology of self-deception. Invited presentation to the Fifth World Skeptics Congress, in Abano Terme, Italy, 8-10 October 2004.

Ivtzan, I., & French, C.C. (2004). Testing the validity of Tarot cards: Can we distinguish between a real and a control reading? 47th Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association, 5-8 August 2004.

Keogh, E., Bond, F. W., French, C.C., Richards, A., & Davis, R. E. (2004). Test anxious worry, distraction and examination performance. 25th Stress and Anxiety Research Society Annual Conference, Amsterdam, July 2004.

Wilson, K., & French, C.C. (2004). Memory conformity and paranormal belief. 47th Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association, 5-8 August 2004.

2003
French, C.C. (2003). Incredible memories: The relevance of reports of anomalous experiences to false memory research. Presented at one-day scientific conference "Remembering Trauma: Current Theory, Research & Practice", Royal Society of Medicine, London, 4 September 2003.

French, C.C. (2003). Invited Keynote Address on "Anomalistic Psychology". 11th European Congress of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations, Kings College London, 5-7 September 2003.

French, C.C. (2003). Invited discussant at a symposium on "Science at the fringe" at the British Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Conference, Salford University, 10 September 2003.

French, C.C. (2003). Invited contributor to interactive science event "The truth is out there" at the Science Museum’s Dana Centre, London, 9 December 2003.

Savva, L., & French, C.C. (2003). An investigation into precognitive dreaming. David Mandell: The man who paints the future? Annual Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Manchester Metropolitan University, 5-7 September 2003.

2002
French, C.C. (2002). Fantastic memories: How reliable are reports of anomalous events? Seminar presented by the Institute for Cultural Research, "Memory Matters", School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 16-17 February 2002.

French, C.C. (2002). Dying to know the truth. Contribution to panel discussion: "Near-death experiences: Beyond the dying brain?" Edinburgh Science Festival, 14 April 2002.

French, C.C., Rose, N. J., & Blackmore, S. J. (2002). Paranormal belief and interpretations of sleep paralysis. 45th Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association, Paris, 5-9 August.

Richards, A., French, C.C., Zanelli, J., Calder, A., & Young, A.W. (2002). Interpretation and context effects associated with anxiety. British Psychological Society Cognitive Section Conference, University of Kent, Canterbury, 9-11 September.

Savva, L., & French, C.C. (2002). Is there time-reversed interference in Stroop-based tasks? 45th Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association, Paris, 5-9 August.

Savva, L., & French, C.C. (2002). Use of a complex psi-mediated timing task. 26th International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Manchester, 30 August - 1st September.

2001
Crawley, S., French, C.C., & Yesson, S. (2001). Evidence for transliminality from a subliminal ‘ESP card-guessing task’. British Psychological Society Centenary Annual Conference, Glasgow, 28-31 March 2001. (Abstract published in Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, 9(2), 173).

French, C.C. (2001). The psychology of alien abduction. Invited keynote presentation to the British Psychological Society’s Annual PsyPAG Conference, Sheffield University, 23-25 July 2001.

French, C.C. (2001). Paranormal perception? A critical evaluation. Seminar presented by the Institute for Cultural Research, "Seeing how to see: A close look at perception", Royal Society of Medicine, London, 17-18 February 2001.

French, C.C., O’Donnell, H., & Williams, L. (2001). Hypnotic susceptibility, paranormal belief and reports of ‘crystal power’. British Psychological Society Centenary Annual Conference, Glasgow, 28-31 March 2001. (Abstract published in Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, 9(2), 186).

Holden, K. J., & French, C.C. (2001). Psychological needs and belief in psychics and astrologers. European Congress of Psychology, The Barbican Centre, London, 1-6 July 2001.

Savva, L., & French, C.C. (2001). Evolution and psi: Investigating the presentiment effect as an adapted behaviour. Society for Psychical Research 25th International Conference, Clare College, Cambridge, 14-16 September 2001.

2000
French, C.C. (2000). Past and modern versions of scepticism. Perrott-Warrick Conference on Rational Perspectives on the Paranormal. Trinity College, Cambridge, 3-5 April 2000.

Holden, K., & French, C.C. (2000). Why do people believe in psychics? Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group Annual Conference, Glasgow University, 18 July 2000. (Abstract published in Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, 9(2), 106-107).

Hunt, C., Keogh, E., & French C. C. (2000). Investigating the fear of anxiety in children (poster). British Psychological Society Developmental Section Annual Conference, University of Bristol, 17 September 2000.

Hunt, C., Keogh, E., & French C. C. (2000). Dimensions of anxiety sensitivity in children. Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group Annual Conference, Glasgow University, 18 July 2000. (Abstract published in Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, 9(2), 107).

Inoue, A., French, C.C., Pring, L., & Corr, P. J. (2000). Individual differences in affective modulation of the startle reflex and the emotional Stroop task: Integrating biological and cognitive accounts of anxiety (poster). Annual Scientific Meeting of the British Psychophysiological Society, Imperial College, London.

Other Publications

2006
Wright, D., Ost, J., & French, C.C. (2006). Recovered and false memories. The Psychologist, 19(6), 352-355.

2004
French, C.C. (2004). The mosaic of memory. The Skeptic, 17(1), 12-17.

French, C. (2004). Bible codes and flying saucers. The Times T2, 6-7.

2002
Hughes, C., & French, C. (2002). Medicine and magic [editorial]. Student BMJ, 10, 132-133.

2001
French, C.C. (2001) Why I study anomalistic psychology. The Psychologist, 14(7), 356-357. [Reprinted in The Skeptical Intelligencer, 4, 2-5.]

French, C.C. (2001). Weird science at Goldsmiths. The Skeptic, 14(1), 7-8.

French, C.C., & Holden, K. (eds.) (2001). Weird science at Goldsmiths [Special issue]. The Skeptic.

2000
French, C.C. (2000) The media and the paranormal: A sceptic’s view. Magonia, 70, 9-13. (Winner of the second essay competition in memory of Roger Sandell; reprinted in The Skeptic, 13(3 & 4), 35-40).

Grants & awards

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MEMORY FOR PSYCHIC READINGS AND PARANORMAL BELIEF
£32324 (subject to revision in light of any increase in academic pay scales) from the Perrott-Warrick Committee to fund one-year junior lectureship to relieve me of teaching and administrative duties for one year and to work collaboratively on the above project.

CLINICIANS’ BELIEFS ABOUT CHILDHOOD ABUSE, MEMORY AND HYPNOSIS
£9200 from the Odin Trust. Application submitted jointly with Dr James Ost, Dr Lorraine Hope, Mr Simon Easton (Portsmouth) and Dr Daniel Wright (Sussex). Dr Ost named as Principal Applicant. Awarded April 2006.

AN INVESTIGATION OF DOWSING
£1472 from the Society for Psychical Research. Application submitted jointly with Dr Elaine Beattie. Awarded August 2006.

French, C. Psychological and parapsychological investigations of alleged alien abductees: Phase 1. Bial Foundation. €36000 (£23.5K approx). (Nov. 2002).

Haque, U. HAUNT. Sciart. £14,985. (French, C. as scientific adviser).

Allan, K., French, C. & Gabbert, F. On the relationship between reality monitoring and belief in parapsychological phenomena: Neurophysiological studies. Bial Foundation. €45,080 (£28K approx). (Nov. 2004).