Event overview
020 7919 7882
Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit Invited Speaker Series, 2010/11
Abstract
The great European Human Values Survey conducted in most West-European countries showed that 25% of the population of Western Europe report an experience of contact with the dead (26% in UK). What is it that people experience and interpret as an encounter with someone who has died? How are the dead perceived, who are they, and under what circumstances do such experiences occur? The European Values Study does not answer such questions. In a large representative survey in Iceland 31% reported experiences of apparitions or encounters with the dead. We conducted over 400 in-depth interviews with persons who reported such experiences. They revealed interesting patterns and characteristics. Besides, the Icelandic experiences proved similar to findings in a major British study – the first of its kind – conducted over a century ago. Visionary experiences were most common, many “crisis apparitions” were reported, there was a much higher percentage of apparitions of persons who suffered a violent death than actually die that way in the population, and a fair number of collective experiences were reported. See homepage: http://www.hi.is/~erlendur.
Biography
Erlendur Haraldsson is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Freiburg in Germany and did further studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He has published over two hundred papers, mostly on anomalistic experiences, conducted national surveys, field studies and experiments related to such phenomena, and also on psychological testing and interrogative suggestibility. He is the author of five books, two of which have appeared in many languages (“At the hour of death” and “Miracles are my visiting cards”). For further details see his homepage: http://www.hi.is/~erlendur/
APRU Invited Speaker Programme
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Mar 2011 | 6:00pm - 7:00pm |
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