From: sheaffer@netcom.com (Robert Sheaffer)
Subject: "Imaginary" UFO Abductees (as if all of them weren't!)
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 92 14:30:39 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 

           A question about this study came up on
           "alt.alien.visitors". I am also posting 
           a summary of it here.



                      HYPNOSIS OF IMAGINARY UFO "ABDUCTEES"
                        (Abstract and Introduction only)

             by Alvin H. Lawson

             English Department
             California  State University,
             Long Beach California, U.S.A 90840


             In  an  attempt to evaluate objectively the  claims  of  UFO
        "abductees," imaginary abductions were induced hypnotically in  a
        group  of  volunteers who had no significant knowledge  of  UFOs.
        Eight situational questions comprising the major components of  a
        typical abduction account were asked of each subject.
             Although the researchers expected major dissimilarities,  an
        averaged  comparison of data from four imaginary and four  "real"
        abduction  narratives  showed no substantive  differences.  Also,
        extensive  patterns echoing well-established details from  "real"
        UFO   reports  emerged  from  the  "naive"  subjects'   imaginary
        sessions.
             There is as yet no satisfactory explanation for the patterns
        and  other similarities between imaginary and "real"  abductions,
        But,  more  significantly,  there  are  parallels  between  these
        patterns  and the "image constants" or recurrent descriptions  of
        form,  color, and movement reported by subjects  in  drug-induced
        hallucination  experiments, and in SO-called "death"  narratives,
        among  other mental processes. Thus there is reason to accept  at
        least  some  parts  of  "real"  abductees'  stories  as  accurate
        reflections of what their sensory mechanisms have reported.
             However,  despite the many similarities, there  are  crucial
        differences--such  as  alleged  physical  effects  and   multiple
        witnesses--which  argue  that  UFO abductions  are  separate  and
        distinct from imaginary and hallucinatory experiences. With these
        distinctions in mind, an abduction model is proposed:
                  Witnesses   _really  perceive_  images--from   whatever
                  source--such  as bright and pulsating lights,  lattice-
                  textured  forms  moving randomly in  the  sky,  lighted
                  tunnels,   humanoid  figures,  etc.   These   abduction
                  constants are combined with data from the  imagination,
                  memory,  and  existing UFO data known by  witnesses  to
                  create  a "real" UFO encounter. The subjective  reality
                  of  the intense hallucinatory structure  convinces  the
                  witnesses  that the entire experience is  a  physically
                  real event. Subsequently they may report the "truth" as
                  they  have experienced it, although actual  occurrences
                  remain unclear.
             The  complexities of the UFO phenomenon are affirmed by  the
        above  model since still unexplained are many  puzzling  matters,
        including the greatest mystery of all, the nature of the stimulus
        which  initiates the imagery in the witness and so  triggers  the
        abduction sequence.
             The  writer  prefers a dualistic UFO hypothesis.  But  while
        there  is a continuing absence of unambiguous physical  evidence,
        this   study   concludes   that   UFOs   are--in    psychological
        terms--unquestionably  real, and further, that  non-physical  UFO
        research is promising.

        Key-words:  Abduction  sequence; animals; apparitions  ;  "death"
        narratives;   drug-induced  hallucinations;   entities;   exotic;
        hallucinations;  human;  humanoid;  hypnosis;  image   constants;
        imaginary abductees; model abduction; "naive" subjects; patterns;
        "real" abductees; robot; stimulus.

                       II. INTRODUCTION

             Since  early 1977, sixteen volunteers have  been  hypnotized
        and  given  imaginary UFO "abductions" by  a  clinical  hypnotist
        working  with  a group of Southern  California  ufologists.*  The
        purpose  of this paper is to describe the series  of  experiments
        and  to discuss their implications for UFO research in the  light
        of  several analogs to abduction experiences, particularly  drug-
        induced hallucinations.
             The   imaginary  "abductees"  were  volunteers  from   local
        colleges  and communities. The group was composed of ten  females
        and six males and ranged in age from 12 to 65. Based upon a brief
        questionnaire, the oral portion of which was administered  before
        and again during hypnosis as a check, all subjects were judged to
        be  "naive"--that  is,  generally ignorant  about  UFOs  and  the
        extensive if uneven literature about them.
             The  imaginary abduction study came about primarily  because
        of researchers' dissatisfactions with results from allegedly real
        abduction  case  investigations.  Objections  included:  1)   the
        uncertain  credibility of witnesses; 2) the ambiguous  nature  of
        the anecdotal and other evidence supporting abduction  witnesses;
        and 3) unresolved questions as to the efficacy of hypnosis and/or
        hypnotic procedures followed in particular cases. The researchers
        be*an   the  study   with  the  assumption  that  the   imaginary
        abductions  would  be clearly distinct from "real" cases  and  so
        would offer some proof of the "reality" of actual abductions. But
        what we found was both surprising and unsettling, and much of the
        intervening  time  has  been spent in trying  to  deal  with  the
        implications of those results.


             --------------------------------------------------------
             *The  group included Dr. W.C, McCall, John De  Herrera,  and
        the author. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at  the
        1977  MUFON  UFO Symposium (Scottsdale, Ariz.), and at  the  1978
        meeting of the American Psychological Association (Toronto).

-- 
  
        Robert Sheaffer - Scepticus Maximus - sheaffer@netcom.com
  
 Past Chairman, The Bay Area Skeptics - for whom I speak only when authorized!

     "In the 1970's the world will undergo famines - hundreds of millions
     of people are going to starve to death in spite of any crash programs 
     embarked upon now ... in 1985, when it is calculated [under the most
     optimistic scenario] that the major die-back will be over, ..."
       
                       Dr. Paul Ehrlich, "The Population Bomb," 1968

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