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The Surprising Psychology of UFO Reporting
psychologytoday.com ^ | Eric Haseltine

Posted on 11/05/2023 5:25:28 AM PST by RoosterRedux

Studies of people who report seeing unidentified flying objects or unidentified aerial phenomena (1) show (thankfully for me) that very few such individuals exhibit psychopathology or are simply trying to grab attention or sell their stories for financial gain. Rather, researchers concluded that the vast majority of those who report seeing extraordinary aerial phenomena truly believe what they saw was real and that, in fact, what they saw was not a hallucination.

Quirks of perceptual psychology can explain some of the reporting.

...

But, as the recent congressional testimony of military pilots who recorded encounters with UFOs (including range-to-target data) shows, optical illusions can’t account for all of the sightings.

Putting aside for the moment the possibility that some UFO reports truly describe either alien or ultra-advanced human technology (so that the answers lie not in psychology but in cosmology or technology), what other psychological factors correlate with UFO reporting?

One psychological correlate, according to Gow et al. in their article Fantasy Proneness and Other Psychological Correlates of UFO Experience (1), is a tendency of reporters to have a richer fantasy life than those who do not report UFOs. This doesn’t mean, according to the study’s authors, that UFO reporters make up their encounters, only that such individuals often had more vivid and frequent fantasies than the general population.

Another factor that correlated with UFO reporting was the Big Five personality trait of openness, suggesting that UFO reporters were less likely than others to discount their experience as somehow routine or normal and remained open to the possibility that something truly extraordinary had happened to them.

(Excerpt) Read more at psychologytoday.com ...


TOPICS: UFO's
KEYWORDS:
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What is most interesting about this article is the author. His bio raises questions. Given his history, "why" he would write this article and is he speaking for himself or on behalf of some of his former employers?

The author, in addition to being a neuroscientist and psychologist, is a former intelligence officer with the NSA, has extensive DOD links, and is a former employee of Hughes Aircraft (Director of Engineering - per Wiki).

Here is an excerpt from his bio:

In the aftermath of 9/11, Eric joined the National Security Agency as its Associate Director, in charge of Research and Development, where he directed a broad range of projects, specializing in counter-terrorism technology.

When Congress created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Dr. Haseltine was promoted in 2005 to become its first CTO (Associate Director National Intelligence, reporting to the Director). In his two years there, Eric oversaw all Science and Technology efforts within the United States Intelligence Community as well as fostering development innovative new technologies for counter terrorism.

Through his consulting company Haseltine Partners LLC, Eric now helps intelligence agencies and the Department of Defense find and apply cutting edge technologies to problems such as counter terrorism and collaborative intelligence analysis.


1 posted on 11/05/2023 5:25:28 AM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: Openurmind; Churchjack; eastforker; Levy78; maddog55; Jonty30; GingisK; Mark17; spirited irish; ...

ping


2 posted on 11/05/2023 5:26:06 AM PST by RoosterRedux (A person who seeks the truth with a strong bias will never find it. He will only confirm his bias.)
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To: RoosterRedux

Distraction of the month.


3 posted on 11/05/2023 6:04:15 AM PST by jimbug
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To: jimbug

It may be disinformation, but the suggestion that it is a distraction is dim. No one is distracted from what is going on right now re: Israel and the rise of anti-Semitism.


4 posted on 11/05/2023 6:10:07 AM PST by RoosterRedux (A person who seeks the truth with a strong bias will never find it. He will only confirm his bias.)
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To: RoosterRedux; jimbug

Seems to me that Israel is a distraction from the real existential problems that exist right now in the United States.


5 posted on 11/05/2023 6:43:17 AM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: RoosterRedux

Thanks for the interesting post—our alien overlords seem to be keeping it on the down low recently...

;-)


6 posted on 11/05/2023 6:45:13 AM PST by cgbg ("Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training." Anna Freud.)
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To: Pontiac
Yes and no. The Hamas attack on Israel has created a divide for the Left...exposing its rabid anti-Semitism, much to the bewilderment of the Left's powerful Jewish members.

It is also good news that many elite law firms in NYC and around the country have rescinded offers to Ivy League law school grads who marched in support of Hamas.

7 posted on 11/05/2023 6:54:31 AM PST by RoosterRedux (A person who seeks the truth with a strong bias will never find it. He will only confirm his bias.)
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To: cgbg

There are rumbles that some really big news is coming soon. When I saw Eric Haseltine’s credentials, I wondered if this article is intended to grease the skids for that news.


8 posted on 11/05/2023 6:57:48 AM PST by RoosterRedux (A person who seeks the truth with a strong bias will never find it. He will only confirm his bias.)
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To: jimbug

Three posts in and the usual jackassed ignorance commences. The problem with people like you is you would mock, ridicule, and discourage legitimate UFO reporting that includes things like the recent Chinese spy balloon.

You’re not helping.


9 posted on 11/05/2023 7:02:14 AM PST by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism. )
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To: RoosterRedux

a tendency of reporters to have a richer fantasy life than those who do not report UFOs.


This also applies to FLIR, radar returns, and military gun targeting systems. Very rich.


10 posted on 11/05/2023 7:06:19 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: PIF

The author is also implying, in a backhanded way, that those who cannot accept reports of extraordinary events are perhaps dull (with no rich fantasy life or imagination).


11 posted on 11/05/2023 7:14:45 AM PST by RoosterRedux (A person who seeks the truth with a strong bias will never find it. He will only confirm his bias.)
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To: PIF

Close Encounter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfPdYYsEfAE


12 posted on 11/05/2023 7:15:07 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: RoosterRedux

those who cannot accept reports of extraordinary events are perhaps dull (with no rich fantasy life or imagination).


seems to be accurate, judging from some FR responses on this topic


13 posted on 11/05/2023 8:49:38 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: RoosterRedux
It is also good news that many elite law firms in NYC and around the country have rescinded offers to Ivy League law school grads who marched in support of Hamas.

I have mixed feelings about that.

I really don’t believe that your personal political view should be held against you.

But, I have little doubt that these Utes are completely down with holding people’s views against them. And so by all means be hoisted on your own petard.

If you are going to violently harass those who oppose you or dox them then may you be haunted by your actions forever more.

14 posted on 11/05/2023 9:31:45 AM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: RoosterRedux

Thanks for the update—we are overdue for some new info releases.


15 posted on 11/05/2023 10:24:04 AM PST by cgbg ("Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training." Anna Freud.)
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To: BenLurkin
Close Encounter

That was funny, I can't wait till it's my turn to be abducted.

16 posted on 11/05/2023 10:35:38 AM PST by Hot Tabasco
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To: Pontiac
You raise a good point about having your political views held against you...in general.

That said, I think a lot of large, powerful law firms don't like their new associates marching for controversial causes while in college. That brings unwanted baggage to the firm, particularly if those new associates became notorious or famous for their protests and marches.

I know that back when I was in business, I wouldn't have recruited a person known for being in protests and marches. It takes a certain kind of person and personality to protest and march and that wouldn't be the kind of associate I would hire (I recruited from the B-schools, not law schools).

Nothing wrong with being politically active in general, but those kinds of people are destined for careers that match their personalities.

17 posted on 11/05/2023 11:21:30 AM PST by RoosterRedux (A person who seeks the truth with a strong bias will never find it. He will only confirm his bias.)
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To: RoosterRedux

“what they saw was not a hallucination.”

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


18 posted on 11/05/2023 11:40:16 AM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: RoosterRedux
Given his history, "why" he would write this article and is he speaking for himself or on behalf of some of his former employers?

The West's prevailing worldview is nihilistic materialism. But for many years materialism's nihilists have been covertly crossing through the fluid line separating it from mystical pantheism where many nihilists hope to find a source for life, conscious life, and some kind of existence after death.

After carefully reading the overt thoughts and implied hopes of the author I think he is more than ready to accept the existence of lifeforms from another dimension. And it might well be that he is already an ardent fan of the UFO of God for that very reason

19 posted on 11/05/2023 11:40:39 AM PST by spirited irish ( )
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To: Hot Tabasco

And it’s actually a bit on point with the article. To wit: how people process these experiences depends a lot on who they are as a person.


20 posted on 11/05/2023 11:41:34 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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