Scientists have determined the characteristics that can increase a person’s likelihood of claiming to hear the spirits of the dead.
According to recent studies, self-described clairaudient mediums are more likely than the general population to have high levels of task absorption, unusual auditory experiences as a child, and a high susceptibility to auditory hallucinations.
For anthropologists researching religious and spiritual experiences as well as scientists researching pathological hallucinatory experiences, the Spiritualist experiences of clairvoyance and clairaudience—the experience of seeing or hearing something without an external stimulus and attributed to the spirits of the dead—are of great scientific interest.
Researchers are particularly interested in learning why some auditory experiencers describe them as Spiritualist experiences while others find them disturbing and are given a mental health diagnosis.
According to psychologist Peter Moseley of Northumbria University in the UK, “Spiritualists tend to report unusual auditory experiences which are positive, start early in life and which they are often then able to control.” He added, “Understanding how these develop is important because it could help us understand more about distressing or non-controllable experiences of hearing voices too.”
To find out what set Spiritualists apart from the general public, who don’t typically report hearing the voices of the dead, he and his colleague psychologist Adam Powell of Durham University in the UK recruited and surveyed 143 members of the general population through social media as well as 65 clairaudient mediums from the UK’s Spiritualists’ National Union.
In total, 44.6% of Spiritualists stated they had voices on a daily basis, and 79% said the experiences were a regular part of their lives.
And while the majority of people claimed to hear voices inside their heads, 31.7% also claimed to hear voices outside of their mind.
The survey’s findings were startling.
The Spiritualists reported substantially higher paranormal believing compared to the general population, and they were also less self-conscious.
The majority of Spiritualists claimed strong levels of absorption and that they had their first auditory encounter while they were young, on average at the age of 21.7. This word refers to
complete engrossment in mental tasks and activities or altered states, as well as how well the person is able to block out their surroundings.
They also claimed to be more prone to having hallucination-like experiences.
Prior to their experiences, the researchers said they had rarely heard of spiritualism; rather, they had stumbled into it while searching for solutions.
High levels of absorption were likewise substantially connected with paranormal belief in the general population, but there was little to no vulnerability to auditory hallucinations.
Additionally, there were no changes in either group’s levels of paranormal belief or sensitivity to seeing ghosts.
These results, the researchers say, suggest that experiencing the ‘voices of the dead’ is therefore unlikely to be a result of peer pressure, a positive social context, or suggestibility due to belief in the paranormal. Instead, these individuals adopt Spiritualism because it aligns with their experience and is personally meaningful to them.
Adam Powell says, “Our findings say a lot about ‘learning and yearning’. For our participants, the tenets of Spiritualism seem to make sense of both extraordinary childhood experiences as well as the frequent auditory phenomena they experience as practising mediums.” And went on to say, “But all of those experiences may result more from having certain tendencies or early abilities than from simply believing in the possibility of contacting the dead if one tries hard enough.”
They came to the conclusion that further study should focus on various cultural contexts in order to comprehend the connection between absorption, belief, and the unique, spiritual sensation of hearing ghosts whisper in one’s ear.
Now weather you believe in these encounters and sightings, doesn’t matter. Because it not going to change the fact that it does happen. Some people do have a gift; its not all dark or evil, as some would call it.
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