Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination

    Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 1994 Oct;42(4):433-46.

    Past-life identities, UFO abductions, and satanic ritual abuse: the social construction of memories.

    Spanos NP, Burgess CA, Burgess MF.

    Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

    People sometimes fantasize entire complex scenarios and later define these experiences as memories of actual events rather than as imaginings. This article examines research associated with three such phenomena: past-life experiences, UFO alien contact and abduction, and memory reports of childhood ritual satanic abuse. In each case, elicitation of the fantasy events is frequently associated with hypnotic procedures and structured interviews which provide strong and repeated demands for the requisite experiences, and which then legitimate the experiences as "real memories." Research associated with these phenomena supports the hypothesis that recall is reconstructive and organized in terms of current expectations and beliefs.

    PMID: 7960296 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    Supplemental Content

    Click here to read