An anomalistic psychologist

摘要

You started out in neuropsychology, but over the years you've become well known for anomalistic psychology. Talk me through this transformation. My'PhD, which was at Leicester University, used EEG to look at hemisphere differences, so it's very much a neuropsychological background. Subsequently I've worked in a number of areas. I've done quite a lot of work with my wife Anne Richards on cognition and emotion but then developed this interest in the psychology of, for lack of a better phrase, 'weird stuff'. Initially it started off pretty much as a hobby or side interest. I would do occasional lectures on it and these went down well with the students. Then I'd do occasional student projects looking at various aspects and it kind of grew from there. And now it is the main focus of my research. I used to have a bit of a dilemma about what I called myself because when people asked me 'what is your research interest' and I would say 'it's the psychology of paranormal beliefs and ostensibly paranormal experiences', which is a bit long-winded. So I took to using the term 'anomalistic psychology' - I didn't come up with it but I think it best describes what I do. So now I say 'I study anomalistic psychology' and they say 'What the hell is that?'