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Abstract

Abstract – To the best of our knowledge, this article provides the first transdisciplinary overview of the phenomenon of sleep paralysis in German language. The most substantial key points are summarized not only from a medical and psychological but also from a socio-scientific perspective. Sleep paralysis is the experience of wakefulness (before falling asleep or after having woken up from sleep) accompanied by temporary paralysis and, in most cases, intense hallucinations and fear. At the outset, the concept of sleep paralysis is explicated, and several subtypes and the related sleep disorders are distinguished from each other. Thereafter, the phenomenology of the sleep paralysis experience is illustrated in detail, including wakefulness, atonia, hallucinations, and fear. Several connections to other extraordinary experiences, such as lucid dreams, out-of-body experiences, and alien abduction experiences are shown. In addition, (neuro-)physiological and psychological theories on the etiology of sleep paralysis as well as coping strategies are presented. Non-materialistic and heterodox interpretations and coping strategies for sleep paralysis (e. g. belief in ghosts or demons) are mentioned, too.

Keywords: Sleep paralysis – parasomnia – extraordinary experience – heterodox beliefs – out-of-body experience – lucid dream – alien abduction experience

Abstract

Abstract – A restraint-induced immobility traditionally known as animal hypnosis or tonic immobility (TI) has been suggested as a model for the terrifying “waking nightmare” of sleep paralysis (SP), on several occasions though no previous systematic review comparing the two phenomena has been undertaken. Both include, as a central defining feature, a state of profound but reversible general atonia. TI is potentiated by fear and by threat cues associated with predators. SP is associated with transitions between waking and sleep, and almost universally accompanied by intense fear and frequently by sensations of an evil threatening presence along with a variety of hallucinations consistent with threat and assault. Numerous parallels between the two include behavioral, neurological, hormonal, and general physiological features. Perhaps most intriguing are parallels between the phenomenology of hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations during SP and environmental conditions and events known to induce, potentiate, or exacerbate TI. The review concludes with two speculative hypotheses of exaptation and cooption. First, it is argued that predator-avoidance mechanisms of TI may be coopted for, and simulated in, REM states, appearing as dream imagery in conventional nightmares and hypnagogic hallucinations in SP. Second, these REM experiences, in turn, may be secondarily coopted as experiential sources for cultural beliefs in spirit beings and spirit worlds.

Keywords: tonic immobility – animal hypnosis – nightmares – sleep paralysis – predation – night spirits

Abstract

Abstract – Harvey Irwin, in 2014, published the results of an online survey of members of the Parapsychological Association concerning the views of parapsychologists about paranormal phenomena and parapsychological research. The current study is a conceptual replication with a German version of the questionnaire that is partly adapted to the special demands of the two particular survey groups, members of the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Parapsychologie (WGFP) [Scientific Society for the Advancement of Parapsychology] and the Gesellschaft für Anomalistik (GfA) [Society for Anomalistics]. 25 WGFP members and 57 GfA members took part in the survey. The results are compared between the groups as well as with the data of the survey conducted by Irwin. Despite many parallels, some remarkable differences were found. In general, it became apparent that parapsychologists and interested persons in anomalistics do not form a homogenous group with regard to the assessment of the evidence and the opinions on research-specific issues. Thus, they are not credulous ‘sheep’ who adopt, without thinking, every paranormal claim or ‘evidence’, but rather a group of individuals whose assessments often demonstrate a high degree of variance.

Keywords: Scientific Society for Advancement of Parapsychology – Society for Anomalistics – Parapsychological Association – survey – paranormal beliefs – anomalistic psychology – psi phenomena – evidence of psi

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Abstract – In the majority of both the German and English academic literature concerning the phenomenon of conspiracy, the consideration of the concept of conspiracy theory is of outstanding importance. This is paralleled by the fact that conspiracy practice, and especially its subjective facet, cannot be grasped in an adequate way. One reason for this is to be found in (as I call it) the multiple hiddenness of conspiracy practice, which was not treated with sufficient sophistication in the academic discourse. Starting with the phenomenon of conspiracy practice, it will be shown that and how three modes of conspiracy thinking can be distinguished: conspiracy practice, conspiracy theory, and conspiracy. On the basis of this distinction, I will attempt to establish a systematic epistemological connection between the mentioned terms while trying to deconstruct some basic biases and myths of a mere theoretical conspiracy thinking. Besides the focus on the theoretical and practical sense, the function of knowledge and unknowing is important here. Primarily, the heuristic outline given in this article is to show, how the praxis of conspiracy thinking is not merely an individual pathology, but rather a social process of knowledge-production. Within this process deception („Täuschung“) and disappointment („Ent-Täuschung“) are not just negative elements, but likewise productive means of a dialectical realisation and appropriation of social knowledge.

Keywords: conspiracy theory – conspiracy practice – conspiracy – deep politics – theory – practice – conspirology – hiddenness – knowledge – unknowing

Abstract

Abstract – When debating conspiracy theorists, conspiracy theory sceptics often put forward an argument against the possibility of any genuine conspiracy. This argument I call the “leakage problem argument”. It claims that conspiracy theories are wrong a priori because sooner or later, one of the conspirators would blow the whistle on the conspiracy and tell everything about the secret plans to the public. In my article, I will critically examine the weak spots of this argument and show that, although conspiracy theories may be wrong in many ways, the leakage problem argument is not valid for rejection.

Keywords: 9/11 – Byzantium – compartmentalization – conspiracy – conspiracy theories – Greek fire – leakage-problem argument – need to know