The Psychology of the Occult

Short description: 1952 book by psychologist D. H. Rawcliffe.

Occult psychology or Psychology of Occult

Cover of Illusions and Delusions of the Supernatural and the Occult, 1959.

Author| Donovan Hilton Rawcliffe
Subject| Occult, psychology
Publisher| London: Ridgway / New York: Dover Publications

Publication date

| 1952, 1959, 1988
Media type| psychology

The Psychology of the Occult is a 1952 skeptical book on the paranormal by psychologist D. H. Rawcliffe. It was later published as Illusions and Delusions of the Supernatural and the Occult (1959) and Occult and Supernatural Phenomena (1988) by Dover Publications. Biologist Julian Huxley wrote a foreword to the book.[1]

## Contents

* 1 Content
* 2 Reception
* 3 See also
* 4 References

## Content

The book takes influence from the works of Frank Podmore, Joseph Jastrow and Ivor Lloyd Tuckett dealing with the "fallacies underlying psychical research". Rawcliffe critically examines claims of the occult, parapsychology and spiritualism concluding that they are best explained by psychological factors such as hallucination, hysteria, neurosis and suggestion as well as "delusion, fraud, prestidigitation, and limitless credulity."[2] Rawcliffe found possible naturalistic explanations for all parapsychological experiments he investigated, noting that there is no scientific evidence for any paranormal power. He suggested that many of the results from ESP experiments can be explained by what he termed endophasic enneurosis (unconscious whispering).[3]

The book offers rational explanations for diverse phenomena such as automatic writing, dowsing, fire-walking, lycanthropy and stigmata.

## Reception

Daniel Loxton has described the book as an important skeptical work written many years before the founding of CSICOP. He noted that "Much as Michael Shermer has done in recent decades, Rawcliffe attempted not merely to debunk these claims, but to explain the underlying psychology of why people believe weird things."[4]

## See also

* Why People Believe Weird Things

## References

1. ↑ Anonymous. (1959). The Psychology of the Occult. Science Digest 46: 194.
2. ↑ Tulving, Endel. (1960). Review of Illusions and Delusions of the Supernatural and the Occult. Canadian Journal of Psychology 14 (4): 286–287.
3. ↑ Dingwall, Eric. (1952). Psychical Research Dissected. Nature 170: 176–177.
4. ↑ Loxton, Daniel. (2013). "Why Is There a Skeptical Movement?". Retrieved 4 June 2017.

* v
* t
* e

Pseudoscience

Terminology|

* Cargo cult science
* Charlatan
* Crank
* Fringe theory
* Fringe science
* Pseudoarchaeology
* Pseudohistory
* Junk science
* Paranormal
* Pathological science
* Quackery
* Snake oil
* Superseded scientific theory
* True-believer syndrome
* Voodoo Science

Topics
characterized as
pseudoscience|

* 2012 phenomenon
* Acupuncture
* Adrenal fatigue
* Alchemy
* Alternative medicine
* Ancient astronauts
* Anthroposophic medicine
* Applied kinesiology
* Aquatic ape hypothesis
* Astrology
* Bates method
* Biodynamic agriculture
* Bloodletting
* Body memory
* Catastrophism
* Chiropractic
* Chromotherapy
* Conspiracy theory
* 9/11 conspiracy theories
* Chemtrail conspiracy theory
* Climate change denial
* Moon landing conspiracy theories
* Conversion therapy
* Creation science
* Cryonics
* Cryptozoology
* Crystal healing
* Detoxification
* Colon cleansing
* Dianetics
* Doctrine of signatures
* Doktor Koster's Antigaspills
* Dowsing
* Ear candling
* Electromagnetic hypersensitivity
* Electronic voice phenomenon
* Eugenics
* Facilitated communication
* Feng shui
* Flat Earth theory
* Germ theory denialism
* Graphology
* HIV/AIDS denialism
* Hollow Earth theory
* Homeopathy
* Humorism
* Indigo children
* Intelligent design
* Japhetic theory
* Levitation
* Lunar effect
* Lysenkoism
* Magnet therapy
* Mediumship
* Naturopathy
* Nazi archaeology
* Nibiru cataclysm
* Numerology
* Orgone
* Palmistry
* Perpetual motion
* Phrenology
* Polygraph
* Primal therapy
* Pseudoarchaeology
* Pseudohistory
* Genocide denial
* Historical negationism
* Holocaust denial
* Pseudoscientific metrology
* Psychohistory
* Quantum mysticism
* Rapid prompting method
* Recovered-memory therapy
* Reiki
* Scientific racism
* Aryan race
* Melanin theory
* Trepanning
* Ufology
* Vertebral subluxation
* Voice stress analysis
* Water memory
* Cowpathy

Promoters of pseudoscience|

* Andrew Wakefield
* Deepak Chopra
* Gaia, Inc.
* Goop (company)
* Jenny McCarthy
* Mehmet Oz
* William Donald Kelley

Related topics|

* Bourgeois pseudoscience
* Demarcation problem
* Scientific method
* Suppressed research in the Soviet Union
* Traditional medicine

Resources|

* Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
* Cults of Unreason
* Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience
* Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
* Quackwatch
* JREF
* The Psychology of the Occult
* The Ragged Edge of Science
* The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience
* Skeptical Inquirer
* The Skeptic's Dictionary

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

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