-=> Quoting Michael Holt to MATTHEW SCRUGGS <=-
 MH> To some extent, then, the abduction pehomenon becomes a
 MH> statistical study? That makes sense to me.  We have too much
 MH> data, not all of which is relevant or useful.  Somehow, we need
 MH> to rattle out the material that is not of any value.  But I'm not
 MH> sure how to do that.
 MH> Consider: we have before us two abduction reports.  One of them
 MH> is from a woman with a history of emotional problems, the other
 MH> from a man with a  stable life.  Which one is worth detailed
 MH> study?  The woman or the man? Does a stable life suggest higher
 MH> credibility in this matter?
   Speaking from my position in the middle of a Cognitive Psychology
unit, the answer is: not necessarily. Anyone can misremember,
especially if whoever helped them recover the memories subtly hinted
that it had to be aliens.
   (Brief pause for a related example: Studies have shown that an
    eyewitness' memory can be changed significantly by something as
    small as the word used to describe the event. People who are asked
    what happened when the car "crashed into" the wall remember a far
    more violent event than people who are asked what happened when
    the car "contacted" the wall.)
   Another problem with sorting the real abductees from the other ones
is the "It must have been real! I remember it so clearly!" syndrome.
Often the clarity and the detail of abductees' memories are cited as
evidence that the event was real, even by their psychiatrists, who
should know better.
   There's a famous experiment where people were asked to describe, in
as much detail as possible, events from their childhood. After a few
repetitions spaced out over time, most of the subjects could remember
every event in detail - even the ones that had been made up by the
experimenters, which had never actually happened. And many of them
refused to believe that some of these "memories" were fake. ("It must
have been real! I remember it so clearly!")
 MH> Does psych0- logical problems always preclude the transmission of
 MH> relaible data?
   Lessee, now... drat, I'm not scheduled for Abnormal Psychology
until September.
   
 MS> Of course, that sill leaves the aftereffects of encounter on the
 MS> smaller group, but its a start.
 MH> The smaller group, however, is what we want.
   I would agree with that.
 MH> My gut feeling is that we need to identify those persons who are using
 MH> the abdcution memory as a cover for something else.  We may find that
 MH> it's all a cover for something else.
   I can't argue with that either.
 
 MH> No easy answers.  Not even any easy questions.
   Randall Garrett once wrote that God will answer anything if you ask
Him the right question - and that the most reliable way of asking is
to go and look for the answer yourself. :)
Paul
... We Scorpios don't believe in astrology.
--- Blue Wave/Max v2.30 [NR]
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