Christopher French

Chris is an expert in the area of anomalistic psychology, focusing upon non- paranormal explanations for ostensibly paranormal experiences.

Staff details

Position

Emeritus Professor

Website

Twitter

Summary

Professor Chris French is the Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit in the Psychology Department at 51吃瓜网黑料. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a Patron of the British Humanist Association. He has published over 150 articles and chapters covering a wide range of topics. His main current area of research is the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences. He frequently appears on radio and television casting a sceptical eye over paranormal claims. His most recent book is Anomalistic Psychology: Exploring Paranormal Belief and Experience.

Grants and Awards

Chris has received external grant funding from a variety of organisations to support his work including: ESRC, MRC, Perrott-Warrick Committee, Society for Psychical Research, British Academy, Wellcome Trust, and the BIAL Foundation.

Public Engagement and Knowledge Exchange

Chris has contributed to public engagement in a wide variety of ways. Some examples include:

Developing and implementing 51吃瓜网黑料鈥� Public Engagement Strategy.
Since 2006, organizing and running the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit Invited Speaker Series (now run in conjunction with the Forensic Psychology Unit; see ).
Since 2013, organizing and running Greenwich Skeptics in the Pub ().
Co-organizing numerous conferences.
Regular engagement in public-facing events including festivals, lectures, school events, and panel discussions.
Writing for the Guardian and the Conversation.
Regularly appearing in the media offering a skeptical perspective on dubious claims.

Publications and research outputs

Book

French, Christopher C. and Stone, A. 2013. Anomalistic psychology: Exploring paranormal belief and experience. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1403995711
Holt, N; Simmonds-Moore, C; Luke, D and French, Christopher C.. 2012. Anomalistic psychology. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0230301504

Edited Book

Grossman, Wendy, M. and French, Christopher C., eds. 2010. Why statues weep. The best of The Skeptic. London: The Philosophy Press. ISBN 0953761126
French, Christopher C. and Colman, Andrew M., eds. 1995. Cognitive psychology. New York: Longman Group. ISBN 0582278104

Book Section

French, Christopher C.. 2022. Demonic Possession and Disorders. In: Stephen Hupp and Richard Wiseman, eds. Investigating Pop Psychology: Pseudoscience, Fringe Science, and Controversies. New York: Routledge, pp. 130-138. ISBN 9780367620684
French, Christopher C.. 2016. Possession and exorcism. In: David Groome and Ron Roberts, eds. Parapsychology: The Science of Unusual Experience. 2nd ed. London: Psychology Press, pp. 34-47. ISBN 978-1138916418
French, Christopher C.. 2016. Reincarnation. In: David Groome and Ron Roberts, eds. Parapsychology: The Science of Unusual Experience. 2nd ed. London: Psychology Press. ISBN 9781138916418

French, Christopher C.. 2016. Abducted: The psychology of close encounters with extraterrestrials. In: J. Al-Khalili, ed. Aliens 鈥� Science asks: Is there Anyone Out There? London: Profile Books, pp. 58-69. ISBN 978-1781256817
French, Christopher C.. 2016. Alien contact and abductions. In: David Groome and Ron Roberts, eds. Parapsychology: The Science of Unusual Experience. 2nd ed. London: Psychology Press. ISBN 9781138916418
French, Christopher C.. 2016. Alien contact and abduction claims. In: D. Groome and R. Roberts, eds. Parapsychology: The Science of Unusual Experience. London: Psychology Press, pp. 48-64. ISBN 978-1138916418
Brotherton, Robert and French, Christopher C.. 2016. Conspiracy theories. In: David Groome and Ron Roberts, eds. Parapsychology: The Science of Unusual Experience. 2nd ed. London: Psychology Press. ISBN 9781138916418
French, Christopher C.. 2016. Reincarnation claims. In: D. Groome and R. Roberts, eds. Parapsychology: The Science of Unusual Experience. London: Psychology Press, pp. 82-95. ISBN 978-1138916418
French, Christopher C.. 2016. Reflections on the False Memory Archive. In: A. R. Hopwood, ed. False Memory Archive Anthology. 1 U.K.: Kindle Edition. ISBN B01AWZV2FY
French, Christopher C. and Ost, James. 2016. Beliefs about memory, childhood abuse, and hypnosis amongst clinicians, legal professionals and the general public. In: R. Burnett, ed. Wrongful Allegations of person abuse. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198723301
Ost, James and French, Christopher C.. 2016. How misconceptions about memory may undermine witness testimony. In: Pamela Radcliffe; Gisli Gudjonsson; Anthony Heaton-Armstrong and David Wolchover, eds. Witness Testimony in Sexual Cases: Evidential, Investigative and Scientific Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 361-373. ISBN 9780199672936
French, Christopher C.. 2015. Anomalistic psychology. In: M Cardin, ed. Ghosts, spirits, and psychics: The paranormal from alchemy to zombies. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, pp. 17-20. ISBN 978-1-61069-683-8
French, Christopher C.. 2015. The psychology of belief and disbelief in the paranormal. In: E C May and S B Marwaha, eds. Extrasensory Perception: Support, Skepticism, and Science. Volume 1: History, Controversy, and Research. Santa Barbara: Praeger, pp. 129-151. ISBN 978-1-4408-3287-1
French, Christopher C.. 2010. The mosaic of memory. In: Christopher C. French and Wendy M. Grossman, eds. Why statues weep. The best of The Sceptic. London: The Philosophy Press, pp. 82-86. ISBN 0953761126
French, Christopher C.. 2010. Missing the point? In: Stanley Krippner and Harris L. Friedman, eds. Debating psychic experience. Human potential or human illusion? Santa Barbara, CA, USA: Praeger, pp. 149-152. ISBN 0-31339-261-7
French, Christopher C.. 2010. Reflections of a (relatively) moderate skeptic. In: Stanley Krippner and Harris L. Friedman, eds. Debating psychic experience. Human potential or human illusion? Santa Barbara, CA, USA: Praeger, pp. 53-64. ISBN 0-31339-261-7
French, Christopher C.; Santomauro, J; Hamilton, Victoria; Fox, Rachel and Thalbourne, M. 2010. Psychological aspects of the alien contact experience. In: Matthew D Smith, ed. Anomalous experiences. Essays from parapsychological and psychological perspectives. Jefferson, NC, USA: McFarland, pp. 136-153. ISBN 978-0-7864-4398-7
French, Christopher C.. 2009. Anomalistic psychology. In: Mike Cardwell; Liz Clark and Claire Meldrum, eds. Psychology for A2 for AQA (A). London: Collins, pp. 472-505. ISBN 978-0-00-725504-7
French, Christopher C.. 2009. Near-death experiences and the brain. In: Craig Murray, ed. Psychological scientific perspectives on out-of-body and death-near experiences. New York: Nova Science Publishers, pp. 187-203. ISBN 978-1-60741-705-7
French, Christopher C. and Santomauro, J.. 2007. Something wicked this way comes. Causes and interpretations of sleep paralysis. In: Sergio Della Sala, ed. Tall tales about the mind and brain. Separating fact from fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 380-398. ISBN 978-0-19-856877-3
French, Christopher C. and Wilson, Krissy. 2007. Cognitive factors underlying paranormal beliefs and experiences. In: Sergio Della Sala, ed. Tall tales about the mind and brain. Separating fact from fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 3-22. ISBN 978-0-19-856877-3
French, Christopher C.. 2005. Fantastic memories. The relevance of research into eyewitness testimony and false memories for reports of anomalous experiences. In: Richard Wiseman and Caroline Watt, eds. Parapsychology. London: Ashgate Publishing, pp. 153-174. ISBN 978-0-7546-2450-9
French, Christopher C.. 2004. Skepticism. In: Jane Henry, ed. Parapsychology. Research on exceptional experiences. London: Routledge, pp. 80-89. ISBN 978-0-415-21360-8
French, Christopher C.. 2004. Parapsychology. In: Adam Kuper and Jessica Kuper, eds. The social science encyclopedia. London: Routledge, pp. 702-703. ISBN 978-0-415-32096-2
French, Christopher C.. 2003. Fantastic memories. The relevance of research into eyewitness testimony and false memories for reports of anomalous experiences. In: James Alcock; Jean Burns and Anthony Freeman, eds. Psi wars. Getting to grips with the paranornal. Exeter: Imprint, pp. 153-174. ISBN 0 907845 487
Holden, Katharine J. and French, Christopher C.. 2002. Alien abduction experiences. Clues from neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry. In: Sean Spence and Peter Halligan, eds. Pathologies of body, self and space. Hove: Psychology Press / Taylor and Francis, pp. 163-178. ISBN 1841699330
French, Christopher C.. 2001. Alien abductions. In: Ron Roberts and David Groome, eds. Parapsychology, the science of unusual experience. London: Arnold Publishers, pp. 102-116. ISBN 9780340761687
French, Christopher C.. 2001. The placebo effect. In: Ron Roberts and David Groome, eds. Parapsychology, the science of unusual experience. London: Arnold Publishers, pp. 35-47. ISBN 9780340761687

Article

Rauf, Betul; Perach, Rotem; Madrid-Valero, Juan J.; Denis, Dan; Sharpless, Brian A.; Farron, Hope; French, Christopher C. and Gregory, Alice M.. 2023. Associations between sleep variables and ostensibly paranormal experiences and paranormal beliefs: A scoping review. British Journal of Psychology, 114(4), pp. 797-818. ISSN 0007-1269
Rauf, Betul; Perach, Rotem; Madrid-Valero, Juan Jose; Denis, Dan; Sharpless, Brian; Poerio, Giulia Lara; French, Christopher C. and Gregory, Alice M.. 2023. The associations between paranormal beliefs and sleep variables. Journal of Sleep Research, 32(4), e13810. ISSN 0962-1105
Rauf, Betul; Sharpless, Brian A.; Denis, Dan; Perach, Rotem; Madrid-Valero, J.J.; French, Christopher C. and Gregory, Alice M.. 2023. Isolated Sleep Paralysis: Clinical Features, Perception of Aetiology, Prevention and Disruption Strategies in a Large International Sample. Sleep Medicine, 104, pp. 105-112. ISSN 1389-9457

Felstead, Kevin and French, Christopher C.. 2021. Dr James Ost鈥檚 contributions to the work of the British False Memory Society. Memory, 30(6), pp. 669-677. ISSN 0965-8211
Sharpless, Brian A.; Denis, Dan; Perach, Rotem; French, Christopher C. and Gregory, Alice M.. 2020. Exploding Head Syndrome: Clinical Features, Theories about Etiology, and Prevention Strategies in a Large International Sample. Sleep Medicine, 75, pp. 251-255. ISSN 1389-9457
Rogers, Paul; Hattersley, Michael and French, Christopher C.. 2019. Gender role orientation, thinking style preference and facets of adult paranormality: A mediation analysis. Consciousness and Cognition, 76(102821), ISSN 1053-8100
Denis, Dan; French, Christopher C.; Schneider, Melanie Nicole and Gregory, Alice M.. 2018. Subjective sleep-related variables in those who have and have not experienced sleep paralysis. Journal of Sleep Research, 27(5), ISSN 0962-1105
Denis, Dan; French, Christopher C. and Gregory, Alice M.. 2018. A systematic review of variables associated with sleep paralysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 38, pp. 141-157. ISSN 1087-0792
Ost, James; Easton, Simon; Hope, Lorraine; French, Christopher C. and Wright, Daniel B.. 2017. Latent variables underlying the memory beliefs of Chartered Clinical Psychologists, Hypnotherapists and undergraduate students. Memory, 25(1), pp. 57-68. ISSN 0965-8211
Brotherton, Robert and French, Christopher C.. 2015. Intention Seekers: Conspiracist Ideation and Biased Attributions of Intentionality. PLoS ONE, 10(5), e0124125. ISSN 1932-6203
Denis, Dan; French, Christopher C.; Rowe, Richard; Zavos, Helena M. S.; Nolan, Patrick M.; Parsons, Michael J. and Gregory, Alice M.. 2015. A twin and molecular genetics study of sleep paralysis and associated factors. Journal of Sleep Research, 24(4), pp. 438-446. ISSN 0962-1105
Wilson, Krissy and French, Christopher C.. 2014. Magic and memory: using conjuring to explore the effects of suggestion, social influence, and paranormal belief on eyewitness testimony for an ostensibly paranormal event. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1289. ISSN 1664-1078
Brotherton, Robert and French, Christopher C.. 2014. Belief in Conspiracy Theories and Susceptibility to the Conjunction Fallacy. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28(2), pp. 238-248. ISSN 0888-4080
Richards, Anne; Hellgren, M G and French, Christopher C.. 2014. Inattentional blindness, absorption, working memory capacity, and paranormal belief. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 1(1), pp. 60-69. ISSN 2326-5523
Brotherton, Robert; French, Christopher C. and Pickering, Alan. 2013. Measuring Belief in Conspiracy Theories: The Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 279. ISSN 1664-1078
Ost, James; Wright, Daniel; Easton, Simon; Hope, Lorraine and French, Christopher C.. 2013. Recovered memories, satanic abuse, Dissociative Identity Disorder and false memories in the UK: a survey of Clinical Psychologists and Hypnotherapists. Psychology, Crime and Law, 19(1), pp. 1-19. ISSN 1068-316X
Ritchie, Stuart J.; Wiseman, Richard and French, Christopher C.. 2012. Failing the future: Three unsuccessful attempts to replicate Bem鈥檚鈥榬etroactive facilitation of recall鈥� effect. PLoS ONE, 7(3), e33423. ISSN 1932-6203
Hadwin, Julie A.; Donnelly, Nick; Richards, Anne; French, Christopher C. and Patel, Umang. 2009. Childhood anxiety and attention to emotion faces in a modified stroop task. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27(2), pp. 487-494. ISSN 0261510X
French, Christopher C.; Haque, Usman; Bunton-Stasyshyn, Rosie and Davis, Robert. 2009. The 鈥淗aunt鈥� project: An attempt to build a 鈥渉aunted鈥� room by manipulating complex electromagnetic fields and infrasound. Cortex, 45(5), pp. 619-629. ISSN 0010-9452
French, Christopher C.; Santomauro, Julia; Hamilton, Victoria; Fox, Rachel and Thalbourne, Michael A.. 2008. Psychological aspects of the alien contact experience. Cortex, 44(10), pp. 1387-1395. ISSN 00109452
Wilson, Krissy and French, Christopher C.. 2008. Misinformation Effects for Psychic Readings and Belief in the Paranormal. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 28(2), pp. 155-171. ISSN 0276-2366
Thompson, Trevor; Keogh, Edmund; French, Christopher C. and Davis, Robert. 2008. Anxiety sensitivity and pain: Generalisability across noxious stimuli. Pain, 134(1-2), pp. 187-196. ISSN 0304-3959
Richards, Anne; French, Christopher C.; Nash, Gily; Hadwin, Julie A. and Donnelly, Nick. 2007. A comparison of selective attention and facial processing biases in typically developing children who are high and low in self-reported trait anxiety. Development and Psychopathology, 19(2), pp. 481-495. ISSN 09545794
Hunt, Caroline; Keogh, Edmund and French, Christopher C.. 2007. Anxiety sensitivity, conscious awareness and selective attentional biases in children. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45(3), pp. 497-509. ISSN 0005-7967
Blagrove, Mark; French, Christopher C. and Jones, Gareth. 2006. Probabilistic reasoning, affirmative bias and belief in precognitive dreams. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20(1), pp. 65-83. ISSN 0888-4080
French, Christopher C. and Wilson, Krissy. 2006. Incredible memories: How accurate are the reports of anomalous events. European Journal of Parapsychology, 21(2), pp. 166-181. ISSN 0168-7263
Hunt, Caroline; Keogh, Edmund and French, Christopher C.. 2006. Anxiety Sensitivity: The Role of Conscious Awareness and Selective Attentional Bias to Physical Threat. Emotion, 6(3), pp. 418-428. ISSN 1528-3542
Wilson, Krissy and French, Christopher C.. 2006. The relationship between susceptibility to false memories, dissociativity, and paranormal belief and experience. Personality and Individual Differences, 41(8), pp. 1493-1502. ISSN 01918869
French, Christopher C.. 2005. Near-death experiences in cardiac arrest survivors. Progress in Brain Research, 150, pp. 351-367. ISSN 00796123
Crawley, Susan and French, Christopher C.. 2005. Field and observer viewpoint in remember-know memories of personal childhood events. Memory, 13(7), pp. 673-681. ISSN 0965-8211
Keogh, Edmund; Bond, Frank W.; French, Christopher C.; Richards, Anne and Davis, Robert E.. 2004. Test anxiety, susceptibility to distraction and examination performance. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 17(3), pp. 241-252. ISSN 1061-5806
French, Christopher C.. 2003. Fantastic memories: The relevance of research into eyewitness testimony and false memories for reports of anomalous experiences. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 10(6-7), pp. 153-174. ISSN 13558250
Hadwin, Julie A.; Donnelly, Nick; French, Christopher C.; Richards, Anne; Watts, Antonia and Daley, Dave. 2003. The influence of children's self-report trait anxiety and depression on visual search for emotional faces. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44(3), pp. 432-444. ISSN 0021-9630
Crawley, Susan E.; French, Christopher C. and Yesson, Steven A.. 2002. Evidence for transliminality from a subliminal card-guessing task. Perception, 31(7), pp. 887-892. ISSN 0301-0066
Richards, Anne; French, Christopher C.; Calder, Andrew J.; Webb, Ben; Fox, Rachel and Young, Andrew W.. 2002. Anxiety-related bias in the classification of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions. Emotion, 2(3), pp. 273-287. ISSN 1528-3542
Holden, Katharine and French, Christopher C.. 2002. Alien abduction experiences: Some clues from neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 7(3), pp. 163-178. ISSN 1354-6805
Keogh, Edmund and French, Christopher C.. 2001. Test anxiety, evaluative stress, and susceptibility to distraction from threat. European Journal of Personality, 15(2), pp. 123-141. ISSN 0890-2070
French, Christopher C.. 2001. Dying to know the truth: visions of a dying brain, or false memories? The Lancet, 358(9298), pp. 2010-2011. ISSN 01406736
Richards, Anne; French, Christopher C.; Keogh, Edmund and Carter, Corrin. 2000. Test-Anxiety, inferential reasoning and working memory load. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 13(1), pp. 87-109. ISSN 1061-5806
French, Christopher C.. 1991. Computers in the clinic. Microcomputers, psychology and medicine. Robert West, Margaret Christie and John Weinman (Eds). John Wiley and Sons, Chichester. 1990. No. of pages xii + 318. ISBN 0-471-924-040 (hardback). Price 拢45. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 5(6), pp. 531-532. ISSN 08884080

Report

French, Christopher C.. 2001. Paranormal perception? A critical evaluation. Other. Institute for Cultural Research, London.

Research Interests

Chris鈥檚 research focuses on the psychology of paranormal and related beliefs and of ostensibly paranormal experiences, as well as the psychology of belief in conspiracy theories. He is the Director of the Social Processes and Personality Group. Key areas of interest are listed below. For further details, see :

Paranormal beliefs
Ostensibly paranormal experiences
Belief in conspiracies
False memories
Eyewitness testimony
Sleep paralysis
Magical thinking
Pseudoscience
Parapsychology
Cognitive biases

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