Christopher (Chris) Charles French (born 1956) is a British psychologist who is prominent in the field of anomalistic psychology, with a focus on the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences. In addition to his academic activities, French frequently appears on radio and television to provide a skeptical perspective on paranormal claims.
He is currently a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and the head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, which he founded in 2000. French emphasizes the importance of understanding why people believe in the paranormal and advocates for taking these claims seriously to explore the underlying psychological factors involved. He has conducted research on various paranormal phenomena, including psychic abilities, ghosts, UFO abductions, and astrology. French is also involved in academia, teaching courses on psychology, parapsychology, and pseudoscience. He has published numerous articles and chapters in reputable psychology journals and has presented his work at conferences and symposia.
French is also active in science communication, having served as the Editor-in-Chief of The Skeptic magazine and written columns for The Guardian newspaper. He has made numerous appearances on science programs, documentaries, and discussion panels to discuss skeptical perspectives on paranormal phenomena.
Opinion poll after opinion poll tell us that the majority of population, in one way or another, do express belief in the paranormal. Most people, in any survey, will endorse at least one paranormal claim. Now, either that means that paranormal forces really do exist, or it's telling us something really interesting about human psychology. So, either way, we should definitely take these types of claims seriously and try to understand what is going on.[3]
During his 2014 interview for the Skeptic Zone Podcast, Chris acknowledged that, as a sceptic, he believed in paranormal activities until he became more aware of the psychology behind why people believe, a point made clear to him through a book written by Professor of Psychology James Alcock:
I kind of fell into this trap myself...I used to be a believer, a true believer until quite well into my adulthood. And it was reading one particular book by James Alcock, called 'Parapsychology: Science or Magic,' that made me realize there was another way of explaining all these unusual experiences, and one that actually made a lot of sense to me![14]
In August 1996, he organised and chaired an integrated paper session on the topic of The Psychology of Paranormal and Pseudoscientific Beliefs at the XXVI International Congress of Psychology in Montreal.[16]
In July 1997, he chaired a symposium on The Psychology of Paranormal Belief at the Fifth European Congress of Psychology in Dublin. He presented a paper at a conference on Paranormal and Superstitious Beliefs: A Skeptical Examination at Manchester Metropolitan University on Friday 13, November, 1998.[18]
In February 1999, he contributed to a symposium of the Royal Statistical Society (which he co-organised). In July 1999, he co-organised and presented a paper at a half-day conference on Parapsychology: Current Status and Future Prospects at Goldsmiths College and gave a paper at the Sixth European Congress of Psychology in Rome.[18] In February 2001, he gave an invited presentation to the Institute for Cultural Research[15] at the Royal Society of Medicine and he has organised two symposia at major conferences (Glasgow, March 2001; London, July 2001).
In 2001, French tested the effects of crystal healing with the results suggesting that they are largely placebo effects. 80 volunteers were given a questionnaire to gauge their level of belief about paranormal phenomena.[19] Later they were given what they were told was a genuine crystal, and asked to meditate for 10 minutes and then report the sensations they experienced. Half of the subjects had actually been given fake plastic crystals instead. French found no difference between the feelings reported between the two groups.[20]
In 2004, French and colleagues conducted an experiment involving electromagnetic fields (EMF) and extremely low frequency sound waves (infrasound) phenomena that have been associated with allegedly haunted locations, the experiment did not establish a causal relationship between these phenomena and experiences of the subjects.[21]
A study, led by French and published in 2008, explored the psychology of people who believed they had been abducted by aliens.[22]
French, Richard Wiseman and Stuart Ritchie each tried to replicate Daryl Bem's claim about psychic powers independently and failed at publishing their findings in high-profile journals. This is a common problem with publishing negative results, as novel research is more sought-after. They subsequently submitted their paper to PLOS One, an open access journal, of which's concept French became a supporter.[1]
Science communication
French is a former Editor-in-Chief of The Skeptic (UK) magazine.[23] He presided over a relaunch, in 2009, in which the magazine expanded to 40 pages and assembled an editorial advisory board, including many big names (e.g. Tim Minchin, Stephen Fry, Richard Wiseman, Simon Singh).[3] From 2009 to 2016, French has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper exploring scepticism and anomalistic psychology.[24][25][1]
In 1997, he was one of three sceptics sitting on a panel for a 90-minute live debate on UFOs broadcast at peak viewing time by the Strange but True? team to mark the 50th anniversary of UFOs.[26]
In 1998, he took part in an investigation of reincarnation claims amongst the Druze people of Lebanon, broadcast as part of the To the Ends of the Earth series. This involved spending around three weeks in Lebanon with a film crew.[27]
Chris French at the 2012 World Skeptics Congress in Berlin
— (2004). "Parapsychology". In Kuper, Adam; Kuper, Jessica (eds.). The Social Science Encyclopedia. London: Routledge. pp. 702–703. ISBN9780415320962.
— (2004). "Skepticism". In Henry, Jane (ed.). Parapsychology. Research on Exceptional Experiences. London: Routledge. pp. 80–89. ISBN978-0415213608.
—; Santomauro, J. (2007). "Something Wicked This Way Comes. Causes and Interpretations of Sleep Paralysis". In Sala, Sergio Della (ed.). Tall Tales About the Mind and Brain. Separating Fact from Fiction. Oxford University Press. pp. 380–398. ISBN9780198568773.
—; Wilson, Krissy (2007). "Cognitive Factors Underlying Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences". In Sala, Sergio Della (ed.). Tall Tales About the Mind and Brain. Separating Fact from Fiction. Oxford University Press. pp. 3–22. ISBN9780198568773.
— (2009). "Anomalistic Psychology". In Cardwell, Mike; Clark, Liz; Meldrum, Claire; Wadeley, Alison (eds.). Psychology for A2 Level for AQA (A) (4th ed.). New York: HarperCollins. pp. 472–505. ISBN9780007255030.
— (2010). "Reflections of a (Relatively) Moderate Skeptic". In Krippner, Stanley; Friedman, Harris L. (eds.). Debating Psychic Experience: Human Potential Or Human Illusion?. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. pp. 53–64. ISBN9780313392610.
— (2010). "Missing the point?". In Krippner, Stanley; Friedman, Harris L. (eds.). Debating Psychic Experience: Human Potential Or Human Illusion?. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. pp. 149–152. ISBN9780313392610.
Selected articles
—; Beaumont, J. Graham (March 1984). "A critical review of EEG coherence studies of hemisphere function". International Journal of Psychophysiology. 1 (3): 241–54. doi:10.1016/0167-8760(84)90044-8. PMID6394561.
French, Christopher C.; Richards, Anne; Scholfield, Emma J. C. (November 1996). "Hypomania, anxiety and the emotional Stroop". British Journal of Clinical Psychology. 35 (4): 617–26. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8260.1996.tb01217.x. PMID8955547.
^French, Christopher C. (10 September 1996). "Parapsychology and the paranormal". Atheism Central for Secondary Schools. Alan Urdaibay. Archived from the original(Paper presented at the British Association Annual Festival of Science) on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
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