No abstract

Ss who reported UFO experiences were divided into those whose experiences were nonintense (e.g., seeing lights and shapes in the sky) and those whose experiences were intense (e.g., seeing and communicating with aliens or missing time). On a battery of objective tests Ss in these 2 groups did not score as more psychopathological, less intelligent, or more fantasy prone and hypnotizable than a community comparison group or a student comparison group. However, Ss in the UFO groups believed more strongly in space alien visitation than did comparison Ss. The UFO experiences of Ss in the intense group were more frequently sleep-related than the experiences of Ss in the nonintense group. Among the combined UFO Ss, intensity of UFO experiences correlated significantly with inventories that assessed proneness toward fantasy and unusual sensory experiences. Implications are discussed.

In 4 studies. Ss received hypnotic suggestions to regress beyond birth to a previous life. In Study 1, the development of a past-life identity was unrelated to indexes of psychopathology. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that Ss developed past-life identities that reflected hypnotist-transmitted expectations. In Study 4 the credibility that Ss assigned to their past-life experiences was influenced by whether the hypnotist defined such experiences as reaiox imagined. Combined data from the first 3 studies indicated that hypnotizability predicted the subjective intensity of past-life experiences but not the credibility assigned to these experiences. Alternatively, beliefs, attitudes, and expectations concerning reincarnation predicted the degree of credibility assigned to these experiences. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Currently, there is a lack of consensus regarding which measures to use in the assessment of chronic pain patients. This investigation empirically determined the core dimensions tapped by 9 self-report measures commonly used with chronic pain patients. Subjects were 315 patients referred to a multidisciplinary chronic pain clinic. The measures assessed emotional and social functioning, and the behavioral, cognitive, sensory, and subjective aspects of pain.

Mock jurors heard one of four versions of a ‘date rape’ case and deliberated, in small groups, to a verdict. Exposure to the direct examination of an expert who testified about rape myths undermined belief in the defendant's testimony that sex with the complainant had been consensual, and increased the frequency of guilty votes. However, exposure to the expert's cross-examination reversed the effects of the direct examination on the frequency of guilty votes. Women jurors disbelieved the defendant and voted him guilty to a greater extent than male jurors, while in both sexes profeminist attitudes correlated with disbelief in the defendant's testimony but failed to correlate significantly with final verdicts. Implications are discussed.