Alien abductions, satanic kidnappings, the channeling of spirits, the recall of past lives and other similar bizarre experiences are reported almost daily in the media. Is there a rational explanation for these events? According to Robert A. Baker, such irregular or supernatural experiences are manifestations of hidden memories, a phenomenon in which experiences that originally make little conscious impression are filed away in the brain and later are suddenly remembered in an altered form.
In Hidden Memories, the most recent scientific evidence on memory is used to dispel many supernatural beliefs and to show how the boundaries of human behaviour are often misperceived by therapists, especially those who adhere to fringe beliefs. He shows how delusions and illusions affect behaviour and discusses the role hypnosis, imagination, and suggestion play in the creation of other worldly experiences. Finally Baker looks at the media's role in aiding and abetting paranormal belief in addition to promoting the growth of superstitions and popular myths.
Robert A. Baker, Ph.D. author of the acclaimed They Call It Hypnosis, has taught psychology at M.I.T., Stanford University, and the University of Kentucky, where he was chairman of the Psychology Department until his retirement. He is also the author of Mind Games: Are We Obsessed with Therapy? and edited Child Sexual Abuse and False Memory Syndrome.
390 pages ISBN 1-57392-094-0 Paper
Return to Psychology List or Return to Science and the Paranormal List