"something I Will Never Forget And Never Ever Understand": An Ipa...

"Something I will never forget and never ever understand": An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Alien Abductions Presented in Cyberspace.

Abstract

The alien abduction phenomenon is a topic that is widely speculated about but not extensively studied. The current study aims to explore four individuals perceptions of alien abduction based on their own real-life experiences with my main objective being to gain insight into what the experience was like for each individual personally. Four alien abduction accounts obtained from www.iwasabducted.com were subjected to IPA. This analysis led to the generation of three superordinate themes with a total of seven subordinate themes (see Figure 1.) Results indicated that the superordinate themes formed a 'general template' with which abductees inadvertently yet strategically used to deliver their experiences most of which were emotion based. Future research would benefit from exploring abductees experiences in relation to social elements (age, class, race and gender) as well as psychological factors (personality type, medical history and regressed emotions).

Introduction

Being abducted by aliens is a concept that many people who have not experienced such phenomena often struggle to understand and accept. The term 'abduction experience' has been quoted as referring to "subjectively real memories of being taken secretly and/or against one's will by apparently nonhuman entities and subject to complex physical and psychological procedures" (Appelle, 1996). On the evening of September 19th 1961, Betty and Barney Hill claimed to have been abducted by aliens whilst in New Hampshire on their honeymoon. The American couple reported seeing "strange creatures" aboard an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) that flew directly above their car as they tried to escape. The Hills also inferred that during their experience, there were hours that could not be accounted for (Friedman and Marden, 2007). In the last half century since the Hills publicised their alleged alien encounter, reports of alien abductions and UFO sightings (particularly in the United States) have dramatically increased. It was once proposed that approximately 3.7 million Americans had been abducted at least once in their lifetime, (Hopkins, Jacobs and Westrum, 1992) although there are numerous articles refuting this figure (Jacob, 1992; Bullard, 1994). Alongside the popular concept of alien abduction is that of paranormal activity. Paranormal activity often refers to any occurrences that go against widely accepted norms and cannot be explained by existing empirically tested scientific theory. Alien abduction can be classified as a form of paranormal activity as it is entirely reliant upon abductees' accounts and any evidence that they present themselves which is often inconsistent with popular scientific culture. Studies have claimed that sleep paralysis among other psychophysiological issues is often mistaken for a symptom instead of a cause of perceived alien abduction (McNally and Clancy, 2005). For those of us who have not been abducted nor had any other paranormal experiences, it can prove difficult to accept the stories presented in the media and passed on by word-of-mouth. Consequently, as it is not possible to empirically test the reliability or validity of alleged alien abductions or to predict future abductions, I believe that analysing abductees' written accounts and subsequently interpreting each individual's statement to further understand how the experience made them feel and what it was like for them is a more suitable approach toward this area of psychology. This is also the belief of Jonathan Smith, (2003) who suggest that Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), which I will be using in the current study, be used on research areas that are relatively novel and have little or no literature available. Qualitative analyses of alien abductees' transcri pts are limited in number but have yielded the majority of the existing knowledge in this field. The notions presented and explored within this paper are based indistinctly on a current research piece. Kelley-Romano, (2006) investigated the idea that alien abduction discourse is a 'living myth' by exploring the power of narrative that is present often and sometimes unintentionally manipulated by abductees in their accounts. The research finding that I found to be the most relevant to the current study is that the majority of abductees' accounts of their alien experiences are similar in that they are often write in a particular way that is unique to this specific group of people. In their accounts are 'abduction narrative categories' that each fulfil a specific function directed towards the reader. Despite being submitted by four different authors, there are recurrent themes that link the accounts to one another. These themes will contribute to the framework of my analysis. The aim of my research is to investigate the lived experiences of individuals who believe that they have been abducted by aliens and/or experienced related paranormal activity. Through analysing participant transcri pts, I intend to explore the thoughts, feelings and attitudes associated with the alien experiences of four abductees; consequently, my analysis will provide me with further insight into what the phenomena was like for the abductees personally and enable me to interpret the concepts presented within each account. Method Participants Four members of alien abduction website iwasabducted.com who had voluntarily submitted first-hand accounts of their alleged paranormal experiences for publication on the website were selected as 'participants'. Full typed transcri pts of each participant's account are included in Appendix 1. Materials/Data Collection The accounts used were of varying word lengths (account one = 455 words, account two = 366 words, account three = 122 words and account four = 367 words). All accounts were written in first-person. The data analysed was obtained from the discussions page of an open, international website (www.iwasabducted.com) and as a result of being part of the public domain was freely available for use by anyone. Additionally, ethical approval from participants was not necessary due to the means by which they selected to publish their accounts (a public internet forum). Data Analysis Procedure By conducting this research, my main intention was to investigate and understand the personal realities of individuals who believe that they have experienced some sort of unexplainable paranormal (alien) activity using IPA. This analytical method has been suggested for use in areas of psychology that are relatively new or where the amount of published literature available is minimal (Smith and Osborn, 2003) as is the case with alien abduction and paranormal experiences. All four transcri pts were subjected to IPA. Data organisation involved formatting each account into lines of approximately equal length. I then read the accounts repeatedly and annotated each line with a concise summary in addition to a coding number placed in the margin. These summaries were further inspected for semantic similarities which I highlighted and identified as potential subordinate themes. Subordinate themes were grouped into clusters based upon the closeness of the ideas they presented and a relevant superordinate theme title that related to all the subordinate themes within a particular semantic category was created. The transcri pt extracts utilised within this report formed the basis of the analysis and were specifically selected as they accurately depicted concepts that were repeatedly presented throughout the data. Results A total of three superordinate themes emerged from the data: (1) Common experience attributes; (2) Negative behaviours; (3) Physical indicators. I have outlined the subordinate themes that stem from these three superordinate themes in Figure 1. Superordinate theme one - Common Experience Attributes Analysis showed that authors of three out of four of the accounts tended to mention the experiences and/or presence of others in apparent attempts to support the reliability of their account. Participant 1 (p1) talks about her mother's experience that occurred alongside her own, stating how she felt that their experiences were connected as they both have identical recollections of the event. We, (me and my mother) both experienced a very unusual feeling. (a1) She was white as a ghost and I felt I looked the same, she asked me if I felt like I could not move and did everything just go black to me also, I knew at that very moment what ever happened we had it happen to us both. All we both could remember was the wind noise and only recalled looking out the front windshield of the car. Common experience attributes Unfavourable behaviours Empirical indicators Shared Experiences Emotion-based Fear Physical Markings Repeated Experiences Fear of Being Labelled Time Loss Random Experiences Figure 1: Superordinate and Subordinate Themes

Participant 2 (p2) was walking his dog, Sash, at the time of the event and asserts that Sash also saw the same figure. It was Sash's unusual reaction to the figure that influenced his behaviour. What got me creeped out was when the figure turned their head to look at me and Sash started howling. immediately, I knew I had to get out of there. I picked up the dog and I ran as fast as I could. (a52) . (a13)

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