Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories Author(s): Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister Source: Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1996), pp. 99-126 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1449001 . Accessed: 22/01/2011 20:22 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=taylorfrancis. 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Baumeister Departmentof Psychology Case WesternReserve University Autobiographical memories are often suspect. For example, a surprisingly large number of people report having been abducted by extraterrestrials. We offer a prototype of the abduction experience and an assessment of the frequency of such reports. Theseaccounts are hard to dismiss on the basis of mendacityor insanity,but there are ample reasons to doubt their literal accuracy. Weoffer a cognitive-motiva- tional explanationfor how spurious memories of unidentifiedflying object (UFO) abductionscan be created and maintained.The motivational roots lie in the desire to escape from ordinaryself-awareness, and this explanationis supportedby parallels between UFO abduction accounts and masochisticfantasies. The cognitive bases involve the integration and elaboration of hallucinations, general knowledge, and contextualcues intofull-blown accounts, usually with the aid of hypnosis.Due to the pitfalls of hypnosis,people develop a high degree of confidencein the veridicalityof spurious UFO abductionmemories. Much of what we know about other people is based Psychologistshave been slow to devotetheir thoughts on the stories they tell us about themselves. Unfortu- and researchefforts to these phenomena. One reason nately, sometimes what they tell us is not true. Some might be a kind of defensive skepticism.According to such stories are outright fabrications.Other autobio- evidence reviewed by Bem and Honorton(1994), psy- graphical memories are simply difficult to believe, chologistsare significantlyless willing thanother scien- although the storyteller might be convinced they are tists (andeven othersocial scientists)to takeparanormal real. According to one very large set of first-person phenomenaseriously. Coon (1992) traced this state of accounts,our planet is frequentlyvisited by aliens from affairs back to the turn of the century, when many outer space. At least several hundred(and more likely psychologistsbelieved thatthe survivalof the discipline several thousand) Americans are said to be abducted as a respectablescience hingedon theirdistancing them- every day by these aliens, who take the haplessindivid- selves from then-fashionabletopics such as telepathy, uals into theirspaceships, perform painful and sexually clairvoyance,and communicationwith the dead. Yet, if tinged medical experiments on them, try with mixed these recent startlingaccounts are to be believed, they success to erasetheir memories of the incident,and then suggest a large and increasingscope of interventionby returnthem to Earthin the approximatevicinity of the extraterrestrialaliens into human affairs, which might site from which they were abducted.Needless to say, soon amountto one of the most spectacularand important manypeople are skepticalthat these events are actually developmentsin humanhistory. And, if theseaccounts are occurring,but this skepticism is quite often accompa- not to be believed,then they constitutea widespreadand nied by a sincere desire to understandwhat could risingform of fascinatingdelusion that calls for explana- possibly lead someone to constructand accept a false tion on the basis of acceptedcognitive and motivational memory of this kind. principles. NEWMAN&BAUMEISTER In eithercase, people who claim to have experienced fallibility of autobiographicalmemory (e.g., Halver- abductionby unidentifiedflying objects (UFOs) might son, 1988; Neisser & Harsch, 1992) and the processes require expert intervention to help them recover. A involved in distortedreconstructions of the past (e.g., handful of mental health professionals are therefore Baumeister& Newman, 1994;E. F. Loftus, 1993; Ross, now arguingthat psychotherapistsshould be educated 1989). aboutthe UFO abductionphenomenon so thatthey will An observation made by Jacobs (1992), another recognize the symptomsand be able to help the victims UFO investigatorsincerely worriedabout the effects of (e.g., Clamar, 1988; Mack, 1992b; Sprinkle, 1988; see extraterrestrialintrusions on abductees, foreshadows also Huyghe, 1993). Abductees,they argue,are suffer- our main argument.Jacobs noted an odd characteristic ing from posttraumaticstress disorder(or a variantof of these people. Due to the traumaticnature of their that condition, "experiencedanomalous trauma"-see experiences, he lamented, their sexuality has been af- J. P. Wilson, 1990), and so they should get the same fected; in particular,many have confessed to "fantasies treatmentas anyone else meeting the relevantdiagnos- involving masochism and bondage"(p. 253). We con- tic criteria. In other words, their problems should be cur withJacobs' s hypothesisof a link between masoch- handled like those of victims of other brutal experi- istic fantasies and UFO abduction accounts. Rather ences, such as warfare,rape, or physical abuse.A more than suggesting that the fantasies are a result of an radical approachis taken by those who argue that the actual abductionexperience, however, we believe that problems of abductees are not just similar to other bothspring from a common source-the need to escape problemsof adjustmentbut that,quite often, repressed the self. Both masochisticand UFO abductionfantasies memories of UFO abductionsmight be causing many might derive from the excessive demands and stresses of those other problems. As described by a skeptical associated with the modern construction of selfhood Klass (1988a), this "skeletonkey theory"suggests that (Baumeister,1991 a; Cushman,1990). We presentevi- recognizing the reality of UFO abductionhas the po- dence supportingthe hypothesis that UFO abduction tential to unlock the causes of many kinds of psycho- accountsexpress the goal of escaping from awareness logical abnormality, such as unexplained fears, of the self s most burdensomeaspects, such as its needs phobias, andpanic disorders.Proponents of this theory for esteem and control.In addition,we review in detail also caution thatthe vast majorityof psychologists and the many ways in which UFO abductionaccounts re- psychiatrists are not equipped to help abductees, so semble anotherset of accountshypothesized to express people who feel that they have had such experiences the desire to escape the self-the fantasies of sexual should avoid those professionals. Instead, victims masochists. As perceptivelyput by David Langford,a would be betteroff seeking help from expertsfamiliar science-fictionwriter, with the phenomenon.Some of these expertscan even provide advice on techniques one can use to resist Whyshould people fantasize such unpleasant experi- becoming an abductee(Druffel, 1993). encesas someof thosereported? Well, I am surethat We do not mean to mock the efforts of those who beingraped by thealien equivalent of a telephotolens wouldbe a nastyexperience, but if you don't seek to providecomfort to people who areunhappy and jolly actuallyhave to undergoit butonly "remember"un- confused due to what they believe is a UFO abduction. dergoingit, suddenlyit canbe seenin a new lightas a But we do believe thatthese are betterserved people by partlymasochistic-or not so masochistic-fantasy. a more complete understandingof the sources and (Hough& Randles,1991, pp. 41-42) psychological significance of their disturbingmemo- ries. In this article, we attempt to contributeto that Unlike masochistic fantasies, however, accounts of understanding.Randles and Warrington (1985) charac- UFO abductionsare typically believed (by the individ- terized UFO abductionreports as "a remarkablephe- uals involved) to have really happened.To explain this, nomenon which one feels must have a psychological