Aliens and Science Collide

Two new publications empirically examine reports of alien abductions, recovered memory syndrome and cultural stereotypes. Statistical significance.

By Kaja Perina, published on August 01, 2002

It may seem obvious that psychologists should empirically examine reports of alien abductions and recovered memory syndrome or studies that don't reach traditional levels of significance. But neither controversial phenomena nor potentially illuminating but statistically insignificant research has had the imprimatur of a peer-reviewed journal-until now.

Scott Lilienfeld, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Emory University, hopes to separate scientifically supported claims from pseudoscientific chaff in The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, launched in May. Lilienfeld maintains that treatments such as calligraphy therapy or Jungian sand play-in which objects in sand trays are manipulated to express the psyche-are not subject to controlled tests. The Internet facilitates the popularity of such therapies, and the American Psychological Association recently offered continuing-education courses on these techniques. But Lilienfeld says he's more concerned about "potentially harmful treatments such as rebirthing, using truth serum for recovered memory, and critical-incidence stress debriefing (CRISIS), in which patients are forced to discuss trauma when they may not be ready to process it."

The journal probes suspect symptoms, as well. Factitious disorder by proxy, also known as Munchausen's syndrome by proxy, is characterized by a caregiver (often a mother) fabricating or inducing illness in her charge in order to attract medical attention. The disorder is grossly overdiagnosed, in part due to escalating media interest, according to Eric Mart, Ph.D., of Highland Psychological Services in New Hampshire. Mart argues that our conception of factitious disorder by proxy derives from case studies rather than from scientific testing and that it should not be legally recognized.

A more common-but equally suspect-illness is multiple-chemical sensitivity, the belief that one is sick from unidentifiable environmental toxins. Patients with this affliction, also called immune dysregulation syndrome, usually suffer from depression or somatoform disorders, according to Loren Pankratz, Ph.D., of Oregon Health Sciences University.

Another unusual new periodical, The Journal of Articles in Support of the Null Hypothesis(JASNH), tackles cultural stereotypes such as the belief that eldest children are more outgoing than their siblings. Studies that find no differences between such groups (thereby supporting the null hypothesis) are crucial in dispelling folklore but are often difficult to publish. "If one study out of 20 reports statistically significant findings, it should not be the only published report. But the 19 studies that provide evidence against the original paper will be buried in file drawers," says JASNH editor Stephen Reysen, a psychology student at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Null findings have proven important in groundbreaking psychological research; in the 1970s, they helped dispel the myth that women conform more easily than men to popular opinion.

The first issue of JASNH includes a review of studies on birth order that found that the sibling-hierarchy theory does not predict traits such as emotional stability, conscientiousness, sociability or self-esteem. Denise and Stephen Guastello of Carroll College and Marquette University, respectively, found no significant personality differences based on birth order but ample evidence that oldest and only children enjoy more academic success than other birth categories.