Christopher French

Christopher (Chris) Charles French is a British psychologist who is prominent in the field of anomalistic psychology, with a focus on the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences. In addition to his academic activities, French frequently appears on radio and television to provide a skeptical perspective on paranormal claims.

He is currently a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and the head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, which he founded in 2000. French emphasizes the importance of understanding why people believe in the paranormal and advocates for taking these claims seriously to explore the underlying psychological factors involved. He has conducted research on various paranormal phenomena, including psychic abilities, ghosts, UFO abductions, and astrology. French is also involved in academia, teaching courses on psychology, parapsychology, and pseudoscience. He has published numerous articles and chapters in reputable psychology journals and has presented his work at conferences and symposia.

French is also active in science communication, having served as the Editor-in-Chief of The Skeptic magazine and written columns for The Guardian newspaper. He has made numerous appearances on science programs, documentaries, and discussion panels to discuss skeptical perspectives on paranormal phenomena.

Career After French completed his PhD he taught adult education classes in which he also addressed astrology and extrasensory perception. which he founded in 2000.

On the importance of anomalistic psychology he said in an interview on The Skeptic Zone,

The focus of his current research is the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences. In addition to academic activities, such as conference presentations and invited talks in other departments, he frequently appears on radio and television presenting a sceptical view of paranormal claims. recovered memory, telepathy, faith healing, past life regression, ghosts, UFO abductions, out-of-body experiences, astrology and so on.

Academia French teaches a course entitled Psychology, Parapsychology and Pseudoscience as part of the BSc (Hons) Psychology programmes at both Goldsmiths College and Birkbeck College. He is a Chartered Psychologist and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

He has authored or co-authored over 80 articles and chapters dealing with a wide variety of subjects in psychology, his work has been published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, the British Journal of Psychology and the British Journal of Clinical Psychology.

In August 1996, he organised and chaired an integrated paper session on the topic of The Psychology of Paranormal and Pseudoscientific Beliefs at the XXVI International Congress of Psychology in Montreal.

He also contributed to a symposium on The Psychology of Anomalous Experience at the British Science Association annual British Science Festival at the University of Birmingham in September 1996.

In July 1997, he chaired a symposium on The Psychology of Paranormal Belief at the Fifth European Congress of Psychology in Dublin. He presented a paper at a conference on Paranormal and Superstitious Beliefs: A Skeptical Examination at Manchester Metropolitan University on Friday 13, November, 1998.

In February 1999, he contributed to a symposium of the Royal Statistical Society (which he co-organised). In July 1999, he co-organised and presented a paper at a half-day conference on Parapsychology: Current Status and Future Prospects at Goldsmiths College and gave a paper at the Sixth European Congress of Psychology in Rome. Later they were given what they were told was a genuine crystal, and asked to meditate for 10 minutes and then report the sensations they experienced. Half of the subjects had actually been given fake plastic crystals instead. French found no difference between the feelings reported between the two groups.

In 2004, French and colleagues conducted an experiment involving electromagnetic fields (EMF) and extremely low frequency sound waves (infrasound) phenomena that have been associated with allegedly haunted locations, the experiment did not establish a causal relationship between these phenomena and experiences of the subjects.

A study, led by French and published in 2008, explored the psychology of people who believed they had been abducted by aliens.

In January 2010, French was elected as a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

Science communication French is a former Editor-in-Chief of The Skeptic (UK) magazine. He presided over a relaunch, in 2009, in which the magazine expanded to 40 pages and assembled an editorial advisory board, including many big names (e.g. Tim Minchin, Stephen Fry, Richard Wiseman, Simon Singh).

In 1998, he took part in an investigation of reincarnation claims amongst the Druze people of Lebanon, broadcast as part of the To the Ends of the Earth series. This involved spending around three weeks in Lebanon with a film crew.

He made regular appearances on ITV's programme Haunted Homes. He also makes appearances in the Channel 4 documentary series Tony Robinson and the Paranormal.

In 2017, French attended the 17th European Skeptics Congress (ESC) in Old Town Wrocław, Poland. This was organised by the Klub Sceptyków Polskich (Polish Skeptics Club) and Český klub skeptiků Sisyfos (Czech Skeptic's Club). Here he appeared on a panel to discuss exorcisms. The panel was chaired by Amardeo Sarma and included Mariusz Błochowiak, Konrad Szołajski and Jakub Kroulík.

Works

Book

Co-edited book

Selected book sections

Selected articles