Researchers often use the term "sensitivity " when theorizing that certain persons may be more readily affected by various influences than others. Through a review of the literature, it is argued that some individuals are disposed toward a range of sensitivities that, in novelty as well as intensity, distinguish them from the general population. The author cites evidence indicating that such persons exhibit greater susceptibility to a range of environmental factors including allergies, migraine headache, chronic pain, and chronic fatigue. Their immediate family members appear to be similarly affected. Additionally, these "sensitive" individuals report a high degree of anomalous perception. While no single factor in a person's background is likely to distinguish him/her as sensitive, eight demographic or personality factors are found to be significant. Semin Integr Med 3:104-109
This paper contains a narrative overview of the past 20-years of environmental research on anomalous experiences attributed to "haunted house." This exercise served as a much-needed update to an anthology of noteworthy overviews on ghosts, haunts, and poltergeists (Houran and Lange, 2001b). We also considered whether new studies had incorporated certain recommendations made in this anthology. Our search revealed a relative paucity of studies (n = 66) on environmental factors that ostensibly stimulate haunt-type experiences. This literature was diverse and often lacked methodological consistency and adherence to the prior suggestions. However, critical consideration of the content revealed a recurring focus on six ambient variables: embedded (static) cues, lighting levels, air quality, temperature, infrasound, and electromagnetic fields. Their relation to the onset or structure of witness reports showed mostly null, though sometimes inconsistent or weak outcomes. However, such research as related to haunts is arguably in its infancy and new designs are needed to account better for environmental and architectural phenomenology. Future studies should therefore address four areas: (i) more consistent and precise measurements of discrete ambient variables; (ii) the potential role of "Gestalt influences" that involve holistic environmentperson interactions; (iii) individual differences in attentional or perceptual sensitivities of percipients to environmental variables; and (iv) the role of attitudinal and normative influences in the interpretation of environmental stimuli. Focused scrutiny on these issues should clarify the explanatory power of evolutionary-environmental models for these and related anomalous experiences.
Just as a small band of scholars has endeavored to explore the phenomenon of “atmosphere”– i.e., the characteristic feel of a particular situation, circumstance, artifactor era – another group of researchers has shed light on the defining characteristicsof “haunts,” those places where the atmosphere may, to some people, seem strange,spooky or off-putting. The fields of atmosphere studies, hauntology, and spectralityattest to these investigations. However, scholars of atmosphere rarely refer to haunts,while scholars of hauntology and spectrality insufficiently emphasize the affective coreof atmospheres. This paper argues that affect – which nearly all studies acknowledge asthe key element of atmosphere – is equally central to the phenomenon of haunts. Sinceaffect is a property of living creatures, the paper proposes that haunted atmospheresattest to the quality or intensity of feelings expressed by individuals, even if they areno longer in that location or no longer living. Just as atmospheres can be sensed butnot grasped, just as they are ineffable yet discernable, and just as they are fleetingyet can also linger, they resemble feelings, moods and ghosts. The term “presence,”which recurs throughout atmosphere studies, hauntology, and spectrality, is closelyconsidered for its connection with concepts of time, immediacy, and memory. Threeexperiences of the author are presented as touchstones for evaluating the possibilitiesdiscussed. The paper concludes by discussing our species’ “ocular-centrism,” i.e., itstendency to conclude that what can be seen and definitively measured is real whereaswhat is invisible and shifting is less real or not at all.
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