Chris French

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.[3]

During his 2014 interview for the Skeptic Zone Podcast, Chris acknowledged that, as a sceptic, he believed in paranormal activities until he became more aware of the psychology behind why people believe, a point made clear to him through a book written by Professor of Psychology James Alcock:

I kind of fell into this trap myself...I used to be a believer, a true believer until quite well into my adulthood. And it was reading one particular book by James Alcock, called 'Parapsychology: Science or Magic,' that made me realize there was another way of explaining all these unusual experiences, and one that actually made a lot of sense to me![15]

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.[16]

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.[17]

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.[18]

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.[19]

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.[19] In February 2001, he gave an invited presentation to the Institute for Cultural Research[16] at the Royal Society of Medicine and he has organised two symposia at major conferences (Glasgow, March 2001; London, July 2001).

In 2001, French tested the effects of crystal healing with the results suggesting that they are largely placebo effects. 80 volunteers were given a questionnaire to gauge their level of belief about paranormal phenomena.[20] 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.[21]

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.[22]

A study, led by French and published in 2008, explored the psychology of people who believed they had been abducted by aliens.[23]

In January 2010, French was elected as a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry[5]

French, Richard Wiseman and Stuart Ritchie each tried to replicate Daryl Bem’s claim about psychic powers independently and failed at publishing their findings in high-profile journals. This is a common problem with publishing negative results, as novel research is more sought-after. They subsequently submitted their paper to PLOS One, an open access journal, of which’s concept French became a supporter.[2]

French is a former Editor-in-Chief of The Skeptic (UK) magazine.[24] 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).[4] From 2009 to 2016, French has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper exploring scepticism and anomalistic psychology.[25][26][2]

He has appeared on various science programmes (e.g. Equinox, ScienceNow, All in the Mind) and documentaries (e.g. Heart of the Matter, Everyman) as well as numerous discussion programmes (e.g. Esther; The Time, The Place; Kilroy; This Morning).

In 1997, he was one of three sceptics sitting on a panel for a 90-minute live debate on UFOs broadcast at peak viewing time by the Strange but True? team to mark the 50th anniversary of UFOs.[27]

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.[28]

Chris French at the 2012 World Skeptics Congress in Berlin

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'.[28]

In November 2013, French was featured as the keynote speaker for the 2013 Australian Skeptics National Convention in Canberra.[29]

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.[30]

—; Stone, Anna, eds. (2014). Anomalistic Psychology: Exploring Paranormal Belief and Experience. London: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 9781403995711.

—; Grossman, Wendy M., eds. (2010). Why Statues Weep. The Best of The Skeptic. London: The Philosophy Press. ISBN 9780953761128.

— (2004). "Parapsychology". In Kuper, Adam; Kuper, Jessica (eds.). The Social Science Encyclopedia. London: Routledge. pp. 702–703. ISBN 9780415320962.

— (2004). "Skepticism". In Henry, Jane (ed.). Parapsychology. Research on Exceptional Experiences. London: Routledge. pp. 80–89. ISBN 9780415213608.

—; Santomauro, J. (2007). "Something Wicked This Way Comes. Causes and Interpretations of Sleep Paralysis". In Sala, Sergio Della (ed.). Tall Tales About the Mind and Brain. Separating Fact from Fiction. Oxford University Press. pp. 380–398. ISBN 9780198568773.

—; Wilson, Krissy (2007). "Cognitive Factors Underlying Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences". In Sala, Sergio Della (ed.). Tall Tales About the Mind and Brain. Separating Fact from Fiction. Oxford University Press. pp. 3–22. ISBN 9780198568773.

— (2009). "Anomalistic Psychology". In Cardwell, Mike; Clark, Liz; Meldrum, Claire; Wadeley, Alison (eds.). Psychology for A2 Level for AQA (A) (4th ed.). New York: HarperCollins. pp. 472–505. ISBN 9780007255030.

— (2010). "Reflections of a (Relatively) Moderate Skeptic". In Krippner, Stanley; Friedman, Harris L. (eds.). Debating Psychic Experience: Human Potential Or Human Illusion?. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. pp. 53–64. ISBN 9780313392610.

— (2010). "Missing the point?". In Krippner, Stanley; Friedman, Harris L. (eds.). Debating Psychic Experience: Human Potential Or Human Illusion?. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. pp. 149–152. ISBN 9780313392610.

—; Beaumont, J. Graham (March 1984). "A critical review of EEG coherence studies of hemisphere function". International Journal of Psychophysiology. 1 (3): 241–54. doi:10.1016/0167-8760(84)90044-8.

—; Beaumont, J. Graham (November 1987). "The reaction of psychiatric patients to computerized assessment". British Journal of Clinical Psychology. 26 (4): 267–78. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8260.1987.tb01360.x.

Richards, Anne; — (1991). "Effects of encoding and anxiety on implicit and explicit memory performance". Personality and Individual Differences. 12 (2): 131–9. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(91)90096-T.

Richards, Anne; — (1992). "An anxiety-related bias in semantic activation when processing threat/neutral homographs". Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Section A. 45 (3): 503–25. doi:10.1080/02724989208250625.

Richards, Anne; —; Johnson, Wendy; Naparstek, Jennifer; Williams, Jane (November 1992). "Effects of mood manipulation and anxiety on performance of an emotional Stroop task". British Journal of Psychology. 83 (4): 479–91. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1992.tb02454.x.

French, Christopher C.; Richards, Anne; Scholfield, Emma J. C. (November 1996). "Hypomania, anxiety and the emotional Stroop". British Journal of Clinical Psychology. 35 (4): 617–26. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8260.1996.tb01217.x.

Hadwin, Julie; Frost, Susie; —; Richards, Anne (August 1997). "Cognitive processing and trait anxiety in typically developing children: Evidence for an interpretation bias". Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 106 (3): 486–90. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.106.3.486.

Keogh, Edmund; — (March–April 2001). "Test anxiety, evaluative stress, and susceptibility to distraction from threat". European Journal of Personality. 15 (2): 123–41. doi:10.1002/per.400.

Richards, Anne; —; Calder, Andrew J.; Webb, Ben; et al. (September 2002). "Anxiety-related bias in the classification of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions". Emotion. 2 (3): 273–87. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.2.3.273.

Keogh, Edmund; Bond, Frank W.; —; Richards, Anne; et al. (2004). "Test anxiety, susceptibility to distraction and examination performance". Anxiety, Stress, & Coping. 17 (3): 241–52. doi:10.1080/10615300410001703472.