1st Edition
The Psychology of Public Belief in Unexplained Phenomena Close Encounters, Extraterrestrials and UFOs
Contents
Chapter One: Extraterrestrial Theory, Ufology and Psychology
Chapter Two: Belief in Life Elsewhere in the Universe
Chapter Three: UFOs and Extraterrestrials on Earth: Reliability of Sightings
Chapter Four: UFOs and Extraterrestrials on Earth: Alien Contact and Abductions
Chapter Five: Parallel and Non-Parallel Belief Systems: The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis, the Paranormal and Religion
Chapter Six: UFOs and Extraterrestrials on Earth: Personality and the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis
Chapter Seven: UFOs and Extraterrestrials on Earth: Social Group Influences and the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis
Chapter Eight: Stories about Extraterrestrials and UFOs: Psychology of Media Priming
Chapter Nine: Cover-Ups, Secrecy and Public Disclosures: The Psychology of Conspiracy
Chapter Ten: The UFO Challenge: Clarifying Perception and Establishing Reality
Biography
Barrie Gunter is Emeritus Professor in Media at the University of Leicester. He has degrees (BSc., MSc., PhD) in psychology and worked in the broadcasting industry in audience research for 15 years before moving into the academic world as Professor of Journalism, University of Sheffield, and then Professor of Mass Communications, University of Leicester. He has written 80 books and over 400 academic papers, technical reports and other publications across a range of social science disciplines, in psychology, media, marketing and consumerism, information science and political science. His latest books include: The BBC and the Public (2025, Palgrave Macmillan), The Psychology of Binge Watching TV (2024, Routledge), The Psychology of the Selfie (2022, Routledge) Children and Television Consumption in the Digital Era (2021, Routledge). He also published a series of four volumes about the psychology of the pandemic for Routledge in 2022 and 2023.
