The SOPHIA Project

http://lach.web.arizona.edu/sophia/index.htm

The SOPHIA Project is being conducted under the direction of Gary E. Schwartz, PhD in the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health.

The first study in this project is the...

Entity Communications Study

Background and Rationale
Numerous individuals in various cultures throughout history have reported an ability to communicate with non-human entities, deceased people, and other-worldly beings. Over the past few years, an increase in the reporting of these types of experiences has been seen in popular American culture including books, websites, and television shows. The rational scientific investigation of this topic is necessary to either validate the experiences or elucidate the psychological mechanisms behind these phenomena. This study is intended to investigate this controversial topic in a thorough and objective manner.

Purpose and Objectives
The purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of people who claim to channel or communicate with Deceased People, Spirit Guides, Angels, Other-Worldly Entities / Extraterrestrials, and / or a Universal Intelligence / God. The ultimate objective is to investigate if these communications can be validated under controlled conditions.

Method to be Employed
This study will be conducted in two phases:

Phase I: Experiential Review / Personality Baseline
In this phase, we will collect information about the experience of communicating with these entities from people who claim to be in contact with them on a regular basis. In addition, we will also have subjects complete standardized personality tests in order to correlate reported experiences with personality type.
Phase II: Verification
The specific methodology of Phase II of the study will need to be determined after the data collection and analysis in Phase I reaches a level conducive to hypothesis development.

Significance of the Study
The significance of Phase I centers on developing a comprehensive overview of the nature of reported entity encounters as well as facilitating an understanding of the psychology behind these experiences. In addition, the significance may include establishing the validity of the experiences that these individuals report thereby reducing the social judgment their reports sometimes foster.

Alternatively, the results of Phase I may provide evidence that the explanation for these experiences is in fact conventional in nature. If Phase II is performed, the results may provide information about the existence of other forms of consciousness.

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