By Phaedra Ellington
Summer Reporter
Glenn Sparks picked a good time to start thinking about ghosts.
With the increasing number of paranormal shows dotting the new season's TV line-up, public interest in the paranormal is steadily rising.
Since the early 1990s, Sparks, a professor of communication, has been researching how the media affects the public's belief in the paranormal.
"I had done a number of studies early in my career on the effects of frightening movies on emotional reactions that children had. I was interested in the sorts of things that scared children in the media at different points in their development and what parents could do to help children who were scared," said Sparks.
Sparks noticed most of the programming, which caused the frightened reactions, were shows that involved ghosts, aliens and other similar programming. Around the same time, Sparks noticed an increase in paranormal programming.
"I've always been interested in how media affects what people believe. I just became interested in how (paranormal) depictions were being framed and what their effects might be on the viewing public," said Sparks.
Sparks said he has done about seven studies on the subject and is looking forward to starting his next project. Sparks' next research project will be studying ghosts, particularly how the media depicts ghosts and how that affects what people believe.
"Ghosts are very commonly represented in the media," said Sparks. "Ghosts and psychics are two that I would like to look at."
He has found that a large percentage of the public admits to believing in ghosts or have not decided whether or not they believe in ghosts. He would also like to look at whether or not a person's prior belief in ghosts can predict the emotional reaction a person might have to a movie about ghosts.
"(Researching the paranormal) has opened up so many different realms of exploration," Sparks said. "As a result, I've become familiar with a lot of the skeptical societies out there and their publications."
The magazine Sparks enjoys the most is the Skeptical Inquirer, which is published by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.
Benjamin Radford, managing editor of the Skeptical Inquirer, said the paranormal stories the media present is just a reflection of what the public is interested in.
"The amount someone believes in the paranormal more or less goes up and down," said Radford. "Paranormal shows have always stayed around because there is always an interest in what's out there."
Sparks hopes his research will help to advance theory and understanding about media effects on the public. He thinks the research could help to sensitize people to their own beliefs about the world and the role media plays in helping to influence those beliefs.
"It is important to be able to evaluate evidence for or against a claim as students," said Sparks. "As a culture, if we're not able to discriminate between what's true and false we're in trouble."
http://www.purdueexponent.com/mojavi/ex ... hp?id=4191
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