Prosocial Attitude Change in Response to an Anomalous Mass Sighting Event: The Phoenix Lights

Abstract

Research on individuals experiencing close encounters with unidentified aerial or anomalous phenomena (UAP) and nonhuman intelligent beings has revealed that these “experiencers” report many positive and prosocial attitude changes, along with additional anomalous experiences. Ring proposed that these individuals may gain lowered thresholds and thus heightened sensitivity to a wide range of paranormal phenomena, thereby becoming “encounter prone personalities.” This research has been limited, however, by the fact that the UAP encounters reported in these studies tend to occur across widely varying geographic locations and environmental conditions. In order to obtain more “standardized” stimulus conditions, wherein witnesses all perceive either the same or a highly similar stimulus event, the present study surveyed witnesses to a singular historical event, the appearance of the Phoenix Lights on March 13, 1997. This sighting was arguably the most widely viewed and best documented sighting of UAP in history, having been covered by national and local media, as well as being the subject of a book and documentary movie. Witnesses to the event (N=117) completed an internet questionnaire of approximately 100 response items, assessing history of paranormal experiences, attitude change along five dimensions derived from principal components factor analysis and reliability analysis of Ring’s Life Changes Inventory, as well as a measure of Subjective Happiness. The questionnaire also included response items to detect agreement bias and motivated confabulation. Based upon prior research, authors hypothesized that witnesses would report an array of additional paranormal and non-ordinary experiences, would experience both positive and prosocial attitude changes as a result of their encounter, and that these attitude changes would be positive and would correlate with reported subjective happiness. Results revealed that respondents reported additional paranormal experiences, in addition to their sighting, and in some cases these paranormal experiences exceeded population base rates reported in other research. Respondents’ reported attitude changes across all 5 dimensions were in the expected direction. However, only one attitude dimension, Sense of Self and Connection with a Higher Power, was found to correlate independently with self-reported Subjective Happiness. Results were interpreted as generally supporting Ring’s heightened sensitivity to paranormal phenomena and were consistent with other research into encounters with UAP and nonhuman intelligent beings.