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Susan Jane Blackmore (born 29 July 1951) is a British parapsychologist, freelance writer, lecturer, sceptic, and broadcaster on psychology and the paranormal, and is best known for her book ''The Meme Machine''. She has written or contributed to over 40 books and 60 scholarly articles and is a contributor to ''The Guardian'' newspaper.〔 ==Career== In 1973, Susan Blackmore graduated from St Hilda's College, Oxford, with a BA (Hons) degree in psychology and physiology. She received an MSc in environmental psychology in 1974 from the University of Surrey. In 1980, she earned a PhD in parapsychology from the same university; her doctoral thesis was entitled "Extrasensory Perception as a Cognitive Process."〔 In the 1980s, Blackmore conducted psychokinesis experiments to see if her baby daughter, Emily, could influence a random number generator. The experiments were mentioned in the book to accompany the TV series ''Arthur C. Clarke's World Of Strange Powers''.〔(page 91, Arthur C. Clarke's World Of Strange Powers, John Fairley and Simon Welfare, Putnam, 1984 )〕 Blackmore taught at the University of the West of England in Bristol until 2001.〔 After spending time in research on parapsychology and the paranormal, her attitude towards the field moved from belief to scepticism. In 1987, Blackmore wrote that she had believed herself to have undergone an out-of-body experience shortly after she began running the Oxford University Society for Psychical Research (OUSPR): Within a few weeks I had not only learned a lot about the occult and the paranormal, but I had an experience that was to have a lasting effect on me—an out-of-body experience (OBE). It happened while I was wide awake, sitting talking to friends. It lasted about three hours and included everything from a typical "astral projection," complete with silver cord and duplicate body, to free-floating flying, and finally to a mystical experience. In a ''New Scientist'' article in 2000, she again wrote of this: It was just over thirty years ago that I had the dramatic out-of-body experience that convinced me of the reality of psychic phenomena and launched me on a crusade to show those closed-minded scientists that consciousness could reach beyond the body and that death was not the end. Just a few years of careful experiments changed all that. I found no psychic phenomena - only wishful thinking, self-deception, experimental error and, occasionally, fraud. I became a skeptic. In an article in ''The Observer'' on sleep paralysis Barbara Rowland wrote that Blackmore, "carried out a large study between 1996 and 1999 of 'paranormal' experiences, most of which clearly fell within the definition of sleep paralysis." She is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly CSICOP) and in 1991, was awarded the CSICOP Distinguished Skeptic Award. Blackmore has done research on memes (which she wrote about in her popular book ''The Meme Machine'') and evolutionary theory. Her book ''Consciousness: An Introduction'' (2004), is a textbook that broadly covers the field of consciousness studies. She was on the editorial board for the ''Journal of Memetics'' (an electronic journal) from 1997 to 2001, and has been a consulting editor of the ''Skeptical Inquirer'' since 1998. She acted as one of the psychologists who was featured on the British version of the television show ''Big Brother'', speaking about the psychological state of the contestants. She is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association. Blackmore debated Christian apologist Alister McGrath in 2007, on the existence of God. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Susan Blackmore」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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