Perspectives on the abduction phenomenon are explanations that are intended to explain claims of alien abduction and examination by apparently otherworldly beings. The main differences between these perspectives lie in the credence ascribed to the claims. Perspectives range from the assertion that all abductions are hoaxes to the belief that the claims are of objective happenings and separate from the consciousness of the claimants.
Some researchers are intrigued by abduction phenomena, but hesitate to make definitive conclusions. Harvard psychiatrist John E. Mack, a leading authority on the spiritual or transformational effects of alleged alien abduction experiences, said, "The furthest you can go at this point is to say there's an authentic mystery here. And that is, I think, as far as anyone ought to go."(emphasis as in original) Bryan, 269 Mack was also unconvinced by piecemeal counterclaims; he said skeptical explanations need to "take into account the entire range of phenomena associated with abduction experiences", up to and including "missing time", directly contemporaneous UFO sightings, and the occurrence in small children.Mack, 1995. p. 431
The mainstream scientific perspective is that the abduction phenomenon has its roots in human psychology, neurology, and culture; it is effectively a psychosocial phenomenon rather than alien abduction. Many among the general public, conspiracy theorists, and ufologists hold to the idea that extraterrestrial beings have been temporarily abducting people against their will.
Various authors, including Jacques Vallée and John E. Mack, have suggested that the dichotomy 'real' versus 'imaginary' may be too simplistic; that a proper understanding of this complex phenomenon may require a reevaluation of our concept of the nature of reality.
Extraterrestrial hypothesis
This is the hypothesis that alien abduction is a literal phenomenon, in which extraterrestrial beings abduct humans to study or experiment upon them. Humans have not discovered these beings because their technology is so advanced that they can evade detection. This account is not widely supported by most mainstream scientists because of the absence of physical evidence and the contradictory nature of most abduction accounts.
Literary perspectives According to literature professor Terry Matheson, the popularity and intriguing appeal of alien abduction accounts are easy to understand. Tales of abduction "are intrinsically absorbing; it is hard to imagine a more vivid description of human powerlessness". Matheson says that after experiencing the frisson of delightful terror one may feel from reading a ghost story or watching a horror film, people "can return to the safe world of their homes, secure in the knowledge that the phenomenon in question cannot follow. But as the abduction myth has stated almost from the outset, there is no avoiding alien abductors."Matheson, 297
Skeptical perspectives Various hypotheses have been proposed by skeptics to explain reports without the need to invoke controversial concepts such as intelligent extraterrestrial life forms. These hypotheses usually center on known psychological processes that can produce subjective experiences similar to those reported in abduction claims. Skeptics are also likely to critically examine abduction claims for evidence of hoaxing or influence from popular culture sources such as science fiction. One example of a comprehensive, skeptical analysis that focuses on the effects of mass marketing is art historian John F. Moffitt's 2003 book Picturing Extraterrestrials: Alien Images in Modern Mass Culture.Moffitt, John F. (2003) Picturing Extraterrestrials: Alien Images in Modern Mass Culture. New York: Prometheus Books .
According to Brian Dunning, proposed psychological alternative explanations of the abduction phenomenon have included hallucination, temporary schizophrenia, epileptic seizures, and parasomnia—near-sleep mental states (hypnagogic states, night terrors and sleep paralysis). Sleep paralysis is often accompanied by hallucinations and sensations of a malevolent or neutral presence, though people experiencing it do not usually interpret that "something" as aliens.
Hoax Many skeptics believe alien abductees lie about their abduction experiences. The main motivators for such hoaxes are believed to be financial gain from books or films that may be made about their experiences and psychosocial factors, such as attention from others and the possibility of fame abductees may otherwise not have. However, most abductees do not publicize their stories; it is believed most of them believe in their abduction experiences. In this sense, simple fabrication is not a sufficient explanation for the majority of abduction claims.
Psychopathology A common view among the general public—and, in the past, by the scientific community—is that those who believe they have been abducted by aliens are mentally ill. This view has little support from scientists and academics because most studies have found alleged abductees are no more likely than the general population to suffer from psychopathologies. Nevertheless, abductees differ from the general public in significant ways. For example, abductees often score higher than average people in tests measuring hypnotic suggestibility, absorption, magical ideation, and dissociative experiences; abductees are more likely to accept suggestions of a hypnotist as true, are prone to becoming fully engrossed in their imaginations and fantasies, are more likely to believe in unusual phenomena, and experience more alterations in consciousness, such as spacing out.
False memory hypothesis This is one of the most widely accepted theories in the scientific community. It involves an explanation, using psychological theory and research, of ways psychologically healthy individuals may come to believe they have been abducted and ways they maintain that belief. False memory involves several steps or series of events, not all of which are required to lead to a false memory of abduction.
Sleep paralysis The vast majority of abduction experiences are thought to originate from an episode of sleep paralysis, which is often accompanied by a feeling of a heavy weight pressing down upon one's chest, as well as hypnopompic hallucinations—the feeling of flying or levitating, flashing lights, feeling a presence in one's bedroom, and hallucinations of figures (such as a person or an animal) near one's bed. The content of these hallucinations tends to be strongly influenced by the individual's cultural beliefs. Before the 20th century, such hallucinations were interpreted as attacks by incubus and succubus demons, whereas in Newfoundland a witch-like creature is commonly hallucinated. In The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan said the alien abduction experience is similar to tales of demon abduction common throughout history. According to Sagan:There is no spaceship in these stories. But most of the central elements of the alien abduction account are present, including sexually obsessive non-humans who live in the sky, walk through walls, communicate telepathically, and perform breeding experiments on the human species. Unless we believe that demons really exist, how can we understand so strange a belief system, embraced by the whole Western world ... reinforced by personal experience in every generation, and taught by Church and State? Is there any real alternative besides a shared delusion based on common brain wiring and chemistry?".Sagan 1996 124.
The events experienced during sleep paralysis are often unusual and terrifying, but are often dismissed as being a minor sleep disorder. Others are convinced the event was so unusual and unpleasant that the explanation must be equally unusual and unpleasant; they search for such an explanation.
Lucid dreams Some alleged abductees may experience spontaneous lucid dreams. This was reportedly proven by the Phase Research Center during its mass alien abduction experiment (Los Angeles, USA, October 2011). In this experiment, subjects were contacted by "aliens"; it was concluded that reported experiences of close encounters with UFOs and extraterrestrials can be products of the human mind.
In a 2021 study, published in International Journal of Dream Research, the same researchers focused on the hypothesis that if some of alien abduction stories are the products of REM sleep, then they could be deliberately emulated by lucid dreaming practitioners. To check the hypothesis, they instructed a group of volunteers to try to emulate alien encounters via lucid dreams. Of the volunteers, 114 (75%) were able to experience alien encounters. Regarding the successful cases, 20% were close to reality in terms of the absence of paradoxical dreamlike events. And only among this 20% sleep paralysis and fear were observed, which are common in 'real' stories. In theory, random people might spontaneously encounter the same situation during REM sleep and confuse the events with reality. Hypnosis Hypnosis is frequently used by abduction researchers to help recover memories of so-called missing time periods, and has been done so since the Betty and Barney Hill abduction. In their search for an explanation of the unusual event they have experienced, many people seek professional help. It has been found that individuals who already have an interest in UFOs are likely to seek the help of therapists with similar views or beliefs to their own. This therapist-patient combination is likely to result in the creation of false memories of alien abduction, particularly under the use of hypnosis. Hypnosis has been shown to increase the number of recollections a person has; this applies to real and false recollections. This is because of the increased suggestibility of hypnotized individuals. Abduction researcher and folklorist Thomas Bullard said hypnotized subjects become suggestible, "edit[ing] their thoughts less rigorously", thus becoming more likely to confabulate or open themselves to the implantation of memories.Bullard, Thomas E. "The Overstated Dangers of Hypnosis." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press. pp. 196–98.
Not everyone accepts the view that memories recovered during hypnosis are unreliable; Budd Hopkins writes, ... the Hill case bears upon one popular theory which has been widely but uncritically accepted by many skeptics: the idea that such accounts must have been implanted by hypnosis, consciously or unconsciously, or by manipulative practitioners who 'believe in' the reality of such events. Simon, who hypnotized the Hills, was avowedly skeptical about the reality of the Hills' abduction recollections. Yet the Hills stubbornly held to their interlocking, hypnotically recovered accounts despite Simon's suggestions at the end of treatment that their memories could not be literally true. It can therefore be concluded that the bias of the hypnotist had nothing to do with the content of their hypnotic recall. (emphasis in source)Hopkins, 218