IS THE USE OF AURAS AND CHAKRAS IN NEW AGE PRACTICES RELATED TO SYNAESTHETIC EXPERIENCE?

A thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology of Dublin University, Trinity College, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Applied Psychology Submitted in August 2008 by Norah Jordan

Declarations

I hereby certify that this dissertation is entirely my own work and has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at any other university. I agree that the library may lend or copy the dissertation on request.

Signed____________________________________________ Date _____________________

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Acknowledgements

There are many people who have contributed to the successful completion of this dissertation. Firstly, I would very much like to thank Dr Tim Trimble, my Dissertation Supervisor, for his interest in my dissertation topic of synaesthesia, and for the help and support he has given me throughout the year, both with my dissertation and in his capacity as Course Director for the M.Sc. in Applied Psychology. I would also like to thank Dr Fiona Newell, a member of the Academic Staff for Neuroscience and Cognition in the Department of Psychology, Dublin University, Trinity College, for her help and advice in the earlier stages of research planning, as well as Dr Jamie Ward, visiting Senior Lecturer in Psychology from Sussex University, for rekindling my interest in synaesthesia. I also extend my gratitude to Ms Luisa Byrne, Executive Officer for the M.Sc. in Applied Psychology, for her patient fielding of my many questions throughout the year. My sincere thanks go to the twenty-seven people who participated in my research, for their generosity of time and spirit in helping me in my venture into the world of synaesthesia research. My deepest gratitude goes to my incredibly supportive friends and family. Especially to Ruth; the one who truly understands the stress of studying, to my wonderful brother, Iain, for encouraging me to do the M.Sc. in Applied Psychology and for his patience, support and love always, but particularly over the past year, and to my amazingly considerate boyfriend John, for his thoughtfulness, support, endless hugs and transcribing prowess. And finally to Doon, who gave me the strength to be able to do all of this, and who wouldve been so proud of my work that she wouldve told half of Ireland about it, even if it wasnt any good.

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Abstract

The current research aimed to investigate the concept of auras and chakras in new age practice in relation to synaesthetic experience. The research questions were as follows: (i) Is working with auras a synaesthetic experience? (ii) Do aura readers have other forms of synaesthesia besides aura-synaesthesia? (iii) Are those working with auras more empathetic than a control group? Both the participants who work with auras (Group 1, n = 9) and the control group (Group 2, n = 18) completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davies, 1983) and the Synesthesia Battery (Eagleman et al., 2007). The participants in Group 1 also took part in a semi-structured interview to investigate their experience of aura-reading. Results showed that difference in overall empathy for Groups 1 and 2 was approaching significance (p=.063) and that there was a significant difference for the fantasy subscale (p=.001), but not on the other subscales. Results from the Synesthesia Battery revealed that 22% of the aura-reading group are synaesthetic (colour-number, days of the week-colour) and 6% of the control group are synaesthetic (colour-number). Outcomes of the semi-structured interview suggested that no participants from Group 1 exhibited emotion-colour synaesthesia, or saw auras in a synaesthetic way. In conclusion, the experimental hypothesis was not supported, given that the interviews indicated no aura synaesthesia in Group 1, and the same group scored almost significantly lower on the total IRI; the opposite to what was predicted.

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Word Count

Abstract: 234 Literature review: 3,874 Method: 1,329 Results: 1,674 Discussion: 624 References: 867 Appendices: 1,508 Total word count: 9,159 Total word count, including appendices: 10,667

Table of Contents

List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ vii List of Appendices ................................................................................................................... viii 1. Literature Review ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Synaesthesia...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Aura-reading ..................................................................................................................... 8 1.3 Aura-reading and Empathy............................................................................................. 12 2. Method .................................................................................................................................. 15 2.1 Participants...................................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Measurements ................................................................................................................. 15 2.3 Procedure ........................................................................................................................ 18 3. Results................................................................................................................................... 20 3.1 Synesthesia Battery......................................................................................................... 20 3.2 Interpersonal Reactivity Index........................................................................................ 22 3.3 Semi-structured Interviews ............................................................................................. 23 4. Discussion............................................................................................................................. 27 References................................................................................................................................. 29

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List of Figures Figure 1. Medial surface of the left cerebral hemisphere ........................................................... 3 Figure 2. Cross-wiring in the fusiform gyrus (V4)..................................................................... 4 Figure 3. The chakra system ....................................................................................................... 9

List of Tables Table 1 Results of Participant 2s Weekday-Colour Picker Test ............................................. 20 Table 2 Results of Participant 2s Number-Colour Picker Test ............................................... 21

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List of Appendices

Appendix A Interpersonal Reactivity Index .......................................................................... 33 Appendix B The Synesthesia Battery .................................................................................... 35 Appendix C Interview Schedule ............................................................................................ 48 Appendix D Consent Form .................................................................................................... 49 Appendix E Debriefing Sheet ................................................................................................ 51

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1. Literature Review 1.1 Synaesthesia Synaesthesia has been defined in a number of different ways, but most definitions would agree that it is an experience in which stimulation in one sensory or cognitive stream leads to associated experiences in a second, unstimulated stream (Hubbard, 2007, p. 193). For example, in grapheme-colour synaesthesia, the most common form of synaesthesia, words, letters and numbers are perceived as having a related colour. The synaesthete does not assign a colour to the number or letter, instead the colour appears automatically when they see the word/number. The colour may either be superimposed onto the number/word, or the number/word appears in that colour in their minds eye. The activation of the second sense is effortless and unavoidable for synaesthetes. Thus words can have tastes; names can have color; and the sequence of numbers may glide through space (Ward, 2008, p. 3). Synaesthesia is not merely the metaphorical association of colours with different phenomena that many people use; in fact, the synaesthetic experience is frequently at odds with traditional metaphors. For example, Cytowic (2002) relays the experience of DS, a participant who sees anger as purple, rather than the conventional colour of red that society associates with anger, i.e. seeing red. If DS is angry and shouting at someone, she sees a purple background behind them. Furthermore, to a non-synaesthete, there is generally no obvious connection between the stimulus and the synaesthetic experience. For instance, Beeli, Esslen and Jncke (2005) report the experiences of a woman who, when she hears a particular musical interval, is physically aware of a taste in her mouth. When this woman hears a major sixth, she tastes low-fat cream, when she hears a minor sixth, she tastes cream. For the majority of the population, there is no

The Irish/English spelling (synaesthesia) is used throughout, except in direct quotes and titles from other material, where the American spelling (synesthesia) is used.

logical link between musical intervals and cream, but for this woman the link is automatic and unavoidable. So much so, that if the woman is unsure of the interval in terms of her hearing, her synaesthetic taste experience will soon tell her which interval she is hearing. Some people may be sceptical about the existence of synaesthesia, but using various different empirical techniques, it has been shown quite convincingly to exist. For example, many researchers have used the Stroop Test, a test named after J. R. Stroop, an American Psychologist who first described the effect in 1935 (Stroop, 1935). The Stroop Test was devised to investigate verbal processes; it consists of a list of colour names (e.g. red, green, blue) that are printed in a mismatching colour. For example, the word green is printed in red ink. A significant percentage of people find it very difficult to attend to the colour of the ink when they are asked to name the colour that the word is printed in, because of the automatic tendency to read the word. Therefore, when the colour of the ink matches the word, the person will be able to name the colour much more quickly than when the colour does not match the word. The Stroop Test has proved very useful to the investigation of synaesthesia. For example, Dixon, Smilek, Cudahy and Merikle (2000) report their use of the Stroop Test with C, a number-colour synaesthete. C was presented with single numbers on a screen in two conditions; congruent and incongruent. In the congruent condition, the digit matched Cs synaesthetic colour for each number, and in the incongruent condition, the colour was at odds with Cs synaesthetic colours. C was asked to name the actual colour of the number on the screen each time. Her reaction times for naming the actual colour of the number in the congruent (552 seconds) and incongruent (797 seconds) conditions differed significantly. This demonstrated that such was the strength of the automatic appearance of a synaesthetic colour, induced by each number, that C found it distracting when the wrong colour was assigned the numbers by the researchers. 2

A great deal of research has also been carried out investigating the origins of synaesthesia, both neurologically and genetically (e.g. Barnett et al., 2008; Matthewson, 2007; Ramachandran & Hubbard, 2005; Rich et al., 2006). The automatic response of the brain to a stimulus suggests that synaesthesia is not a learned response. The neurological components of synaesthesia are not yet understood, although there are some hypotheses. Ramachandran and Hubbard (2005) began their research into synaesthesia in 1999 and, in accordance with the most accepted reasoning for the occurrence of synaesthesia, they believe, and have found some supporting evidence, that synaesthesia occurs because of cross-activation of different areas of the brain. The fusiform gyrus is the part of the temporal lobe of the brain responsible for processing of colour information, face and body recognition, word recognition, number recognition and abstraction. The fusiform gyrus can be seen in Figure 1. Figure 2 is a schematic showing that cross-wiring (cross-activation) in the fusiform gyrus may be the neural basis of grapheme-colour synaesthesia.

Figure 1. Medial surface of the left cerebral hemisphere, showing the fusiform gyrus. (Gray, 2000)

The visual cortex is composed of the primary visual cortex, or V1, and extrastriate visual cortical areas, i.e. V2, V3, V4, and V5. In Figure 2, area V4 is represented by red, and the number/grapheme area is represented by green (Ramachandran & Hubbard, 2005).

Figure 2. Lateral surface of the left cerebral hemisphere demonstrating cross-wiring in the fusiform gyrus (V4) (Ramachandran and Hubbard, 2005). Ramachandran and Hubbard (2005) hypothesise that the reason why grapheme-colour synaesthesia is the most common (68.8% of synaesthetes have grapheme-colour synaesthesia; Day, 2005, p. 15) is because of the proximity of area V4 of the visual cortex and the area for graphemes and numbers, as demonstrated in Figure 2. However, other research has shown that cross-activation can occur between areas that are further apart in the brain, such as areas for auditory word-processing and areas involving taste processing (Ward & Simner, 2003). Furthermore, using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Nunn et al. (2002) discovered that in colour-hearing synaesthesia, i.e. those who hear a word and then experience a visual, synaesthetic colour, there was no activation of areas V1 or V2 at the time 4

of hearing a word that evoked a colour, indicating that no activity in the primary visual cortex is necessary for the colour-hearing synaesthetes to see a colour. However, as expected, they found activation of the V4 area. These results support the colour-hearing synaesthetes claim that it is not necessary for them to see a word in order for a corresponding colour to be evoked; they need only to hear a word in order for the colour to appear. Therefore, although the neurological components of synaesthesia are becoming clearer, it is still not obvious why this cross-activation of sensory areas occurs. The two main theories currently under investigation include failure of pruning during development of the brain, and disinhibited feedback. Pruning is a developmental process involved in synaptic plasticity (the ability of the connection between two neurons, the cells that process and transmit information, to change in strength). Some theorists believe that the pruning between different sensory areas of the brain does not occur in synaesthetes and therefore the different areas responsible for processing sensory information remain cross-activated. The theorists of disihibited feedback (Grossenbacher & Lovelace, 2001) hypothesise that synaesthesia occurs because of a decrease in the usual amount of feedback pathways. Therefore, information goes both from the primary sensory areas to association areas, such as the limbic system or the parietal lobe, but also goes back the other way, from higher order cortical regions to early sensory areas. Usually, the balance of excitation and inhibition is maintained, but if this feedback is not adequately inhibited, synaesthesia could occur. This hypothesis differs from the theory of decreased pruning because it does not believe that there are any unusual neural connections or cross-wiring, but that synaesthesia arises because of a difference in behaviour of the neurons that are present in everyone. There are many different forms of synaesthesia involving different senses being stimulated by different triggering events. For example, a musical note (hearing) may produce a colour (vision), touching an item can produce a synaesthetic smell, or pain can produce a 5

colour. In fact, so far, over 40 different types of synaesthesia have been investigated (Day, 2005), including the experiences of Daniel Tammet, a synaesthetic savant with Aspergers Syndrome, who has a particularly remarkable form of synaesthesia, which takes many forms, notably his association of personalities with numbers. For example, regarding numbers, Tammet says that each one is unique and has its own personality.Eleven is friendly and five is loud, whereas four is both shy and quiet (Tammet, 2006, p. 2). There are also different types of each form of synaesthesia, within each category. For example, another synaesthete could experience taste, rather than colour on hearing a musical note (Sacks, 2007). In fact, Barnett et al. (2008) found that, while synaesthesia appears to have some genetic component, the type of synaesthesia can be different, or the details of the same synaesthesia may be different in family members who probably share some genetic link that gives rise to their synaesthesia. That is, two members of a family may have grapheme-colour synaesthesia but both will not experience the same colours as each other for each grapheme. In addition, their research indicated that there is a genetic component to synaesthesia, but that the type of synaesthesia a person has may be related to other variables (Barnett et al., 2008). The prevalence of synaesthesia is a subject that is disputed, most likely because the empirical study of the phenomenon is relatively new and explorative. Early on in the renewal of interest and research in synaesthesia, the figures were estimated at about 1 in 2000 people (Cytowic, 2002); however, this figure is now believed to be conservative. Additional types of synaesthesia are occasionally discovered and it appears that many synaesthetes are not aware that their experiences are unusual (i.e. a synaesthete may believe that everyone has the same experiences as them, until they happen to mention one of their synaesthetic experiences to a non-synaesthete). More recently, Tyler (2005) suggested that the figure may be closer to one in two people, i.e. 50% (p. 43). However, the difference in the occurrence of synaesthesia in males and females mean that this figure may not be a realistic representation if it includes both 6

genders. That is, new figures have reported on the differing incidence in males and females, with Rich, Bradshaw and Mattingley (2005) approximating an occurrence of synaesthesia as 1 in 1150 for women and 1 in 7150 for men. Furthermore, Day (2005) reports that approximately 72% of synaesthetes are female, giving rise to hypotheses that suggests that synaesthesia is genetically linked on the X chromosome. According to Day (2005, p. 15), the most common type of synaesthesia is grapheme-colour synaesthesia, accounting for 68.8% of synaesthetes, from a sample of 572 synaesthetes. The second most common type is time unitscolour, at 23.4%. Something else that may prohibit estimations of the prevalence of synaesthesia in the population is the fact that many people do not realise that they have synaesthesia or else that other people do not have it (see Ward, 2008, p. 3; many accounts of synaesthesia begin with the synaesthete commenting on one of their experiences, only to be met by confusion from their significant others they do not realise that not everyone sees numbers in colour, or tastes music). For this reason and because of the huge variance in types of synaesthesia, it is difficult to accurately account for the number of synaesthetes in a population. Synaesthesia is a relatively new area of research, but the body of knowledge is growing fast. However, it is a phenomenon that is difficult to investigate empirically for many reasons. As Blake, Palmeri, Marois and Kin (2005) put it, synesthesia is incredibly fascinating to read or hear about, but frustratingly complex to study (p. 47). Usually, when normal perceptual experiences are being investigated, researchers endeavour to describe such experiences objectively. It is not possible to do this with the study of synaesthesia, as not only are there over 40 different types of synaesthesia so far on record (Day, 2005), but each individuals experience is unique. In addition, each person may have several types of the condition. These complications mean that, not only is it difficult to categorise synaesthesia, but it is extremely difficult to empirically test for it without the use of test-retest methods 7

(which can be thwarted by memory techniques) and the tentative interpretations of fMRIs and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans. In fact, recent research is largely still attempting to find and categorise all the different types of synaesthesia, and is only just beginning to investigate each type and the neurological mechanisms involved. Smilek and Dixon (2002; as cited in Sagiv, 2005) particularly warn against amalgamating data from different studies, involving different synaesthetes, together. For this reason, in the spirit of striving to categorise and uncover the different types of synaesthesia, the current research asks whether working with auras is a synaesthetic experience. 1.2 Aura-reading The term aura refers to a phenomenon said to be experienced or seen by practitioners of alternative therapies. This experience is potentially of interest to neuroscientists studying synaesthesia as it represents a sensory experience in the absence of any known stimulus (i.e. the existence of an aura) in the same modality. According to Eason (2000, p. ix), auras are energy fields that contain different colours and levels. Kilner (1965; as cited in Metaphysical Research Group, 1998, p. 13) describes the aura as a radiating luminous cloud, surrounding the body. These descriptions appear similar to the testimonies of aura synaesthetes; for example Ward (2008) relays the experiences of a ten-year-old girl, who comments that she see[s] a spiky circle of coloured light about half a centimetre deep around [a persons] head (p. 101). Like most others who read or sense auras, usually in order to heal the aura, or clear blockages, Eason asserts that the colours that are seen in the aura are due to the existence of chakras (Figure 3), which represent the different vibrational levels in the auric field.each is interpreted according to traditional colour meanings (2000, p. 28). Practitioners of aura work believe that the aura is the bioenergetic field that surrounds the human body and that these energy fields can becomes

blocked by physical or emotional difficulties (Myss, 2001, as cited in Gulman, 2004). Eason proposes that to cleanse someones aura, one must trace the etheric level of the subject, moving one hand along each side of the body, 5cm away (Eason, 2000, p.113).

Figure 3. The seven chakras of the chakra system (Eason, 2000, p. 91) However, the reading of auras and chakras for healing or otherwise has never been validated by empirical research. In fact, Mol (1999) states that the reason so many of these holistic therapies arent formally organized in traditional academia is that they are utterly without merit (pp. 88-89). Such is the strength of the scepticism of the scientific world regarding the subject of the existence or reading of auras, that it is difficult to find research investigating its existence; it is seen as unworthy of investigation. Straughen (2002) reports that: 9

People who sincerely claim to see auras have failed to detect them when subjected to carefully controlled tests, which suggests their belief is due to psychological factors rather than the perception of an occult force. Unfortunately, there is no evidence to substantiate the claim that human beings are surrounded by a paranormal emanation that is perceptible to occult vision (p. 49).

Although Straughens article (2002) does not review literature that empirically tests the existence of auras, the arguments he makes for discounting the existence of a physically present auric field are reasonable and convincing. In addition, the lack of experimental research indicating its existence can be said to provide enough evidence to allow this phenomenon to be discounted by empiricists. However, the fact that the aura is unlikely to exist physically does not mean that an aura is not seen by certain people; an idea that has been emerging in synaesthesia research. Recently, one paper described a woman who appeared to have synaesthesia, and it seemed to be an unusual form of synaesthesia in that the colours she saw were mediated by an emotional response, and the colour occurred in the form of a visual halo projected around the person (Ward, 2004). Ward also reports on the work of Cytowic (1989; as cited by Ward, 2004), who worked with two synaesthetes who saw colourful auras around people, especially when there was an emotional connection with a person. One of these synaesthetes claims that his synaesthesia means that sometimes he sees the synaesthetic colour and then reacts emotionally to the person, but sometimes he reacts emotionally and then the colour appears. In addition, when the other synaesthete in Cytowics investigation met someone she didnt like, she would automatically see a colour spike.

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Referring again to the ten-year-old girl discussed by Ward (2008), this girl see[s] the colors of people and animals as if the color is there around their heads, not in [her] mind (p.101). This girl further reported that the colours appear about half a centimetre deep around their head and that the colours vary, depending on how she feels about them, e.g. strangers are gray [sic] (p. 101). Ward argues that we do not emit an auric energy field, but that the aura appears to some people because they have an emotional synaesthetic reaction, or a reaction to the personality of the person, and that this synaesthetic aura is the first scientifically credible account of [the aura] phenomenon (p. 102). In addition, and particularly relevant to the current research, Cytowic (2002) stresses that he has never seen the aura phenomenon in the absence of other types of synaesthesia, i.e. if someone sees auras, they will have some other kind of synaesthesia. With regard to the current research, this gives credence to the methodology of interviewing to investigate the presence of auric synaesthesia and using the Synesthesia Battery (a standardised test for some of the different known types of synaesthesia; developed by Eagleman, Kagan, Nelson, Sagaram & Sarma, 2007) to test for other forms of synaesthesia, so that if an aura-reader appears to see auras synaesthetically, they are likely to also have another form of synaesthesia. These few reports of emotionally mediated synaesthesia, and synaesthesia as auras, are relatively new. There are few reports of this type of synaesthesia and therefore, in order to investigate this possibility further, this study investigates the possibility that those who work with auras may be synaesthetic. Based on the lack of evidence for the presence of a physical aura around people, as well as the newly emerging suggestion that seeing auras may be a type of synaesthesia, the experimental hypothesis is that the aura-readers will be revealed as synaesthetes during the semi-structured interview, and that the aura-readers will score positively for another form of synaesthesia when they do the Synesthesia Battery, or that they

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will identify another type of synaesthesia from the list of non-test items provided in the Synaesthesia Battery. 1.3 Aura-reading and Empathy Empathy can be defined as the ability someone has to accurately understand and/or feel the emotions of another person. The majority of theories regarding empathy have argued that it has both a cognitive element and an emotional/affective element. For example, ShamayTsoory, Shur, Harari and Levkovitz (2007) assert that empathy requires both an understanding of another persons experience and the ability to share the emotional experience of the other person (p. 431). Furthermore, Shamay-Tsoory et al. (2007) suggest that cognitive and affective empathy may be inextricably linked, i.e. if a person is impaired in one or other aspect, they will be empathetically impaired overall. This viewpoint was further supported by the results of Cliffordsons (2001) investigation of parents judgement and childrens selfjudgements of empathy, using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983). Cliffordson asserted in her conclusion that empathy was neither solely cognitive or affective, nor was it a set of cognitive and affective constructs clearly distinguishable from one another, but that empathy was one dimension containing both components (2001, p. 45). Empathy is an extremely important aspect of any type of therapy, care-giving or emotional support. From a professional care-giving point of view, the ability of the carer to empathise with the client is fundamental to any healing or recovery from emotional difficulty; a concept that has been in use since Carl Rogers paper entitled The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Therapeutic Personality Change (1957). Even though it was written over 50 years ago, Silberschatz (2007) asserts that some of the concepts, including the ability to empathise with clients, are still highly applicable in therapy today.

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Studies have suggested that in a therapeutic setting, empathy is of great importance (e.g. see Vincent, 2005 for a summary of evidence). In fact, Murphy (2005) reported that the Masters in Counselling students who participated in his qualitative research went through a reflexivity phase, during which they found that the work they did on themselves could affect their professional counselling work in a positive way. In addition, knowledge of selfpaves the way for achieving an inferential knowledge of cognitive states in others (Gallup & Platek, 2002, p. 36). Thus, this study examines whether the auras seen by those who work with aura-reading are an emotional reaction by the aura-reader or an empathetic reaction to the emotions of the person whose aura is being seen. If those who work with auras are in fact synaesthetic, then the question arises as to whether or not the colour of aura they see relates to their own emotions or that of the other person. If they are empathetic, then perhaps they are able to sense moods or disturbances in others. If they are not empathetic, then there may be a possibility of misreading the aura of the other person, either because they cannot read it at all, or because a visual aura is being evoked by a reaction to their own personal feelings towards the person/client. Thus, the final enquiry investigates whether those who work with auras are more empathetic than a control group. This aspect aims to explore whether, in the presence or absence of synaesthesia, people who work with auras are more empathetic that a control group. It may be that an aura or emotional state is sensed without the supposed presence of a visual or felt aura from synaesthesia, but from heightened levels of empathy. The experimental hypothesis is that the aura-readers will be more empathetic than the control group, given the self-reported healing nature of their work. In summary, the aim of the current research is to explore whether those who read auras professionally are synaesthetic, and therefore that the aura they see is in fact a 13

manifestation of the cognitive phenomenon, rather than the perception of a physically present aura, in order to contribute to the fast-expanding research into synaesthesia, its emerging categories and explanations. Furthermore, the aim is to investigate whether aura-readers have any form of synaesthesia aside from possible aura synaesthesia, and finally, to compare the group of aura-readers to a control group on measures of empathy and synaesthesia.

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2. Method 2.1 Participants The participants consisted of two groups of people. Group 1 was made up of nine participants, all of whom worked with auras and/or chakras professionally, with the exception of one participant, who was in training to do aura-reading. These participants were mostly recruited by searching the Alternative Medicine section of the Yellow Pages, through contacts given by the initial participants or by visiting new age shops for contacts. Group 1 consisted of three males (33%) and six females (66%), and were aged between 27 and 52 years (M=42; SD=8.9). The native languages of Group 1 were English (n=8) and Irish (n=1). Five participants reported that no one in their family had synaesthesia, whereas four participants were unsure if anyone in their family had synaesthesia. Group 2 was the control group. The group consisted of 18 participants who do not work with auras or chakras in their daily lives, nor are they professional caregivers of any kind. Group 2 consisted of four males (22%) and fourteen females (77%), and were between 21 and 57 years old (M=29, SD=8.9). The native languages of Group 2 were English (n=17) and French (n=1). Twelve participants reported that no one in their family had synaesthesia, whereas six participants were unsure if anyone in their family had synaesthesia. No participants from either group reported migraines, traumatic blows to the head, epilepsy or seizures, brain tumours, dyscalcula or dysgraphia. One participant from the control group reported that they have dyslexia. 2.2 Measurements Three measures were used in conducting the current research. These were the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the Synesthesia Battery, and a semi-structured interview.

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The Interpersonal Reactivity Index The IRI (Davis, 1983; see Appendix A) is a brief, accessible measure that investigates the constructs of affective and cognitive empathy, using 28 statements and four subscales: empathetic concern, perspective-taking, personal distress and fantasy. Statements relating to each subscale are responded to on a 5-point Likert Scale. The IRI measures the constructs of affective and cognitive empathy, with responses of 0 to 4; 0 is does not describe me well and 4 is describes me very well. Items 3, 4, 7 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, and 19 are reverse-scored. The IRI is frequently used in research regarding empathy (Cliffordson, 2001; Giancola, 2003; Hatcher et al., 2005: Schutte et al., 2001) because it has good validity and reliability (Davis, 1983; Schutte & Malouff, 1999, as cited in Schutte et al., 2001). Furthermore, Cliffordson (2001) found further support for the IRI, in particular that the component of empathetic concern (EC) describes the concept of empathy well, and that two of the components of the index, perspective-taking and fantasy, are well-explained by the empathetic concern index.

The Synesthesia Battery The Synesthesia Battery (see Appendix B) was developed by Eagleman et al., and published in 2007. It was the first attempt at a standardised test for some of the different known types of synaesthesia. The Synesthesia Battery is an on-line test that can be accessed by anyone, at no cost. People who wish to complete the test are asked to sign-up with their email address and choose a password in order to protect their information. They can also choose to send their results on to a researcher, which the participants of the current study were asked to do. The questionnaire begins by asking the participant what kind of synaesthesia they think they may have, and lists 20 different possibilities. There are roughly 80 different questions for each type of synaesthesia that are testable using the battery, and many of the questions have a 16

space beside them where the participants can add their own comments, because synaesthesia can be such an individual experience and all possibilities are not accounted for in the test. Both groups were asked to complete the Synesthesia Battery. When they came to the page asking them what type of synaesthesia they have, they were asked to tick the numberscolour option, even if they did not think that they have this type of synaesthesia, and any others that they thought they might have. As a result, all of Group 1 did the numbers-colour picker test in order to establish that the synaesthetes would score significantly higher than by chance. As in Eagleman et al. (2007), participants who did not believe that they had numberscolour synaesthesia were asked to associate colours with numbers by using free association or any strategy of their choice (p. 141), in order to demonstrate that non-synaesthetes will find it more difficult to consistently chose the same colour to be associated with each number for each of the three trials per number. This is because a numbers-colour synaesthete would have an automatic colour association that guides their answers, whereas a non-synaesthete would not.

Semi-structured Interviews The semi-structured interviews consisted of 10 basic questions (see Appendix C), with the option to seek elaboration, explore answers further, or ask additional questions if relevant information emerged. The aim of the semi-structured interview was to elicit information from Group 1 on their experiences of reading/seeing/sensing auras, in order to investigate whether there appeared to be any synaesthetic experiences present. The participants were not informed that the present research was regarding synaesthesia, but merely that the study was investigating cognitive mechanisms behind aura-reading, thus attempting to obtain an accurate description of their potentially synaesthetic experiences, without preconceptions. The interviews were recorded on an Olympus Pearlcorder J300 Microcassette Recorder. 17

2.3 Procedure The participants of Group 1 were recruited by searching the Alternate Medicine section of the Irish Golden Pages, an advertising phone directory, and a request to speak to any persons in each business who reads auras. This search, and contacts gained from initial participants, yielded nine participants who claimed to read or sense auras (Group 1). Once consent was given (see Appendix D), these participants were interviewed in a place of their convenience using the questions from the semi-structured interview schedule (Appendix C). The participants from both Group 1 and Group 2 were then asked to fill out the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and were subsequently asked to complete the Synesthesia Battery, either then or in their own time, if they had computer and internet access. When the participants came to the page asking them what type of synaesthesia they have, they were asked to tick the numbers-colour option, even if they did not think that they have this type of synaesthesia, and any others that they thought they might have. As with the Group 1 aurareaders, controls did the numbers-colour test, even if they did not believe they had this form of synaesthesia, by using free association or any strategy of their choice. The test then displays numbers zero to nine, in random order, three times for each number, a total of 30 trials. Each number appears in black, and a pallet of colours is available to the left of the number, in order for the person to pick a colour. For synaesthetes with numbers-colour synaesthesia, they must pick the colour that most closely resembles the colour they see the number as, either in their minds eye, or projected onto the page. Those participants who saw no colour on numbers were then asked to use free association to pick the colours for the numbers displayed.

18

Those participants (Group 1 and Group 2) who believed that they had other forms of synaesthesia were asked to tick the boxes that applied to them, and to then carry out the relevant tests, if their type of synaesthesia had a corresponding test. The participants were then given a debriefing sheet (see Appendix E), and informed of the true content of the research. The data were entered into SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), and an independent samples t-test was carried out on the total empathy scores, as well as the four empathy subscales. The interviews were transcribed and analysed, using content analysis (a technique used in qualitative analysis to study written material by breaking it into meaningful units; Berg, 2007).

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3. Results 3.1 Synesthesia Battery According to Eagleman at al. (2007), on the Synesthesia Battery, a consistency score of less than 1 is considered synaesthetic. The test also checks for accuracy; after the colour picker test, the participant is then asked if the colour of the number/weekday on the screen matched the colour they chose for a selection of their numbers/weekdays. Of those who score less than one, accuracy of 85-100% is usually further indicative of synaesthesia. The results of the Synesthesia Battery indicated that one person (Participant 6) from Group 1 had numberscolour synaesthesia (consistency score=0.63; accuracy 94.44%) and weekday-colour synaesthesia (consistency score=0.2). One other participant (Participant 2) from Group 1 had weekday-colour synaesthesia (consistency score = 0.96; a figure which would have been lower, had the participant not accidentally clicked on an erroneous colour during the weekday picker test, as demonstrated in Table 1), but not for number-colour (Table 2; consistency score=2.31; accuracy 55%). Table 1 Results of Participant 2s Weekday-Colour Picker Test

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Table 2 Results of Participant 2s Number-Colour Picker Test

One person from Group 2 (control group) also scored less than one on the numbercolour picker test (consistency score=0.83; accuracy 100%). However, the presence of this persons synaesthesia is questionable; as he claimed his synaesthetic associations change over time, which is not one of the characteristics of synaesthesia; the associations are automatic. Furthermore, in the section of the Synesthesia Battery that asks for more details from the participants experiences, the participant in question also stated that the synaesthetic associations required him to focus, another characteristics that indicates the absence of synaesthesia. No other participants scored above 1 on the colour picker tests; therefore the ratio of non-synaesthetes to synaesthetes, as measured by the Synesthesia Battery, for Group 1 is 7:2,

21

and for Group 2 (control) is 17:1. In other words, 22% of the aura-reading group are synaesthetic, and 6% of the control group are synaesthetic. The Synesthesia Battery only includes 25 types of synaesthesia on the list for the participants to select, althought there are known to be over 40 different variations (Day, 2005). However, during the debriefing with the participants, including informing them about the phenomenon of synaesthesia, the seven aura-readers who did not test positive for synaesthesia, affirmed that they did not recognise any of the descriptions of synaesthesia in their own experiences. 3.2 Interpersonal Reactivity Index An independent samples t-test was conducted to compare total empathy scores for Group 1 (aura-readers) and Group 2 (controls). There was no significant difference in scores for Group 1 (M=43.22, SD=8.54) and Group 2 [M=50.56, SD=9.51; t(25)= -1.95, p=.063]. An independent samples t-test was conducted to compare the four empathy subscale scores for Groups 1 and 2. There was no significant difference in perspective-taking scores for Group 1 (M=16.22, SD=3.53) and Group 2 [M=14.11, SD=4.16; t(25)=1.304, p=.204]. There was a significant difference in fantasy scores for Group 1 (M=7.78, SD=3.27) and Group 2 [M=13.27, SD=3.56; t(25)=-3.88, p=.001]. The magnitude of the differences in the means was large (eta squared = .38). There was no significant difference in empathetic concern scores for Group 1 (M=13.33, SD=2) and Group 2 [M=13.61, SD=2.66; t(25)=-.276, p=.785]. There was no significant difference in personal distress scores for Group 1 (M=5.67, SD=3.7) and Group 2 [M=9.44, SD=5.14; t(25)=-1.954, p=.062].

22

3.3 Semi-structured Interviews Group 1, the aura-readers, participated in a semi-structured interview. An examination of the content of the interviews revealed that the participants had largely been taught to read auras, rather than it being something that happened automatically. When asked to explain the mechanism of seeing/sensing someones aura, as the participants themselves understand it, all participants responded by going into detail of the seven chakras, with slight variations, and the colours represented by them. For example, below, Participant 9 described the work she does:

As I understand it, em, everyone has an energical field and aura around them, and what happens with the body, youre always changing, your energy is always changing, and it works through the chakras, so the chakras are different areas of the body. So every chakra has a frequency, and that frequency relates to a colour, so they say if youre dealing with root issues, which is way down low, thats kind of the lowest energy.

When participants were asked if they believed that peoples auras reflect their emotional state or physical health, all participants believed this to be the case, believing that physical illness causes a break in the flow of the aura. Participant 7 demonstrated the belief that the aura reflects emotions and physical illness: the aura is an absolute mirror of how people are physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. In addition, Participant 1 demonstrated his belief that the colour of the aura reflects emotion: if youre seeing someone you havent seen in a long time, and its an emotional thing your aura will go green. Furthermore, Participant 8 believed that the shape of the aura is related to emotions:

23

And right up the side of her womb there was a big V cut out of her and it was all black. So from the womb down there was no aura. And it transpired that the lady had to give the child up for adoption under quite a severe threat and that meant that there was a huge amount of emotional damage done to her.

All participants felt that, for the clients they saw on more than one occasion, peoples auras change in colour or feeling over time, depending on what is going on in the persons life. For example, Participant 6 asserted that: auras change all the time.like the colours would be different, the vibrations will be different, like still be the same person, but differentsometimes theyre brighter, sometimes theyre darker. All participants believed that this was due to changes in health; either improving or declining health, or to changes in struggles, or the resolving of life difficulties. The majority of the participants did not see auras around words or objects, although for Participant 6:

love would be a charged word, not in a bad sense, but in a good sense. Things like that, or hatred those are the two very powerful words that you would see charges aroundand then any other words that strike up emotional chords would also be highly charged on an emotional level.Vacation. That has a nice charge to it.

However, in the context of the interview, Participant 6 appeared to believe that this charge was to do with the energy of the word, which makes it difficult to discern whether the aura she experiences with it is truly synaesthetic or it is related to her teaching regarding energy. Interestingly however, Participant 6 tested positively for weekday-colour synaesthesia and numbers-colour synaesthesia. 24

In addition, two of the participants reported seeing auras around plants (reportedly because plants are living): Ive just got a peace lily and sometimes in the right light, I will see an outline of the leaf (Participant 2; colour-numbers synaesthete). Six of the participants asserted that they do see auras around people they are close to, such as friends or family. Of these six participants, some further participants reported that they did have this ability, but they shut it out when around friends and family:

I choose to keep it away from my family and away from my friends and I just let be how they want to I dont want to look at whats going on But unless they ask me I wont look. I wont even bother (Participant 6; weekday colour and number-colour synaesthete).

All of the participants believed that they were empathetic, and they all reported having done personal work on their emotional well-being, either through actual therapy, or selfexploration during their training: The actual course that we teach is actually self-help, so in that, every time that you do it, even though youre teaching, youre doing it for yourself as well (Participant 9). All participants referred to the fact that they could see auras because of their teaching, rather than as something they had been able to do since childhood, and some specifically indicated that they had developed it in later life, e.g. Participant 9 asserted that I started to develop, em, I started to see colours around people. And I wear contact lenses, and glasses, so I thought my eyes were going. So I got my eyes tested [when I was] about twenty. This later development indicates the absence of synaesthesia, as synaesthesia is something that is present from childhood, in the absence of any medical condition and drug-induced synaesthesia.

25

Another point of interest that emerged was the apparently societal metaphors when using colour to describe moods and feelings. For example, Participant 9 remarked that she had seen people with really, really bad depression and theres literally a grey slate of energy colour, draped across their face. Furthermore, Participant 8 related the following:

Now, it seems to be modern technologies [aura-imaging camera], but its anything but, because quite often we would have been speaking about people who have been feeling blue. A lot of sadness. People who are feeling fear. Theyre yellow. All of that came out of a history that has been going around for centuries, so to me the development of auras is only the development of the technology to read them now, whereas that technology wasnt available two, three hundred years ago. People saw them.

The above comments may indicate the absence of synaesthesia, given that synaesthesia very rarely corresponds with societal metaphors, such is its complex neurological nature, meaning that the poorly understood neural connections assign the colour, rather than colours we have learned to associate. Further evidence contradicting the existence of aura synaesthesia in the aura-reading group, is that some of the participants describing the manner in which they see auras as needing the right kind of light i.e. dim light. For example, participant 2 said that it takes a certain light, a bright light wont work, it has to be sort of dimmed light and you have to focus you eyes at the point.

26

4. Discussion For the most part, the results indicated that those who claim to read auras are not, in fact synaesthetic, in terms of emotion-colour synaesthesia. Furthermore, and contrary to the experimental hypothesis, the aura-readers were not more empathetic than the control group, although, the difference in the means of the two groups tended towards significance (p=.063). Interestingly, the aura-reading group actually scored lower on average (M=43.22) than the control group (M=50.56). This was contrary to the prediction that the aura-reading group would score higher on measures of empathy. In addition, the aura-reading group scored significantly lower on the fantasy sub-scale and tended towards significance on the personal distress subscale (p=.062) of the IRI. Future research may seek to investigate why the aurareaders scored lower on these subscales in particular. In addition, although 22% (n=2) of the aura-reading group (n=9) and only 6% (n=1) of the control group (n=18) scored less than 1 in the Synesthesia Battery, indicating that they had a form of synaesthesia, there was no evidence from the semi-structured interviews that the synaesthetic aura-readers had aura synaesthesia, because there was no evidence of differing synaesthetic experience (all participants adhered to the colours of their teaching), no evidence of seeing aura since childhood, and no evidence for the automatic appearance of auras (participants believe they had to focus to see or sense and aura). Results also indicated that because people who work in aura-reading are so bound by the meanings of colours as set out in their training (e.g. see Eason, 2000), it may be less likely that people who genuinely see auras in a synaesthetic way would work in these areas, because their synaesthetic colours may not coincide with the stringent number of basic colours imposed by aura and energy theory (Figure 3). Furthermore, the ability to shut off their

27

aura-reading is in direct contrast to the experiences of any synaesthetes reported in the literature, indicating that the auras seen by Group 1 are not synaesthetic experiences. Therefore, although Ward (2008) has suggested that that the phenomenon of synaesthetic auras may be the only plausible scientific explanation for aura reading, no evidence has been found here supporting the idea that aura-readers are actually synaesthetes. It is interesting, however, to hypothesise that perhaps the theory of aura-reading may have begun with a synaesthete or synaesthetes who saw various colours and believed, before the theory of synaesthesia arose, that they saw these colours because were able to read the energy of others, and therefore began to spread the word and teach people how to read auras. Future research might endeavour to source a larger population of aura-readers, for example in a larger population such as the US, in order to seek out aura-readers who have been seeing auras since childhood, and therefore are more likely to be synaesthetic. The current research may have been less conclusive because of a small sample size. Furthermore, future research may also need to investigate the work of aura-reading, in order to investigate fraudulent claims of an ability to read an aura when there is no evidence to support the existence of such an aura. This is especially true in light of the fact that the aura-readers total empathy scores were almost statistically significantly lower that the control groups scores, and because the aura-readers all considered themselves empathetic. Research may need to investigate the ethics of the client-healer relationship, and the ability of the healer to empathise with their clients. In conclusion, no evidence was found to support the theory that aura-readers are actually emotion-aura synaesthetes. Furthermore, no evidence was found to substantiate the hypothesis that aura-readers are more empathetic that a control group, in fact, the aura readers lower scores on total empathy almost reached statistical significance. 28

References Barnett, K., Finucane, C., Asher, J. E., Bargary, G., Corvin, A. P., Newell, F. N., & Mitchell, K. J. (2008). Familial patterns and the origin of individual differences in synaesthesia. Cognition, 106, 871-893. Beeli, G., Esslen, M., & Jncke, L. (2005). When coloured sounds taste sweet. Nature, 434, 38. Berg, B. L. (2007). Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences (6th ed.). London: Pearson. Blake, R., Palmeri, T. J., Marois, R., & Kin, C-Y. (2005). On the perceptual reality of synesthetic colour. In L. C. Robertson, & N. Sagiv (Eds.), Synesthesia: Perspectives from cognitive neuroscience (pp. 47-73). New York: Oxford University Press. Cliffordson, C. (2001). Parents judgements and students self-judgements of empathy. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 17, 36-47. Cytowic, R. E. (2002). Synaesthesia: A union of the senses (2nd ed.). London: MIT Press. Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113 126. Day, S. (2005). Some demographic and socio-cultural aspects of synesthesia. In L. C. Robertson, & N. Sagiv (Eds.), Synesthesia: Perspectives from cognitive neuroscience (pp. 11-33). New York: Oxford University Press. Dixon, M. J., Smilek, D., Cudahy, C., & Merikle, P. M. (2000). Five plus two equals yellow. Nature, 406, 365.

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Eagleman, D. M., Kagan, A. D., Nelson, S. N., Sagaram, D., & Sarma, A. K. (2007). A standardized test battery for the study of synesthesia. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 159, 139-145. Eason, C. (2000). Aura reading: How to work with a powerful healing energy. London: Piatkus. Gallup, G. G., & Platek, S. M. (2002). Cognitive empathy presupposes self-awareness: Evidence from phylogeny, ontogeny, neuropsychology, and mental illness. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 25, 36-37. Giancola, P. R. (2003). The moderating effects of dispositional empathy on alcohol-related aggression in men and women. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 275-281. Gray, H. (2000). Anatomy of the human body (20th ed.). Retrieved from http:// www.bartleby.com/107/189.html Grossenbacher, P. G., & Lovelace, C. T. (2001). Mechanisms of synesthesia: Cognitive and physiological constraints. Trends in Cognitive Science, 5, 36-41. Gulman, F. (2004). Energy medicine. The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, 32, 651658. Hatcher, S. L., Favorite, T. K., Hardy, E. A., Goode, R. L., Deshetler, L. A., & Thomas, R. M. (2005). An analogue study of therapist working empathetic process: Working with a difference. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 42, 198-210. Hubbard, E. M. (2007). Neurophysiology of synaesthesia. Current Psychiatry Reports, 9, 193199. Matthewson, I. (2007). Does a mutated x-linked dominant transcriptional repressor gene explain mirror writing ability and synaesthesia? Medical Hypothesis, 69, 368-371. Metaphysical Research Group. (1998). Aura Research: Complementary Colour Method. Sussex: The Society of Metaphysicians Ltd. 30

Mol, P. (1999). Anatomy of nonsense: Caroline Myss and holistic medicine evaluated. Skeptic, 7, 84-89. Murphy, D. (2005). A qualitative study into the experience of mandatory personal therapy during training. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 5, 27-32. Nunn, J. A., Gregory, L. J., Brammer, M., Williams, S. C. R., Parslow, D. M., Morgan, M. J., Morris, R. G., Bullmore, E.T., Baron-Cohen, S., & Gray, J. A. (2002). Functional magnetic resonance imaging of synesthesia: activation of V4/V8 by spoken words. Nature Neuroscience, 5, 371 -375. Ramachandran, V. S., & Hubbard, E. M. (2005). The emergence of the human mind: some clues from synaesthesia. In L. C. Robertson, & N. Sagiv (Eds.), Synesthesia: Perspectives from cognitive neuroscience (pp. 147-190). New York: Oxford University Press. Rich, A. N., Bradshaw, J. L., & Mattingley, J. B. (2005). A systematic, large-scale study of synaesthesia: implications for the role of early experience in lexical-colour associations. Cognition, 98, 53-84. Rich, A. N., Williams, M. A., Puce, A., Syngeniotis, A., Howard, M. A., McGlone, F., & Mattingley, J. B. (2006). Neural correlates of imagined and synaesthetic colours. Neuropsychologia, 44, 2918-2925. Rogers, C. R. (1957). The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 21, 95-103. Sacks, O. (2007). Musicophilia: Tales of music and the brain. Oxford: Picador. Sagiv, N. (2005). Synesthesia in perspective. In L. C. Robertson, & N. Sagiv (Eds.), Synesthesia: Perspectives from cognitive neuroscience (pp. 3-10). New York: Oxford University Press.

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Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Bobik, C., Coston, T. D., Greeson, C., Jedlicka, C., Rhodes, E., & Wendorf, G. (2001). Emotional intelligence and interpersonal relations. The Journal of Social Psychology, 141, 523-536. Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Shur, S., Harari, H., & Levkovitz, Y. (2007). Neurocognitive basis of impaired empathy in schizophrenia. Neuropsychology, 21, 431-438. Silberschatz, G. (2007). Comments on The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 44, 265267. Straughen, K. (2002). Perception of auras. The Skeptic, 22, 47-49. Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643-622. Tammet, D. (2006). Born on a blue day. London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. Tyler, C. W. (2005). Varieties of synesthetic experience. In L. C. Robertson, & N. Sagiv (Eds.), Synesthesia: Perspectives from cognitive neuroscience (pp. 34-44). New York: Oxford University Press. Vincent, S. (2005). Being empathetic: A companion for counsellors and therapists. Oxford: Radcliffe. Ward, J. (2004). Emotionally mediated synaesthesia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 21, 761772. Ward, J. (2008). The frog who croaked blue. Sussex: Routledge. Ward, J., & Simner, J. (2003). Lexical-gustatory synaesthesia: linguistic and conceptual features. Cognition, 89, 237-261.

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Appendix A Interpersonal Reactivity Index

INTERPERSONAL REACTIVITY INDEX The following statements inquire about your thoughts and feelings in a variety of situations. For each item, indicate how well it describes you by choosing the appropriate number on the scale at the top of the page: 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. When you have decided on your answer, fill in the number opposite the statement. READ EACH ITEM CAREFULLY BEFORE RESPONDING. Answer as honestly as you can. Thank you.
ANSWER SCALE: 0 1 DOES NOT DESCRIBE ME ME WELL 1. I daydream and fantasize, with some regularity, about things that might happen to me. 2. I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me. 3. I sometimes find it difficult to see things from the "other guy's" point of view. 4. Sometimes I don't feel very sorry for other people when they are having problems. 5. I really get involved with the feelings of the characters in a novel. 6. In emergency situations, I feel apprehensive and ill-at-ease. 7. I am usually objective when I watch a movie or play, and I don't often get completely caught up in it. 8. I try to look at everybody's side of a disagreement before I make a decision. 9. When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective towards them. 10. I sometimes feel helpless when I am in the middle of a very emotional situation. 11. I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective. 2 3 4 DESCRIBES ME VERY WELL 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0 0 0 0

1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4

33

12. Becoming extremely involved in a good book or movie is somewhat rare for me. 13. When I see someone get hurt, I tend to remain calm. 14. Other people's misfortunes do not usually disturb me a great deal. 15. If I'm sure I'm right about something, I don't waste much time listening to other people's arguments. 16. After seeing a play or movie, I have felt as though I were one of the characters. 17. Being in a tense emotional situation scares me. 18. When I see someone being treated unfairly, I sometimes don't feel very much pity for them. 19. I am usually pretty effective in dealing with emergencies. 20. I am often quite touched by things that I see happen. 21. I believe that there are two sides to every question and try to look at them both. 22. I would describe myself as a pretty soft-hearted person. 23. When I watch a good movie, I can very easily put myself in the place of a leading character. 24. I tend to lose control during emergencies. 25. When I'm upset at someone, I usually try to "put myself in his shoes" for a while. 26. When I am reading an interesting story or novel, I imagine how I would feel if the events in the story were happening to me. 27. When I see someone who badly needs help in an emergency, I go to pieces. 28. Before criticizing somebody, I try to imagine how I would feel if I were in their place.

0 0 0 0

1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

0 0

1 1

2 2

3 3

4 4

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Appendix B The Synesthesia Battery

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

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Appendix C Interview Schedule

Do you work with auras/chakras/energy fields when working with clients? Can you explain the mechanism of seeing/sensing someones aura, as you understand it? Can you tell me what the experience of seeing or sensing someones aura is like? Do you feel that the aura is related to their emotional state or physical health (or something else)? Can you describe what kind of aura you see in relation to a particular client, without identifying them, for whom you see a clear or particularly powerful aura? Do peoples auras change over time for you? Why do you think that is? Do you see auras around any other objects, such as emotive words or objects? Do you see auras around people to whom you are close? Do you consider yourself to be an empathetic person? Have you done some personal work on your emotional well-being?

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Appendix D Consent Form

Contact: Norah Jordan E-mail: jordanno@tcd.ie Dear Participant, Thank you for replying to the request for participants. I am currently doing a research dissertation as a part of a Masters in Applied Psychology in Trinity College Dublin under the supervision of Dr Tim Trimble (tim.trimble@tcd.ie). The aim of the research is to investigate the cognitive mechanism involved in alternative medicine practices which work particularly with the aura or chakras, as well as examining the interpersonal interactions which take place between the practitioner and the client when using this technique or approach. We are asking you to participate in an interview and to answer some questions on a computer questionnaire, as well as a written questionnaire. The interview should take no more than half an hour and the internet questions and the written questionnaire should take less than an hour altogether. You will not have to complete all three sections at the same time, and a time that suits you will be arranged.

Please note the following: Although you will be asked to create a username and account on the computer questionnaire, you will not be asked to include your full name. Furthermore, your responses to the interview will be kept anonymous and you will not be identified anywhere in the reporting of the research. 49

The interview responses and questionnaire results will be kept in a secure and locked place or on a secure, password-protected computer, in order to ensure your confidentiality and the anonymity of your responses. During you participation in the research, you may discontinue answering the questions at any time as your participation is purely voluntary. P.T.O.

If you have any questions regarding this research, please feel free to contact me via email at jordanno@tcd.ie. I can also be contacted via my supervisor, Dr Tim Trimble, on 01 896 3905 or in writing at School of Psychology, ras an Phiarsaigh, University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin 2. Letters should be addressed to Dr Tim Trimble.

If you are happy with the procedure and the information as set out above, then I would be grateful if you would indicate your consent to gather information from you by signing below.

I, ___________________________ (print name), understand the above information regarding the research being carried out. I agree to be interviewed for approximately half an hour and to respond to two questionnaires. I understand that my participation is purely voluntary and therefore that I am free to withdraw at any stage should the need arise.

Signature ___________________________________ Date _____________________

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Appendix E Debriefing Sheet

Dear Participant,

Thank you for contribution to this study. The aim of this research was to investigate whether practitioners experience of aura or chakra in alternative medicine and new age practices is related to the occurrence of synaesthesia. Synaesthesia is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory pathway, for example some people perceive letters or numbers as inherently coloured.

There is some evidence that some synaesthesic people may experience auras around people as a part of their synaesthetic experience. The research in which you participated aimed to investigate whether your experience of working with auras could be related to synaesthesia. If you would like to know more about synaesthesia, information can be found on-line, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/synaesthesia.

If any of the questions in your interview or the questionnaire have raised issues of concern for you, the following list of services may be of assistance. Alternatively these services may be accessed at http://www.tcd.ie/studentservices or by phoning 01 8961000.

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Student Service Contact Number Peer Support Network 01 896 2438 Student Counselling 01 896 1407 College Health 01 896 1556/1591

Outside College Supports Samaritans

1850 60 90 90 jo@samaritans.org

If you have any questions regarding your contribution, please feel free to contact me via e-mail at jordanno@tcd.ie. I can also be contacted via my supervisor, Dr Tim Trimble, on 01 896 3905 or in writing at School of Psychology, ras an Phiarsaigh, University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin 2. Letters should be addressed to Dr Tim Trimble.

Sincerely, Norah Jordan.

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