Why Do We Believe in the Paranormal?

In the final spooky season episode of The Science of Personality in 2025, Ryne and Blake are joined by Christopher Bader, PhD, professor and chair of the department of sociology at Chapman University, to talk about why people believe in the paranormal. Christopher has studied the paranormal for more than 20 years, and he also takes his work out into the field, having participated in several ghost hunts, observed support groups for UFO abductees, and joined in on bigfoot investigations. In addition, he is the author of the book Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture and the book Paranormal Britain, which will be released in Spring of 2026. 

Spooky season is back! In the latest episode of The Science of Personality, Ryne and I are joined by Chris French, PhD, professor emeritus and former Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit in the Psychology Department at Goldsmiths, University of London, to talk about the psychology of demonology, possession, and exorcism. With his primary area of research being the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences, Chris is a frequent radio and television guest who casts a skeptical eye over paranormal claims, and is also the author of multiple books on the paranormal, including his most recent one from earlier this year, titled The Science of Weird Shit. For our loyal listeners, you are well aware by now that Ryne and I dedicate our episodes in October to topics like this to celebrate Halloween and the spooky season. Because demonology, possession, and exorcism are at the core of some of history’s best horror films and literary works, we thought it would be a fun topic to cover, and Chris is the perfect guest to join us for this special episode.

In the latest episode of The Science of Personality, Ryne and Blake are joined by Nadine Maliakkal, PhD, a consultant on Hogan's Talent Analytics team, to talk about the work Hogan has been doing in the world of sports. Over the past five years, Hogan has experienced a huge uptick in work with some of the world’s leading sports teams and organizations. Whether it’s helping teams predict performance of NBA basketball players or helping NFL teams draft the best American football players, organizations are really starting to understand the importance of personality in sports. Nadine has been at the forefront of Hogan’s research in this realm, and is the perfect guest to talk about this fascinating topic.

In the latest episode of The Science of Personality, Ryne and Blake answer listener questions they have received in recent weeks. For listeners interested in asking questions for Ryne and Blake to answer on a future listener mailbag episode, shoot them an email at [email protected]. Cheers!

In this special episode of The Science of Personality, Blake is joined by three Hogan distributors, Seniora El-Hage of Phoenix Consulting, Victoria Zapata of HR Tools, and Rene Kusch, PhD, of RELEVANT Management Consultancy, to discuss the inside of personality. This episode was recorded live and on video in May at Heiga Studios in Miami, Florida during Hogan Assessments' international distributor summit. A link to the video is below. Cheers!Global Spotlight Series: The Inside of Personality

In the latest episode of The Science of Personality, Ryne and Blake talk about a recent article published by John Burn-Murdoch for the Financial Times that sparked a lot of interest among many of Ryne’s colleagues in the world of personality psychology. The article takes a look at an Understanding America Study that shows a significant decline in conscientiousness, particularly among young adults. It also shows decreases in agreeableness and extraversion and an increase in neuroticism. So, a) is it correct and b) does it really matter if it is?

In this special episode of The Science of Personality, Blake is joined three Hogan distributors, Nicole Neubauer of Personality Guidance AG, Peter Berry of Peter Berry Consultancy, and Gicheha Gitau of Career Connection, to discuss the dark side of personality. This episode was recorded live and on video in May at Heiga Studios in Miami, Florida during Hogan Assessments' international distributor summit. A link to the video is below. Cheers!Global Spotlight Series: The Dark Side of Personality

In the latest episode of The Science of Personality, Ryne and Blake are joined by Coaching.com CEO, Charlotte Saulny, to talk about how organizations can create a coaching culture. With more than 20 years of senior leadership experience in professional services, Charlotte has dedicated her career to helping people thrive in the workplace. She has worked directly with many of the heavy hitters in the corporate world, including Hilton, Cisco, Coca-Cola, and Facebook, and as a senior executive at ADP, she oversaw the implementation of a strengths-based employee engagement initiative that positively impacted over 60,000 employees worldwide. 

In this special episode of The Science of Personality, Blake is joined three Hogan distributors, Jani Wiggett of JVR Africa, Melvyn Payne of Advanced People Strategies, and Roberto Santos of Ateliê RH, to discuss the bright side of personality. This episode was recorded live and on video in May at Heiga Studios in Miami, Florida during Hogan Assessments' international distributor summit. A link to the video is below. Cheers!Hogan Global Spotlight: The Bright Side of Personality

In the latest episode of The Science of Personality, Ryne and Blake are joined by David Greenberg, PhD, a psychologist, neuroscientist, and musician who is one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of music, and in today’s episode David is going to help us explore the topic of music and personality. What does the music we listen to say about our personalities? How do our personalities frame the various kinds of music we listen to? Well, we couldn’t have asked for a better guest to help us answer these questions. Throughout his prestigious career, David has served as a senior scientific advisor and consultant for companies like Spotify and National Geographic and is a regular guest on the BBC, NPR, CBS, ABC News and many other media outlets. We think you’re really going to enjoy this discussion. In addition, David is the founder of CHIME Therapy and his latest venture, CHIME Health, which just launched this month.