INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the study
Many people throughout the world are believed in stories about ghostly encounters. An example is The Amityville Horror(1975) which was based from the writers George and Kathy Lutz. These stories are used by movie producers to create movies about ghosts and exaggerate them to be a great hit in the entertainment industry and because of these, people are believed that ghosts act the same way as the ghosts in movies. This fact makes their fear of ghosts greater. Horror films or movies is a film genre made to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears.
Jeffrey Goldstein wrote an article called "The Attractions of Violent Entertainment". Some viewers seek the excitement of events that are not happening on a daily basis which explains the attraction of people in horrific scenes. Scenes on which gives people the chills on the spine. Goldstein also quoted "People go to horror films because they want to be frightened or they wouldn't do it twice," (http://pftdcast.com/resources/GoldsteinThe%20attractions%20of%20violent%20entertainment.pdf).
He explained the success of these movies that is why more and more people are drawn in watching these and with the exaggeration of the movies people are getting more filled by bad ideas about ghosts and horrors which definitely out of the line.
Parents and adults introduce their children in believing ghosts at a very young age. Many parents in this generation use ghostly beliefs as one of their disciplinary actions for children. Making the children believe that they exist can only adding fear to the young minds. A popular thing that parents do is that they introduce ghosts to children to make them obey what they want.
Stephen Wagner wrote an article called "Should you be afraid of ghosts?". Ghosts are not evil. We are just living in an era of ghost fearing people and it is mainly because of movies, books and stories and because of this children are afraid of them. Wagner also added "If you were walking unarmed in a dense tropical jungle that you know is inhabited by tigers and large snakes, you'd undoubtedly be petrified." Children would have the same feeling as that because they don't even know what they are and what they can do."(http://paranormal.about.com/od/ghosthuntinggeninfo/a/aa102405.htm)
Ghosts are believed because they are also introduced in games. Games nowadays has a millions of selection to choose from and some of these are the horror games. About 60% of the game fans are mostly children that is why they are exposed to these horrific games. Children are drawn to these games because of the excitement it brings and because of the carelessness of parents children take hold of these games at a very young age eventhough they are not suitable for very young players.
Andrew Groen wrote an article called "What Makes Horror Games Scary?". The emotional stimuli which is found in the brain, affects how we feel in a game. Upon experiencing it, it makes us feel fear and horrified eventhough the scene did not happen in real life because the brain can often only barely tell the difference between media and reality. Groen also mentioned "The key to the horror experience is that our brains -- amazing though they may be – can often only barely tell the difference between media and reality."(http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-29-what-makes-horror-games-scary-article).
The children's imaginations are so wild that it can never really tell what is real and what is fake and to top it all up, games nowadays are created with great graphics that makes it so convincing for the bright minds of children.
A lot of children believe that ghosts exists. Many children believes the existence of ghosts because they are everywhere. Games, movies, books, and even media has them. Another cause of these problem is because children are exposed to them by parents and sometimes ghosts are used for bullying and tormenting little kids. Having these things can easily make a child experience phasmophobia which is really hard to handle when it comes to kids.
Carrie Shrier wrote an article called "Spooky stuff: Talking with children about ghosts, monsters and other childhood fears". Parent’s support and understanding can help make the things that go bump in the night much less scary for children. Talking to children is the greatest way to help them cope with their fear and having parents to reassure their safety can make them feel more comfortable. She also stated "children under the age of seven had difficulty understanding the difference between fantasy and reality. This makes those ghost decorations, or the potential for the monster under the bed, seem much more scary, even if parents assure the child it is not real."(http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/spooky_stuff_talking_with_children_about_ghosts_monsters_and_other_childhoo).
As parents we need to reassure the kids that we will keep them safe from the ghosts they believe and not to discipline them by using these ghosts to scare them.
Ghosts are believed because they are introduced in games, movies, stories, and news and because of that many and many people believe in their existence. Eventhough this matter is popular and believed, the researcher believes that ghost beliefs are bad for people and especially children.
Understanding the effects of children's exposure to horrors and ghosts would help us know the do's and don'ts in introducing ghosts to children and encouraging people to stop introducing ghosts as a cause of fear to help their children grow without fear of supernatural things.
The purpose of this paper is to make people more knowledgeable about the bad effects of ghost beliefs to people and children.
B. Statement of the problem
This study aims to answer this question:
1. Why is ghost beliefs bad for people especially children ?
C. Significance of the study
Parents and adults. This research paper would be able to help parents and adults understand the effects of ghostly beliefs to the young minds of children. Moreover, the researchers is encouraging people to lessen the children's exposure to ghost themed movies, games, and stories.
Film Makers. Knowledge of this study would help film makers understand the effects of exaggerated movies to how people think about ghosts and horrors and encouraging them to lessen the exaggeration of films that is too unreal.
Future Researchers. This study is important for future researchers to make similar studies helping them go deeper in this kind of matter because only few people are interested to discuss this matter so the information is only limited. They may use this study as their reference for research and and learn about the effects of ghosts to people.
D. Scope and Delimitation
This study focuses on the effects of ghostly beliefs to people(adults and children). Ghosts has been popular to many people because of the scare they bring and because of that thought adults use them to scare children which is really bad for the young minds.
Due to limited time constraints, this study will only discuss the effects of ghosts to the people. Scientific explanations will no longer be discussed in this study.This is will also give an emphasis to the encouragement to people to stop using ghosts in pranks and for exposing these matters to children at a very young age.
E. Materials and Methods
The information about this research was gathered from various reference materials such as blogs from on-line sources.
The data gathered will be presented in a cause and effect manner because the study is mainly about the effects of ghosts to people which has to be explained in cause and effect. This will be observed in the view of the psychology.
F. Definition of Terms
1. Belief- an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.
(https://www.google.com.ph/#q=belief+definition)
2. Encounter- unexpectedly experience or be faced with (something difficult or hostile).
(https://www.google.com.ph/#q=encounter+definition)
3. Exaggeration- a statement that represents something as better or worse than it really is.
(https://www.google.com.ph/#q=exaggeration+definition)
4. Exposure- the state of being exposed to contact with something.
(https://www.google.com.ph/#q=exposure+definition)
5. Hallucinations- an experience involving the apparent perception of something not present.
(https://www.google.com.ph/#q=hallucination+definition)
6. Psychology- the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, esp. those affecting behavior in a given context.
(https://www.google.com.ph/#=psychology+definition)
Chapter 2
DISCUSSION
Why is ghost beliefs bad for people especially children ?
I. Definition of ghostly beliefs
Ghostly beliefs are known by all ages, ghostly beliefs are speculations about supernatural entities like ghosts, demons, and many more. A recent study has been conducted in the UK and reported a steadily increasing trend in paranormal belief from 40 %(2005) to 60 %(2009) which explains the fast growing trend regarding the matters of ghost beliefs.
"Balete Drive" one of the most popular ghost belief in the Philippines, believers report a woman in white with long black hair and her face either completely blank or obscured by blood standing in the middle of the road on Balete Drive. This belief has been popular to the Filipino's because countless of car crash has been reported happening because of this.
"The Flying Dutchman" a popular ghost tale from Cape of good hope on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. The ship and its crew became eternally cursed when its Dutch captain refused to take safe harbor during a storm rage despite pleas from the crew and passengers. It is always viewed as a bad omen to see the ship and it is believed that the sailor who originally sees the vessel will fall to his death.
"Bloody Mary" is a popular ghost who was said to have murdered her kids long ago. It is said in the folklore if you want to see her go into a bathroom (usually at school), turn the lights off, stand in front of a mirror, and repeat her name three times. Most either stare at their scared reflection in the dark mirror or lose their nerve after saying the second "Bloody Mary" and run screaming from the bathroom in girlish giggles.
II. Why people believe ghostly beliefs
A. Ghost stories
Countless of ghost stories has been told from throughout the globe by elders, adults and even children, with all these happening their popularity will soon affect the whole wide world and bring even more fears to the public which is really alarming.
Stories like Bloody Mary, The Flying Dutcman, Ghost of Balete drive and many more are believed because stories about them are becoming more and more popular as time goes by and they are the said root of many accidents or deaths that have happened that is why they are feared and because of that common misconceptions people are forced to believe. we cannot trust or believe all these stories because they are not even proven.
According to the article, "Science, Not Superstition:The Nature of Ghosts" by Paul Lee, Thousands of research has been made to determine whether ghosts are really true or just superstitions. The evidence for the paranormal is very sketchy. It is not too hard to see why this is, and why people remain to be convinced the main reason is a lack of tangible, tabulated evidence like spirit orbs differ than dust orbs.
Lee also added "Ghost stories are almost purely anecdotal, and seem to be very personal experiences. They also mostly seem to focus on trivial, mundane events, which is remarkable when we are often told that ghosts are imprints of behavior such as violence etc., committed in the past and this somehow becomes imprinted upon the environment." (http://www.paullee.com/ghosts/sns_new.html)
Some stories are only made to bring fear to people and they are not even 100 percent accurate some stories are created more and more exaggerated as time goes by and ghosts are getting more scary because of these made up stories.
B. Media
1. Movies
Ghosts are not only introduced in Stories but also like books, they are now adapted by films because of the demand of people in the entertainment industry. Ghosts and scary movies are popular nowadays, the people's taste in movies has also changed. People nowadays much prefer scary movies, movies that give chills to their spines, movies that challenge their selves into watching these films eventhough scared. Beliefs adapted in movies like the flying dutchman which was recently featured in the movie "Pirates of the Carribean". Another one is Bloody mary which was updated and was made into a horror film series "Candyman." and the ever popular the Amityville horror house by writers George and Kathy Lutz which was made into the movie "Amity horror" these are the examples of movies made creatively and is made to be watched not believed.
According to the article called "Paranormal depictions in the media: how do they affect what people believe?" by Glenn G. Sparks, Media depictions of the paranormal do seem to influence the way people think about ghosts because of what they are believing what they see in movies because only few people has the ability to see ghosts. Sparks also mentioned "individuals may tend to rely more on television to suggest what they should believe about this realm. In contrast, those who believe they have had personal paranormal experiences may find media messages to be a far less important source of information about the topic".(http://www.ravenndragon.net/montgomery/sparks.html)
Movies adapted in stories are made exaggerated and made more creatively by directors because of their want to satisfy the viewers adrenaline but this comes with a bad effect, yes we are liking the way they create movies but with these movies we develop great fears of ghosts and because of the fact they manipulate our minds with creating scenes that are so scary in the fantasy our mind pushes ourselves to believe that it can happen to reality.
2. Social Media
Social media is the number one source of information and many people are influenced by it. If someone sees one video that is really interesting and shares it in social media the video will go viral and becomes popular that millions of people will see it. Ghosts has popular in the media for quite sometime now and it has been watched and subscribed maybe because people are curious about these matters.
According to the article by Jenna M. Vallee entitled "Effects of Social Influence and Persuasion
on Paranormal Beliefs". Paranormal beliefs is elevated by social media. People agrees more when paranormal activities are caught on video recordings. Vallee also mentioned "there was a relationship determined by the evidence of increased endorsement from peers and media exposure on the participant’s belief in the paranormal".(http://library.wcsu.edu/dspace/bitstream/0/457/1/vallee.pdf)
Ghosts beliefs spreads fast with the help of social sites and because of the fact that everybody doesn't believe in it, it spreads like a forest fire because people wants to scatter fear and confusion to more people.
C. Disciplinary actions/ Pranking
Ghosts are said to be introduced by parents to children in an early age which ranges to ages two to seven. They are said to be used in disciplining their children by using ghosts to scare the child in favor of doing what they want. A popular example of this is the boogeyman that is said to creep at the bottom of the bed this ideal is used to discipline children in to staying on their beds if ever they wake up in the middle of the night.
Accorditing to the artice, "The Boogeyman Called " by Mel C. Montgomery, The boogeyman is an imaginary monster we sometimes frighten small children with. Parents use the boogeyman to scare children to discipline them to doing what we wanted them to do. Montgomery also mentioned that "We tell them, "If you don't behave, the Boogeyman will get you!" Or, "If you don't do well in school, the
Boogeyman will get you!".(http://www.brothermel.org/sites/default/files/articles/The_Boogey_Man_Called_False_Tongues.pdf)
We scare children with for example, "the boogeyman" to blackmail them to obey us but other adults use them as to scare or playing pranks with children. These reasons for believing ghosts may seem like harmless fun, however psychologists have learned that these beliefs have a number of negative effects on both adults and children.
II. Effects of Ghostly Beliefs in Adults
A. Parents use ghostly beliefs to scare children. Making children think of ghostly beliefs can create a really negative feedback. Yes, your child can be disciplined at some point but this factor is really unnecessary to do cause it will only affect children in a way of producing nightmares, night fears, and great nervousness in the children's part.
In an article called "How to Talk to Your Children About Ghosts: The Dos and Don'ts" by Llewellyn. Parents and adult should know when to tell their children information about ghosts. They should inform children based on how old are they and how ready they are to understand this information. Llewellyn also mentioned that "If your children are very small, you won’t want to tell them everything"(https://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/2240)
You should consider things before introducing children to ghost beliefs because their minds are so extravagant that they can't even tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Parents should also make sure that they should share stories that would somehow fit to the childs age.
B. Adults use ghosts for pranks. Many adults especially teenagers use ghosts as pranks and practical jokes for fun. People intend to scare them selves with ghosts and horrors because they believe that they can get laughter from it. Teenagers nowadays use ghost beliefs to bully other people and taking advantage of their fears and nervousness
Based on the article called "Fear of ghosts ?" by Louis Charles, People fear ghosts because of movies and we are taught me that ghosts were devilish entities who hid in the dark to attack the unsuspecting. The truth is we are only scaring our selves but living with the beliefs in ghosts can somehow help us cope with our fear. Charles also mentioned "I have found that fear is man-made, meaning it is something we can control and overcome because we accept and perpetuate our fears".(http://www.angelsghosts.com/fear_of_ghosts.html)
People are only causing fear to them selves in believing ghosts and to top it all up ghosts fears are only man made. Sometimes people create ghosts beliefs for prank and to scare other people which is really idiotic and it can lead to great fear.
The belief in ghosts affect adults negatively in surprising ways. It can affect the way adults do in parenting children because they can use ghosts as a way of making making children do what they want and some adult use ghosts as pranks to scare people. What's worse than this though is the effect these ghostly beliefs have on children. The trauma brought about by fear and horror may have lingering negative effects on the emotional and psychological development of a child. These effects will be discussed in the next section.
IV Effects of Ghostly Beliefs in Children
A. Ghost beliefs can confuse children. Ghosts are a serious matter when it comes to children because our child doesn't know what really a ghosts is. The child's mind is really young to understand ghosts and other complicated stuff. They only know ghosts in movies, stories and games who introduces ghosts in a very wrong way that is why children needs our guidance in understanding this matters.
According to the article called "Fearful Kids Can't Separate Fantasy from Reality" by Tanya Lewis. Children is confused whether mythical creatures are real or not and because of these they undergo nightmares about them. Based on studies children who are having difficulty separating fact from fiction may be more prone to nighttime fears.Lewis also mentioned that "Kids who experienced night time fears had a harder time making fantasy-reality distinctions than the other kids"(http://www.livescience.com/27187-fearful-kids-can-t-separate-fantasy-from-reality.html)
According to the article called "Fearful Kids Can't Separate Fantasy from Reality" by Tanya Lewis. Children is confused whether mythical creatures are real or not and because of these they undergo nightmares about them. Based on studies children who are having difficulty separating fact from fiction may be more prone to nighttime fears.Lewis also mentioned that "Kids who experienced night time fears had a harder time making fantasy-reality distinctions than the other kids"(http://www.livescience.com/27187-fearful-kids-can-t-separate-fantasy-from-reality.html)
Children doesn't really have an understanding about mythical creatures such as ghost, boogeyman etc. and when they see it on movies or games they sometimes bring that characters inside their dreams and with that happening in their mind they can never know whether they are fantasy or reality.
B. Ghost beliefs can bring fear to children which can end to Phasmophobia. Children are afraid of ghosts, if you try to scare them with the beliefs of ghosts they'll cry, tremble, and pee their pants its because ghosts nowadays are introduced to children as a really scary beings capable of hurting people, consuming people, and they appear scary in movies games and other media. Children develop fears about ghosts that would somehow end up in great fears of ghosts or Phasmophobia.
Lisa Fritscher wrote an article called "Phasmophobia Fear of Ghosts". Phasmophobia or the fear of ghosts is overwhelming and life-limiting. Some experts feel that a phobia of ghosts may be symptomatic of a more serious disorder. This disorder is commonly related to Thanatophobia (fear of death). This phobia is also affected by magical thinking, religious beliefs, and parapsychology.
Fritscher also mentioned that "Some experts feel that a phobia of ghosts may be symptomatic of a more serious thought disorder, as it may constitute a form of magical thinking. Let’s try to break down the relevant issues".(http://phobias.about.com/od/phobiaslist/a/phasmaphobia.htm)
Phasmophobia is said to be a serious disorder because having this is close to insanity. We should not scare children because they are really prone to phasmophobia because their minds are too young to handle these facts and we cannot afford to have our kids suffer from being Phasmophobic.
Chapter 3
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUMMARY
This paper attempted to determine the bad effects of ghost beliefs to people and children.
The research design used in this study is the Action and Research method wherein research design that lends itself to use in work or community situations and solution-driven research rather than testing theories were used to answer the question posed. The research findings are the following:
1. Many people throughout the world are believed in stories about ghostly encounters.
2. Parents and adults introduce their children in believing ghosts at a very young age.
3. Ghosts are believed because they are also introduced in games.
4. A lot of children believe that ghosts exists.
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the findings of this study. The following conclusions are drawn :
1. Parents use ghostly beliefs to scare children.
2. Adults use ghosts for pranks.
3. Ghost beliefs can confuse children.
4. Ghost beliefs can bring fear to children which can end to Phasmophobia.
RECOMMENDATIONS
After drawing the conclusions of the study, the researchers hereby make the following suggestions/recommendations :
1. Film makers - In adapting a ghost story to a movie one must base the happenings in a more realistic way, stick to the idea the story teller makes and never change their story.
2. Parents - We should learn to never talk to kids about ghosts in a very young age and it will be much better if they are not anymore introduced to ghostly beliefs. There are a lot of ways of parenting for kids other than scaring them to obey you, scaring children can have a great effect on their emotional and psychological development of children.
3. Adults - We should never use ghosts as pranks or use them to fear other people because we may never expect people can have phasmophobia and become insane.
References:
A. Electronic Media
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Montgomery, Mel(2006). "The Boogeyman Called "False Tongues" " retrieved March 10, 2014 from
http://www.brothermel.org/sites/default/files/articles/The_Boogey_Man_Called_False_Tongues.pdf
Radford, Benjamin(2007)."Top 10 Most Famous Ghosts" Retrieved April 8, 2014 from
http://www.livescience.com/11364-top-10-famous-ghosts.html
Sparks, Glenn(2009). "Paranormal depictions in the media: how do they affect what people believe?" r retrieved March 11, 2014 from http://www.ravenndragon.net/montgomery/sparks.html
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Vallee, Jenna(2008). "Effects of Social Influence and Persuasion on Paranormal Beliefs" retrieved March 10, 2014 from http://library.wcsu.edu/dspace/bitstream/0/457/1/vallee.pdf
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