Children who see dead people: inter-subjectivity and mediumistic experiences in childhood

• Grant number: 20/10929-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2022
• End date: November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Social Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Wellington Zangari
• Grantee: Mateus Donia Martinez
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The study of mediumship is related to the origins of psychology and the development of psychological concepts and ideas. Currently, two interrelated areas, concerned on researching mediumship and its experimenters, are the psychology of religion and anomalistic psychology. Recurrently, mediumship is studied in adults, who claim its beginning in childhood. In this sense, the literature on this phenomenon in childhood in the world and in Brazil is rare. The studies reviewed point out that mediumship in children can be linked to health and disease processes, identity formation, religious groups constitution, meaning and worldview. However, little is known about the children who experience it, how the phenomenon arises, its developments and implications for the experimenters and the contexts in which they may occur. Thus, this study aims, through an empirical and qualitative research, to investigate mediumship in children who claim it, considering the relationship between the intrapsychic and psychosocial dimensions, the characteristics of mediumship in childhood, its origins and developments, meanings, and possible aspects of children's mental health. For this, participant observations, drawings performed by the childrens indicated as experiencing mediumship and in-depth interviews with them will be carried out. The material will be analyzed based on the articulation between Berger & Luckmann's theory of social construction of reality and the analytical psychology of C. G. Jung. Although the first perspective leans towards the psychosocial and the second towards the intrapsychic, they are understood as complementary to the study intended here. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DE OLIVEIRA MARALDI, EVERTON; COSTA, ADRIANO; CUNHA, ALEXANDRE; HAMAZAKI, EDSON; FLORES, DOUGLAS; DE QUEIROZ, GREGORIO PEREIRA; REICHOW, JEVERSON; MARTINEZ, MATEUS; RIBEIRO, RICARDO; SIQUEIRA, SILVANA; et al. Social Support, Help-Seeking Behaviors, and Positive/Negative Affect Among Individuals Reporting Mediumship Experiences. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LATIN AMERICAN RELIGIONS, v. 7, n. 1, p. 16-pg., 2023-04-24. (20/10929-0)