Dr Ian Baker

Senior Lecturer in Psychology

I am the Programme Leader for our BSc (Hons) Psychology degree. I am also the Module Leader for Quantitative Methods & Individual Differences and Anomalistic Psychology & Parapsychology. Whilst most of my teaching focuses on quantitative research methods, I teach across a range of modules at undergraduate level.

I have research interest in parapsychology, paranormal belief, religious belief, and the use of electrophysiology measures (EEG, ERP, Skin Conductance, etc).

I also supervise the following PhD student(s):

• Malcolm Schofield - Religious, spiritual, and paranormal beliefs and their impact on cognition

Completed students:

• Dr Kornanong Yuenyongchaiwat - Do haemodynamic responses to mental stress tests predict future blood pressure one year later? Prospective studies in the United Kingdom and Thailand (Completed September 2013)

• Dr Michael Batashvili - The electrophysiological correlates of maths anxiety: Exploring the role of gamma activity (Completed March 2016)

• Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol)
• Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (AFBPsS)
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• Part of the Core Advisory Group for the Mind-Matter Mapping Project
• Member of the British Association of Cognitive Neuroscience (BACN)
• Member of the Parapsychological Association (PA)
• Member of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR)

• BSc (Hons) Psychology - Coventry University
• Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching - University of Derby
• MSc by Research in Psychology - University of Edinburgh
• PhD in Psychology - University of Edinburgh

I am qualified in psychometric test use, and I hold the following qualifications that are awarded by the British Psychological Society (BPS):

• Assistant Test User: Occupational
• Test User: Occupational Ability
• Test User: Occupational Personality
• Test User: Forensic

Schofield, M., Baker. I.S., Staples, P. & Sheffield, D. (in press). Mental representations of the supernatural: A cluster analysis of religiosity, spirtuality and paranormal belief. Personality and Individual Differences.

Yuenyongchaiwat, K., Baker. I., & Sheffield, D. (in press).  Symptoms of anxiety and depression are related to cardiovascular responses to active, but not passive, coping tasks. Revista Brasileria de Psiquiatria.

Yuenyongchaiwat, K., Baker. I., Maratos, F., & Sheffield, D. (2016).  Do cardiovascular responses to active and passive coping tasks predict future blood pressure over 10-Months later? The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 19, e10, 1-12.

Baker, I. S. (2015). The relationship of the feeling of being watched to paranoia, self-consciousness, and social anxiety. Journal of Parapsychology, 79(2), 203-218.

Yuenyongchaiwat, K., Sheffield, D., Baker. I., & Maratos, F. (2015). Hemodynamic responses to active and passive coping tasks and the prediction of future blood pressure in Thai participants: A preliminary prospective cohort study. Japanese Psychological Research, 57, 4, 288-299.

Irwin, H. J., Schofield, M. B., & Baker, I. S. (2014) Dissociative tendancies, sensory-processing sensitivity and aberrant salience as predictors of anomalous experiences and paranormal attributions, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 78.4, 917, 193-206.

Baker, I. S., Schofield, M. B., & Staples, P. (2014). Book review: Education in parapsychology - student and instructor perspectives by Harvey J. Irwin, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 78.4, 917, 240-241.

Baker, I. S., & Stevens, P. (2013). An anomaly of an anomaly: Investigating the cortical electrophysiology of remote staring detection. Journal of Parapsychology, 77, 1, 107-122.

Baker, I. S. (2012). Perceptions of the paranormal. Pan European Networks: Science & Technology, 5, Dec 2012, 234-236.

Roe, C. A., Sherwood., S. J., Farrell, L., Savva, L., & Baker, I. S. (2007). Assessing the roles of the sender and experimenter in dream ESP research. European Journal of Parapsychology, 22.2, 175-192.

Baker, I. S., & O'Keeffe, C. (2007). Ethical guidelines for the investigation of haunting experiences. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 71.4, 889, 216-229.

Baker, I. S. (2005). Nomenclature and methodology [Special issue on 'the sense of being stared at']. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 12, 6, 56-63.

Watt, C., & Baker, I. S. (2002). Remote facilitation of attention focusing with psi-supportive versus psi-unsupportive experimenter suggestions. Journal of Parapsychology, 66, 2, 151-168

Baker, I. S. (2002). 'Do Ghosts Exist?': A summary of parapsychological research into apparitional experience (pp. 108-123). In Newton, J. (2002). Early Modern Ghosts. Durham: Centre for Seventeenth Century Studies, University of Durham.

Baker, I.S. (May, 2009). Staring at the Brain: EEG Activity When Being Watched Remotely. The Society for Psychical Research Study Day No. 56: Psi and Brain.

Baker, I. S. (2008). Parapsychology and investigating haunting experiences: The ethics of investigating haunting experiences [Panel paper and discussion]. In S. Sherwood & B. Carr (Eds.), Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 51st & the Society for Psychical Research 32nd Annual Convention (pp. 368). The Parapsychological Association, Inc.

Baker, I. S. (March, 2007). An anomaly of an anomaly: Exploring the feeling of being watched. University of Derby, Psychology Department Research Seminar Series.

Baker, I. S. (September, 2006). Exploring the Limits of Human Perception: The Psychological and Physiological Perception of Normal and Remote Staring. The 34th Annual Scientific Meeting of the British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience.

Baker, I. S. (August, 2005). The Electrophysiology of Remote Staring Detection. Getting the most from Event-Related Potential (ERP) studies of Human Cognition, a workshop held in the Department of Psychology at the University of Stirling, sponsored by the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Baker, I. S. (March, 2005). The Electrophysiology of Remote Staring Detection. The Institut fur Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene (IGPP), and Frieburg University Hospital, Germany.

Baker, I. S. (February, 2005). Don't look now, but I think he's behind us! - Investigating the Electrophysiology of Remote Staring Detection. University of Northampton, Psychology Department Research Lecture Series.

Baker, I. S. (September, 2002). Remote staring detection: A research review. 26th International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research.

Baker, I. S. (March, 2001). Do Ghosts Exist? - A Summary of Parapsychological Research into Apparitional Experiences. Early Modern Ghosts Conference, Centre for 17th Century Studies, University of Durham.

Baker, I. S. (September, 1998). Investigation of a Reportedly Haunted Public House in Derbyshire. 22nd International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research.

I am a reviewer for the following journals:

• International Journal of Parapsychology (IJP)
• Journal of Parapsychology (JP)
• Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (JSPR)
• Journal of Consciousness Studies (JCS)
• Cognitive Processing (CogPro)
• Applied Cognitive Psychology (ACP)
• Universal Journal of Psychology (UJP)
• European Journal of Psychological Assessment (EJPA)

In addition, I am an Article Editor for SAGE Open.

I have been on the conference committee (and one of the reviewers) for the annual convention of the Parapsychological Association (PA) for several years. I was the Editor of the European Journal of Parapsychology (EJP).

I have acted as an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Rapporteur.

In 2004, I recieved the Eileen J. Garrett Scholarship Award from the Parapsychology Foundation, New York.

I have received over £150,000 of internal and external funding to date, and I have been a BIAL Foundation Research Fellow twice (2002 and 2015).

• Senior Lecturer in Psychology (University of Derby) - October 2013 to Present.
• Lecturer in Psychology (University of Derby) - May 2008 to October 2013.
• Associate Lecturer in Psychology (University of Derby) - June 2007 to May 2008.
• Guest Lecturer on "Sociology of Science and the Paranormal" (State University of New York/University of Edinburgh) - July 2005.
• Part-time Lecturer on the M.Sc by Research in Psychology (University of Edinburgh) - February 2005.
• Visiting Lecturer on the M.Sc in Health Psychology (Queen Margaret University College, Edinbugh) - March 2004 and April 2005.
• B.Sc Psychology Tutor (University of Edinburgh) - October 2001 to May 2002.
• Research Assistant (University of Edinburgh/University of Hertfordshire) on the project "An Investigation into Hauntings in the Edinbugh South Bridge Vaults" - April 2001.
• Research Assistant (University of Edinburgh) on the project "Remote Facilitation of Attention Focusing" - April 2001 to September 2001.