Matthew Smith is a British applied psychologist and parapsychologist, best known as the resident parapsychologist and sceptic on Most Haunted and Most Haunted Live! from 2002 to 2006, and as the academic colleague whose Most Haunted role indirectly led to Ciarán O'Keeffe joining the show.[1]
Academic career
Smith earned a degree in Applied Psychology from Liverpool John Moores University in 1992, followed by a PhD in 1998 from the University of Hertfordshire, supervised by Richard Wiseman, researching the psychology and parapsychology of luck. As a postgraduate, he received the Gertrude Schmeidler Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Parapsychology from the Parapsychological Association.[1] He held his first lecturing post at Liverpool John Moores University, before moving to Liverpool Hope University the following year, where he became Associate Professor of Psychology and led its Parapsychology Research Group for around a decade.[2] He later joined Buckinghamshire New University, the same institution as O'Keeffe, teaching on the MSc Applied Positive Psychology and establishing a Centre for Positive Psychology there.[3]
Research
Smith's research has covered telepathy, precognition, luck, séances, mirror-gazing, and reported "psychic pets."[2] His doctoral work linked perceived luck to motivational, implicit-learning, and cognitive biases, alongside testing for genuine psi-mediated effects; a direct random number generator test found no overall scoring advantage for self-described lucky participants, though perceived psi ability did correlate significantly with actual test scores.[3] In an attempted replication of Daryl Bem's implicit precognition experiments, Smith and colleagues found non-significant results overall, but a significant effect specifically among participants who feared spiders, when exposed to spider-related target images.[3] With researcher Devin Terhune, Smith also tested whether anomalous mirror-gazing experiences stem from suggestion rather than anything paranormal, finding that participants given suggestions designed to encourage anomalous experiences were more likely to report them.[3] His research has received funding from the Bial Foundation, the Perrott-Warrick Fund, the Parapsychology Foundation, and the Society for Psychical Research.[1]
Most Haunted
Smith joined Most Haunted as its resident parapsychologist and sceptic shortly after arriving at Liverpool Hope University, providing analysis of the investigation team's findings across 55 episodes between 2002 and 2006.[4] When Smith's own research focus shifted further into other areas of parapsychology, he recommended his university colleague Ciarán O'Keeffe, who had been informally covering the role, to take it on full-time.[5]
Later work
After leaving Liverpool Hope after ten years — a decision he has jokingly called "operation freefall" — Smith wrote about his experiences for a planned book, Million Dollar Psychic.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Matthew Smith (psychologist)."EverybodyWiki.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Dr Matthew Smith."Psychologist. Parapsychologist. Sceptic. Psychic?.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Matthew Smith."Psi Encyclopedia.
- ↑ "Matthew Smith."IMDb.
- ↑ "Doctor of Parapsychology Ciaran O'Keeffe Ghoulish Q&A."Oxford Castle Prison.28 October 2016.