By Barry Markovsky
Most of us still call them UFOs – unidentified flying objects. NASA recently adopted the term “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAP. Either way, every few years popular claims resurface that these things are not of our world, or that the U.S. government has some stored away.
I’m a sociologist who focuses on the interplay between individuals and groups, especially concerning shared beliefs and misconceptions. As for why UFOs and their alleged occupants enthrall the public, I’ve found that normal human perceptual and social processes explain UFO buzz as much as anything up in the sky.
Historical context
Like political scandals and high-waisted jeans, UFOs trend in and out of collective awareness but never fully disappear. Thirty years of polling find that 25%-50% of surveyed Americans believe at least some UFOs are alien spacecraft. Today in the U.S., over 100 million adults think our galactic neighbors pay us visits.
It wasn’t always so. Linking objects in the sky with visiting extraterrestrials has risen in popularity only in the past 75 years. Some of this is probably market-driven. Early UFO stories boosted newspaper and magazine sales, and today they are reliable clickbait online.
In 1980, a popular book called “The Roswell Incident” by Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore described an alleged flying saucer crash and government cover-up 33 years prior near Roswell, New Mexico. The only evidence ever to emerge from this story was a small string of downed weather balloons. Nevertheless, the book coincided with a resurgence of interest in UFOs. From there, a steady stream of UFO-themed TV shows, films, and pseudo-documentaries has fueled public interest. Perhaps inevitably, conspiracy theories about government cover-ups have risen in parallel.
Some UFO cases inevitably remain unresolved. But despite the growing interest, multiple investigations have found no evidence that UFOs are of extraterrestrial origin – other than the occasional meteor or misidentification of Venus.
But the U.S. Navy’s 2017 Gimbal video continues to appear in the media. It shows strange objects filmed by fighter jets, often interpreted as evidence of alien spacecraft. And in June 2023, an otherwise credible Air Force veteran and former intelligence officer made the stunning claim that the U.S. government is storing numerous downed alien spacecraft and their dead occupants.
Human factors contributing to UFO beliefs
Only a small percentage of UFO believers are eyewitnesses. The rest base their opinions on eerie images and videos strewn across both social media and traditional mass media. There are astronomical and biological reasons to be skeptical of UFO claims. But less often discussed are the psychological and social factors that bring them to the popular forefront.
Many people would love to know whether or not we’re alone in the universe. But so far, the evidence on UFO origins is ambiguous at best. Being averse to ambiguity, people want answers. However, being highly motivated to find those answers can bias judgments. People are more likely to accept weak evidence or fall prey to optical illusions if they support preexisting beliefs.
For example, in the 2017 Navy video, the UFO appears as a cylindrical aircraft moving rapidly over the background, rotating and darting in a manner unlike any terrestrial machine. Science writer Mick West’s analysis challenged this interpretation using data displayed on the tracking screen and some basic geometry. He explained how the movements attributed to the blurry UFO are an illusion. They stem from the plane’s trajectory relative to the object, the quick adjustments of the belly-mounted camera, and misperceptions based on our tendency to assume cameras and backgrounds are stationary.
West found the UFO’s flight characteristics were more like a bird’s or a weather balloon’s than an acrobatic interstellar spacecraft. But the illusion is compelling, especially with the Navy’s still deeming the object unidentified.
West also addressed the former intelligence officer’s claim that the U.S. government possesses crashed UFOs and dead aliens. He emphasized caution, given the whistleblower’s only evidence was that people he trusted told him they’d seen the alien artifacts. West noted we’ve heard this sort of thing before, along with promises that the proof will soon be revealed. But it never comes.
Anyone, including pilots and intelligence officers, can be socially influenced to see things that aren’t there. Research shows that hearing from others who claim to have seen something extraordinary is enough to induce similar judgments. The effect is heightened when the influencers are numerous or higher in status. Even recognized experts aren’t immune from misjudging unfamiliar images obtained under unusual conditions.
Group factors contributing to UFO beliefs
“Pics or it didn’t happen” is a popular expression on social media. True to form, users are posting countless shaky images and videos of UFOs. Usually they’re nondescript lights in the sky captured on cellphone cameras. But they can go viral on social media and reach millions of users. With no higher authority or organization propelling the content, social scientists call this a bottom-up social diffusion process.
In contrast, top-down diffusion occurs when information emanates from centralized agents or organizations. In the case of UFOs, sources have included social institutions like the military, individuals with large public platforms like U.S. senators, and major media outlets like CBS.
Amateur organizations also promote active personal involvement for many thousands of members, the Mutual UFO Network being among the oldest and largest. But as Sharon A. Hill points out in her book “Scientifical Americans,” these groups apply questionable standards, spread misinformation and garner little respect within mainstream scientific communities.
Top-down and bottom-up diffusion processes can combine into self-reinforcing loops. Mass media spreads UFO content and piques worldwide interest in UFOs. More people aim their cameras at the skies, creating more opportunities to capture and share odd-looking content. Poorly documented UFO pics and videos spread on social media, leading media outlets to grab and republish the most intriguing. Whistleblowers emerge periodically, fanning the flames with claims of secret evidence.
Despite the hoopla, nothing ever comes of it.
For a scientist familiar with the issues, skepticism that UFOs carry alien beings is wholly separate from the prospect of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Scientists engaged in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence have a number of ongoing research projects designed to detect signs of extraterrestrial life. If intelligent life is out there, they’ll likely be the first to know.
As astronomer Carl Sagan wrote, “The universe is a pretty big place. If it’s just us, seems like an awful waste of space.”
Barry Markovsky is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of South Carolina.
The Conversation arose out of deep-seated concerns for the fading quality of our public discourse and recognition of the vital role that academic experts could play in the public arena. Information has always been essential to democracy. It’s a societal good, like clean water. But many now find it difficult to put their trust in the media and experts who have spent years researching a topic. Instead, they listen to those who have the loudest voices. Those uninformed views are amplified by social media networks that reward those who spark outrage instead of insight or thoughtful discussion. The Conversation seeks to be part of the solution to this problem, to raise up the voices of true experts and to make their knowledge available to everyone. The Conversation publishes nightly at 9 p.m. on FlaglerLive.
Dave says
If UFO’s are ‘real”, why would an advanced race of beings be flying around “VISIBLE’ , like Look at Me. LOL, makes no sense. A craft that can change direction in an instance and fly faster than anything we have on earth be wobbling around in the sky as these films show. Its like I’m watching some Outer Limits TV show.
DontsayRon says
I heard its because NASA is woke
R.S. says
What is the probability of two planets evolving at the same rate within reasonable proximity of each other? We have emitted signals in radio frequency for about 120 years, ever since Mr. Marconi’s invention in the 1890’s. So the other planetary civilization and us have had this 120 year long window of opportunity for contact. But there is no planetary civilization in that close a proximity. And if the other planet is many lightyears away, chances are very good that the other civilization has long passed into the annals of history by the time we’ve become aware of it. Besides, would we even be able to recognize life that has evolved on an entirely different evolutionary path? We have yet to communicate with life on our own planet effectively; yet we believe in life beyond the stars trying to contact us? Nope. UFO’s are myths along with just about all other religions.
Ban the GOP says
People will believe just about anything go ask a republican if the election was stolen, they will say yes but can provide zero proof except debunked stories other republicans made up. They prefer this hense the book banning, whitewashing of national history , and defunding of public schools. Only ignorant people will believe and defend their lies.
Atwp says
Don’t believe they are real. Our minds have played tricks on us for many years, still playing tricks.
Laurel says
Personally, I don’t care. Any space folks smart enough to make it here from beyond our solar system, or galaxy, is going to have little interest in us as in the evolution of things, we’re comparative mud skippers. To think that with apparently endless galaxies, it would be ridiculous to think we are the only intelligent (!) life. As I’m sure Carl Sagon would have said “There are billions and billions of opportunities for life out there.” Okay, I made up his quote but I’m sure he’d agree.
Bill C says
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951). Klaatu gives a final warning to the lowly earthlings from the ramp leading to the flying saucer with the enforcer robot Gort standing by-
“We have an organization for the mutual protection of all planets and for the complete elimination of aggression. The test of any such higher authority is, of course, the police force that supports it. For our policemen, we created a race of robots. Their function is to patrol the planets—in space ships like this one—and preserve the peace. In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us; this power cannot be revoked. At the first sign of violence, they act automatically against the aggressor. The penalty for provoking their action is too terrible to risk. The result is that we live in peace, without arms or armies, secure in the knowledge that we are free from aggression and war—free to pursue more profitable enterprises. Now, we do not pretend to have achieved perfection, but we do have a system, and it works. I came here to give you these facts. It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet. But if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: Join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer; the decision rests with you.”
Hey, take it easy aliens. That sounds a wee bit totalitarian, don’t you think? “Klaatu Barada Nikto” space brothers!
R.S. says
Well, apparently we’re already working at the burnt-out cinder, courtesy of our wonderful industrial revolution and our addiction to mobility.
Tony Mack says
Just playing the odds — of course, there’s probably life in another Galaxy, another planet…maybe thousands of them. Our little planet is nothing but a speck of cosmic dust in a Universe of billions of galaxies. Think about it — if there is another civilization or perhaps millions of them — why would they even bother coming to this little indistinct planet. And for those of you who believe that a God created all this…why would a God stop on this silly little planet? If there is, as they say, life from another Galaxy, perhaps when we shuffle off this mortal coil — we simply go back to the Mothership and then find a new place on another plante in another Galaxy. Ask Carl Sagan — he’d know.
Laurel says
Sometimes I think that all the planets in all the galaxies are just particles, like atoms, of a bigger being. Kinda like Horton Hears a Who.
A Concerned Observer says
With space being infinite (A concept our human mind has difficultly grasping), there must also be an infinite numbers of worlds out out there with some form of life on them. However, any population capable of traveling the incomprehensible distances in a time period where all aboard would not die of old age, would surely realize our “humanity” would just not be worth the trip.