Some of the major researchers who have studied the abduction fieldinclude Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs, Leo Sprinkle, John Mack, Philip Klass, John Spencer and Jenny Randles.

The Compensation Theory

Psychologist Roy Baumeister, Ph.D., of Case Western Reserve University, argues that abduction reports are made by "masochists" who unconsciously want to relinquish control of their lives. The loss of control is manifest in humiliating encounters with an alien race. To be sure, there is a surfeit of elaborate sex in abduction reports; one study found that among abductees, 80 percent of women and 50 percent of men reported being examined naked on a table by humanoid beings. In fact, many abductees blame aliens for sexual dysfunction and emotional disturbances.

Another interesting theory suggests that what is occurring is a form of displacement from another kind of trauma, especially sexual abuse. While it is true that abduction experiencers do show some of the symptoms associated with post-traumatic states, Mack asserts "these symptoms appear to be the result, not the cause, of what the experiencers have undergone." (Mack, 1994) Many therapists attempt to explain abduction accounts as "screen" memories masking the repression of sexual abuse. However, "no abduction screen memories have ever been stripped away to reveal a past history of abuse." (Jacobs, 1992) While it is true that some abductees are also victims of sexual or physical abuse, they usually have a clear memory of the abuse and feel the abduction experience to be unrelated.

Mass Hysteria

Some individuals, such as the late Carl Sagan, suggest that what is really going on in relation to alien abductions is some sort of mass psychosis, hysteria, or hallucination. Examples of hysterical contagion, whereby people believe that something has happened to them because they are aware that it has happened to others, do exist. However, according to David Jacobs, abduction claims "do not fit the model of mass hysteria." (Jacobs, 1992) Typically, for mass hysteria or hysterical contagion to occur, the victims have to know each other or in some way have contact with one another to engage in mutual reinforcement. Although some abductees do know one another, most do not, and they have little in common. Further, the abduction phenomenon is not restricted to a particular geographic location or brief time period, as is usually the case in mass hysteria.

Archetypal Memories

One of the most bizarre explanations for the abduction phenomenon is the idea that they stem from a collective unconscious, or cumulative memory, which "embodies certain archetypal memories that are inherent in all human minds." (Jacobs, 1992) Carl Jung addressed the issue of UFO sightings from this perspective in his book Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky, published in 1959. He wondered whether UFOs might not be "materialized psychism - actual physical or paraphysical objects created by the collective unconscious." (Bryan, 1995) While the idea of a collective unconscious is not something that has been supported by any solid evidence in the psychological community, it is a concept that deserves further research. If it were in fact a valid explanation, it would completely change the way we view psychology, and "the implications for humanity would be enormous." (Jacobs, 1992)

John Mack, of Harvard Medical School, a long-time champion of alien abductees and a paranormal philosopher king of sorts put forward that the abduction phenomenon transcends cultural boundaries. In his second book, “Passport to the Cosmos, chronicles abduction as a cross-cultural phenomenon”; he finds evidence of sexual and ecological parallels to American abduction reports on almost every continent.