Many people I've talked to who believe in certain types of woo believe it because they have experienced something that they can't otherwise explain in natural ways. They tell me that I will believe once it happens to me. They were there, they saw it with their own eyes and that is all the proof they need. Well I'm sorry to break it to them but people are unfortunately frighteningly easy to fool. For one thing, our memories are far more malleable then we would like to acknowledge. Professor Richard Wiseman describes a memory manipulation test in his book "Quirkology" which involved showing adults several pictures of themselves as children. Two of the pictures were real but a third was a doctored photo of an event (a hot air balloon ride) that never happened. The participants were asked to describe the events in the photos and after awhile half of them were able to describe the day the hot air balloon ride took place. Many in great detail. We also routinely engage in confirmation bias which is remembering certain events that fit and forgetting others. This is a reason people believe in the false contention that the full moon causes adverse behavior. Or when someone thinks that every time they look at a clock it's 11:11. how many times did you look at the clock and see a different time? Confirmation bias also accounts for psychics enjoying a seemingly high hit rate. You're impressed that she "knew" your grandma's name was Sofia but you forgot that she also mentioned 28 other names that had no meaning for you at all.
Our senses are fallible. Again, I reference "Quirkology" (an excellent book by the way) to explain how people's senses can be messed with. Prof Wiseman purchased two innocuous items from a hardware store and asked passersby in a mall to hold the items and tell him if they made them feel odd. Not surprisingly, people did not feel a thing. But when he donned a white lab coat and told people that the objects were designed to elicit strange feelings, folks were suddenly reporting tingling, electricity and vibrations. One person actually felt high and another felt as though his hands were magnetic and being drawn towards each other. Many of these people said they would pay a lot of money for these objects which were merely a brass curtain ring and a chrome light-pull. Another experiment has two groups of people being toured through a theatre which has had no reports of paranormal activity. The first group is told that the theatre is undergoing renovations and they were asked to rate how each room made them feel. The second group was told that there was much reported ghostly activity and so they should look out for anything unusual. Not surprisingly, the second group reported significantly more strange experiences than the first group. Also, low frequency "infrasound" which is below normal human hearing causes people to feel odd and almost like they are being watched. This can explain why some locations seem to be haunted. Not to mention magicians. It's their job to fool our senses and they do it very well.
Not surprisingly, people who already believe in ghosts and other paranormal things are more susceptible to being fooled. They see what they want to see and interpret it as something otherworldly instead of trying to decipher the real cause. They want and need to believe and although comforting, the truth should matter and I think it's much more useful to discover the truth than to persist in delusion.
Sometimes, like in Richard Wiseman's experiments, it's easier to show people how simply they can be fooled instead of just telling them. Over the next several posts I will be talking about some famous "hoaxes" perpetrated by fellow skeptics designed to show people just how gullible they can be. Also, I'll talk about some other revealed hoaxes perpetrated by con artists wanting money or their fifteen minutes of fame. Stay tuned.
Our senses are fallible. Again, I reference "Quirkology" (an excellent book by the way) to explain how people's senses can be messed with. Prof Wiseman purchased two innocuous items from a hardware store and asked passersby in a mall to hold the items and tell him if they made them feel odd. Not surprisingly, people did not feel a thing. But when he donned a white lab coat and told people that the objects were designed to elicit strange feelings, folks were suddenly reporting tingling, electricity and vibrations. One person actually felt high and another felt as though his hands were magnetic and being drawn towards each other. Many of these people said they would pay a lot of money for these objects which were merely a brass curtain ring and a chrome light-pull. Another experiment has two groups of people being toured through a theatre which has had no reports of paranormal activity. The first group is told that the theatre is undergoing renovations and they were asked to rate how each room made them feel. The second group was told that there was much reported ghostly activity and so they should look out for anything unusual. Not surprisingly, the second group reported significantly more strange experiences than the first group. Also, low frequency "infrasound" which is below normal human hearing causes people to feel odd and almost like they are being watched. This can explain why some locations seem to be haunted. Not to mention magicians. It's their job to fool our senses and they do it very well.
Not surprisingly, people who already believe in ghosts and other paranormal things are more susceptible to being fooled. They see what they want to see and interpret it as something otherworldly instead of trying to decipher the real cause. They want and need to believe and although comforting, the truth should matter and I think it's much more useful to discover the truth than to persist in delusion.
Sometimes, like in Richard Wiseman's experiments, it's easier to show people how simply they can be fooled instead of just telling them. Over the next several posts I will be talking about some famous "hoaxes" perpetrated by fellow skeptics designed to show people just how gullible they can be. Also, I'll talk about some other revealed hoaxes perpetrated by con artists wanting money or their fifteen minutes of fame. Stay tuned.
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