The science of why so many people believe in psychic powers
03/06/2021
Reading mind and future forecasting are not some of the professions people compete to win the race. Yet, scientists believe that many people still believe in the power of psychic abilities.
You might be wondering about the proven psychic frauds that clobbered the people over the years. There have been cases like Lajos Pap, the Hungarian spiritualist medium, who pretended to appear like an animal at seances. Recently, self-made psychic James Hydrick was declared as a trickster. Hydrick confessed in front of officers that his paranormal demonstrations were tricks he learned during his years in prison.
Another example involved televangelist Peter Popoff. His wife used a wireless transmitter to convey information about sermon attendees to Popoff via an earpiece. Popoff confirmed receiving this information by paranormal means and gained fame after his national television program, during which he managed to perform miraculous cures.
Despite these fraud cases, there are so many people who still believe in the power of psychic ability. According to a survey, 25% of people believe that humans have psychic abilities – like telepathy and clairvoyance.
Why do people continue to believe?
A recent report was created to demonstrates why people continue to believe in the power of psychic abilities? The study involved believes and the suspicious person with the same level of education. Their academic performance was the same. The researchers found that people who were true believers thoughtless analytically. This means, they interpret the world from a subjective perspective and do not focus on the criticality of the information.
Believers consider psychic claims as evidence-regardless of the base of that evidence. Let’s look at the case of Chris Robinson, who calls himself a “dream detective” to prove this.
Robinson claims that he saw terrorist attacks, disasters, and the death of celebrities. His claim comes from limited and questionable evidence. Tests were conducted by Gary Schwartz at the University of Arizona and results supported Robinson’s ability. However, many researchers who used similar methods failed to prove Schwartz’s findings.
Most psychic claims are vague and general
Most Psychic claims are a vague and general-like forecast of a plane crash or death of a celebrity-this is the reason why many people believe in the power of psychic abilities.
This is referred to as The Barnum effect where people accept vague and general personality descriptions as applicable to themselves.
Can’t be validated
It’s not easy to validate psychic claims. Many psychic claims are impossible to confirm. For example, Uri Geller claims that he “wished” the movement of football during a penalty kick at Euro 96. The ball movement was all of a sudden in an uncontrolled environment and Geller claimed his ability.
When professional abilities are subject to scientific research, researchers generally disrespect them. This was true in the case of Derek Ogilvie in the 2007 TV documentary The Million Dollar Mind Reader. According to Investigators, Ogilvie believed that he had powers, but was not able to read the minds of babies.
Mixed evidence
Another factor that supports belief in psychic power is the presence of scientific research that offers positive results. The result of the research claims that the powers are genuine and claims are phenomena real.
One example of this was an article produced by social psychologist Daryl Bem in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The paper supported the existence of precognition and premonition.
Mindset
Despite cases of forgery, and fraudulent claims, and mixed evidence, some people continue to believe in the power of psychic abilities, the latest research has shown that 33% of Americans have experienced a psychic moment in one or the other phase of their life. Nearly 50% of US women claim that they experienced the presence of a spirit. So, if you want to enhance your Paranormal Abilities & Magical Powers, click on the link.