AN EXPERT ON THE PARANORMAL EXPLAINS WHY SOCIETY IS SOSMITTEN WITH
SUPERNATURAL PHENOMENA
THE X-FILES, THE OTHERS, GHOSTS OF MARS. EVERY YEAR, TELEVISION
SHOWS AND MOVIES FEATURE EXTRATERRESTRIALS, GHOSTS AND MIND READERS. THE
PARANORMAL REALM FASCINATES THE PUBLIC--AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENTISTS. WHY
THE APPEAL? RAY HYMAN, PH.D., PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF PSYCHOLOGY AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, IS AN INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED SCHOLAR ON THIS
ENDURING FRONTIER OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE.
Nancy K. Dess [NKD]: When did you get interested in the
paranormal?
Ray Hyman [RH]: As a child my hero was Houdini; I did my first
magic show for money when I was 7. I gradually added tricks such as palm
reading and was bowled over by how people reacted, amazed at my accuracy.
In college, a professor bawled me out for taking money [for reading
palms] on false pretenses. Then I gave him a reading. Later he called me
in again, shut the door, held out his hand and said, "Tell me more." So I
became a believer.
NKD: But you're a skeptic now. What happened?
RH: One day a friend said, "Wonder what would happen if you read
all the palm lines backward?" I did that with my next customer. She was
completely silent, and I thought I'd bombed. No--she was stunned by how
accurate I was. That's when I knew it had nothing to do with the lines on
the hand. I switched my major to psychology.
NKD: What paranormal phenomenon interests you most?
RH: I'm intrigued by why people believe in all sorts of claims, not
whether they're "real." A prevalent one is psychic characters--those who
contact the dead and appear on Larry King Live and The New York Times
best-seller lists. I give workshops showing how anyone can do what they
do. When the situation is set up right, people find meaning. The brain is
a meaning-seeking device that finds patterns in the world whether or not
they are there.
NKD: So much for human cognition building accurate
representations.
RH: Yes. The good news is that inaccuracy has advantages. For
instance, compared to depressed people, emotionally healthy people have
an unrealistically rosy outlook. We don't always want the truth. I was
once filmed for Unsolved Mysteries, explaining why some people believe in
hauntings. They didn't use the footage. When I asked why, they reminded
me that the show was about unsolved mysteries.
NKD: Even smart people get fooled.
RH: Sure. Even researchers on both sides of the debate over whether
paranormal phenomena are real get fooled. The same mind built to extract
good information from an ambiguous, overwhelming world can produce
errors. Anyone who knows these biases can exploit them.
NKD: Are paranormal beliefs harmless fun?
RH: The argument goes, "What's so bad about thinking someone bends
spoons or tells the future?" It's true that people may feel better. But
often they believe that they've learned something valuable or that a
problem is solved, then base decisions on bad information or put faith in
a psychic rather than themselves.
NKD: But what about movies and TV shows? It's just
entertainment.
RH: It can be, but exposure can lead to the illusion of truth.
Experiments have shown that when people are first shown far-out
statements--like "baby is half space alien"--they say "ridiculous." But
if those statements are seen again later and mixed in with others, they
seem more plausible. The feeling of recognition translates to a feeling
that it must be true.
NKD: So how can we sort truths from scams?
RH: It isn't easy. Information pollution is a big problem,
especially with the Internet. The key is to be aware that messages and
messengers are not always trustworthy and that thinking is fallible. Have
fun with extraordinary claims unless they really matter to you, then take
them with a large grain of salt.
Nancy K. Dess is a professor of psychology at Occidental College
and former senior scientist at the American Psychology
Association.
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