Pseudo-psi
research
BY: CAROLINE WATT
July 2006
In many real-world,
spontaneous psychic experiences, normal psychological processes can lead a
person mistakenly to label their experience as paranormal (for a review, see
Watt, 1990–1991).
Take coincidences
as an example. Not only are we notoriously poor judges of probability, but also
the law of truly large numbers states that with a large enough number of people
and events, apparently meaningful coincidences are bound to happen. Furthermore,
psychologists have shown that when an individual personally experiences a
coincidence, this coincidence is rated as more surprising and meaningful than
the same experience related by another person (Falk, 1989).
Poor observation and
inaccuracies in recollection may also account for some pseudo-psychic
experiences. One major factor causing people to mistakenly label an experience
as paranormal is deliberate deception. This has been an important line of
research at the KPU, where we have attempted to develop theoretical systems to
describe and understand deception (e.g. Wiseman &
Morris, 1994). This
work includes looking at physical effects, such as the ways to misdirect
attention and to make things seem to vanish or appear (Lamont & Wiseman, 1999),
and mental effects, such as simulating psychic powers (e.g. Roe, 1995).
For example, in one
KPU study participants were shown videotapes of a faked psychic demonstration
of metal bending and were later asked to recall details of the demonstration.
The results showed that compared to psi disbelievers, psi believers tended to
remember fewer details relevant to how the trick was done (Wiseman &
Morris, 1995b), suggesting a functional distortion of processing that serves to
support pre-existing beliefs.
Individuals claiming
psychic abilities tend to be found in circumstances where the claimants have
some control over how their apparent abilities are demonstrated and observed.
These circumstances may be fruitful ones for the simulation of psychic abilities,
therefore an important aspect of the KPU’s
pseudo-psi research has been the development of methodological guidelines for
testing psychic claimants (Wiseman & Morris, 1995a).
Morris (1987) has also
published recommendations for minimising participant fraud in parapsychology
laboratories. It is hoped that the KPU’s
pseudo-psi research will be beneficial not only to parapsychological studies,
but also to cognitive and clinical psychology and other disciplines where deception
may be involved.
References:
CAROLINE WATT, The
Psychologist Vol 19 No 7, July 2006, www.thepsychologist.org.uk
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