Examining the paranormal helps us understand how the world works

There are many paranormal and supernatural claims.  Psychics, astrologers, alien abductions, alternative medicines, ghosts, and life after death are just a few of them.  But when people have personal experiences with any of these, those occurrences offer them a powerful and persuasive reason to believe in them, especially if they can’t explain them. 

“The need to believe in phony wonders,” writes The Reverend Canon William V. Rauscher, “sometimes exceeds not only logic but, seemingly, even sanity.” 

Many people have had psychic experiences or episodes with things that science cannot explain.  Whether it is extrasensory perception (ESP), haunted houses, ghosts of the spirits of dead people, telepathy, clairvoyance, astrology, communicating mentally with someone who has died, witches, reincarnation, or channeling, seventy-five percent of Americans profess at least one paranormal belief according to a recent Gallup survey.  The most popular is extrasensory perception, mentioned by 41%, followed closely by a belief in haunted houses (37%).  Only 27% of Americans, according to the same survey, believe in none of these. 

The poll showed no statistically significant differences in beliefs among people by age, gender, education, race, and region of the country; however, Christians are a little more likely to hold some paranormal beliefs than non-Christians (75% versus 66% respectively), but both groups show a sizeable majority with such beliefs. 

The main question is why do people believe in the paranormal?  The first obvious answer, given above, is that so many people have had personal paranormal experiences.  A second obvious reason has to do with magical thinking.  For example, if an athlete wears a certain piece of clothing and wins a game, magical thinking has to do with believing that that certain piece of clothing will bring him or her luck in winning future games.  Actually, this belief is based on the fallacy post hoc, ergo propter hoc or “after this, therefore because of this” and is a form of superstition.

The third answer to the question of why so many people believe in the paranormal and supernatural is captured in the expression, “true-believer syndrome,” which was coined in a book of the same name by M. Lamar Keene.  Keene describes a cognitive disorder characterized by believing in the reality of paranormal or supernatural events even after one has been presented overwhelming evidence that an event was fraudulently staged.  Keene writes, “How can an otherwise sane individual become so enamored of a fantasy, an imposture, that even after it’s exposed in the bright light of day he still clings to it—indeed, clings to it all the harder?” 

For many people, the will to believe at times overrides the ability to think critically about the evidence for and against a belief.   

Yet another explanation, described by Eric Hoffer in his book The True Believer, is that the person’s belief in the paranormal or supernatural satisfies an emotional need that is stronger than the need for the truth.  He writes, “This passionate attachment is the essence of his blind devotion and religiosity, and he sees in it the source of all virtue and strength....He easily sees himself as the supporter and defender of the holy cause to which he clings.  And he is ready to sacrifice his life.” 

There may be no single answer to the question of why so many people believe in the paranormal and supernatural, but Michael Shermer, in his book, Why People Believe in Weird Things (W.H. Freeman & Company, 1998), offers readers twenty-five fallacies that lead us to believe weird things.  In Shermer’s opinion, “most believers in miracles, monsters, and mysteries are not hoaxers, flimflam artists, or lunatics.  Most are normal people whose normal thinking has gone wrong in some way.” 

Some of the ways that people’s thinking has gone wrong are first, accepting anecdotes as proof.  Stories do not make science unless they are supported by a great deal of corroborative evidence from other sources or by physical proof of some sort.  Ten anecdotes are no better than one, and a hundred anecdotes are not better than ten.  The problem with anecdotes is that they are told by fallible human storytellers. 

Another way that people’s thinking goes wrong is accepting a belief based on the trappings of science.  Scientific language and jargon means nothing without evidence, experimental testing, and corroboration.  Because science has such a powerful mystique in our society, those who wish to gain respectability often gain it by looking and sounding “scientific.” 

“If you want to do science,” Shermer writes, “you have to learn to play the game of science.  This involves getting to know the scientists in your field, exchanging data and ideas with colleagues informally, and formally presenting results in conference papers, peer-reviewed journals, books, and the like.” 

Another way that people’s thinking goes wrong is not understanding that the burden of proof falls on the one making an extraordinary new claim.  They are the ones who have to prove to the experts and community at large that their belief has more validity than the one almost everyone else accepts. 

Scientific and critical thinking does not come naturally.  It takes training, experience, and effort.  In his book, Logic for the Millions (Philosophical Library, 1947), Alfred Mander said, “Thinking is skilled work.  It is not true that we are naturally endowed with the ability to think clearly and logically—without learning how, or without practicing.  People with untrained minds should no more expect to think clearly and logically than people who have never learned and never practiced can expect to find themselves good carpenters, golfers, bridge players, or pianists” (p. vii).

The paranormal is bunk; however, the key for skeptics and critical thinkers is to try to understand how others have gone wrong and how science is subject to social control and cultural influences so they can improve their understanding of how the world works. 

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There is a wonderful essay, “The Paranormal” by Remi which is well worth a read.  The example used in the final paragraph is especially relevant. 

At the website, LiveScience, the essay there, under the topic, “Culture,” called, “Monsters, Ghosts and Gods: Why We Believe,” by Robert Roy Britt, LiveScience Managing Editor, is informative and worthwhile.  Britt says, “The bottom line, according to several interviews with people who study these things: People want to believe, and most simply can't help it.”  There is a great deal of information in this essay, but it seems to boil down to one essential element: “‘Many people quite simply just want to believe,’ said Brian Cronk, a professor of psychology at Missouri Western State University. ‘The human brain is always trying to determine why things happen, and when the reason is not clear, we tend to make up some pretty bizarre explanations.’ 

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Copyright June, 2010, by And Then Some Publishing, LLC.