Even simply asking people to remember a time when they felt out of control, can make people see illusory forces at work, she has found.
“It’s such an aversive state that if it can’t gain control objectively, we will get it by perceiving more structures around us, even if they don’t exist,” says Jennifer Whitson at the University of Texas, who studies pattern perception, and judgment and decision making. The idea is that when something unexpected happens – a death, natural disaster, or job loss – the brain scrambles around for answers, looking for meaning in the chaos. Psychologists studying religion have long suspected that a belief in the paranormal can be a kind of shield from the even harsher truths of the world. But what about the experiences of people like Conan Doyle, who seemed to see other-worldly actions on a day-to-day basis? So any combination of exhaustion, drugs, alcohol, and tricks of the light could contribute to single, isolated sightings, like that reported by Churchill. His later experiments confirmed that the illusion is surprisingly common when you look at your reflection in the half light, perhaps because the brain struggles to construct the contours of your face, so it begins to try to fill in the missing information – even if that leads to the appearance of skulls, old hags or hideous animals. For example, one young Italian psychologist looked in the mirror one morning to find a grizzled old man staring back at him. Out-of-body experiences, meanwhile, are now accepted neurological phenomena, while certain visual illusions could confound the healthy brain and create mythical beings. Reports of poltergeists invisibly moving objects seem to be consistent with damage to certain regions of the right hemisphere that are responsible for visual processing certain forms of epilepsy, meanwhile, can cause the spooky feeling that a presence is stalking you close by – perhaps underlying accounts of faceless “ shadow people” lurking in the surroundings. Some paranormal experiences are easily explainable, based on faulty activity in the brain. At the very least, it should cause you to question whether you hold more insidious beliefs about the world. Their findings may suggest some hidden virtues to believing in the paranormal. Intrigued by these persistent beliefs, psychologists have started to look at why some of us can’t shake off old superstitions and folk-lore.
According to recent surveys, as many as three quarters of Americans believe in the paranormal, in some form, while nearly one in five claim to have actually seen a ghost.
Three men who were all known for their razor-sharp thinking, yet couldn’t stop themselves from believing in the impossible. Arthur Conan Doyle spoke to ghosts through mediums, while Alan Turing believed in telepathy.
His supposed contact with the supernatural puts Churchill in illustrious company. You seem to have me at a disadvantage.” The spirit smiled and vanished. Unflappable, even while completely naked, Churchill apparently announced: “Good evening, Mr President. Having had a long bath with a Scotch and cigar, he reportedly walked into the adjoining bedroom – only to be met by the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. Soon after World War II, Winston Churchill was visiting the White House when he is said to have had an uncanny experience.
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