Vardoger
Make mine a 99
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2004
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These so called scientific ghost hunter shows on TV got one thing in common: They haven't proved anything yet...
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The Spookiest Thing This Halloween Is The Number of Americans Who Still Believe in Ghosts
But actually.
SCIENCE AF STAFF
29 OCT 2017
On Halloween we all like to get a little bit spooked. For most fully-grown adults, in order to get really scared we have to suspend our disbelief in the paranormal. When we watch a scary movie or run through the halls of a haunted house, we set aside realism and logic for the sake of enjoyment.
Others don't have to work so hard.
A terrifying number of adults out there actually believe in the paranormal. In fact, a whopping 37 percent of Americans believe that houses can be haunted and 32 percent believe in ghosts or the spirits of dead people, according to a Gallup survey.
Even worse - an eerie number of people say they have witnessed paranormal activity with their own two eyes. In fact, nearly one in five American adults believe they have seen or been in the presence of a ghost, according to a 2009 Pew Research Center Survey.
These statistics shouldn't really surprise you. Especially in a country where only a quarter of all Americans trust there is scientific consensus on human-caused climate change.
Still, it makes you wonder, "How can so many people believe something that is so illogical?"
Psychologists have been plagued by this question for decades, and several theories have been put forward to explain why people continue to believe in the paranormal despite the lack of evidence.
One explanation is that supernatural phenomena are just another way for people to make sense of the world. When there is no obvious explanation for something (or when people can't be bothered to look up the science), some people infer a causal relationship between two seemingly unrelated events. In other words, our brains simply make up an explanation.
Psychologists call this 'illusory pattern perception,' which is a nice way of saying 'irrational thought.'
While we are all guilty of doing this from time to time, a recent study found this type of thinking goes into overdrive in certain types of people.
"We conclude that illusory pattern perception is a central cognitive ingredient of beliefs in conspiracy theories and supernatural phenomena," the authors write.
It gets scarier.
More at https://www.scienceaf.com/the-spook...mber-of-americans-who-still-believe-in-ghosts
-------------------------------------------------------
The Spookiest Thing This Halloween Is The Number of Americans Who Still Believe in Ghosts
But actually.
SCIENCE AF STAFF
29 OCT 2017
On Halloween we all like to get a little bit spooked. For most fully-grown adults, in order to get really scared we have to suspend our disbelief in the paranormal. When we watch a scary movie or run through the halls of a haunted house, we set aside realism and logic for the sake of enjoyment.
Others don't have to work so hard.
A terrifying number of adults out there actually believe in the paranormal. In fact, a whopping 37 percent of Americans believe that houses can be haunted and 32 percent believe in ghosts or the spirits of dead people, according to a Gallup survey.
Even worse - an eerie number of people say they have witnessed paranormal activity with their own two eyes. In fact, nearly one in five American adults believe they have seen or been in the presence of a ghost, according to a 2009 Pew Research Center Survey.
These statistics shouldn't really surprise you. Especially in a country where only a quarter of all Americans trust there is scientific consensus on human-caused climate change.
Still, it makes you wonder, "How can so many people believe something that is so illogical?"
Psychologists have been plagued by this question for decades, and several theories have been put forward to explain why people continue to believe in the paranormal despite the lack of evidence.
One explanation is that supernatural phenomena are just another way for people to make sense of the world. When there is no obvious explanation for something (or when people can't be bothered to look up the science), some people infer a causal relationship between two seemingly unrelated events. In other words, our brains simply make up an explanation.
Psychologists call this 'illusory pattern perception,' which is a nice way of saying 'irrational thought.'
While we are all guilty of doing this from time to time, a recent study found this type of thinking goes into overdrive in certain types of people.
"We conclude that illusory pattern perception is a central cognitive ingredient of beliefs in conspiracy theories and supernatural phenomena," the authors write.
It gets scarier.
More at https://www.scienceaf.com/the-spook...mber-of-americans-who-still-believe-in-ghosts