In our study, students saw the same magic demonstration and received either the psychic information or the magician information random allocation, in written format; see also Benassi et al. As participants saw the same demonstration, but having received different contextual information, we could investigate whether this framing results in more psychic explanations, NTB, and repetition avoidance in the psychic as compared to the magician group.
The psychology lecture of that day was attended by 91 students 17 male with a mean age of This gender distribution is common in psychology courses. All students were first year Psychology undergraduate students at Goldsmiths — University of London who participated for course credits.
The study was approved by the departmental ethics board, and each participant provided written informed consent prior to the experiment. We used the item revised Paranormal Belief Scale from Tobacky The four traditional religious belief items were summed so to represent the TB score, and the remaining items to represent the NTB score. Items are formulated such that participants are asked to answer along a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 strongly disagree to 7 strongly agree. Accounting for reverse coded items, the scores are summed so that higher scores reflect greater beliefs.
We had no a priori prediction that the different NTB subscales would be differentially sensitive to our manipulation. Benassi et al. Instead of collecting qualitative data, we asked participants to rate on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 strongly disagree to 7 strongly agree , whether the performance was accomplished through 1 paranormal, psychic or supernatural powers psychic explanation , 2 ordinary magic trickery conjuror explanation , or 3 religious miracles religious explanation.
We included the religious miracle measure as it allowed us to compare NB with the extent to which the event was explained using religious explanations. Secondly, Benassi et al. Thirdly, it provided us with a control condition not all beliefs should be endorsed to the same extent. Participants received written and verbal instructions to imagine throwing a dice each time they heard a beep and to write down the number that they imagined being on top of the dice 66 trials.
Thus, every second for 66 s, we presented a beep produced by a computer, and the participant was expected to write down a number for each beep. We calculated the repetitions in the number sequence i.
If the number generation would be entirely random we would expect participants to produce on average 11 repetitions. Previous research has shown that we avoid repetitions, and that this repetition avoidance is even stronger for individuals with high as compared to low NTB Brugger et al.
The magician selected a volunteer from the audience. This female volunteer was asked to write down the names of five people who were alive and one deceased person on six pieces of paper. The magician then placed the pieces of paper upside down on the table and placed a lit candle on each of the notes. The magician explained that he was able to use his spiritual powers to contact the dead and asked the volunteer to blow out all of the candles.
Approximately 20 s after the candles were blown out, one of them re-ignited and it was the candle that was on top of the piece of paper associated with the deceased person. The candle i. Figure 1 shows a diagram of the sequence of events. The experiment was conducted as part of a lecture series on current issues in psychological research and was framed as a demonstration into psychic abilities. In more detail, participants had attended a lecture on the science of magic given by Gustav Kuhn prior to the actual experiment see first event in Figure 1.
In this lecture, Gustav Kuhn discussed how misdirection can be used to study visual attention. Subsequently, participants were separated by at least one seat and were instructed to refrain from communicating with fellow students throughout the experiment. At this point, all participants were primed to experience a real psychic demonstration second event in Figure 1 , i. Over the years we have carried out numerous experiments to test whether the claims made by psychics hold up on closer scrutiny.
Lee has told us that he has been developing a presentation of his psychic abilities, and has asked us if he could present it to you and get your opinions and reactions. I thought that this would be very interesting, and so I agreed to let him do it. After these general instructions, participants were given a work booklet that contained all of the questionnaires and some additional information. Participants were randomly assigned to the magician or psychic condition third event in Figure 1.
Schematic demonstration of the sequence of events for participants in the magician and in the psychic groups. Contextual framing instruction for the psychic demonstration: the instruction stated that the anomalous demonstration was carried out by a true psychic. Immediately afterward, participants filled out the belief questionnaire Tobacky, ; Figure 1.
Subsequently, they were asked to perform the mental dice task Brugger et al. Once completed, the lecturer introduced the students to the magician who performed the psychic demonstration fifth event in Figure 1. After the demonstration, the students were asked to perform the mental dice task again Brugger et al.
Subsequently, they were asked three questions on how they explain the event seventh event in Figure 1 : 1 Whether the performance was accomplished through paranormal, psychic or supernatural powers psychic explanation , 2 what they have seen has been accomplished by ordinary magic trickery conjuror explanation , and 3 what they have seen has been accomplished by a religious miracle religious explanations.
Finally, participants completed the belief questionnaire again Tobacky, ; eighth event in Figure 1 , before being fully debriefed about the purpose of the experiment ninth event in Figure 1. Here, the magician explained the method behind the effect. Five participants provided incomplete data on the mental dice task and were excluded from further analysis.
TABLE 1. Mean psychic, conjuror, and religious explanation ratings ranging from 1 strongly disagree to 7 strongly agree for the psychic and the magician group separately. We also observed a significant correlation between NTB scores and conjuring explanation ratings. The more individuals reported NTB, the less likely were conjuring explanations. TABLE 2. We made the following assumptions. Firstly, we can attribute group differences in belief scores assessed before the demonstration to contextual framing effects.
Secondly, we can attribute group differences in belief scores as assessed after the anomalous event to the experience itself combined with the contextual framing.
TABLE 3. Mean belief scores TB, NTB before and after exposure to the anomalous event for the psychic and the magician group separately. The main effect of group emerged from the magician group producing more repetitions than the psychic group. If numbers were generated entirely randomly, we would expect 11 repetitions.
As shown in Figure 2 , participants produced fewer than the expected 11 repetitions. Mean number of repetitions in the mental dice task before and after the demonstration of the anomalous event as a function of the contextual framing condition error bars denote standard errors. Students observed a magic demonstration in a classroom setting and half of the participants were told that the performer was a magician whilst the others were told he is a psychic. Subsequently, participants were asked how they interpreted the demonstration psychic, conjuring, religious explanations.
Working with psychic skills requires patience, practice, and lots of self-love. For many of us, the first step in tapping into our extrasensory abilities is divorcing this concept from deception. While there are definitely many charlatans who either exaggerate their skills or make them up entirely, these individuals are not psychics: They are con-artists who use fear tactics to pray on gullible or vulnerable individuals.
In most cases, pretending to be psychic is just one of many exploitative schemes for these imposters. Psychics, on the other hand, are simply individuals who are able to see, hear, feel, sense, taste, or have intuition beyond the boundaries of the physical world. After all, we are conditioned to believe that our perception of reality is fairly concrete: We assume that everyone knows the sky as blue or can detect when someone is in a cranky mood.
But as we continue to expand this sensory spectrum, we quickly realize that certain senses become increasingly less common among our peers. It is through this awareness that many of us become aware of our unique, inherent psychic gifts.
Fundamentally, psychic skills are defined by an innate ability to process sensory data — both tangible and intangible stimuli — on an extremely deep emotional, physical, or spiritual level. Of course, this is a rather broad definition. To visualize this range, imagine four friends meeting for dinner. Shortly after, the second friend enters the restaurant. The host is gracious and welcoming, and the second individual is immediately relieved.
The host leads the second individual to the table, where he sits down, greets his friend, and proceeds to review the menu. The third friend enters the restaurant. His energy is arrogant and abrasive, and his young children appear both embarrassed and afraid. Will they grow to adopt his behavior, or will they reject it and become soft and docile?
Once she arrives at the table, she immediately shares her observations with her dinner mates. Become A Functional Nutrition Coach! Enroll today to join our upcoming live office hours. Your FREE horoscope delivered daily. You are now subscribed Be on the lookout for a welcome email in your inbox! Main Navigation. Log in Profile. Saved Articles. Contact Support. Log Out. Your cart is empty. Our online classes and training programs allow you to learn from experts from anywhere in the world. Explore Classes.
Tanya Carroll Richardson is an author and professional intuitive, giving readings to clients all over the world. Last updated on March 2, In This Article. How to develop clairaudience:. How to develop clairvoyance:. How to develop clairsentience:. How to develop claircognizance:. Your intuition is always listening and could have some amazing answers for you. Popoff claimed to receive this information by paranormal means and rose to fame hosting a nationally televised programme, during which he performed seemingly miraculous cures on audience members.
But despite such cases, there are still many people who firmly believe in the power of psychic ability. According to a US Gallup survey , for example, more than one-quarter of people believe humans have psychic abilities — such as telepathy and clairvoyance.
A recent report may help to shed some light on why people continue to believe in psychic powers. The study tested believers and sceptics with the same level of education and academic performance and found that people who believe in psychic powers think less analytically.
This means that they tend to interpret the world from a subjective personal perspective and fail to consider information critically. Read more: The top three scientific explanations for ghost sightings. Believers also often view psychic claims as confirmatory evidence — regardless of their evidential basis. Robinson claims to have foreseen terrorist attacks, disasters and celebrity deaths.
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