REAL PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS & THE REAL GHOSTS: "If Its Paranormal, Always Expect Skepticism"

REAL PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS:

"If Its Paranormal, Always Expect Skepticism"

A REAL GHOST: "If Its Paranormal, Always Expect Skepticism"

"No matter what you believe." "Or what you have truly witnessed." "One always expects a certain amount of overwhelming paranormal skepticism."

...Lisa Lee Harp Waugh, The Great American Texan Necromancer, JULY 4, 2009.

By Judah Earlap Zachary

So you have seen a ghost, a UFO or witnessed a real big foot encounter. Did you ever wonder who really believes you? Your proofs and documentation of this event of paranormal phenomena, you will actually never forget?

You can tell everyone in the world but their will always be a level of skepticism hiding in the wings. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, Latin for "after this, therefore because (on account) of this", is a logical fallacy (of the questionable cause variety) which states, "Since that event followed this one, that event must have been caused by this one." It is often shortened to simply post hoc and is also sometimes referred to as false cause, coincidental correlation or correlation not causation. It is subtly different from the fallacy cum hoc ergo propter hoc, in which the chronological ordering of a correlation is insignificant.

Post hoc is a particularly tempting error because temporal sequence appears to be integral to causality. The fallacy lies in coming to a conclusion based solely on the order of events, rather than taking into account other factors that might rule out the connection. Most familiarly, many superstitious religious beliefs and magical thinking arise from this fallacy.

The questions in believing someone when they tell you tales of ghosts sucking their toes as they walk through a cold dead cemetery at 3:AM. Is a matter of your own belief of someone standing and creditability. Hunting for real ghosts well everyone does that nowadays. But too few have felt the cold touch of death as a ghosts accosts you.

Subjective validation, sometimes called personal validation effect, is a cognitive bias by which a person will consider a statement or another piece of information to be correct if it has any personal meaning or significance to them. In other words, a person whose opinion is affected by subjective validation will perceive two unrelated events (e.g. coincidences) to be related because their personal belief demands them to be related. Closely related to the Forer effect, subjective validation is an important element in cold reading. It is considered to be the main reason behind most reports of paranormal phenomena.

The Forer effect (also called personal validation fallacy or the Barnum Effect after P. T. Barnum's observation that "we've got something for everyone") is the observation that individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people. The Forer effect can provide a partial explanation for the widespread acceptance of some beliefs and practices, such as astrology, fortune telling, and some types of personality tests.

A related and more generic phenomenon effect is that of subjective validation. Subjective validation occurs when two unrelated or even random events are perceived to be related because a belief, expectancy, or hypothesis demands a relationship. Thus people seek a correspondence between their perception of their personality and the contents of a horoscope.

In Western folklore, superstitions associated with bad luck include Friday the 13th and walking under a ladder. It is also believed that if you were to step on a crack, your mother would then break her back. Often people will throw salt over their shoulder after they spill it, in order to blind the devil, who sits at your left shoulder. Breaking a mirror is considered to cause 7 years of bad luck.

In India, there is a superstition that a pregnant woman should avoid going outside during an eclipse in order to prevent her baby being born with a facial birthmark. In Iran, birthmarks are called 'maah-gereftegi' (Persian: ماه گرفتگی) which means eclipse. In Korea, there is a superstition that leaving a fan on in a closed room will suffocate the occupants.

To European medieval scholars the word was applied to any beliefs outside of or in opposition to Christianity; today it is applied to conceptions without foundation in, or in contravention of, scientific and logical knowledge.

Many extant western superstitions are said to have originated during the plagues that swept through Europe. According to legend, during the time of a plague, Saint Gregory I the Great ordered that people say "God bless you" when somebody sneezed, to prevent the spread of the disease.

True-believer syndrome is a term coined by M. Lamar Keene in his 1976 book The Psychic Mafia. Keene used the term to refer to people who continued to believe in a paranormal event or phenomenon even after it had been proven to have been staged.

Eric Hoffer used the term true believer in his first book, published in 1951, which explored the nature of fanaticism and mass-movements in the political context.

Keene considered it to be a cognitive disorder, and regarded it as being a key factor in the success of many psychic mediums. The term "true believer syndrome" is not used professionally by psychologists, psychiatrists, or medical professionals and is not recognised as a form of psychopathology or psychological impairment, nor is it listed in any version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

In his book The Psychic Mafia, Keene tells of a psychic medium named Raoul. Some people still believed that Raoul was genuine even after he openly admitted that he was a fake. Keene wrote "I knew how easy it was to make people believe a lie, but I didn't expect the same people, confronted with the lie, would choose it over the truth. . . . No amount of logic can shatter a faith consciously based on a lie."

According to The Skeptic's Dictionary, an example of this syndrome is evidenced by an event in 1988, when James Randi, at the request of an Australian news program, coached stage performer José Alvarez to pretend he was channelling a two-thousand-year-old spirit named "Carlos". Even after it was revealed to be a fictional character created by himself and Alvarez, people continued to believe that "Carlos" was real. Randi commented: "no amount of evidence, no matter how good it is or how much there is of it, is ever going to convince the true believer to the contrary."

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skepticism ~ skepticism in ordinary usage, skepticism or scepticism (Greek: 'σκέπτομαι' skeptomai, to look about, to consider; (see also spelling differences scepticism) refers to:

* (a) an attitude of doubt or a disposition to incredulity either in general or toward a particular object;
* (b) the doctrine that true knowledge or knowledge in a particular area is uncertain; or
* (c) the method of suspended judgment, systematic doubt, or criticism that is characteristic of skeptics (Merriam–Webster).

In philosophy, skepticism refers more specifically to any one of several propositions. These include propositions about:

* (a) an inquiry,
* (b) a method of obtaining knowledge through systematic doubt and continual testing,
* (c) the arbitrariness, relativity, or subjectivity of moral values,
* (d) the limitations of knowledge,
* (e) a method of intellectual caution and suspended judgment.

In classical philosophy, skepticism refers to the teachings and the traits of the "Skeptikoi", a school of philosophers of whom it was said that they "asserted nothing but only opined." (Liddell and Scott) In this sense, philosophical skepticism, or Pyrrhonism, is the philosophical position that one should suspend judgment in investigations.

In religion, skepticism refers to "doubt concerning basic religious principles (as immortality, providence, and revelation)." (Merriam–Webster)

The word skepticism can characterize a position on a single claim, but in scholastic circles more frequently describes a lasting mind-set and an approach to accepting or rejecting new information. Individuals who proclaim to have a skeptical outlook are frequently called skeptics, often without regard to whether it is philosophical skepticism or empirical skepticism that they profess.

A scientific (or empirical) skeptic is one who questions the reliability of certain kinds of claims by subjecting them to a systematic investigation. The scientific method details the specific process by which this investigation of reality is conducted. Considering the rigor of the scientific method, science itself may simply be thought of as an organized form of skepticism. This does not mean that the scientific skeptic is necessarily a scientist who conducts live experiments (though this may be the case), but that the skeptic generally accepts claims that are in his/her view likely to be true based on testable hypotheses and critical thinking.

Common topics that scientifically-skeptical literature questions include health claims surrounding certain foods, procedures, and medicines, such as homeopathy, Reiki, Thought Field Therapy (TFT), vertebral subluxations; the plausibility and existence of supernatural entities (such as ghosts, poltergeists, angels, and gods as well as the existence of ESP/telekinesis, psychic powers, and telepathy, and thus the credibility of parapsychology); topics in cryptozoology, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, alien visitations, UFOs, crop circles, astrology, repressed memories, creationism/intelligent design, dowsing, conspiracy theories, and other claims the skeptic sees as unlikely to be true on scientific grounds.

Empirical or scientific skeptics do not profess philosophical skepticism. Whereas a philosophical skeptic may deny the very existence of knowledge, an empirical skeptic merely seeks likely proof before accepting that knowledge.

Advocates of discredited intellectual positions such as AIDS denial, Holocaust denial, or denial of global warming will sometimes seek to characterize themselves as "skeptics" despite cherry picking evidence that conforms to a pre-existing belief. According to Richard Wilson, who highlights the phenomenon in his book Don't Get Fooled Again (2008), the characteristic feature of false skepticism is that it "centres not on an impartial search for the truth, but on the defence of a preconceived ideological position".

Doubt, a status between unbelief and disbelief, involves certainty or undistrust or lack of sureness of an alleged fact, an action, a motive, or a decision. Doubt brings into question some notion of a perceived "reality", and may involve delaying or rejecting relevant action out of concerns for mistakes or faults or appropriateness. Some definitions of doubt emphasize the state in which the mind remains suspended between two contradictory propositions and unable to assent to either of them (compare paradox).

The concept of doubted covers a range of phenomena: one can characterize both deliberate questioning of uncertainties and an emotional state of indecision as "doubt".

The term "to doubt" can also mean "to question one's circumstances and life-experience"

It's perfect that we can experience this from our own points of view. It is what either defeats us or makes us as a person hold on tighter to our beliefs in ghosts and all that is truly paranormal in occurrence of weather, man, UFO's or mythological real beast included.

Paranormal Encounters: What are we supposed to believe? And "Who"?

Too many people want their beliefs to be proven to them. If not from what they have encountered but by someone else. Perhaps a stranger in another part of the world saying that happened to me. So I believe you!

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.

The relationship between belief and knowledge is subtle. Believers in a claim typically say that they know that claim. For instance, those who believe that the Sun is a god will often report that they know that the Sun is a god. However, the terms belief and knowledge are used differently by philosophers. It is a telling point concerning the nature of belief that most people distinguish between what they know and what they believe, even though they consider both kinds of statements to be true.

Epistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge and belief. The primary problem in epistemology is to understand exactly what is needed in order for us to have knowledge. In a notion derived from Plato's dialogue Theaetetus, philosophy has traditionally defined knowledge as justified true belief. The relationship between belief and knowledge is that a belief is knowledge if the belief is true, and if the believer has a justification (reasonable and necessarily plausible assertions/evidence/guidance) for believing it is true.

A false belief is not considered to be knowledge, even if it is sincere. A sincere believer in the flat earth theory does not know that the Earth is flat. Similarly, a truth that nobody believes is not knowledge, because in order to be knowledge, there must be some person who knows it.

Later epistemologists[ have questioned the "justified true belief" definition, and some philosophers[ have questioned whether "belief" is a useful notion at all.

Beliefs are the assumptions we make about ourselves, about others in the world and about how we expect things to be.

Beliefs are also how we think things really are.

How beliefs are formed

Psychologists study belief formation and the relationship between beliefs and actions. Beliefs form in a variety of ways.

* We tend to internalize the beliefs of the people around us. Albert Einstein is often quoted as having said that "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." Political beliefs depend most strongly on the political beliefs most common in the community where we live.[4] Most individuals believe the religion they were taught in childhood.

* People may adopt the beliefs of a charismatic leader, even if those beliefs fly in the face of all previous beliefs, and produce actions that are clearly not in their own self-interest. Is belief voluntary? Rational individuals need to reconcile their direct reality with any said belief; therefore, if belief is not present or possible, it reflects the fact that contradictions were necessarily overcome using cognitive dissonance.

* The primary thrust of the advertising industry is that repetition forms beliefs, as do associations of beliefs with images of sex, love, and other strong positive emotions.

* Physical trauma, especially to the head, can radically alter a person's beliefs.

However, even educated people, well aware of the process by which beliefs form, still strongly cling to their beliefs, and act on those beliefs even against their own self-interest.

Delusions are defined as beliefs in psychiatric diagnostic criteria (for example in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Psychiatrist and historian G. E. Berrios has challenged the view that delusions are genuine beliefs and instead labels them as "empty speech acts", where affected persons are motivated to express false or bizarre belief statements due to an underlying psychological disturbance. However, the majority of mental health professionals and researchers treat delusions as if they were genuine beliefs.

In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, the White Queen says, "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." This is often quoted in mockery of the common ability of people to entertain beliefs contrary to fact.

A conspiracy theory is a term that has come to refer to any theory which explains a historical or current event as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful Machiavellian conspirators, such as a "secret team" or "shadow government".

Conspiracy theories are often viewed with skepticism and sometimes ridicule because they are seldom supported by any conclusive evidence and contrast with institutional analysis, which focuses on people's collective behavior in publicly known institutions, as recorded in scholarly material and mainstream media reports, to explain historical or current events, rather than secretive coalitions of individuals. The term is therefore often used dismissively in an attempt to characterize a belief as outlandishly false and held by a person judged to be a crank or a group confined to the lunatic fringe. Such characterization is often the subject of dispute due to its possible unfairness and inaccuracy.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, conspiracy theories have become commonplace in mass media, which has contributed to conspiracism emerging as a cultural phenomenon. Belief in conspiracy theories has therefore become a topic of interest for sociologists, psychologists and experts in folklore.

A delusion, in everyday language, is a fixed belief that is either false, fanciful, or derived from deception. Psychiatry defines the term more specifically as a belief that is pathological (the result of an illness or illness process). As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, apperception, illusion, or other effects of perception.

Delusions typically occur in the context of neurological or mental illness, although they are not tied to any particular disease and have been found to occur in the context of many pathological states (both physical and mental). However, they are of particular diagnostic importance in psychotic disorders and particularly in schizophrenia, paraphrenia, and manic episodes of bipolar disorder.

Types of delusions

Delusions are categorized as either bizarre or non-bizarre and as either mood-congruent or mood-neutral. A bizarre delusion is a delusion that is very strange and completely implausible; an example of a bizarre delusion would be that aliens have removed the affected person's brain. A non-bizarre delusion is one whose content is definitely mistaken, but is at least possible; an example may be that the affected person mistakenly believes they are under constant police surveillance. A mood-congruent delusion is any delusion whose content is consistent with either a depressive or manic state; for example, a depressed person may believe that news anchors on the television highly disapprove of him or her, or a person in a manic state might believe that they are a powerful deity. A mood-neutral delusion does not relate to the sufferer's emotional state; for example, a belief that an extra limb is growing out of the back of one's head is neutral to either depression or mania.

In addition to these categories, delusions often manifest according to a consistent theme. Although delusions can have any theme, certain themes are more common. Some of the more common delusion themes are:

* Delusion of control: This is a false belief that another person, group of people, or external force controls one's thoughts, feelings, impulses, or behavior. A person may describe, for instance, the experience that aliens actually make him or her move in certain ways and that the person affected has no control over the bodily movements. Thought broadcasting (the false belief that the affected person's thoughts are heard aloud), thought insertion, and thought withdrawal (the belief that an outside force, person, or group of people is removing or extracting a person's thoughts) are also examples of delusions of control.
* Nihilistic delusion: A delusion whose theme centers on the nonexistence of self or parts of self, others, or the world. A person with this type of delusion may have the false belief that the world is ending.
* Delusional jealousy (or delusion of infidelity): A person with this delusion falsely believes their spouse or lover is having an affair. This delusion stems from pathological jealousy, and the person often gathers "evidence" and confronts the spouse about the nonexistent affair.
* Delusion of guilt or sin (or delusion of self-accusation): This is a false feeling of remorse or guilt of delusional intensity. A person may, for example, believe they have committed some horrible crime and should be punished severely. Another example is a person who is convinced they are responsible for some disaster (such as fire, flood, or earthquake) with which there can be no possible connection.
* Delusion of mind being read: The false belief that other people can know one's thoughts. This is different from thought broadcasting in that the person does not believe their thoughts are heard aloud.
* Delusion of reference: The person falsely believes that insignificant remarks, events, or objects in one's environment have personal meaning or significance. For instance, a person may believe they are receiving special messages from newspaper headlines.
* Erotomania is a delusion in which one believes that another person is in love with him or her. They believe that this other person was the first to declare his or her affection, often by special glances, signals, telepathy, or messages through the media.
* Grandiose delusion: An individual is convinced they have special powers, talents, or abilities. Sometimes, the individual may actually believe they are a famous person or character (for example, a rock star or Christ). More commonly, a person with this delusion may believe they have accomplished some great achievement for which they have not received sufficient recognition (for example, the discovery of a new scientific theory).
* Persecutory delusions: These are the most common type of delusions and involve the theme of being followed, harassed, cheated, poisoned or drugged, conspired against, spied on, attacked, or obstructed in the pursuit of goals. Sometimes the delusion is isolated and fragmented (such as the false belief that co-workers are harassing), but sometimes are well-organized belief systems involving a complex set of delusions ("systematized delusions"). People with a set of persecutory delusions may believe, for example, they are being followed by government organizations because the "persecuted" person has been falsely identified as a spy. These systems of beliefs can be so broad and complex that they can explain everything that happens to the person.
* Religious delusion: Any delusion with a religious or spiritual content. These may be combined with other delusions, such as grandiose delusions (the belief that the affected person was chosen by God, for example), delusions of control, or delusions of guilt. Beliefs that would be considered normal for an individual's religious or cultural background are not delusions.
* Somatic delusion: A delusion whose content pertains to bodily functioning, bodily sensations, or physical appearance. Usually the false belief is that the body is somehow diseased, abnormal, or changed—for example, infested with parasites.

Superstition (Latin superstitio, literally "standing over"; derived perhaps from standing in awe; used in Latin as an unreasonable or excessive belief in fear or magic, especially foreign or fantastical ideas, and thus came to mean a "cult" in the Roman empire) is a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge. The word is often used pejoratively to refer to beliefs deemed irrational. This leads to some superstitions being called Old Wive's Tales. It is also commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy and spiritual beings, particularly the irrational belief that future events can be influenced or foretold by specific unrelated prior events.

Hunting superstitions

* In the forests of ancient China, when a Nivkhs hunter was pursuing game his children were forbidden to make drawings on wood or in sand; they feared that if the children did so, the paths in the forest would become as complicated as the lines in the drawings and that the hunter might lose his way and never return.[6]

The belief that there is a magical bond between a wound and the weapon which caused it may be traced unaltered for thousands of years:

* A Melanesian believed that if he obtains possession of the weapon which caused his wound, he should carefully keep it in a cool place so as to reduce the inflammation of the wound. But if the weapon is left in the enemy's possession, it will undoubtedly be hung up close to the fire, causing the wound to become hot and inflamed.

* Roman officer and encyclopedist Pliny (in his Natural History, Book XXVIII, Chapter 7) tells us that "if you have wounded a man and are sorry for it, you have only to spit on the hand that gave the wound, and the pain of the sufferer will be instantly alleviated."

* Francis Bacon (in his Sylva Sylvarum, X, 998) mentions that "it is constantly received and avouched that the anointing of the weapon that maketh the wound will heal the wound itself". This superstition was still in practice in eastern England in the 20th century: At Norwich in June 1902 a woman named Matilda Henry accidentally ran a nail into her foot. Without examining the wound, or even removing her stocking, she asked her daughter to grease the nail, thinking that if this were done no harm would come of the injury. Within a few days she died of lockjaw.

Theatre superstitions

* In the theatre, it is bad luck to wish someone "Good luck." Instead, one is to say "Break a leg."
* Uttering the word "Macbeth" in a theatre is said to bring bad luck, unless performing the show. It is commonly referred to as "The Scottish Play." The play is supposedly cursed.
* Whistling in a theatre is bad luck. The most plausible explanation is that in early theatre, the flyspace was operated using an advanced system of whistles, and nonchalant whistling may cue a tech person to do their cue too early and mess up the performance.
* The green room should never be painted green.
* Seeing a peacock in or near a theatre is bad luck. Peacocks were once believed to possess the "evil eye" in their tails.

Most bad luck in theatre can be expelled by having the person responsible turn around themselves to the right three times, then spitting.

Other superstitions

* A single magpie is considered a sign of bad luck.
* Many believe that if all of the candles on a birthday cake are blown out with one breath, while making a silent wish, the wish will come true.
* Tetraphobia is widespread in China, Japan, Korea, and Hawaii; the use of number 4 is minimized or avoided wherever possible because the Chinese word for 4, sì, sounds nearly the same as the word for death, sǐ （死）. Mobile telephone numbers with 4 in them sell for less and some buildings even skip level four, labeling it the 5th floor instead. One of the Japanese words for 4, shi, is also homonymous with the kanji in the word for death, shi or shin. (However, there is another word for four in Japan that does not sound like death: yon.) In Korea, number '4' is pronounced as sa (사 四) and is homonymous with 'death (사 死)'. Some, but not all, Korean buildings have the fourth floor written as 'F' floor.

The number 13, believed to be unlucky, has been skipped over at a horse stable

* Triskaidekaphobia--In Western culture, the number 13 is perceived as unlucky; 12a is sometimes used as a substitute and some buildings skip floor 13 completely.
* Many believe that the United States two-dollar bill brings bad luck. Gamblers sometimes call it a "deuce", a term for two. To "undo," one of the bill's corners must be torn off, forming a triangle, an ancient symbol of life. If you receive a bill with no corners left, it must be torn all up.
* Spilling salt is said to cause a fight or argument during the day. There are several options to "undo" this which seem to relate to various ways of acknowledging the fact that salt was spilled with others present at the scene. One way to revert this is tossing some salt over one's left shoulder with ones right hand.
* At times, a horseshoe may be found above doorways. When positioned like a regular 'U' it supposedly collects luck. However, when it is positioned like an upside-down 'U' the luck supposedly drains.
* The superstitious symbolism of a black cat crossing one's path is dependent upon culture: some cultures consider this a sign of impending bad luck, while some cultures consider this a sign of impending good luck.
* Breaking a mirror is said to bring bad luck for 7 years. To "undo" this, take the shards of glass and bury them underneath the moonlight. In ancient times, the mirror was said to be a window to the viewer's soul. If that mirror were to break, it would take time (or 7 years) for that 'cracked' soul to heal as 'time heals all wounds'.
* If one walks underneath an open ladder it is said to bring bad luck. Sometimes it is said that this can be undone by immediately walking backwards back underneath the ladder.
* Opening an umbrella indoors is said to result in 21 days of bad luck. Some traditions hold that it is only bad luck if the umbrella is placed over the head of someone while indoors.
* Placing a hat on the bed is, apparently, bad luck. (South Carolina)
* Placing keys on a table is considered unlucky. (Sweden)
* It is bad luck to put new shoes on a bed (or a table) (comes from the tradition of dressing a corpse in new clothes and shoes and laying them out so everyone can give their respects) - (UK)
* Collect seven or nine different flowers on midsummer eve and place them under your pillow and it is said that you will dream of your future spouse. (Sweden)
* The phrase "See a pin and pick it up then all day you'll have good luck" is a superstition created from the first line of a poem in the book "The Real Mother Goose". Modern variants sometimes substitute the word "penny" for pin.
* When you speak of bad luck, it is said that one should always knock on wood. Also knocking when speaking of good luck apparently helps with having good luck. This is an old Celtic tradition related to belief of wood spirits.
* Before travelling a person should sit on their luggage. (Russian)
* Before travelling, a person should take a moment before they leave the house and stand by their luggage (Ukraine)
* Two people breaking a wishbone is said to lead to good luck for the person with the larger piece.
* Once a wedding ring has been placed on the finger, it is considered bad luck to remove it.
* There are numerous sailors' superstitions, such as: it is considered bad luck for a ship to set sail on a Friday, to bring anything blue aboard, to stick a knife into the deck, to leave a hatch cover upside-down, to say "pig", or to eat walnuts aboard. Some beliefs state that it is bad luck to have a woman aboard ship, while others say that a storm will give way to calm if a woman bares her body to it, which may explain why female figureheads are often bare-breasted.
* Some motorcycle enthusiasts hang a biker's bell from a portion of their bike to protect themselves from evil road spirits.
* It is considered to be bad luck to carry a United States fifty-dollar bill in one of the thirteen states that comprised the former Confederate States of America, as this bill bears the image of Ulysses S Grant.
* It is thought to be bad luck to let a fork fall off your plate during dinner, which can result in 8 years of bad luck.
* If you step on a crack, your mother will break her back, while stepping on a line (i.e. a seam in the pavement) may break your father's spine.
* A 4-leafed clover is said to be good luck.

Superstition and psychology

In 1948, behavioural psychologist B.F. Skinner published an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, in which he describes his pigeons exhibiting what appeared to be superstitious behaviour. One pigeon was making turns in its cage, another would swing its head in a pendulum motion, while others also displayed a variety of other behaviours. Because these behaviours were all done ritualistically in an attempt to receive food from a dispenser, even though the dispenser had already been programmed to release food at set time intervals regardless of the pigeons' actions, Skinner believed that the pigeons were trying to influence their feeding schedule by performing these actions. He then extended this as a proposition regarding the nature of superstitious behaviour in humans.

Skinner's theory regarding superstition being the nature of the pigeons' behaviour has been challenged by other psychologists such as Staddon and Simmelhag, who theorised an alternative explanation for the pigeons' behaviour.

Despite challenges to Skinner's interpretation of the root of his pigeons' superstitious behaviour, his conception of the reinforcement schedule has been used to explain superstitious behaviour in humans. Originally, in Skinner's animal research, "some pigeons responded up to 10,000 times without reinforcement when they had originally been conditioned on an intermittent reinforcement basis." Compared to the other reinforcement schedules (e.g. fixed ratio, fixed interval), these behaviours were also the most resistant to extinction.This is called the partial reinforcement effect, and this has been used to explain superstitious behaviour in humans. To be more precise, this effect means that, whenever an individual performs an action expecting a reinforcement, and none seems forthcoming, it actually creates a sense of persistence within the individual. This strongly parallels superstitious behaviour in humans because the individual feels that, by continuing this action, reinforcement will happen; or that reinforcement has come at certain times in the past as a result of this action, although not all the time, but this may be one of those times.

From a simpler perspective, natural selection will tend to reinforce a tendency to generate weak associations. If there is a strong survival advantage to making correct associations, then this will outweigh the negatives of making many incorrect, "superstitious" associations.

About Judah Earlap Zachary

Zachary is a Paranormal Investigator from Sidney Australia. His interest include UFO's, ghosts and tracking the legendary Tasmanian tiger.

Judah Earlap Zachary

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