parapsychology and paranormal blog
by JJ Lumsden
contact: lumsden.jj (at) googlemail.com
Happy New Year to One and All.
The Parapsychological Association is the professional body for parapsychologists, and is currently undertaking a fresh membership drive.
If you have an active interest in parapsychology, please consider joining the Parapsychological Association (PA) to support the scientific study of psi (or ‘psychic’) experiences and take advantage of our exclusive membership benefits.
Founded in 1957, the PA is the international professional body of scientists and other scholars whose primary objective is to achieve a scientific understanding of psi and related phenomena. Since 1969, the PA has been an affiliated organization of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the association provides an international forum for scholarly exchange through its members-only website, annual conventions, and the publication of its bulletin Mindfield.
There has never been a better time to join the PA. We have recently opened up our Affiliate category of membership so that anyone who has an interest in the scientific and scholarly advancement of parapsychology can apply to join. With the recent rise of interest in the paranormal, especially spontaneous psi-type experiences such as apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists, it is hoped that those interested will join the PA as Affiliates, both to support the field and to gain access to our unique resources for the study of parapsychology.
Anyone who is an active researcher in the field and who has graduated from a recognized academic institution should consider applying as an Associate or Full Member. We also welcome high school and college students at a reduced rate.
Check out our membership page to see which category is best for you.
As a Member, Associate or Affiliate of the PA, you will receive an electronic copy of our new quarterly publication Mindfield: The Bulletin of the Parapsychological Association and receive a pdf of the latest Journal of Parapsychology twice a year. Members, Associates and Affiliates are also granted access to our members-only website, which contains our membership directory, discussion forums, and electronic convention proceedings going back to 2004. PA Members, Associates and Affiliates also get discounts on conventions, and subscription discounts with the Library of Exploratory Science and the Society for Psychical Research. Details of all of our membership benefits can be found here.
We’d like you to see what our new bulletin and our organization is all about, so if you would like an electronic copy of Mindfield, please email us at business@parapsych.org to request a free sample issue.
Also, for a limited time, we will be waiving our $10 application fee to join the PA. Application forms can be found at http://parapsych.org/join_the_pa.html. Select the application for your membership type, fill it out onscreen, save it, and send it to the Executive Secretary at business@parapsych.org for consideration.
If you really have an interest in the scientific study of psi as it’s studied in the lab or in real life, and want to have a better understanding of these experiences and phenomena, please consider joining the Parapsychological Association today.
Want to know more about the Paranormal?
Want to know
more about
The Hidden Whisper?
[click on the book cover]
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...a fascinating book... an excellent introduction to the different aspects of parapsychology. Lumsden writes with wit and insight Tucson Citizen
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This book works on many levels, an excellent introduction to the concepts current in the field of parapsychology... at best you may learn something new, and at worst you'll have read a witty and well-written paranormal detective story http://www.parascience.org.uk/
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...a fast paced read and one of those books you just don’t want to put down! For anyone interested in the paranormal and metaphysical, this is a super, fun book and one that I enjoyed immensely. http://www.moonslipper.com...
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Beyond an interesting and captivating story, the author also successfully adds an extra dimension that provides his readers with an excellent education in the basics of real life parapsychology. Skeptics and believers in the paranormal alike will enjoy JJ Lumsden's The Hidden Whisper. http://publicparapsychology..
November 11th, 2009
Talk at the University of Sunderland
I wanted to write a quick note and thank everyone who came along to my talk last week on iZangoma REG Healing effects, at the University of Sunderland. It was really good to meet and talk with so many of you.
If you want to dig out the original paper, the reference is:
Lumsden-Cook, J.J., Thwala, J. & Edwards, S.D. (2006) The effects of traditional Zulu healing upon a Random Event Generator. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 70(3), 129-137.
In turn, if you missed the talk, and are wondering what this iZangoma thing is all about, there’s a synopsis on the Public Parapsychology site (scroll down to November 6th).
Any questions? Feel free to email me. The address is at the top of the page.
September 18th, 2009
Interview with Dr Stuart Wilson - Psychologist and Parapsychologist
Next in my interview series… please let me introduce my old friend Dr Stuart Wilson.
Stuart completed his Ph.D at the University of Edinburgh on the cognitive aspects of “parapsychological” phenomena. He is now a Lecturer in Psychology (and the BSc Hons Programme Director of Psychology) at Queen Margaret University.
I could not find a picture of Stuart, so I have pasted a picture of Richard Wilson. Although they are not related, both come from Greenock.
What first got you interested in becoming a
parapsychologist?
I’d always been interested in weird stuff (ever since I saw Ghostbusters
as a boy), but the main influence in going to Edinburgh and doing a Ph.D
were two books that I found lying around my girlfriend’s bedroom when I was
an undergraduate. They were “Supernature” and “Lifetide” both by Lyall
Watson.
Reading them made me want to learn more and do my own research in to what Watson called “the soft edges of science”. That’s when I made contact with the Koestler Unit and set the ball rolling. Now, however, I look back at those books with nostalgia, but not much else. The material in them isn’t anywhere near as impressive to me now as it was when I was 18. Unlike many people who get into parapsychology, I never had any impressive experiences beyond the standard bits of déjà vu and unusual coincidences.
Part of your parapsychological research has been
into subliminal perception/perception without awareness, and how that might
impact on psi functioning. Please explain.
The initial idea was that, if psi exists, then it must be a weak
“signal” and would most likely be processed similarly to other weak signals.
Subliminal perception effects are small, but there is evidence that our
cognitive function can be influenced by stimuli that we are completely
unaware of perceiving. It seemed to me that psi might be similar, so the
work I initially did was looking at that…seeing if we could influence the
same cognitive processes with two different (but weak) stimuli.
Recently, I’ve dropped the psi component and have become more interested in how subliminal perception and other unconscious cognitive phenomena can give rise to experiences that look psychic but aren’t. I think that many events that people interpret as being “psychic” or “paranormal” are actually the end result of normal unconscious influence, rather than being anything paranormal. The attribution of paranormality comes from the fact that unconscious influences are necessarily outside of awareness (by definition), so the end-result (intuition, prediction, correct knowledge) doesn’t come with information about where it came from. When this happens, people assume that the information or knowledge has appeared “from nowhere” - hence the psychic interpretation. I think that the role of unconscious processing is under-researched in the study of anomalous experiences.
If I gave you a magic funding cheque, and said
“there you go, conduct whatever psi research you like” - what would you go
into, and why?
First of all, I’d like to find out more about where your magic funding
cheque has come from. This is a difficult question for me, because my
opinion on psi research has shifted from what it was when I entered the
field 10 years ago. If I had to do psi research with the magic money, then
I’d like to do a 10-year proof oriented study - the ultimate Ganzfeld study,
perhaps. This answer won’t be popular with parapsychologists, and I’m aware
of all the arguments for pursuing process-related work rather than
proof-oriented work, but my opinion is that there still isn’t enough
convincing evidence. I’d rather have an answer either way (or as close to an
answer as possible) and so I’d take whatever paradigm was considered to be
the “gold standard” in psi research and design a series of studies over a
prolonged period that would provide as close to an answer as possible - as
agreed by the leading researchers. If it comes out positive - great, publish
it in a mainstream journal and wait for the Nobel prize (ahem). If it comes
out non-significant, then that’s something we need to know. It’s all very
well pointing to meta-analyses and arguing about them and so on, but it does
the field no good whatsoever, so that’s why I’d take a back to basics
approach and see what happens.
If I didn’t have to do psi research, I’d probably pursue my interest in understanding the unconscious cognitive processes that give rise to psi-like experiences. I’d also love to do a cross-cultural study on paranormal beliefs, which would be the first stage in developing a theory of superstitious/paranormal/magical beliefs, focussing on the way by which our thinking about the world around us leads to such ideas.
August 5th, 2009
Friday 4th September - Sunday 6th September 2009
The Society for Psychical Research has announced the programme for its annual conference, which will be held at the University of Nottingham.
Click here for more details.
July 29th, 2009
Interview with Dr Ian Baker - Psychologist and Parapsychologist
Ian Baker and I were both at the Koestler Parapsychology Unit (University of Edinburgh) many moons ago. Since then, Ian has gone on to become a Lecturer in the Psychology Department at the University of Derby. He teaches a variety of modules, specifically on statistics and research methods, and on parapsychology.
Ian very kindly took time out to answer a few questions of mine.
What prompted you to become a parapsychologist? The money, the
glamour?
I remember Bob Morris saying to me early on in my PhD studies that I could
earn three times as much money in private industry than I could in academia.
So I’m definitely not into this for the money! As for the glamour, one of my
favourite quotes is by Anthropologist Matt Cartmill, “As an adolescent I
aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a
meaningful vision of human life – so I became a scientist. This is like
becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.” So I didn’t really get into
this for the glamour either!
Of course, there are a number of people who are involved with the field of parapsychology who can claim to have achieved a certain amount of fame with the public, mainly through having done a lot of media-based work. I guess that this can be a route to the glamour if you want it, but I’ve never been very comfortable with the small amount of media experience that I’ve had. I think that I will largely leave that to the people who enjoy it.
The first time that I really became aware of the field was when my mother brought me a book of Fortean Phenomena from Maidstone market when I was about 11. Reading through the book was a real experience for me, and it started an interest that has been with me from that point on. However, at that point I didn’t really entertain the idea of researching phenomena such as this for a career. I was more interested in either becoming an archaeologist or a vicar. But I came to realise that being an agnostic was a challenge to a priestly vocation, and digging-up things seemed to be very destructive and a lot of hard work!
From around the age of 15 I began to become interested in ghost stories in my local area. This grew to actually doing investigations of such cases, and I even presented at my first SPR conference when I was 18 about a case that I did. I remember calling up Bob Morris in my mid-teens and asking him how I could do a PhD, to which he dryly, but supportively replied that “I might want to get some qualifications first”! But it was only really when I was doing my A-Level in psychology that I really started to entertain the idea of a potential career in this area. Once again, it was my mother who supported me by confronting me one day and asking me bluntly if this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I almost instantly replied “Yes”, and I realised at that point that this is what I wanted to do.
But it hasn’t always been that straightforward. I had some doubts after my Master’s degree, and again after my PhD. I’ve gradually come to terms with the fact that the label “parapsychologist” only defines part of what I do. I tend to see myself as a psychologist or as a scientist – everything else that I am interested in falls generally under these broad labels.
Where do you think parapsychology is heading? Rude health, historical
footnote, or somewhere in between?
This is a good question. I think that overall the field has suffered a small
crisis of late. Since around 2000, we have lost some of very important names
to “the big research project in the sky”. In terms of their impact upon the
field, arguable the biggest lost was Professor Robert Morris. In his latter
years his research output was modest, but his influence over the field was
huge. Although I doubt that he would have ever wanted to be considered to be
a figurehead, I think that – possibly subconsciously – he was this to a lot
of us. He never dictated how the field should proceed, but I think that he
did have a subtle binding influence. When he died so unexpectedly, I think
that it disoriented the field to some extent – particularly when combined
with the other deaths that the field had suffered at that time.
But I have the impression that the field is gradually coming out of this period of mourning, and I hope that it continues to have a sense of identity.
With regard to its long-term status, I think that it is very hard to say. As philosophers of science have noted; parapsychology is an anomaly in of itself. Many other areas that have disputed more established paradigms in science have normally withered and died, or have been absorbed into the whole. Parapsychology has arguably had a separate identity since the 1930s and 40s, and still exists to a certain extent as such. I think that this has been, in part, due to the scientific-political model of Bob Morris and his contemporaries. Bob rarely tried to “strong-arm” people into supporting the field, but gently tried to persuade people or merely presented them with the evidence for and against and invited them to make up their own mind. He also seemed to have a singular ability to also get on well with people who have been relatively hostile to the field.
Parapsychology appears to be very healthy as the moment; at least in the U.K. Professor Bernard Carr pointed out in a recent article that 16 separate universities have some form of parapsychology, and the AQA has added anomalistic psychology to their A-Level qualification. Also, the Higher Education Academy (HEA) is in the process of forming a Special Interest Group in the teaching of parapsychology in Higher Education institutions (something I am involved with). All of these indicate that parapsychology has a future in higher education.
But parapsychology is an odd discipline in many ways. One of its strangest characteristics is that it is the study of anomalies, which are inherently defined by what other areas of academia consider to be anomalistic. Therefore I wonder if parapsychology will gradually be absorbed by other areas such as psychology or physics as the phenomena are slowly explained either as statistical, methodological or psychological variables, or as our understanding of the world expands to encompass these phenomena. However, saying that, there will always be a frontier of anomalies to attempt to explain – it all depends if exploring these are defined as being under the purview of a field called “parapsychology”. There are plenty of “anomalies” that don’t come under this heading.
Your PhD thesis was entitled “The Electrophysiological Processing of
Remote Staring Detection”. What does this mean? And what did you discover?
A paper on the core elements of my PhD work that I presented at the last
Parapsychological Association Convention in Winchester was reviewed by Bryan
Williams for the blog Public Parapsychology (http://publicparapsychology.blogspot.com/2009/02/brain-response-to-remote-stare.html).
In essence, during my PhD research I was attempting to examine what brain
activity might be associated with remote staring detection. This is a
phenomenon that many people report when they feel as if they are being
watched by other people, even though there should ostensibly be no reason
for them to tell if they are being watched.
I examined this by putting two people into an experimental situation where they were in different rooms, with one of them (the starer) watching the other (the staree) at random intervals via a computer-controlled CCTV system. During this time, I measured a variety of electrophysiological variables from the stare, such as their electrical brain activity (electroencephalography, or EEG) and their general physiological arousal (via skin conductance).
Over a series of three experiments I found an interesting effect. Remote staring detection did not appear to have any brain activity associated with it on its own, but appeared to modulate the brain activity associated with the processing of other stimuli. But a strange effect in the third experiment led me to suspect some form of artefact was present: essentially there appeared to be a “remote staring effect” even when no starer was present! A final simulation study did find evidence of a tiny artefact that suggested we are very sensitive to extremely small changes between stimuli in experiments. This could have important implications for psychophysics and cognitive neuroscience.
What started out as a parapsychology PhD ended-up being one that focused more upon methodology in psychophysics.
Any other interesting research projects on the boil?
Not a great deal at the moment. I’ve been spending most of my time getting
settled-in at the University of Derby and writing lectures! But I have just
managed to secure a small amount of funding to conduct a study examining
Decision Augmentation Theory (DAT), but I’m keeping the details quiet for
now!
June 27th, 2009
I’m now back from Marrakech, which I highly recommend by the way.
I have an article on ESP and the Ganzfeld in August’s edition of Paranormal Magazine. It offers a 1000 word run-through of how parapychologists try to elicit Extra Sensory Perception in the laboratory, using a process of sensory calming. I hope you enjoy it.
June 14th, 2009
Marrakech awaits
I’m off to Marrakech this week, and am really looking forward to it.
I have long list of must-do things to see and experience, but if
anyone has any particular recommendations - please email me and let me know
what I can’t miss out. Shoukran bazzef!
May 28th, 2009
The future of Book buying (maybe a small part of it) ?
The Hidden Whisper will soon be available for purchase through The Espresso Book Machine (EBM) Channel.
The Espresso Book Machine is a printing device (3.8 feet wide by 2.7 feet deep by 4.5 feet high - for those of you who care about these things) where you can print your own personal copy of a book… there and then.
Assuming that the title you want is on the Espresso system, find an EBM
machine, select the title, press a button and within a few minutes - you
have a paperback copy of the book, literally ‘hot off the press’.
(I assume there’s some credit card activity somewhere along the way ;) )
Where can you find an EBM?
• World Bank InfoShop, Washington D.C.
• New York Public Library, New York, NY
• New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, LA
• Internet Archive, San Francisco, CA
• University of Michigan Library, Ann Arbor, MI
• Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, VT
• University of Alberta Bookstore, Edmonton, AB, Canada
• McMaster University Bookstore, Hamilton, ON, Canada
• Newsstand UK, London, England
• Library of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt
• Angus & Robertson Bookstore, Melbourne, Australia
• University of Waterloo Bookstore, ON, Canada
• Blackwell’s Bookstore, London, United Kingdom
• McGill University Library, Montreal, QC, Canada
EBM goes live on May 29th.
May 20th, 2009
Win a Signed Copy of The Hidden Whisper
For those of you who might be interested, there’s a signed copy of The Hidden Whisper up for grabs.
Just go to The Hidden Whisper’s microsite and answer the multiple choice question :) Click Here
May 6th, 2009
Interview with Roger Nelson, Founder and Director of the Global Consciousness Project
You began your career as an Experimental
Psychologist examining Cognition. What career path took you to becoming
Director of the GCP?
After 8 interesting years as a Professor at a College in Vt, teaching
research methods in psychology, among other things, to undergrads who often
wanted to study parapsychology, I decided to take a job at Princeton in what
became the PEAR laboratory. I coordinated the research projects, including
mind-machine interaction experiments using random event generators. In the
early 90’s my long-standing wish for continuous recording of REG data, with
marking of special moments, was implemented.
This, combined with miniaturized REG equipment, made it possible to take the REG out of the lab for what we called FieldREG experiments, looking at effects of group consciousness at concerts, ceremonies, sporting events, rituals, meetings, etc. I saw the obvious implication of large, distributed groups, ultimately of global scope.
After some prototype efforts, such as the funeral of Princess Diana, when I asked friends and colleagues to collect data and send it to me, the value of a permanent network collecting continuous data was clear. So, I gathered resources and collegial energies and founded the GCP in 1997, and began collecting data in 1998.
You have conducted many experiments on micro-PK that
were not part of the GCP. Which of these really caught your attention or
enthusiasm?
I have to admit I like them all, and usually for several reasons, some
scientific, some aesthetic. One thing we focused on at PEAR was the question
of what differences in physical systems would matter, so we made experiments
with electronics, macroscopic objects like 3/4 inch balls, fluid dynamic,
optical, and mechanical systems, and so on. What most caught my attention
was the upshot — given a sensible standard for comparisons, the equipment or
the physical device did not matter. For an hour of invested time trying to
impose intention on any delicately balanced, sensitive physical system, we
get about the same size effect. Given this fact, I like the electronic REG/RNG
devices for experiments because they are stable, adaptable, and very well
characterized.
Assuming you have willing hosts - do you think there
are an optimal number of EGGs in the GCP project? Do you think things can
(or should?) keep scaling upwards?
One of the implied questions in our basic hypothesis is whether distance
matters. The distribution of some 65 EGGs we now have is adequate, and would
not be improved much by greater numbers. It would help to have a more
homogeneous distribution, but that isn’t possible with the world’s current
technology and infrastructure. Some parts of the world have almost no
Internet connectivity, or even stable electricity. My current policy is to
add eggs only in under-represented areas of the world.
On a broader note - how do you see the state of
contemporary parapsychology?
Parapsychology has matured somewhat during the 30 years I’ve been
involved. There is more attention than ever to modeling, and to asking
deeper questions. Attention has shifted for many researchers away from
existence proofs and efforts to persuade skeptics. There is still interest
in persuading mainstream, but I think most of us realize that will come in
proportion to the sophistication and clarity of our internal dialogues and
understanding.
Aside from “Consciousness Research”, what other
areas of science do you particularly follow?
I read widely, but time does not allow me to study other areas deeply.
So, I know the headlines and appreciate the summaries in pretty much all of
science. Because it helps in thinking about what happens in my work, I do
pay attention to discussions at the leading edge of quantum physics, and to
any efforts to integrate consciousness into physical models.
Thanks Roger.
April 29th, 2009
Now and then, I get asked -
How Do You Become a Parapsychologist?
Good question. A former colleague of mine from the University of Edinburgh (Dr Ian Baker, now at the University of Derby) has written an excellent series of mini articles.
For anyone interested in joining the field, I suggest you have a look here
April 27th, 2009
“Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful”
— George Edward Pelham Box, Statistician.
April 14th, 2009
The Global Consciousness Project
Following on from my post about micro-PK research, this seems like a good
opportunity to discuss the Global Consciousness Project, which originated at
Princeton University in 1998.
In a nutshell, the GCP is an international collaborative effort that uses a network of RNGs dotted around the world to purportedly measure Global Consciousness effects.
Each RNG is referred to as an Egg, and there are more than sixty of them spread across the globe. From the Americas to Europe and Africa. From Asia to Australasia.
[image courtesy of the GCP]
Each Egg is sampled at 200 bits per second, and the activity of each Egg is fed back to a central computer which puts the data together - to give a state of the system as a whole.
You can see the behaviour of the Eggs
here
In turn, there is a data analysis graph that is close to real-time
here
Researchers (although anyone can download the experimental data) then look to see whether the network takes on some form of structure during significant world events. Obviously, there are two ways forward here.
1. You make a prediction that the network is likely to behave in a less random way during an expected upcoming event (e.g. something like a Football World Cup Final where lots of people will be watching the same event).
2. When something unexpected happens (a natural disaster perhaps), you can look back to see if the GCP’s network activity changed in conjunction with the event.
Anyway there’s lots of excellent information and analysis covering lots
of world events at the GCP website.
Take me to the GCP
March 25th, 2009
Basic micro-Psychokinesis research in 5 easy steps
Okay, here goes.
1. Connect Random Number Generator to computer.
(The RNG is going to be sampled to create a datastream of ones and zeros)
2. Ask participant to ‘mentally influence’ RNG for some length of
time. e.g. a trial length of 5 mins.
“Generate more ones than zeros, please.” Or vice versa.
3. Using the RNG and Computer system, sample 200 binary events over a one-second period. Summarize the outcome for that second.
Period 1, (duration of 1 second)
1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0… 1
(Total zeros = 98, Total ones = 102)
Therefore period 1 is summarized as +2 - two ‘ones’ more than
the expected 100:100 split)
4. Repeat 3 until trial ends.
Period 2, (duration of 1 second)
0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1… 0
(Total zeros = 104, Total ones = 96)
Therefore period 2 is summarized as -4 - four less than the
expected 100:100 split)
Period 3, (duration of 1 second)
0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1… 1
(Total zeros = 100, Total ones = 100)
Therefore period 3 is summarized as 0. You get the idea.
5. Sum the data, and see what the cumulative deviation over the whole 5-minute trial looks like (i.e add up all the outcomes from each second - +2, -4, 0, etc).
(Run your probability stats, and make a nice graph to show what happened
overall. Include markers (pink and yellow) that show where the cumulative
deviation becomes significant, p=.05). In other words, the level
where you become confident that chance is unlikely to account for your
results.
(6. Conduct lots more trials, including control trials)
March 11th, 2009
Zener Cards.
Zener Cards are eponymous ESP targets, created by psychologist Karl Zener in response to JB Rhine’s efforts to make ESP experiments easier to judge. They are comprised of five distinctive symbols: circle, cross, wavy lines, square and star.
Before Zener cards, studies tended to use regular playing cards, which apart from having a low likelihood of being guessed correctly (1/52 on a closed deck) and having inherent biases (people preferring face cards over numbers), have two types of information on them: number and suit. If the Seven-of-Spades was the target card and you guessed Seven-of-Clubs (which was the wrong card, but with the right number and also a ‘black’ symbol), were you half right?
In having a single characteristic, Zener cards simplified matters into simple hits and misses. The use of Zener cards is what is known as a forced-choice protocol, where participants know they can only choose from the five possible symbols. Zener cards are no longer used in parapsychological research.
March 29th, 2009
“Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.”
— Richard Feynman
February 15th, 2009
Pseudo Psychics and the Art of Cold Reading.
I sense anxiety and uncertainty. You have a tendency to be self critical and you often worry how other people view you. Your negativity can hold you back at times. But these moments of adversity are just tests of resolve. There is triumph and accomplishment ahead… should you choose to embrace it.
Extra Sensory Perception research (which examines clairvoyance, telepathy and precognition) has been conducted for many years across parapsychology laboratories and the results seem to show that ESP is valid to a small but verifiable degree. Whilst these test environments (with all the controls and protocols designed to weed out fraud) are artificial, it seems plausible that the results translate to the real world in some way. In other words, if it works in the lab – it should work in the outside world.
But in the outside world, there are many people happy to part you from your money; people who are no more psychic than a rock but who can deliver vague, open-ended predictions delivered in polished professional ways to provide apparently powerful and meaningful experiences for the client.
People go to psychics because they have a psychological need. And typically this need is: reassurance. New events might be difficult or unsettling, and the emotional succour of verifying things will be okay is of great value. On the other hand, there is clearly less motivation to seek outside advice if life is going swimmingly. It is this desire for information that gives the psychic authority and legitimacy. It is given by the client by decree. All the pseudo psychic has to do – is not screw things up, and repeat custom beckons.
So how do pseudo psychics, also known as cold readers, do what they do? First up is to establish credibility. The most effective way is by offering information that is private to the client. If the reading takes place in person, the psychic can draw a lot of inferences from stereotyping and the visual cues of appearance, demeanour and attitude. Look at any person and things like clothes, jewellery, age (particularly relevant to questions of health), and accents reveal a wealth of information. An accent that isn’t local, for example, can be spun into a long explanation of a ‘journey’, or of being an ‘outsider’.
As this ‘fishing’ expedition unfolds, the cold reader carefully watches the client. Human beings are remarkably good at providing unconscious feedback through body language (e.g. nods, tics, stress rubs to the face) and more overt affirmations such as vocalizations and utterances. All the psychic has to do is probe, and the client will let them know when they’re on the money. Most clients will even help the psychic, by filling in the blanks. If the psychic starts discussing a person coming through (and it’s a good idea to start with the letter J for Men, the letter M for women) – the client will often offer assistance (Ah yes, you mean John, my Grandfather). The cold reader can choose to incorporate this fact immediately, or apparently ignore it by continuing to talk – only to reintroduce the information later in the reading as new information (it’s called setting up repeaters). Alternatively, the cold reader might finish the client’s sentence for them. By talking over a response it seems as though you were about to provide the information. “I had an uncle called Wi-” says the client -I’m sensing a William, does that mean anything? Maybe a Will? interjects the cold reader. If the cold reader is off base, it’s easy to talk of psychic reading being like weather forecasting. Sometimes signs and patterns are difficult to unpick.
Providing insight into a client’s personality is another powerful technique for establishing legitimacy. We tend to think of ourselves as fairly unique. In reality, we’re not all that dissimilar; we suffer the same fears and behaviors. Thus, Barnum Statements can be employed. Barnum statements are statements that can be applied almost universally to anyone you come across. This article opened with one.
It should be noted that high end psychics who really charge top dollar (built on good reputations) might dig into a new client’s background before a reading takes place. They can ask for a deposit check, or a phone number (in case of cancellation) then back trace it to uncover the client’s address. With a name and address, it is remarkably simple to find out about someone’s employment status, their finances and family life. Field reconnaissance is not unknown. Peer through the client’s kitchen window, root through the trash, note the car in the drive. It’s quite impressive to say I see a beautiful blue Lexus, outside a house. Number 24? No…14. Does that make sense to you?
Once credibility is established, the hard work is pretty much done. Now it’s simply a question of finding topic areas of concern and providing predictions. The rule of thumb here is to boost accuracy by reducing specifics. Speak of multiple paths ahead, and the ‘choices’ the client must make. When tackling the area of concern, start by probing health, career, money or love matters. If the concern is about a divorce (perhaps affirmed by the unconscious rubbing of the wedding ring finger) - the cold reader can talk about difficult times in the present, but a rosier happier future where the client emerges wiser and stronger. If the client wants to know about a potential career change the cold reader can encourage the client to take the risk if they really believe in it. After all, if the new job doesn’t work out – a myriad of reasons can be invoked to explain why.
An apparent foreknowledge of the future can provide assurance, security and optimism for many. It is human nature to want to gain an advantage if possible.
As such, it’s inevitable that there are people out there who seek to take advantage and exploit the willing. Cold readers are skilled professionals, they wouldn’t remain so if they didn’t appear to get things right.
This article was written for, and first appeared at, LA2DAY.com
January 25th, 2009
» Interview on mind-energy.net
Here’s an interview I gave back in October 08, about parapsychology and The Hidden Whisper.
January 11th, 2009
“A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”
— Max Planck