Psychic
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Paranormal |
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A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in
Psychics encompass people in a variety of roles. Some are theatrical performers, such as
Critics attribute psychic powers to intentional trickery or to self-
Psychics are sometimes featured in
History
Etymology
The word "psychic" is derived from the Greek word psychikos ("of the mind" or "mental"), and refers in part to the human mind or psyche (ex. "psychic turmoil"). The Greek word also means "soul". In Greek mythology, the maiden Psyche was the deification of the human soul. The word derivation of the Latin psȳchē is from the Greek psȳchḗ, literally "breath", derivative of psȳ́chein, to breathe or to blow (hence, to live).[10]
French astronomer and spiritualist Camille Flammarion is credited as having first used the word psychic, while it was later introduced to the English language by Edward William Cox in the 1870s.[11]
Early seers and prophets
Elaborate systems of
Seers formed a functionary role in early civilization, often serving as advisors, priests, and judges.
The
One of the most enduring historical references to what some consider to be psychic ability is the prophecies of
Nostradamus is a controversial figure. His many enthusiasts, as well as the popular press, credit him with predicting many major world events. Interest in his work is still considerable, especially in the media and in popular culture. By contrast, most academic scholars maintain that the associations made between world events and Nostradamus' quatrains are largely the result of misinterpretations or mistranslations (sometimes deliberate) or else are so tenuous as to render them useless as evidence of any genuine predictive power.[17]
Englishwoman Mother Shipton demonstrated psychic abilities from her youth and foresaw historical events in the 16th century.[18] In addition to the belief that some historical figures were endowed with a predisposition to psychic experiences, some psychic abilities were thought to be available to everyone on occasion. For example, the belief in prophetic dreams was common and persistent in many ancient cultures.[19]
Nineteenth-century progression
In the mid-nineteenth century,
As the Spiritualist movement grew, other comparable groups arose, including the
Late twentieth century
By the late twentieth century, psychics were commonly associated with New Age culture.[23] Psychic readings and advertising for psychics were common from the 1960s on, as readings were offered for a fee and given in settings such as over the phone, in a home, or at psychic fairs.[24]
Popular culture
Belief in psychic abilities
In a 1990 survey of members of the National Academy of Sciences, only 2% of the respondents thought that extrasensory perception had been scientifically demonstrated, with another 2% thinking that the phenomena happened sometimes. Asked about research in the field, 22% thought that it should be discouraged, 63% that it should be allowed but not encouraged, and 10% that it should be encouraged; neuroscientists were the most hostile to parapsychology of all the specialties.[25][26]
A survey of the beliefs of the general United States population about paranormal topics was conducted by
A poll of 439 college students conducted in 2006 by researchers Bryan Farha of Oklahoma City University and Gary Steward of University of Central Oklahoma, suggested that college seniors and graduate students were more likely to believe in psychic phenomena than college freshmen.[28] Twenty-three percent of college freshmen expressed a belief in paranormal ideas. The percentage was greater among college seniors (31%) and graduate students (34%).[29] The poll showed lower belief in psychic phenomena among science students than social science and education students.
Some people also believe that anyone can have psychic abilities which can be activated or enhanced through the study and practice of various disciplines and techniques such as meditation and divination, with a number of books and websites being dedicated to instruction in these methods.[30] Another popular belief is that psychic ability is hereditary, with a psychic parent passing their abilities on to their children.[31]
Science fiction
Psychic abilities are common in
Criticism and research
Critics such as Ray Hyman and the National Science Foundation suggest that parapsychology has methodological flaws that can explain the experimental results that parapsychologists attribute to paranormal explanations, and various critics have classed the field as pseudoscience. This has largely been due to a lack of replication of results by independent experimenters.[32][33][34][35][36]
The evidence presented for psychic phenomena is not sufficiently verified for scientific acceptance, and there exist many non-paranormal alternative explanations for claimed instances of psychic events.
In January 2008 the results of a study using neuroimaging were published. To provide what are purported to be the most favorable experimental conditions, the study included appropriate emotional stimuli and had participants who are biologically or emotionally related, such as twins. The experiment was designed to produce positive results if telepathy, clairvoyance or precognition occurred, but despite this, no distinguishable neuronal responses were found between psychic stimuli and non-psychic stimuli, while variations in the same stimuli showed anticipated effects on patterns of brain activation. The researchers concluded that "These findings are the strongest evidence yet obtained against the existence of paranormal mental phenomena."[40] James Alcock had cautioned the researchers against the wording of said statement.[41]
A detailed study of
Richard Saunders, Chief Investigator for the Australian Skeptics, and producer and presenter of The Skeptic Zone podcast sought to answer the question “Can self-proclaimed psychics predict unlikely future events with any greater accuracy than chance?”[44] To answer that question he launched "The Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project". Over the course of 12 years, Saunders and then Saunders and his international team of skeptics - Michelle Bijkersma, Kelly Burke, Susan Gerbic, Adrienne Hill, Louis Hillman, Wendy Hughes, Paula Lauterbach, Dr. Angie Mattke, Rob Palmer, and Leonard Tramiel - searched through Australian published media for individuals making psychic or otherwise paranormal predictions.[44]
The goal of the Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project was to collect and then vet the accuracy of every published psychic prediction in Australia since the year 2000. The team analyzed over 3800 predictions made by 207 psychics over the years 2000 to 2020. While a few of the psychic predictions were about events outside of Australia, the predictions primarily focused on celebrities, scandals, natural disasters, weather patterns, sports, and real estate trends.[45]
The results of the analysis of the predictions found that psychics were correct 11% of the time, wrong 35% of the time, and that some predictions were too vague to characterize (19%) or the predicted outcome was so obvious it was to be expected (15%). Two percent of the predictions were unable to be categorized.[45]
The main conclusions of the Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project were:[44]
“Psychics are appallingly bad at predicting future events.”
“Most predictions were too vague, expected, or simply wrong.”
“Most of what happens is not predicted, and most of what is predicted does not happen.”
The Project confirmed that even when considering the margin of error, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion except that people who claim to see into the future cannot do so with a rate of success better than that of educated guesswork, chance, or luck.[45]
Psychic fraud
Falling for a psychic scam can result in a loss of one's entire life savings. In an example given in an article by Rob Palmer[46] a woman gave a psychic $41,642 over a period of 10 weeks. The woman had contacted Palmer for help, who put her in contact with Bob Nygaard, a private investigator who specializes in psychic fraud cases. Palmer had previously written articles about Nygaard and the work he was doing.[47][48]
It's apparently difficult to get cases of psychic fraud prosecuted as a crime. Palmer states "when someone reports to law enforcement that they are a victim of this type of fraud, they are often turned away and told it is a civil matter." Palmer goes on to discuss
With curse removal, the psychic may say that the magic will not work or get worse if they do tell anyone about their involvement with the psychic. The con games from psychics, according to Radford, can "play out over the course of weeks, months, or even years." The psychic is playing the long game and looking to extract as much money as possible. Radford claims that when a victim realizes they have been scammed, often they are too embarrassed to come forward.[49]
See also
- List of psychic abilities
- List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
- Spirit photography
- Ann O'Delia Diss Debar
- Bob Nygaard
- Harry Houdini
- Mentalism
- Omen
- Palmistry
- Panpsychism
- Psychic Blues: Confessions of a Conflicted Medium
- Psychic Friends Network
- Psychic reading
- Séance
References
- ^ Matthew Nisbet (May–June 1998). "Psychic telephone networks profit on yearning, gullibility". Skeptical Inquirer.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "FTC Charges "Miss Cleo" with Deceptive Advertising, Billing and Collection Practices". FTC. February 14, 2002.
- ISBN 978-0-87975-198-2.
- ^ a b Gracely, Ph.D., Ed J. (1998). "Why Extraordinary Claims Demand Extraordinary Proof". PhACT. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
- ^ "Psychic Debunking". NOVA. Season 19. Episode 3. April 15, 1993. PBS.
- NY Daily News. New York. January 18, 2007. Archived from the originalon 2008-12-07. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
- ^ Shari Waxman (June 13, 2002). "Shooting crap:Alleged psychic John Edward actually gambles on hope and basic laws of statistics". Salon.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-309-07465-0.
- PMID 22432019.
- ^ Henry George Liddell; Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, entry for psyche
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8103-9487-2.
- ^ "1 Samuel 9 / Hebrew - English Bible / Mechon-Mamre". www.mechon-mamre.org. Archived from the original on 2021-12-23. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
- ^ Morgan 1990, p. 148.
- ^
- Fontenrose, Joseph (1978). The Delphic Oracle: Its Responses and Operations. pp. 196–227.
- Maurizio, Lisa. "The Voice at the Centre of the World: The Pythia's Ambiguity and Authority".
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(help) (in Lardinois, Andre; McClure, Laura (2001). Making Silence Speak: Women's Voices in Greek Literature and Society. Princeton University Press. pp. 38–54.)
- ^
- Spiller, Henry A.; Hale, John R.; de Boer, Jelle Z. (2000). "The Delphic Oracle: A Multidisciplinary Defense of the Gaseous Vent Theory". Clinical Toxicology. 40 (2): 189–196. S2CID 38994427.
- de Boer, J.Z.; Hale, J.R.; Chanton, J. (2001). "New Evidence for the Geological Origins of the Ancient Delphic Oracle". Geology. 29 (8): 707–711. .
- John R. Hale; Jelle Zeilinga de Boer; Jeffrey P. Chandon; Henry A. Spiller (August 2003). "Questioning The Delphic Oracle". PMID 12884540.
- Betsy Mason (October 2, 2006). "The Prophet Of Gases". Science Now.
- Spiller, Henry A.; Hale, John R.; de Boer, Jelle Z. (2000). "The Delphic Oracle: A Multidisciplinary Defense of the Gaseous Vent Theory". Clinical Toxicology. 40 (2): 189–196.
- ^ Chevignard, Bernard (1999). Présages de Nostradamus.
- ^ Lemesurier, Peter (2003). The Unknown Nostradamus.
- ISBN 978-1-77070-167-0. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
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- ISBN 978-0-253-33315-5.
- ISBN 978-0-253-33315-5.
- ^ Melton. Chapter "Theosophical Society"
- ^ Diane Daniel What's in the cards Just how well do the seers see? The Boston Globe (Calendar cover story cache 1999)
- ^ Wendy Haskett Psychic Fairs Aim for Aura of Fun in Mind Reading LATimes.com, August 15, 1987
- ^ McConnell, R.A., and Clark, T.K. (1991). "National Academy of Sciences' Opinion on Parapsychology" Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 85, 333–365.
- ^ Douglas M. Stokes, Research in Parapsychology, 1990: Abstracts and Papers from the Thirty-Third Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association, Journal of Parapsychology, Sept, 1992, Retrieved July 4, 2009
- Gallup News Service. Retrieved 2008-10-08., Skeptical Inquirer, accessed October 28, 2006
Gallup poll shows that Americans' belief in the paranormal persists - ^ "Paranormal Belief Poll". www.allthingspsychic.com.
- ^ Britt, R.: "Higher Education Fuels Stronger Belief in Ghosts" LiveScience, January 2006, Retrieved September 18, 2007.
- ISBN 978-0738730653.
- ^ "Psychics – myths & misconceptions". Archived from the original on April 16, 2007. Retrieved April 25, 2007.
- ^ "Science and Engineering Indicators 2006". National Science Board. 2006. Archived from the original on 2015-08-18.
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(help) - ^ Hyman, Ray (1995). "Evaluation of the program on anomalous mental phenomena". The Journal of Parapsychology. 59 (1). Archived from the original on 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
- ^ Akers, C. (1986). "Methodological Criticisms of Parapsychology, Advances in Parapsychological Research 4". PesquisaPSI. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
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(help) - ^ Child, I.L. (1987). "Criticism in Experimental Parapsychology, Advances in Parapsychological Research 5". PesquisaPSI. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
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(help) - ^ Wiseman, Richard; Smith, Matthew; et al. (1996). "Exploring possible sender-to-experimenter acoustic leakage in the PRL autoganzfeld experiments – Psychophysical Research Laboratories". The Journal of Parapsychology. Archived from the original on 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
- ^ EBauer, berhard (1984) "Criticism and Controversy in Parapsychology – An Overview Archived 2007-06-21 at the Wayback Machine", Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg, European Journal of Parapsychology, 5, 141–166 (2007-02-09)
- ^ O'Keeffe, Ciarán and Wiseman Richard (2005) "Testing alleged mediumship: Methods and results Archived 2007-02-07 at the Wayback Machine", British Journal of Psychology, 96, 165–17
- ^ Wiseman, Richard (2011). Paranormality. pp. 36–38.
- PMID 18095790. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2017-08-12. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
- ^ Science contradicts Psi, Skeptical Inquirer, July/August 2008
- ^ Shafer, R; Jadwiszczok, A. (2010). "Psychic defective: Sylvia Browne's history of failure". Skeptical Inquirer. 34 (2): 38–42.
- ^ "Putting Psychics to the Test". Chicago Tribune. 2011-09-21. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ a b c Palmer, Rob (March–April 2022). "The Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project: Pondering the Published Predictions of Prominent Psychics". Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
- ^ a b c Saunders, Richard. "The Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project" (PDF). The Skeptic. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
- ^ a b Palmer, Rob. "Belief in Psychics: What's the Harm and Who's to Blame?". Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
- ^ Palmer, Rob. "Introducing Psychic-Busting Private Eye Bob Nygaard (Part 1)". Skeptical Inquirer.
- ^ Palmer, Rob. "Introducing Psychic-Busting Private Eye Bob Nygaard (Part 2)". Skeptical Inquirer.
- Radford, Ben(2017). "Psychic Arrested in Exorcism Scam". Skeptical Inquirer. 41 (1). Committee for Skeptical Inquirer: 12–13.
- ^ Gerbic, Susan (23 March 2018). "Ten Tricks of the Psychics I Bet You Didn't Know". CSI. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
External links
Media related to Psychics at Wikimedia Commons