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Halloween: Belief in Ghosts, Goblins and Witches. An academic perspective Friday, October 23, 2009 Why People Believe in Strange Things: In the absence of sound science, incomplete information can combine with the power of suggestion, says Claremont Graduate University researcher Video clip of Shermer on Ted.tv Half of Americans believe in ghosts, 20% of Americans feel they have the ability to talk to the dead, 75% of Americans say they believe in hell, two-thirds claim to believe in the devil, 25% of Americans think witches are real, and 5% say they think vampires exist. Why? Academic and author Michael Shermer can discuss myths from an academic perspective—why we love to believe in things that aren’t real or cannot be proven. "We're pattern seeking primates that connect dots," Shermer says. "So when there is something strange in our lives, we automatically try and make sense of it with something we understand. Sometimes, the only explanation is something we may never have even actually seen before, but 'know about' through culture. Evolutionarily, human beings are not 'hard-wired' to understand something being simply 'random.' It has to have some meaning, so we attribute 'weird phenomenon' to some context. (That's why we turn shadows into human faces or forms and wind in the trees into voices.) And in some 'unexplained' cases, our only 'explanation' is a ghost or an angel looking down from above, etc. "Ultimately, it is beneficial for us to 'jump to conclusions' because if we're wrong, nothing is lost. We just over-reacted, that’s all. So those 'bumps in the night' shouldn't be ignored. We know that instinctively." "Our society today though, is less inclined to believe in witches, vampires, zombies and other creatures. America today is much more science driven than it was in the Middle Ages in Europe 1000 years ago." Shermer is a professor at Claremont Graduate University in CA and founder of the Skeptics Society, which is an educational organization that promotes science and critical thinking. Shermer has appeared on many television and radio shows in the past. Interviews can be scheduled with Nick Johnson, Director of Online Communications: nikolaos.johnson@cgu.edu or 909-621-8396. Go to the Index...
Friday, October 23, 2009
Why People Believe in Strange Things: In the absence of sound science, incomplete information can combine with the power of suggestion, says Claremont Graduate University researcher
Video clip of Shermer on Ted.tv
Half of Americans believe in ghosts, 20% of Americans feel they have the ability to talk to the dead, 75% of Americans say they believe in hell, two-thirds claim to believe in the devil, 25% of Americans think witches are real, and 5% say they think vampires exist. Why? Academic and author Michael Shermer can discuss myths from an academic perspective—why we love to believe in things that aren’t real or cannot be proven. "We're pattern seeking primates that connect dots," Shermer says. "So when there is something strange in our lives, we automatically try and make sense of it with something we understand. Sometimes, the only explanation is something we may never have even actually seen before, but 'know about' through culture. Evolutionarily, human beings are not 'hard-wired' to understand something being simply 'random.' It has to have some meaning, so we attribute 'weird phenomenon' to some context. (That's why we turn shadows into human faces or forms and wind in the trees into voices.) And in some 'unexplained' cases, our only 'explanation' is a ghost or an angel looking down from above, etc. "Ultimately, it is beneficial for us to 'jump to conclusions' because if we're wrong, nothing is lost. We just over-reacted, that’s all. So those 'bumps in the night' shouldn't be ignored. We know that instinctively." "Our society today though, is less inclined to believe in witches, vampires, zombies and other creatures. America today is much more science driven than it was in the Middle Ages in Europe 1000 years ago." Shermer is a professor at Claremont Graduate University in CA and founder of the Skeptics Society, which is an educational organization that promotes science and critical thinking. Shermer has appeared on many television and radio shows in the past. Interviews can be scheduled with Nick Johnson, Director of Online Communications: nikolaos.johnson@cgu.edu or 909-621-8396.
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