本文作者来自曼彻斯特城市大学,攻认知心理学、通灵学方向~

Mind reading and the ability to predict thefuture are not skills people generally associate with the human race. Yet,research shows many people genuinely believe in the existence of psychicpowers.

大体上,人们不会把读心术和预言未来的能力和人类这个种族联系在一起,而研究显示有很多人真的相信通灵力量的存在。

You would think that instances of provenpsychic fraud over the years would weaken the credibility of psychic claims.There have been historical cases, such as Lajos Pap, the Hungarian spiritualistmedium, who was found to be faking animal appearances at seances. And then morerecently, self described psychic James Hydrick was revealed as a trickster.Hydrick confessed his paranormal demonstrations were tricks learned in prison.

你会认为,多年以来通灵人士被揭穿为骗子的情况会削弱主张通灵存在的可信度。历史上已然存在一些案例,比如说匈牙利灵媒Lajos Pap,他在降神会上被人揭发假扮动物的外表。之后是在距今更近,自称能通灵的詹姆斯·海德里克被发现是个骗子。海德里克坦白说他那些超自然的表演都是监狱里学来的把戏。
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Another notable example involvedtelevangelist Peter Popoff. His wife used a wireless transmitter to broadcastinformation about sermon attendees to Popoff via an earpiece. Popoff claimed toreceive this information by paranormal means and rose to fame hosting anationally televised programme, during which he performed seemingly miraculouscures on audience members.

另一个值得注意的例子牵扯到电视福音派布道家彼得·波波夫。他的妻子利用无线发报机通过一枚耳机向波波夫播送在布道现场者的信息。波波夫声称自己是通过超自然方式接收到这些信息的,通过主持一档全国电视节目而声名大振,在此期间他表演针对观众的看似神迹的治愈术。

But despite such cases, there are stillmany people who firmly believe in the power of psychic ability. According to aUS Gallup survey, for example, more than one-quarter of people believe humanshave psychic abilities – such as telepathy and clairvoyance.

但尽管存在这类前例,仍然有大量的人坚信存在通灵的力量。比如说,按照美国盖洛普公司的一项调查,超过四分之一的人相信人类拥有诸如心灵感应和透视的通灵能力。

The believers

信徒们

A recent report may help to shed some lighton why people continue to believe in psychic powers. The study tested believersand sceptics with the same level of education and academic performance andfound that people who believe in psychic powers think less analytically. Thismeans that they tend to interpret the world from a subjective personalperspective and fail to consider information critically.

最近的一份报告可以帮忙搞清楚为什么人们会继续相信通灵之力。该研究测试了具有同等教育程度和学业成绩的信徒和怀疑论者,然后发现相信通灵力量的人在思考时更不注重分析。这就意味着他们倾向于从主观的个人视角出发去解读世界,并且无法批判性地看待信息。

Believers also often view psychic claims asconfirmatory evidence – regardless of their evidential basis. The case of ChrisRobinson, who refers to himself as a “dream detective”, demonstrates this.

信徒也常常把声称通灵的情况作为确凿的证据,完全不考虑有没有证据作为基础。自称“梦中神探”的克里斯·罗宾森的案例就展现了这一点。

Robinson claims to have foreseen terroristattacks, disasters and celebrity deaths. His assertions derive from limited andquestionable evidence. Tests conducted by Gary Schwartz at the University ofArizona provided support for Robinson’s ability, however, other researchersusing similar methods failed to confirm Schwartz’s conclusion.

罗宾森声称自己已经预知到了恐怖袭击、灾难和名人的死亡。他的断言得自片面且可疑的证据。由亚利桑那大学的加里·施瓦兹进行的测试支持了罗宾森能力的真实性,然而,其他使用了类似方法的研究者却无法确认施瓦兹的结论。
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Vague and general

含糊不清且笼统

Psychic claims are often general and vague– such as foretelling a plane crash or celebrity death – and this is in partwhy so many people believe in the possibility of psychic abilities.

声称通灵往往流于笼统和含糊不清,比如预言一场空难或是名人的死亡,而这也部分解释了为什么如此多的人相信通灵力量存在的可能性。

This is known as The Barnum effect, acommon psychological phenomenon whereby people tend to accept vague, generalpersonality descxtions as uniquely applicable to themselves.

而这被称为巴纳姆效应,是一种很普遍的心理现象,即人们倾向于接受含糊不清、笼统的性格刻画,并将其视为符合他们自身特征的独特刻画。

Research for example, has shown thatindividuals give high accuracy ratings to descxtions of their personalitythat supposedly are tailored specifically to them, that are in fact vague andgeneral enough to apply to a wide range of people. The name references thecircus man Phineas Taylor Barnum, who had a reputation as a masterpsychological manipulator.

举例来说,研究已经发现:对他们性格特质的刻画,个体会给出很高的准确度评分,这些刻画本该是特别为他们量身定制的,而实际上则是含糊不清且笼统的,完全可以适用于各种不同的人群。该名称取自马戏团人士泰勒·巴纳姆,他因为精通心理操纵而名声在外。

Impossible to validate

无法验证

Many psychic claims have also provedimpossible to confirm. A classic illustration is Uri Geller’s contention thathe “willed” the football to move during a penalty kick at Euro 96. The ballmovement occurred spontaneously in an uncontrolled environment and Geller madethe claim retrospectively.

许多声称通灵的情况也被证明为无法确认。有过一个经典的例证,就是尤里·盖勒争辩说,他能在96年欧洲杯赛上的一场点球大战中,靠“念力”让足球移动。球的运动是在一个不受控的环境中自然发生的,而盖勒是在事后回顾时作出这种断言的。

When professed abilities are subject toscientific scrutiny researchers generally discredit them. This was true ofDerek Ogilvie in the 2007 TV documentary The Million Dollar Mind Reader.Investigation concluded Ogilvie genuinely believed he possessed powers, but wasnot actually able to read babies’ minds.

当所声称的能力经受科学审查时,总的来说研究者们是怀疑他们的。2007年电视纪录片《百万美元读心者》中德雷克·奥格尔维便是这种情况。调查得出的结论是,奥格尔维是真的相信他拥有能力,但他给婴儿读心的时候失败了。

And when scientists have endorsed psychicclaims, criticism has typically followed. This occurred in the 1970s whenphysicists Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff published a paper in the prestigiousjournal Nature, which supported the notion that Uri Geller possessed genuinepsychic ability. Psychologists, such as Ray Hyman refuted this – highlightingmajor methodological flaws. These included a hole in the laboratory wall thatafforded views of drawings that Geller “psychically” reproduced.

而当科学家们对通灵表示认可的时候,紧随而来的往往是批判。这种情况发生在1970年代,当时的物理学家罗素·塔尔格和哈罗德·普索夫,在颇有声望的《自然》杂志发表了一篇论文,支持尤里·盖勒真的拥有通灵能力的看法。而诸如雷·海曼的心理学家驳斥了这种看法,并强调了方法上的一些重大缺陷。这其中包括验证中的一个漏洞,这就让盖勒得以给出在“精神上”再现的视图。

Mixed evidence

互相矛盾的证据

Another factor that facilitates belief inpsychic ability is the existence of scientific research that provides positivefindings. This reinforces believers’ views that claims are genuine andphenomenon real, but ignores that fact that published studies are oftencriticised and replication is necessary in order for general acceptance tooccur.

另一个助推信仰通灵能力的因素是产生积极发现的科学研究的存在。这强化了信徒的观点,即断言和现象俱为真,却无视了已经发布的研究常遭批判的事实,为了让大众接受的情况发生,再现(实验结果)是必须的。

One prominent example of this was a paperproduced by social psychologist Daryl Bem in the high-quality Journal ofPersonality and Social Psychology. It was said the research showed support forthe existence of precognition (conscious cognitive awareness) and premonition(affective apprehension) of a future event. But other researchers failed toreproduce these results.

这种情况的一个著名例子,是社会心理学家达里尔·贝姆在高端刊物《人格与社会心理学》里创作的一篇论文。据说该研究的发现支持了预知(有意识下的认知化觉知)和感应(感性化理解)未来事件能力的存在。但是其他研究者无法再现这些结果。

Mind set

思维定势
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So it seems that despite occurrences offakery, forgery and fraudulence – as well as mixed evidence – people will stillcontinue to believe in psychic phenomena. Indeed, research has shown that onein three Americans feel they have experienced a psychic moment – and nearlyhalf of US women claim they have felt the presence of a spirit.

所以看起来,哪怕发生过伪造、欺诈以及证据互相矛盾的情况,人们仍会继续相信通灵这种现象。确实,研究者们已经发现:三个美国人中就有一个觉得他们体验过通灵的瞬间,而且几乎一半的美国女性声称她们感觉到过灵魂的存在。

Whether this is down to lack of analyticalskills, genuine experiences, or just in a bid to make the world a little bitmore interesting, it seems believers will continue to believe – despite scienceindicating otherwise.

无论这种情况是否要归咎于缺少分析技能,是真的有过体验,还是仅仅为了力图让这个世界更有趣一点,看起来信徒们还是会继续相信的,哪怕科学指明的是相反的情况。