Today:
ESP/ESP Testing – Myth #3 Notes
Thursday:
Finalize Myth #3 Notes
Film/Film Worksheet
Monday:
Review/Notebook Preparation Sheet
Wednesday:
Test –
Myths 1 – 3/Mythbusting
Notebook DUE
Personality Quizzes DUE
Missing/Late Work and Notes DUE
Review DUE
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
MARK YOUR PLANNERS!!
Myth #3: Extrasensory Perception (ESP) is
a Well-Established Scientific Phenomenon
BELIEF IN ESP
Do You Have ESP?
Let’s test your
group the
same way
that experts
do.
What Are the Odds?
 15 correct = 25% (same odds as guessing)
 10 – 20 is average
 Anything more than 25 correct considered
“above chance” occurrence.
 Anyone telepathic?
 Replication?
What is ESP?
 ‘PSI’ phemonena, or “paranormal”
 3 varieties:
#1: Telepathy (communication mind-mind)
#2: Clairvoyance (gain info without senses)
#3: Precognition (future events)
#4: Psychokinesis (levitating a table)
Why Do People Believe In ESP?
 3 in 4 Americans believe in ESP phenomena
Why believe?
Reason 1 –
Easily persuaded by vivid anecdotes and
experiences.
 Mythbusting Toolkit #3 – We forget the
“misses” and remember the “hits”
 Confirmation Bias
 Overconfidence
Theresa Caputo, the Long Island Medium
http://www.theresacaputo.com/2014/12/knockshock-3/
Why Do People Believe In ESP?
Reason 2 We are unaware of factors that influence our
thought processes
David Copperfield
 Copperfield
 Explain
 Change Blindness
 Derron Brown
 Person Swap
 Whodunnit?
Whodunnit?
Why Do People Believe In ESP?
Reason 3 We fail to recognize chance occurrences for
what they are (illusory correlation)
King James version of the Bible was
completed when Shakespeare was 46
years old. In Psalms 46, the 46th work is
“shake” and the 46th word from the end is
“spear.” WOW….really?
Why Do People Believe In ESP?
Reason 4 We want to!
Belief Perseverance –
We continue to believe in something even after it has been
discredited
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZhOk6NHqQo
Putting ESP to the Test
Secrets of the Psychics
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a testable prediction, often
prompted by a theory, to enable us to accept,
reject or revise the theory.
People with low self-esteem are apt to feel
more depressed.
OR
People with telepathy can “see” the suit of a
card that another person is looking at.
Research Observations
Research would require us to administer tests of
self-esteem and depression.
Individuals who score low on a self-esteem test and
high on a depression test would provide
EVIDENCE for our hypothesis.
OR
People who get more than 30% correct in a card suit
reading REPEATEDLY are EVIDENCE of our
hypothesis.
Putting ESP to the Test
What parapsychology needs is REPRODUCIBLE
phenomena AND a THEORY to explain it.
How can we TEST ESP?
An experiment differs from a staged
demonstration.
In the lab, an experimenter CONTROLS what the
“psychic” sees & hears. On stage it is the “psychic”
in control.
How to test ESP
 Zener test
 20% correct
 Ganzfield test
Putting ESP to the Test
 Scientific American Frontiers
“Water, water, everywhere”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq4S6ArE7wc
 The experiment
Testing ESP claims
 Ray Hyman (2010)
Researching paranormal claims since 1957
“Parapsychology will achieve scientific
acceptability only when it provides a positive
theory with…independently replicable
evidence. This is something it has yet to
achieve after more than a century.”
Psychologist Daryl Bem
 9 experiments, seemed to show precognition
(2011)
When an erotic scene was about to appear on
screen in 1 of 2 randomly selected positions,
Cornell U participants guessed right 53.1% of
the time (barely beat 50%).
Replication begins!