Why do we believe in the paranormal? If we were to ask a skeptic, he/she may say something such as our brain is just trying to make sense out of nonsense or an individual’s upbringing, culture and beliefs affects his/her perception of what’s real and what isn’t. If we were to ask a believer the same question, he/she may say something such as you have a gift or there must be a reason why you’re being contacted. Whether we believe in the supernatural or not, the unknown is everywhere, if people didn’t believe there were ghost, spirits, demons, etc, then why address it in books, educated journals, magazines, T.V shows or movies. Moreover, what’s the difference between believing in the paranormal or believing in the existence of higher being(s). When people talk about believing in the paranormal, some see them as delirious, however most of us believe in a higher power.
I’m sure all of us at one point or another have at least felt a ghostly presence behind us, or we have heard something, or perhaps seen something. However, as educated people we force ourselves to think about logical explanations for these events. Nevertheless, the question is why do we force ourselves to think about logical explanations, I mean after all everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Therefore, why not shout it out that we have seen something weird?, why try to evaluate the situation more than we have to?, Why not explore where these noises came from? Or are we just too afraid to be consider crazy. If that’s the case then why according to the periodic surveys by Gallup and other pollsters, about 90% of Americans have experienced such things or believe they exist (Begley, Springen, Soller p.56-60). Perhaps, the paranormal is real, but not everything is so simple, if one believes in a higher being, what part of our bodies believe in such things. Is it our hearts? Is it our brains? or does one believe just to fit in. Our nature is to question everything we know and everything we do not know, we have been asking questions since we were able to talk. Therefore, it is only fair to explore and evaluate what believers and nonbelievers have to say about the paranormal.
Some researchers in evolutionary psychology and neurobiology have agreed that there are some correlations between believing in the paranormal and the metal process that we use for reasoning and perception (Begley, Springen, Soller p. 56-60). Research has also shown that the brain's sensory regions, including vision, depend on higher-order systems and if our attention isn’t fully focused on something, images that go through the retina are kept in the visual cortex and never get send to the brain. Therefore, such images can’t be processed and examined critically by the brain allowing it to try to explain something we thought we saw (Palmer, Neppe p.75-95). It only makes sense that sometimes when we think we saw something we take a second look and most of the time when we do take a second look what we thought we saw is no longer there. Perhaps, could it be possible that maybe we didn’t see anything and our brains are just trying to make out shapes or fill in the blanks, because our brains like to organize and make sense out of the images we thought we saw.
Other studies show through brain imaging that certain regions of the brain become active when people think they have seen or heard something, the interesting part is that the same regions of the brain become activated when we really do see or hear something in real life. According to these studies, the visual cortex becomes active when we think we saw an image and our auditory cortex become active when we think we heard something. These studies have led researchers to believe that maybe if we think hard enough about something we think is there, our brains lead us to believe there really was something there, even if there wasn’t.
Other studies show that dopamine is the main reason why people think they see or hear something. In a study that studied both believers and nonbelievers, noted that people who believe in the paranormal produced more dopamine than the nonbelievers did (Perry p.1093-1114). The study also stated that the individuals who believe in the paranormal produced more dopamine when feeling afraid or when sensing fear. Therefore, increasing the sense of being watch, seeing things, hearing strange noises and other strange paranormal activity. Another study found that individuals with more sensitive temporal lobes are more likely experience paranormal experiences. In addition, the study noted that people who believe in the paranormal shared similar activity within the right hemisphere, especially in the parietal and temporal regions. Additional experiments have shown that like many individuals who report paranormal experience; show a marked sensitivity to application of complex magnetic fields over the right hemisphere of the brain ( Persinger, Makarec, p. 179-195.).
Overall, all studies have suggested paranormal experiences are just products of our brains trying to make sense of images or noises we pick up, but we don’t fully give them our attention, or when we already feel afraid or if we believe we are being watch or if our brains are just simply more sensitive than others. I think, it is possible for our brains to function differently since not everyone is the same. I also agree that our culture, our beliefs and our upbringings affect what we believe to be real or what we believe not to be real. One has to challenge and question what we know and what we don’t know, so when we have to defend our beliefs one can respect both perspectives and give an educated response.
Reference list
1) Begley, Sharon, Karen Springen, and Kurt Soller. "WHY WE BELIEVE." Newsweek 152.18 (2008): 56-60. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 13 Dec. 2010.
2) Michael A. Persinger The Neuropsychiatry of Paranormal Experiences
J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci, Nov 2001; 13: 515 - 524. http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/13/4/515
J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci, Nov 2001; 13: 515 - 524. http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/13/4/515
3) Palmer, John, and Vernon M. Neppe. "A controlled analysis of subjective paranormal experiences in temporal lobe dysfunction in a neuropsychiatric population." Journal of Parapsychology 67.1 (2003): 75-95. PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 13 Dec. 2010.
4) Perry, Elaine. "Conscious awareness and neurotransmitter signalling: Possible non-local interactions?." International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 10.12 (1995): 1093-1094. PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 13 Dec. 2010.
5) Palmer, John, and Vernon M. Neppe. "A controlled analysis of subjective paranormal experiences in temporal lobe dysfunction in a neuropsychiatric population." Journal of Parapsychology 67.1 (2003): 75-95. PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 13 Dec. 2010.
6) Webber, Rebecca. "ME SEARCH." Psychology Today 41.4 (2008): 76-84. Health Source - Consumer Edition. EBSCO. Web. 13 Dec. 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment