Why W e Believe W eird T hings

1. Why We Believe Weird Things By Brandon Hirschi and David Linney

2. Why humans want to believe weird things • Most people just need something to believe. People need to make sense of things and find reasons for things. Even when the reason is bizarre and weird. Often people believe in higher beings to answer questions about the world and how it came to be.

3. Conspiracies • Many people believe that huge events in our history are conspiracies, for example 9/11, Pearl Harbor and Watergate. People believe that our government caused these events to show they have the ultimate power and control. • So why do people believe in conspiracies? Scientificamerican.com says people notice little things such as patternicity or believe in agenticity, where the world is ruled by invisible agents. (1) • Scientificamerican.com, August 12th, 2002

4. The Supernatural • Definition of Supernatural: “That which is not subject to the laws of nature.” • Basically, the supernatural is things/events we can’t explain in life with nature. Or things that don’t make sense. • In a college study, msnbc.com researchers have found that college students believe in, “psychics, witches, telepathy, channeling and a host of other questionable ideas. A full 40% said they believe in haunted houses.” (2) • Msnbc.com, 2011

5. Supernatural continued… • People have believed in supernatural things since the beginning of time. • Over time what we believe in the supernatural changes, for instance hundreds of years ago we believed in fairies and elves, and today we believe in UFO’s and ghost’s. • Some believe in the supernatural for answers to things of which they can’t explain. (msnbc.com 1-3)

6. Pseudoscience • Pseudoscience means false science. (biocab.org 1) • According to pseudoscience, reality relies on perception and our thoughts. Experiments don’t mean anything in pseudoscience. • When scientist can’t find answers to these, they turn to pseudoscience and come up with answers for them. • Biocab.org, 1999

7. Religious Peaks • Scientist have believed for years the only part of the brain that was involved in religious peaks was your temporal lobe. Scientist have found that several parts of the brain are used in religious experiences.

8. Religious Peaks continued • During your religious peaks, Scientist Newberg has found vast decrease of activity in the parietal lobe. • This lobe allows us to live in the real world and adjust through our lives. It helps us determine how far away things are. • When there is less activity in the parietal lobe, we lose the ability to differentiate from end and beginning in time and space. So basically, we become one with the universe. • Answers.com

9. Dogma of Cults • Dogma definition: system of principles about faith. • The dogma of cults views are that its beliefs have all the enlightened answered even if they have no factual proof. According to examiner.com, all consider all non-believers to be “devils” to their cult and should be considered a threat. (1) • Examiner.com, October 19th, 2011

10. Michael Shermer • A lot of people believe weird things, there’s even books about it. One very well known author on this subject is Michael Shermer. • This book is about why people come up with such crazy ideas and beliefs in order to find answers. Shermer believes that smarter people are more vulnerable to believing in weird things than those who are less intelligent because they need answers to explain life. (wikipedia.com 1) • Wikipedia.com, November 10th, 2011

11. Bibliography • Examiner.com • Wikipedia.com • Answers.com • Nami.org • Msnbc.msn.com • Biocab.org • Scientificamerican.org