本文作者來自曼徹斯特城市大學(xué)，攻認(rèn)知心理學(xué)、通靈學(xué)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.

大體上，人們不會把讀心術(shù)和預(yù)言未來的能力和人類這個種族聯(lián)系在一起，而研究顯示有很多人真的相信通靈力量的存在。

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.

你會認(rèn)為，多年以來通靈人士被揭穿為騙子的情況會削弱主張通靈存在的可信度。歷史上已然存在一些案例，比如說匈牙利靈媒Lajos Pap，他在降神會上被人揭發(fā)假扮動物的外表。之后是在距今更近，自稱能通靈的詹姆斯·海德里克被發(fā)現(xiàn)是個騙子。海德里克坦白說他那些超自然的表演都是監(jiān)獄里學(xué)來的把戲。

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.

另一個值得注意的例子牽扯到電視福音派布道家彼得·波波夫。他的妻子利用無線發(fā)報機(jī)通過一枚耳機(jī)向波波夫播送在布道現(xiàn)場者的信息。波波夫聲稱自己是通過超自然方式接收到這些信息的，通過主持一檔全國電視節(jié)目而聲名大振，在此期間他表演針對觀眾的看似神跡的治愈術(shù)。

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.

但盡管存在這類前例，仍然有大量的人堅(jiān)信存在通靈的力量。比如說，按照美國蓋洛普公司的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查，超過四分之一的人相信人類擁有諸如心靈感應(yīng)和透視的通靈能力。
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The believers

信徒們

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.

最近的一份報告可以幫忙搞清楚為什么人們會繼續(xù)相信通靈之力。該研究測試了具有同等教育程度和學(xué)業(yè)成績的信徒和懷疑論者，然后發(fā)現(xiàn)相信通靈力量的人在思考時更不注重分析。這就意味著他們傾向于從主觀的個人視角出發(fā)去解讀世界，并且無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.

信徒也常常把聲稱通靈的情況作為確鑿的證據(jù)，完全不考慮有沒有證據(jù)作為基礎(chǔ)。自稱“夢中神探”的克里斯·羅賓森的案例就展現(xiàn)了這一點(diǎn)。

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.

羅賓森聲稱自己已經(jīng)預(yù)知到了恐怖襲擊、災(zāi)難和名人的死亡。他的斷言得自片面且可疑的證據(jù)。由亞利桑那大學(xué)的加里·施瓦茲進(jìn)行的測試支持了羅賓森能力的真實(shí)性，然而，其他使用了類似方法的研究者卻無法確認(rèn)施瓦茲的結(jié)論。
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Vague and general

含糊不清且籠統(tǒng)

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.

聲稱通靈往往流于籠統(tǒng)和含糊不清，比如預(yù)言一場空難或是名人的死亡，而這也部分解釋了為什么如此多的人相信通靈力量存在的可能性。

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

而這被稱為巴納姆效應(yīng)，是一種很普遍的心理現(xiàn)象，即人們傾向于接受含糊不清、籠統(tǒng)的性格刻畫，并將其視為符合他們自身特征的獨(dú)特刻畫。

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.

舉例來說，研究已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)：對他們性格特質(zhì)的刻畫，個體會給出很高的準(zhǔn)確度評分，這些刻畫本該是特別為他們量身定制的，而實(shí)際上則是含糊不清且籠統(tǒng)的，完全可以適用于各種不同的人群。該名稱取自馬戲團(tuán)人士泰勒·巴納姆，他因?yàn)榫ㄐ睦聿倏v而名聲在外。

Impossible to validate

無法驗(yàn)證

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.

許多聲稱通靈的情況也被證明為無法確認(rèn)。有過一個經(jīng)典的例證，就是尤里·蓋勒爭辯說，他能在96年歐洲杯賽上的一場點(diǎn)球大戰(zhàn)中，靠“念力”讓足球移動。球的運(yùn)動是在一個不受控的環(huán)境中自然發(fā)生的，而蓋勒是在事后回顧時作出這種斷言的。

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.

當(dāng)所聲稱的能力經(jīng)受科學(xué)審查時，總的來說研究者們是懷疑他們的。2007年電視紀(jì)錄片《百萬美元讀心者》中德雷克·奧格爾維便是這種情況。調(diào)查得出的結(jié)論是，奧格爾維是真的相信他擁有能力，但他給嬰兒讀心的時候失敗了。

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.

而當(dāng)科學(xué)家們對通靈表示認(rèn)可的時候，緊隨而來的往往是批判。這種情況發(fā)生在1970年代，當(dāng)時的物理學(xué)家羅素·塔爾格和哈羅德·普索夫，在頗有聲望的《自然》雜志發(fā)表了一篇論文，支持尤里·蓋勒真的擁有通靈能力的看法。而諸如雷·海曼的心理學(xué)家駁斥了這種看法，并強(qiáng)調(diào)了方法上的一些重大缺陷。這其中包括驗(yàn)證中的一個漏洞，這就讓蓋勒得以給出在“精神上”再現(xiàn)的視圖。

Mixed evidence

互相矛盾的證據(jù)
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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.

另一個助推信仰通靈能力的因素是產(chǎn)生積極發(fā)現(xiàn)的科學(xué)研究的存在。這強(qiáng)化了信徒的觀點(diǎn)，即斷言和現(xiàn)象俱為真，卻無視了已經(jīng)發(fā)布的研究常遭批判的事實(shí)，為了讓大眾接受的情況發(fā)生，再現(xiàn)（實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果）是必須的。

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.

這種情況的一個著名例子，是社會心理學(xué)家達(dá)里爾·貝姆在高端刊物《人格與社會心理學(xué)》里創(chuàng)作的一篇論文。據(jù)說該研究的發(fā)現(xiàn)支持了預(yù)知（有意識下的認(rèn)知化覺知）和感應(yīng)（感性化理解）未來事件能力的存在。但是其他研究者無法再現(xiàn)這些結(jié)果。

Mind set

思維定勢

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.

所以看起來，哪怕發(fā)生過偽造、欺詐以及證據(jù)互相矛盾的情況，人們?nèi)詴^續(xù)相信通靈這種現(xiàn)象。確實(shí)，研究者們已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)：三個美國人中就有一個覺得他們體驗(yàn)過通靈的瞬間，而且?guī)缀跻话氲拿绹月暦Q她們感覺到過靈魂的存在。

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.

無論這種情況是否要?dú)w咎于缺少分析技能，是真的有過體驗(yàn)，還是僅僅為了力圖讓這個世界更有趣一點(diǎn)，看起來信徒們還是會繼續(xù)相信的，哪怕科學(xué)指明的是相反的情況。