Paranormality: Why we see what isn't there

by Richard Wiseman

  But Jones was not just concerned with getting his foot in the door and quashing any dissent. He also employed a third psychological weapon to help control the minds of his followers – he appeared to have a hotline to God and be able to perform miracles.

  Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of Miracles

  Many people followed Jones because he appeared to be able to perform miracles. During services Jones would ask those suffering from any illnesses to make their way to the front of the church. Reaching into their mouths, he would dramatically pull out a horrid mass of ‘cancerous’ tissue and announce that they were now cured. Sometimes the lame would apparently be instantly healed, with Jones telling them to throw away their walking aids and dance back up the aisle. He also claimed to hear the voice of God, calling out to people in the congregation and accurately revealing information about their lives. On one occasion more people than expected turned up for a service and Jones announced that he would feed the multitude by magically producing more food. A few minutes later, the door swung open and in walked a church member carrying two large trays filled with fried chicken.

  It was all a sham. The ‘cancers’ were actually rancid chicken gizzards that Jones concealed in his hand prior to ‘pulling’ them from people’s mouths. The curing of the ‘lame’ was created by a small inner circle of highly devoted followers pretending that they couldn’t walk. The information about the congregation was not God-given, but instead obtained by members of Jones’ ‘inner circle’ sifting through people’s rubbish bins for letters and other useful documentation. These individuals later described how they willingly assisted Jones because he told them that he was conserving his genuine supernatural powers for more important matters. And the miracle of the deep fried chicken? One member of the congregation later described how he saw the bearer of the trays arrive at the church a few moments before the miracle, armed with several buckets of food from Kentucky Fried Chicken. When Jones found out about the comment he put a mild poison in a piece of cake, gave it to the dissenting church member, and announced that God would punish his lies by giving him vomiting and diarrhoea.

  So was Jones’ mind control just about getting his foot in the door, creating conformity and performing miracles? In fact, there was also the important issue of self-justification.

  On Behaviour and Belief

  In 1959 Stanford University psychologist Elliot Aronson conducted a revealing study into the relationship between belief and behaviour.11 Let’s turn back the hands of time and imagine that you are a volunteer in that experiment.

  When you arrive at Aronson’s laboratory, a researcher asks you whether you would mind participating in a group discussion about the psychology of sex. Drooling, you say that you are open to the idea. The researcher then explains that some people have become very self-conscious during the discussion and so now all potential volunteers have to pass an ‘embarrassment’ test. You are handed a long list of highly evocative words (including many containing four letters) and two passages containing vivid descriptions of sexual activity. The researcher asks you to read both the list and passages out loud, while he rates the degree to which you are blushing. After much sanctioned cursing, the researcher says that the good news is that you have passed the test and so can now take part in the group discussion. However, the bad news is that the ‘embarrassment’ test has taken longer than anticipated, so the discussion has already started and you will just have to listen to the group this time around. The researcher shows you into a small cubicle, explains that all of the group members sit in separate rooms to ensure anonymity, and asks you to wear some headphones. You don the headphones and are rather disappointed to discover that after all you have been through, the group is having a rather dull discussion about a book called Sexual Behavior in Animals. Finally, the researcher returns and asks you to rate the degree to which you want to join the group.

  Like many psychology experiments, Aronson‘s study involved a considerable amount of deception. In reality, the entire experiment was not about the psychology of sex, but the psychology of belief. When participants arrived at the laboratory they were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Half of them went through the procedure described above, and were asked to read out highly evocative word lists and graphic passages. Those in the other group were asked to read out far less emotionally charged words (think ‘prostitute’ and ‘virgin’). Everyone then heard the same recorded group discussion and was asked to rate the degree to which they valued being a member of the group. Most psychologists in Aronson’s day would have predicted that those who underwent the more embarrassing procedure would end up liking the group less because they would associate it with a highly negative experience. However, Aronson’s work into the psychology of self-justification had led him to expect a quite different set of results. Aronson speculated that those who had read out the more evocative sexual material would justify their increased embarrassment by convincing themselves that the group was worth joining, and end up thinking more highly of it. Aronson’s predictions proved correct. Even though everyone had heard the same recording of the group discussion, those who underwent the more extreme embarrassment test rated joining the group as far more desirable than those in the ‘prostitute and virgin’ group.

  Aronson’s findings help explain why many groups demand that potential members undergo painful and humiliating initiation rituals. American college fraternities make freshmen eat unpleasant substances or strip naked, the military put new recruits through extreme training, and medical interns are expected to work night and day before becoming fully fledged doctors. Jones used the same tactics to encourage people to feel committed to the Peoples Temple. Members of the congregation had to endure long meetings, write self-incriminating letters, give their property to the Temple, and allow their children to be raised by other families. If Jones suspected someone of behaving in a way that was not in the interests of the Temple, he would ask other members of the congregation to punish them. Common sense would predict that these acts would drive people away from both Jones and the Peoples Temple. In reality, the psychology of self-justification ensured that it actually moved them closer to the cause.

  The mind control exhibited by the likes of Jim Jones does not involve any hypnotic trances or prey on the suggestible. Instead, it uses four key principles. The first involves a slow ratcheting up of involvement. Once a cult leader has his foot in the door, they ask for greater levels of involvement until suddenly followers find themselves fully immersed in the movement. Second, any dissenting voices are removed from the group. Sceptics are driven away and the group is increasingly isolated from the outside world. Then there are the miracles. By appearing to perform the impossible, cult leaders often convince their followers that they have direct access to God and therefore should not be questioned. Finally, there is self-justification. You might imagine that asking someone to carry out a bizarre or painful ritual would encourage them to dislike the group. In reality, the opposite is true. By taking part in these rituals followers justify their suffering by adopting more positive attitudes towards the group.

  Of course, it would be nice to think that if the group had not been so isolated from society, it might have been possible to undo the effects of these techniques, explain the madness of their ways, and avert a major tragedy. However, our final sojourn into the world of cults suggests that this is a naive view of those that have fallen under the spell of a charismatic leader.

  HOW TO AVOID BEING BRAINWASHED

  It is easy to avoid having your mind controlled providing that you look out for the following four danger signs.

  1. Do you feel as if the 'foot in the door' technique might be at work? Did the organization or person start by asking you to carry out small acts of commitment or devotion, and then slowly increase their requirements? If so, do you really want to go along with their requests or are you being manipulated?

  2. Be wary of any organization that attempts to distance you from a dissenting point of view. Ar
e they trying to cut you off from friends and family? Within the organization, is dissent and open discussion squashed? If the answer to either of these questions is 'yes', think carefully about any involvement.

  3. Does the leader of the organization claim to be able to achieve paranormal miracles? Perhaps healings or acts of prophecy? However impressive, these are likely to be the result of self-delusion or deception. Don't be swayed by supernatural phenomena until you have investigated them yourself.

  4. Does the organization require any painful, difficult or humiliating initiation rituals? Remember that these may well be designed to manufacture an increased sense of group allegiance. Ask yourself whether any suffering is really needed.

  The End of the World is Nigh

  In the early 1950s, psychologist Leon Festinger came across an item in a local newspaper describing how a cult-like group was predicting the end of the world. According to the article, a woman named Marian Keech was indulging in a spot of automatic writing and claimed that the messages were from aliens. Keech had convinced a small group of 11 followers that there would be a great flood on 21 December 1954, but that they shouldn’t worry because a flying saucer would rescue them just before the disaster.

  Festinger wondered what would happen to Keech and her followers when the anticipated flood and flying saucers failed to materialize. To find out, he secretly had several undercover observers infiltrate the group and carefully record every psychological twist and turn. Describing his findings in a book entitled When Prophecy Fails (which gives you a clue as to whether the spacecraft actually arrived), Festinger produced a fascinating insight into the psychology of the cult.12

  A few days before the group expected the world to end, Mrs Keech and her followers were buoyant, with one member even baking a large cake depicting the mother ship and bearing the iced message ‘Up in the air!’ On the big day the group were nervous and excited. The aliens had sent several messages to Keech explaining that they would knock on her door at midnight and lead the group to their nearby flying saucer (apparently there was no parking directly outside the house). The aliens had also said that it was vital that no one had any metal on them, and so for several hours before the anticipated visit the group members replaced their belts with string, carefully cut any zippers from their clothing, and ripped out the eyelets from their shoes. Keech’s books of automatic scribbling were then placed in a large shopping bag and everyone waited for the aliens.

  Just after midnight it became obvious that the extraterrestrial visitors were a no-show. The group sat in stunned silence and spent the next four hours trying to find an explanation for what had happened. When they failed, Keech began to cry. However, a few hours later she said that she had received another message from the aliens, explaining that the predicted cataclysm had been called off because the group had managed to spread light upon the world. Festinger’s study illustrates how people have a remarkable ability to explain away evidence rather than change their cherished beliefs. This ‘I have made up my mind, don’t confuse me with the facts’ approach helps their beliefs emerge unscathed through even the most devastating attacks. Only two members of Keech’s group, both of whom were lightly committed to begin with, abandoned their belief in the guru’s writings.

  Festinger noticed that rather than walk away with their tails between their legs, many members of the group subsequently became especially eager to spread the word. Prior to the failed prediction the group shunned publicity and only gave interviews grudgingly. Immediately afterwards they contacted the media and began an urgent campaign to spread their message. Festinger explained this curious behaviour by speculating that they were trying to convince themselves that their belief was correct by convincing others, feeling that if lots of people believe in something then clearly there must be something in it.

  Eventually the group broke up and everyone went their separate ways. Some took to the road, travelling from one flying saucer convention to the next spreading the good word. Others returned to their previous lives. Keech became increasingly concerned about attention from law enforcement agencies and went into hiding. After spending several years in Peru, Keech returned to Arizona and continued to claim to be in contact with aliens until her death in 1992.

  It would be comforting to think that the type of mind control discussed in this chapter is limited to the somewhat bizarre and esoteric world of cults. Comforting, but wrong. In fact, you frequently encounter exactly the same principles of persuasion in everyday life. Salespeople use the ‘foot in the door’ technique to secure a sale. Politicians attempt to silence dissenting voices and misdirect you away from information that they don’t want you to see. Marketeers make liberal use of the ‘self-justification’ principle, well aware that the more you pay for a product, the more mental hoops you will jump through to justify the purchase. And advertising agencies know that, in the same way that Marian Keech’s followers boosted their own beliefs by trying to convert others, you recommend products to friends and colleagues in an attempt to convince yourself that you made the right decision. Although the contexts in which the principles operate differ, the psychology is exactly the same. The practitioners of mind control are not restricted to cult leaders and religious sects. Instead, they walk among us on a daily basis.

  7. PROPHECY

  In which we find out whether Abraham Lincoln

  really did foresee his own death, learn how to

  control our dreams and delve deep into the

  remarkable world of sleep science.

  Aberfan is a small village in South Wales. In the 1960s, many of those living there worked at a nearby colliery that had been built to exploit the large amount of high quality coal in the area. Although some of the waste from the mining operation had been stored underground, much of it had been piled on the steep hillsides surrounding the village. Throughout October 1966 heavy rain lashed down on the area and seeped into the porous sandstone of the hills. Unfortunately, no one realized that the water was then flowing into several hidden springs and slowly transforming the pit waste into soft slurry.

  Just after nine o’clock on the morning of 21 October, the side of the hill subsided and half a million tonnes of debris started to move rapidly towards the village. Although some of the material came to a halt on the lower parts of the hill, much of it slid into Aberfan and smashed into the village school. Several classrooms were instantly filled with a ten metre deep mass of slurry. The pupils had left the school assembly hall a few moments before, having sung the hymn ‘All things bright and beautiful’, and so were just arriving in their classrooms when the landslide hit. Parents and police rushed to the school and frantically began digging through the rubble. Although a handful of children were pulled out alive during the first hour or so of the rescue effort, no other survivors emerged. One hundred and thirty-nine schoolchildren and five teachers lost their lives in the tragedy.

  Psychiatrist John Barker visited the village the day after the landslide.1 Barker had a longstanding interest in the paranormal and wondered whether the extreme nature of events in Aberfan might have caused large numbers of people to experience a premonition about the tragedy. To find out, Barker arranged for the Evening Standard newspaper to ask any readers who thought they had foreseen the Aberfan disaster to get in touch. He received 60 letters from across England and Wales, with over half of the respondents claiming that their apparent premonition had come to them during a dream.

  One of the most striking experiences was submitted by the parents of a ten-year-old child who perished in the tragedy. The day before the landslide their daughter described dreaming about trying to go to school, but said that there was ‘no school there’ because ‘something black had come down all over it’. In another example, Mrs M.H., a 54-year-old woman from Barnstaple, said that the night before the tragedy she had dreamed that a group of children were trapped in a rectangular room. In her dream, the end of the room was blocked by several wooden bars and the children were trying to climb over the
bars. Mrs M.H. was sufficiently worried by the dream to telephone her son and daughter-in-law, and tell them to take special care of their two small daughters. Another respondent, Mrs G.E. from Sidcup, said that a week before the landslide she had dreamed about a group of screaming children being covered by an avalanche of coal, and two months before the tragedy Mrs S.B. from London had dreamed about a school on a hillside, an avalanche and children losing their lives. And so the list went on.

  Barker was impressed with his findings and in 1966 set up the British Premonitions Bureau. The public were asked to submit their alleged premonitions to the Bureau in the hope that Barker would be able to predict, and possibly avert, future tragedies. Unfortunately, his idea didn’t catch on. Although his Bureau received about a thousand predictions, the bulk of them came from just six people.2 Perhaps the strangest story to emerge from the project came from one of these alleged ‘precogs’, a 44-year-old night telephone operator named Alan Hencher. Hencher usually specialized in predicting air crashes and other major accidents; however, in 1967 he contacted the Bureau to register a far more personal premonition. In what must have been one of the more difficult conversations in the history of parapsychology, Hencher informed Bureau Chief John Barker that Barker would soon die. His comments proved uncannily accurate, with Barker suddenly passing away the following year, aged just 44. To add irony to injury, Barker had previously written a book entitled Scared To Death, in which he argued that hearing a premonition of your own demise may induce a deep-seated fear that affects the body’s immune system and could result in death. The British Premonitions Bureau closed a few years later due to lack of funds. Apparently, neither Hencher nor any of the other expert precogs foresaw the closure.