by Will Storr
42 the unspoken thoughts of your doctor: R. H. Gracely et al., ‘Clinicians’ Expectations Influence Placebo Analgesia’, Lancet, January 1985.
42 when we know that our medication is pharmacologically useless: Ted J. Kaptchuk et al., ‘Placebos without Deception: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Irritable Bowel Syndrome’, PLoS, 22 December 2010.
43 Professor Nicholas Humphrey … writes: ‘The Evolved Self-Management System’, Edge, 12 May 2011.
43 Because it did: Dylan Evans, Placebo, HarperCollins, 2004, pp. 38–41, in particular his analysis of: S. Fisher and R. P. Greenburg, ‘How sound is the double blind design for evaluating psychotropic drugs?’, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 1993.
4: ‘Two John Lennons’
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45 For a 1979 study that has been widely replicated: H. Strupp, S. Hadley, ‘Specific versus non-specific factors in psychotherapy’, Archives of General Psychiatry [1979].
45 despite the fact that different varieties of therapy: M. L. Smith and G. V. Glass, The Benefits of Psychotherapy, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.
50 Maarten Peters and his team at Maastricht University: M. J. V. Peters, R. Horselenberg, M. Jelicic and H. Merckelbach, ‘The false fame illusion in people with memories about a previous life’, Consciousness and Cognition, March 2007.
50 Psychologists at Harvard University led by Susan Clancy: Susan A. Clancy, Richard J. McNally, Roger K. Pitman, Daniel L. Schacter and Mark F. Lenzenweger, ‘Memory Distortion in People Reporting Abduction by Aliens’, Journal of Abnormal Psychology 111 (2002).
50 Although this result wasn’t replicated in an attempt by UK researchers: Christopher C. French et al., ‘Psychological aspects of the alien contact experience’, Cortex 44 (2008), pp. 1387–95.
5: ‘Solidified, intensified, gross sensations’
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53 plenty of sound evidence for the efficacy of meditation: Michael Bond, ‘Putting meditation to the test’, New Scientist, 11 January 2011.
67 the events that spiralled from a single phone call to a Kentucky branch of McDonald’s: Andrew Wolfson, ‘A Hoax Most Cruel’, Courier Journal, 9 October 2005. ABC Primetime Special, originally broadcast 10 November 2005. ‘Strip Search Case Closed?’ ABC news website, 30 November 2006. Philip Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect, Rider, 2007, pp. 279–81.
70 In a 2012 paper, neuroscientist Professor Chris Frith: Chris D. Frith, ‘The role of metacognition in human social interactions’, Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society, Biological Sciences, p. 367.
71 In 1951, Professor Stanley Milgram’s boss, Dr Solomon Asch: S. E. Asch, ‘Studies of independence and conformity: A minority of one against a unanimous majority’, Psychological Monographs 70 (1951).
71 In 2005, Dr Gregory Berns, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist: Gregory S. Berns, Jonathan Chappelow, Caroline F. Zink, Giuseppe Pagnoni, Megan E. Martin-Skurski and Jim Richards, ‘Neurobiological correlates of social conformity and independence during mental rotation’, Biological Psychiatry 58 (2005), pp. 245–53.
72 In an interview with the New York Times: Sandra Blakeslee, ‘What Other People Say May Change What You See’, New York Times, 28 June 2005.
6: ‘The invisible actor at the centre of the world’
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73 six hundred million years ago: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 15.
73 first neurologically recognisable Homo sapiens, known as ‘Mitochondrial Eve’: ‘Colin Blakemore: how the human brain got bigger by accident and not through evolution’, Guardian, 28 March 2010.
73 prefrontal cortex, which enabled us to strategise, socialise and make lateral associations: Michael S. Gazzaniga, Human, Harper Perennial, 2008, pp. 19–20.
73 We left our sunny Eden in east Africa … evolutionary mystery took place: J. Anderson Thompon Jnr, Why We Believe in God(s), Pitchstone, 2011, pp. 34–37.
73 a sudden explosion in creativity: Michael S. Gazzaniga, Human, Harper Perennial, 2008, p. 215.
73–74 Even today, we remain … more than two million: J. Anderson Thompon Jnr, Why We Believe in God(s), Pitchstone, 2011, pp. 34–37.
74 two hundred and fifty thousand cells a minute: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. 30.
74 ‘an alien kind of computational material’: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 1.
74 capable of receiving millions of pieces of information at any given moment: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. x, quoting Strangers to Ourselves, by Timothy D. Wilson of the University of Virginia.
74 One cubic millimetre: Email to author from Professor Chris Frith.
74 It has eighty-six billion of these cells: James Randerson, ‘How many neurons make a human brain? Billions fewer than we thought’, Guardian, 28 February 2012.
74 each one is as complex as a city … a hundred trillion of them: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 1.
74 a hundred and twenty metres per second: Michael O’Shea, The Brain, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 8.
74–75 According to the neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran, ‘The number of permutations’: V. S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brain, Harper Perennial, 1998, p. 8.
75 And yet, he continues, ‘We know so little about it’: V. S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brain, Harper Perennial, 1998, p. 83.
75 Other mammals give birth to their young when their brains have developed: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 52.
75 babies create around 1.8 million synapses per second: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. 47.
75 Throughout childhood, the brain is extraordinarily alive: Bruce E. Wexler, Brain and Culture, MIT Press, 2008, p. 43.
75 In his book Brain and Culture Professor Bruce E. Wexler writes: Bruce E. Wexler, Brain and Culture, MIT Press, 2008, p. 5.
76 up to 90 per cent of what you are seeing right now: Richard Gregory, ‘Brainy Mind’, British Medical Journal 317 (1998), pp. 1693–95.
76 When writer Jeff Warren was trained to ‘wake up’: Jeff Warren, Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness, Oneworld, 2007, p. 117.
77 The light is not out there: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 40.
77 The music … rose petal has no colour: Richard Gregory, ‘Brainy Mind’, British Medical Journal 317, pp. 1693–95 (1998).
77 in the words of neuroscientist Professor Chris Frith: Chris Frith, Making up the Mind, Blackwell Publishing, 2007.
78 In a startling 1974 experiment that tested these principles: M. Solms and O. Turnbull, The Brain and the Inner World, Other Press, 2002, p. 154.
78 Scott Krepel, who was fitted with a cochlear implant: Interview with Ira Glass via Marc Holmes (interpreter), This American Life, first broadcast on WBEZ Chicago 25 March 2010.
79 Estimates vary … we are all living half a second in the past: Jeff Warren, Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness, Oneworld, 2007, p. 145.
79 One-third of the human brain is devoted to its processing: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 23.
79 Beyond ten degrees from this vivid centre: Chris Frith, Making up the Mind, Blackwell Publishing, 2007, p. 41.
79 happen up to five times per second: Susan Blackmore, Consciousness, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 57.
79 neuroscientist David Eagleman in his book Incognito: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 1.
80 in the back of each eye: Michael O’Shea, The Brain, Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 67, 68.
80 in the visual area of the striate cortex V4: Richard Gregory, ‘Brainy Mind’, British Medical Journal 317, pp. 1693–95 (1998).
80 some birds and insects have four, five or even six colour receptors: ‘Inside Animal Minds’, New Scientist, 20 August 2011, p. 34.
80 According t
o Professor Eagleman, ‘Our brain is …’: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 54.
80 less than a ten-trillionth of the spectrum is available to us: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 77.
81 it is, he says, a ‘map of signs about future possibilities’: Chris Frith, Making up the Mind, Blackwell Publishing, 2007, p. 41.
81 quotes a figure of over eleven million: Timothy D. Wilson, Strangers to Ourselves, Belknap Harvard, 2002, p. 24.
81 Professor John Gray has it at ‘perhaps 14 million’: John Gray, Straw Dogs, Granta, 2002, p. 66.
81 As V. S. Ramachandran writes, ‘The brain must have some way …’: V. S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brain, Harper Perennial, 1998, p. 134.
81 the maximum number of points of information we are able to appreciate consciously: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. x.
81 ‘One option is to revise your story …’ writes Ramachandran: V. S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brain, Harper Perennial, 1998, p. 134.
81 cartoon characters, loved ones and historical characters: Todd E. Feinberg, Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 9–10.
82 Ten per cent of elderly people … similar processes: Chris Frith, Making up the Mind, Blackwell Publishing, 2007, p. 30.
82 Dr Clarence W. Olsen has spoken: Todd E. Feinberg, Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 28–29.
82 it takes between two and three weeks for their unpleasant situation: V. S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brain, Harper Perennial, 1998, p. 150.
82 Academics at the University of Wisconsin: Daniel Levitin, ‘The illusion of music’, New Scientist, 23 February 2008.
82 V. S. Ramachandran has come across: V. S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brain, Harper Perennial, 1998, pp. 40–42.
83 our world is ‘not really … saints and sinners’: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 15.
83 In New Guinea, the Gururumba men: Dylan Evans, Emotion, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 13, 14.
83 Many South Koreans are terrified of ‘fan death’: ‘Newspapers fan belief in urban myth’, International Herald Tribune, 10 January 2007.
83 contractors carrying out huge public works: Colin Nickerson, ‘In Iceland, Spirits are in the Material World’, Boston Globe, 25 December 1999.
83 They have a family member hold their shrinking part in place: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. 151.
83 we believe that alcohol is a disinhibitor: Kate Fox, Watching the English, Hodder, 2004, p. 261.
84 Studies by researchers in Switzerland: Dominique de Quervain, Urs Fischbacher, Valerie Treyer, Melanie Schellhammer, Colin Schnyder, Alfred Buck and Ernst Fehr, ‘The Neural Basis of Altruistic Punishment’, Science 305, no. 5688, pp. 1254–58 (August 2004).
84 We have an additional, irresistible urge to divide the world: Graham Lawton, ‘The Grand Delusion’, New Scientist, 14 May 2011.
84 A study by three major US universities found: ‘Roots of Unconscious Prejudice Affect 90 to 95 percent of People’, Science Daily, 30 September 1998.
84 the only thing necessary to trigger tribal behaviour in humans: J. Anderson Thompson Jnr, Why We Believe in God(s), Pitchstone, 2011, p. 38.
84 social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson describe: Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), Pinter and Martin, 2007, p. 13.
85 Psychologists know this as the ‘makes sense stopping rule’: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 65.
86 One of the neatest looked at unconscious sexism: Graham Lawton, ‘The Grand Delusion’, New Scientist, 14 May 2011.
86 Psychologist Deanna Kuhn found: Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, Souvenir Press, 2007, pp. 299, 300.
86 One had people reading two arguments about the death penalty: Thomas Gilovich, How We Know What Isn’t So, Simon & Schuster, 1991, p. 54.
87 In 2004, clinical psychologist Drew Westen: Drew Westen, ‘The Political Brain’, Public Affairs, 2007, pp. x–xiv.
88 participants trying to find a photograph of themselves: Graham Lawton, ‘The Grand Delusion’, New Scientist, 14 May 2011.
88 participants reading an essay about Rasputin: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, pp. 62–63.
89 A cognitive error we all share, known as the spotlight effect: Graham Lawton, ‘The Grand Delusion’, New Scientist, 14 May 2011.
89 Gamblers rewrite their memories: Thomas Gilovich, How We Know What Isn’t So, Simon & Schuster, 1991, p. 55.
89 Athletes tend to put their victories down to training: Thomas Gilovich, How We Know What Isn’t So, Simon & Schuster, 1991, p. 55.
89 74 per cent of drivers: Graham Lawton, ‘The Grand Delusion’, New Scientist, 14 May 2011.
89 94 per cent of university professors: Thomas Gilovich, How We Know What Isn’t So, Simon & Schuster, 1991, p. 77.
89 When husbands and wives are asked to guess what percentage: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 69.
89 Half of all students in one survey predicted: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. 214.
89 having acted reasonably in the face of unfair provocation: Roy Baumeister, Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty, Barnes & Noble/W. H. Freeman, 1997, p. 43.
89 The Nazis believed that they were on a mission of good: Roy Baumeister, Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty, Barnes & Noble/W. H. Freeman, 1997, p. 34.
89 He writes, ‘The perpetrators of evil …’: Roy Baumeister, Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty, Barnes & Noble/W. H. Freeman, 1997, p. 38.
89 ‘many especially evil acts …’: Roy Baumeister, Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty, Barnes & Noble/W. H. Freeman, 1997, p. 29.
90 We typically have a bias that tells us we are less susceptible to bias: Emily Pronin, Daniel Y. Lin, Lee Ross, ‘The Bias Blind Spot: Perceptions of Bias in Self Versus Others’, Personal and Social Psychology Bulletin, March 2002.
7: ‘Quack’
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94 four million pounds a year: ‘NHS money “wasted” on homeopathy’, BBC News, 22 February 2010.
94 billions in … the US: ‘The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States’, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, December 2008.
94 Over fifteen thousand NHS prescriptions: Martin Beckford, ‘NHS spending on homeopathy prescriptions falls to £122,000’, Daily Telegraph, 30 August 2011.
94 score above 70 per cent: ‘NHS money “wasted”’ on homeopathy’, BBC News, 22 February 2010.
94 Questions have been asked in Parliament: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm100629/debtext/100629-0003.htm.
94 the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee recommended: ‘NHS money “wasted” on homeopathy’, BBC News, 22 February 2010.
94 Even ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair has become involved: ‘Blair downplays creationism fears’, BBC News, 2 November 2006.
94 an eightfold drop in NHS prescriptions: Martin Beckford, ‘NHS spending on homeopathy prescriptions falls to £122,000’, Daily Telegraph, 30 August 2011.
94–95 just 0.001 per cent of the NHS’s annual drug budget: Martin Beckford, ‘NHS spending on homeopathy prescriptions falls to £122,000’, Daily Telegraph, 30 August 2011.
96 which began in 1790: (The birth of homeopathy is sometimes placed at 1792, but 1790 apparently represents the start of Hahnemann’s experiments.) Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst, Trick or Treatment, Corgi, 2008, p. 119.
97 one molecule … in your pill is one in a billion billion billion billion: Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst, Trick or Treatment, Corgi, 2008, p. 124.
97 a sphere of water that stretches from the earth to the sun: Ben Goldacre, Bad Science, 4th Estate, 2008, p. 33.
99 It is said that Vith
oulkas dodged his judgement day: ‘George Vithoulkas Makes a Fool of Himself’, The Quackometer, 24 February 2010.
99 typically merciless statement that was published on Randi’s personal blog: James Randi, ‘A Correction’, Swift blog, 30 December 2008.
102 Written by Dr Michael Shermer: Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, Souvenir Press, 2007, pp. 309–331.
107 The American rationalist-celebrity Rebecca Watson: Rebecca Watson interview, YouTube, uploaded 7 July 2008.
107 This is why James Randi frequently rejects the title ‘debunker’: ‘The $18,000 question’, Straits Times, 30 May 1991.
108 the man Professor Chris French calls ‘the patron saint of the Skeptics’: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.
109 Randi himself has said that ‘any definitive tests … have been negative’: Interview [AP] St. Petersburg Times (Florida), 24 July 2007 and at JREF Staff page, http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/staff.html.
110 Nature, published a study: E. Davenas et al., ‘Human basophil degranulation triggered by very dilute antiserum against IgE’, Nature 333, June 1988.
110 Benveniste was initially sceptical of homeopathy: Heretics of Science, episode one, BBC2, 1994.
110 his best researcher, Dr Elisabeth Davenas: Heretics of Science, episode one, BBC2, 1994.
110 the results were reportedly replicated by four laboratories: Maddox, Stewart, Randi, ‘“High-dilution” experiments a delusion’, Nature, 28 July 1988. (Description of Nature replication that follows is sourced from the BBC documentary, the Nature articles and Trick or Treatment, by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst).
110 Dr Elisabeth Davenas – a homeopathy proponent: Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst, Trick or Treatment, Corgi, 2008, p. 151.
111 When the result was revealed, some of Benveniste’s scientists wept: Heretics of Science, episode one, BBC2, 1994.
111 Their report was published in Nature in July 1988: Maddox, Stewart, Randi, ‘“High-dilution” experiments a delusion’, Nature, 28 July 1988.
111 Benveniste fought back: ‘Dr Jacques Benveniste replies’, Nature, 28 July 1988.