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In reply to the discussion: Our brains have evolved to look for patterns and assign meaning, even when none exist. [View all]TlalocW
(15,373 posts)7. One explanation for certain so-called psychic phenomena
Falls into this category, as described by one of Shermer's colleagues, James Randi, who gave an example of someone feeling nervous about getting on a plane, and while on the flight, there's some turbulence, and the plane has to drop several thousand feet, etc. That person might believe they had a psychic prediction about the trip, but they're forgetting all the other times they were nervous before flying, and nothing happened. Something happened this time, and the brain wants to make a connection so it does, imperfectly.
And of course, the whole remembering the hits and forgetting the misses is what "psychics" and other flim-flam artists rely on when making their predictions or talking to your dead relatives, etc.
TlalocW
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Our brains have evolved to look for patterns and assign meaning, even when none exist. [View all]
cleanhippie
Mar 2012
OP
So basically saying science can be used to study the brain and the evolution of it is...
Humanist_Activist
Mar 2012
#5
The simplest example of this would be the constellations and looking for shapes in clouds...
Humanist_Activist
Mar 2012
#6
Exactly. And unfortunately, people still assign agenticity as seen in horoscopes.
cleanhippie
Mar 2012
#10
I don't forget that we live in groups, your explanation didn't have anything to do with groups.
Jim__
Mar 2012
#19
Anecdotal evidence: Astrology columns in newspapers. Useless gambling systems.
Jim Lane
Mar 2012
#21
Your answer indicates that you are far more prone to see patterns than to be overly skeptical.
Jim__
Mar 2012
#24
All it takes for overzealous pattern recognition to be an evolutionary advantage...
Silent3
Mar 2012
#50