Seeker+ | Is Believing In Ghosts Good For You? @DNewsPlus | Uploaded October 2021 | Updated October 2024, 4 days ago.
Now that we’ve covered whether or not ghosts are real and what really happens when we die - if you missed those episodes, go check them out - let’s talk about the good and bad in believing in them. One take on why people see ghosts or believe in the paranormal is that it’s a decent coping strategy. According to a psychologist who studies judgement and pattern perception, it is really hard to deal with unpredictability and chaos in the world.
Watch the other episodes in this series:
Part 1 - Can Science Prove Whether Ghosts Are Real or Not?
youtube.com/watch?v=BGjIfTeGONU
Part 2 - This Is What Science Has To Say About The Soul
youtube.com/watch?v=m8D3xn1H6Zs
» Subscribe to Seeker+! bit.ly/SeekerPlusSubscribe (then hit the little 🔔 icon and select “all.“)
» Watch more! bit.ly/SeekerPlusPlaylist
» Visit our shop at shop.seeker.com
People who believe in the paranormal also tend to have higher confidence in their decisions than skeptics. They also make ambiguous decisions faster.
There’s also the emotional side to it. We don’t like the idea of our own death, so ghosts are a way that people can live on.
In a similar fashion, believing in ghosts can be good for society because, in many cultures, ghost stories are used to teach ethics and morality.
Thinking about one of the biggest Halloween tropes, ghosts tend to exist for good reasons. They can’t “move on” after death because they have unfinished business - an unsolved murder, a poor relationship on Earth or a need for justice.
Being afraid of this teaches people alive now to be careful about the way that they act. So ghost stories are a way for us to remind each other that the things we do matter beyond just our short lifespans.
#ghosts #afterlife #paranormal #seekerplus
Read More:
The Science Behind The World’s Most Convincing Ghost Effect
“Special effects wizards have been using this technique to scare and mystify audiences for centuries.”
vice.com/en/article/aekye5/the-science-behind-the-worlds-most-convincing-ghost-effect
Why Do People Believe in Ghosts?
“Recent surveys have shown that a significant portion of the population believes in ghosts, leading some scholars to conclude that we are witnessing a revival of paranormal beliefs in Western society.”
theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/why-do-people-believe-in-ghosts/379072
Individuals Who Believe in the Paranormal Expose Themselves to Biased Information and Develop More Causal Illusions than Nonbelievers in the Laboratory
“In the reasoning literature, paranormal beliefs have been proposed to be linked to two related phenomena: a biased perception of causality and a biased information-sampling strategy (believers tend to test fewer hypotheses and prefer confirmatory information). In parallel, recent contingency learning studies showed that, when two unrelated events coincide frequently, individuals interpret this ambiguous pattern as evidence of a causal relationship.”
journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0131378
--
Seeker+ is your home for deep dives, fun facts, rabbit holes, and more. Join host Julian Huguet as he unapologetically nerds out on the oddball history, astounding science and intriguing future around topics that will make you the smartest person at your next trivia night.
--
Seeker empowers the curious to understand the science shaping our world. We tell award-winning stories about the natural forces and groundbreaking innovations that impact our lives, our planet, and our universe.
Follow us on TikTok: tiktok.com/@seeker
Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/seeker
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/seeker
Now that we’ve covered whether or not ghosts are real and what really happens when we die - if you missed those episodes, go check them out - let’s talk about the good and bad in believing in them. One take on why people see ghosts or believe in the paranormal is that it’s a decent coping strategy. According to a psychologist who studies judgement and pattern perception, it is really hard to deal with unpredictability and chaos in the world.
Watch the other episodes in this series:
Part 1 - Can Science Prove Whether Ghosts Are Real or Not?
youtube.com/watch?v=BGjIfTeGONU
Part 2 - This Is What Science Has To Say About The Soul
youtube.com/watch?v=m8D3xn1H6Zs
» Subscribe to Seeker+! bit.ly/SeekerPlusSubscribe (then hit the little 🔔 icon and select “all.“)
» Watch more! bit.ly/SeekerPlusPlaylist
» Visit our shop at shop.seeker.com
People who believe in the paranormal also tend to have higher confidence in their decisions than skeptics. They also make ambiguous decisions faster.
There’s also the emotional side to it. We don’t like the idea of our own death, so ghosts are a way that people can live on.
In a similar fashion, believing in ghosts can be good for society because, in many cultures, ghost stories are used to teach ethics and morality.
Thinking about one of the biggest Halloween tropes, ghosts tend to exist for good reasons. They can’t “move on” after death because they have unfinished business - an unsolved murder, a poor relationship on Earth or a need for justice.
Being afraid of this teaches people alive now to be careful about the way that they act. So ghost stories are a way for us to remind each other that the things we do matter beyond just our short lifespans.
#ghosts #afterlife #paranormal #seekerplus
Read More:
The Science Behind The World’s Most Convincing Ghost Effect
“Special effects wizards have been using this technique to scare and mystify audiences for centuries.”
vice.com/en/article/aekye5/the-science-behind-the-worlds-most-convincing-ghost-effect
Why Do People Believe in Ghosts?
“Recent surveys have shown that a significant portion of the population believes in ghosts, leading some scholars to conclude that we are witnessing a revival of paranormal beliefs in Western society.”
theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/why-do-people-believe-in-ghosts/379072
Individuals Who Believe in the Paranormal Expose Themselves to Biased Information and Develop More Causal Illusions than Nonbelievers in the Laboratory
“In the reasoning literature, paranormal beliefs have been proposed to be linked to two related phenomena: a biased perception of causality and a biased information-sampling strategy (believers tend to test fewer hypotheses and prefer confirmatory information). In parallel, recent contingency learning studies showed that, when two unrelated events coincide frequently, individuals interpret this ambiguous pattern as evidence of a causal relationship.”
journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0131378
--
Seeker+ is your home for deep dives, fun facts, rabbit holes, and more. Join host Julian Huguet as he unapologetically nerds out on the oddball history, astounding science and intriguing future around topics that will make you the smartest person at your next trivia night.
--
Seeker empowers the curious to understand the science shaping our world. We tell award-winning stories about the natural forces and groundbreaking innovations that impact our lives, our planet, and our universe.
Follow us on TikTok: tiktok.com/@seeker
Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/seeker
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/seeker
