Supersense

Could you stab a copy of a photograph of a loved one through the eyes?

Now consider all three. What order would you rank them in from the least to the worst act? Try this list out with others (maybe as an after-dinner conversation) and see if you all agree. I bet you will not.

IS YOUR SUPERSENSE STRONG?

The ‘magical ideation’ scale that I talked about in chapter 9 is a measure of one’s tendency to the supersense. It was devised by Mark Eckblad and Loren Chapman from the University of Wisonsin-Madison in 1983 and has been used to look at magical (supernatural) thinking in the general public. How do you score on this? Read each item and tick the true or false box.

  1

Some people can make me aware of them just by thinking about me.

False

True

  2

I have had the momentary feeling that I might not be human.

False

True

  3

I have sometimes been fearful of stepping on pavement cracks.

False

True

  4

I think I could learn to read other peoples’ minds if I wanted to.

False

True

  5

Horoscopes are right too often for it to be a coincidence.

False

True

  6

Things sometimes seem to be in different places when I get home, even though no one has been there.

False

True

  7

Numbers like 13 and 7 have no special power.

True

False

  8

I have occasionally had the silly feeling that a TV or radio broadcaster knew I was listening to them.

False

True

  9

I have worried that other people on other planets may be influencing what is happening on earth

False

True

  10

The government refuses to tell the truth about flying saucers.

False

True

  11

I have felt that there were messages for me in the way things are arranged, like in a store window.

False

True

  12

I have never doubted that my dreams are the products of my own mind.

True

False

  13

Good luck charms don’t work.

True

False

  14

I have noticed sounds on my records that are not there at other times.

False

True

  15

The hand motions that strangers make seem to influence me at times.

False

True

  16

I almost never dream about things before they happen.

True

False

  17

I have had the momentary feeling that someone’s place has been taken by a look-alike.

False

True

  18

It is not possible to harm others merely by thinking bad thoughts about them.

True

False

  19

I have sometimes sensed an evil presence around me, although I could not see it.

False

True

  20

I sometimes have a feeling of gaining or losing energy when certain people look at me or touch me.

False

True

  21

I have sometimes had the passing thought that strangers are in love with me.

False

True

  22

I have never had the feeling that certain thoughts of mine really belonged to someone else.

True

False

  23

When introduced to strangers, I rarely wonder whether I have known them before.

True

False

  24

If reincarnation were true, it would explain some unusual experiences I have had.

False

True

  25

People often behave so strangely that one wonders if they are part of an experiment.

False

True

  26

At times I perform certain little rituals to ward off negative influences.

False

True

  27

I have felt that I might cause something to happen just by thinking about it.

False

True

  28

I have wondered whether the spirits of the dead can influence the living.

False

True

  29

At times I have felt that a professor’s lecture was meant especially for me.

False

True

  30

I have sometimes felt that strangers were reading my mind.

False

True

Now add up all the boxes in the right-hand column that you ticked. The average score (based on 1,500 US students) was 9 for males and 10 for females. How did you score? Do you think the questions measure supernatural thinking?

WHAT PATTERNS DO YOU SEE?

In the book, I talk about how some of us with a strong supersense are more inclined towards seeing structure and patterns in the world. Test your self with the following set of images taken from the ‘Snowy Pictures task’ (© ETS) used to assess this capacity. Can you see any hidden patterns? Answers are at the bottom.

There are hidden patterns in images, 17, 19, 21, 22 & 24.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many of the ideas I am presenting are based on academic research but they have been road-tested in public lectures and informal gatherings throughout the UK. When you need to talk in a way that most people can understand, it forces you to cut to the chase: to stop waffling and get to the heart of the matter. Academics are trained to recognize weaknesses, but in doing so we can become preoccupied with hedging our bets, qualifying our assertions and being over-cautious in our interpretations, so that we often seem to be sitting on a fence of indecision. That’s why writing a book such as this one might make an academic nervous.

Thankfully, I have been helped along the way. I am indebted to colleagues, students, friends, and family who have read different versions, made suggestions and generally encouraged me to be less nervous about the book. In alphabetical order I would like to thank Sara Baker, Horace Barlow, Susan Blackmore, Paul Bloom, Peter Brugger, Zoltan Dienes, Katy Donnelly, Shiri Einav, Norman Freeman, Susan Gelman, Iain Gilchrist, Thalia Gjersoe, Richard Gregory, Charlotte Hardie, Hilary and Peter Hodgson, Loyale Hood, Alison and Ross Hood, Marjaana Lindeman, Neil Macrae, Peter Millican, Steven Pinker, Paul Rozin, Reba Rosenberg, Ali Smith, Elaine Snell, Andrew Stuart, Arno van Voorst, Alice Wilson and Stephen Woolley. I also want to thank all those working in the Bristol Cognitive Development Centre who have supported me in this project.