28.
According to Sheldrake’s theory, any system, including minds, can assume a particular shape or configuration. ‘Morphic’ means shape. A change in the shape of any one system affects the collective shape of all related systems. This is the resonance part of the theory. Subsequent systems resonate with other systems, enabling information to travel across space and time. The effect is stronger the more systems are involved and the more similar the future system is to the systems that generated the field. In 1989 the experimental psychologist Zoltan Dienes undertook research to investigate morphic resonance by testing it with remote viewing of repetition priming. In repetition priming, people respond more quickly and accurately with repeated presentation. He wanted to know if people trained on word recognition tasks influenced a different group of people through the effects of thought transference. Initially, he found a significant effect. Unfortunately, when he ran the study another two times, there was no effect. Dienes explains in mathematical detail why some theories should be tested and why others should not. More importantly, he explains the importance and difficulty of establishing truth in his new book, Understanding Psychology as a Science: An Introduction to Scientific and Statistical Inference (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).
29.
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35.
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36.
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37.
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38.
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48.
J. R. Stroop, ‘Studies of Interference in Serial Verbal Reactions’, Journal of Experimental Psychology 18 (1935): 643–62. This test is usually done with words printed in different colours, but my publishers warned me that the cost of printing just a few words in colour could not be justified. Luckily for me, Steve Pinker presumably encountered the same issue in his latest book, The Stuff of Thought (2007, p. 332), where he also describes the Stroop effect. I have used his solution in overcoming the use of coloured ink to achieve the same demonstration.
49.
A. Diamond, The Development and Neural Bases of Higher Cognitive Functions (New York Academy of Sciences, 1990).
50.
K. Dunbar, J. Fugelsang, and C. Stein, ‘Do Naive Theories Ever Go Away?’ in Thinking with Data: Thirty-third Carnegie Symposium on Cognition, edited by M. Lovett and P. Shah (Erlbaum, in press).
51.
In fact, it is the right dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex which is active when adults are actively suppressing the urge to respond with the intuitive response. Wim De Neys, Oshin Vartanian, Vinod Goel (2008) ‘Smarter Than We Think: When Our Brains Detect That We Are Biased’, Psychological Science 19 (5), 483–9
52.
T. Lombrozo, D. Kelemen, and D. Zaitchik, ‘Teleological Explanation in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients’, Psychological Science 18 (2007): 999–1006.
53.
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54.
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55.
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56.
L. A. King, C. M. Burton, J. A. Hicks, and S. M. Drigotas, ‘Ghosts, UFOs, and Magic: Positive Affect and the Experiential System’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92 (2007): 905–19.
57.
M. Lindeman and K. Aarnio, ‘Superstitious, Magical, and Paranormal Beliefs: An Integrative Model’, Journal of Research in Personality 41 (2007): 731–44; M. Lindeman and M. Saher, ‘Vitalism, Purpose, and Superstition’, British Journal of Psychology 98, no. 1 (2007): 33–44; M. Lindeman and K. Aarnio, ‘Paranormal Beliefs: Their Dimensionality and Psychological Correlates’, European Journal of Personality 20 (2006): 585–602.
CHAPTER TEN
1.
P. E. Tetlock, ‘Thinking the Unthinkable: Sacred Values and Taboo Cognitions’, Trends in Cognitive Science 7 (2003): 320–24.
2.
W. Styron, Sophie’s Choice (Random House, 1979).