General Psychology Unit 1 Test Questions – Flashcards
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the scientific study of behavior and mental processes: why we think, feel, and behave the way we do, and how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can be observed, measured, predicted, changed, maintained, and controlled
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psychology
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is psychology really just a matter of common sense and intuition?
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no. its not just common sense
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once an outcome is known, the tendency to believe it was obvious and predictable (the "I knew it all along" phenomenon)
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hindsight bias
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how do we use the scientific method?
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1. make observations 2. form theories to explain the observations 3. come up with specific hypotheses and predictions to test the theory 4. make new observations to test whether the facts support the theory, hypotheses, and predictions 5. use new observations (the facts, the evidence) to modify and improve the theory and come up with new hypotheses and predictions to test
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a set of principles that organizes and predicts observations
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theory
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a specific prediction that we can put to a test
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hypothesis
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how do we employ critical thinking ('smart thinking')?
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how do we know? what is the evidence? what assumptions are being made, and how do we put these to a test? are we being logical, factual and scientific in our beliefs? have we considered and tested other possible explanations? are we willing to replace our favorite beliefs with more accurate ones?
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repeating an experiment to see if a similar result is obtained
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replication
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where do many of our erroneous beliefs come from?
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over confidence. belief perseverance
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what attitudes must we take in psychology (and in any science)?
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curious, skeptical, humble
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when you take one subject and study it in depth and hope you can generalize from that one student to the rest
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case study
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what drawback to case studies have?
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every one is different so you can't use one person and base everyone off of it
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how do anecdotes mislead us about evidence?
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anecdotes are not evidence
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what must we remember about case studies?
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everyone loves a good story
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a measure of people's self-resported attitudes and behaviors
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survey
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everyone in the group you are studying
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population
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a sample that is a fair representation of the total population, where all members of the total group have an equal chance of being included in the study
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random sample
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why is a random sample so important?
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you can't study every single person in a population
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can large sample size make up for a biased sample?
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no
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how large does a good sample need to be in order to accurately estimate the responses of the entire American people?
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1,500 people out of 250 million or so
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are well designed political polls really accurate?
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???
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what did Shere Hite find in a survey of women's sexual attitudes and behavior, and what was wrong with her sample?
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she found that 70% of women that had been married for 5 years or longer have had an affair and 95% had felt abused emotionally. wrong: only 4,000 people responded to her survey and they were probably the people that were angry about their relationships
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what was found in better surveys about women's sexual attitudes and behavior?
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7% is the actual number of women who have been married for 5 years or longer that have had an affair or felt abused
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when two things vary together (when one changes, the other tends to change, also) and therefore one can, to a certain extent, predict the other
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correlation
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when two things tend to change in the same direction
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positive correlation
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when two things tend to change in the opposite directions
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negative correlation
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a mathematical index of how much two things are correlated (how much one can predict the other)
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correlation coefficient
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in psychology and related fields, when two things are correlated, how well does one usually predict the other?
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when one decreases, the other increases and vice versa ???
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how can you calculate this if you know the correlation coefficient?
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range is from 1.0 (perfect positive correlation) to a possible -1.0 (negative correlation). people get excited around .4. you have to square the correlation coefficient to figure out the prediction. ex: if you have a .7 it doesn't mean 70%. you square .7 and get 49%
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does correlation demonstrate causation?
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no. correlation does not prove causation
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what would be some examples of how correlation does not demonstrate causation?
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- significant positive correlation between hair loss for men and length of marriage. you are getting older and thats why your hair is falling out - positive correlation between wearing a hat and getting skin cancer. many people start wearing a hat after getting skin cancer. - negative correlation between depression and self esteem. low self esteem might cause depression. clinically depressed people think about negative things so your self esteem lowers. maybe they are both caused by a third thing
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the tendency for extreme events or results to be followed by ones closer to the average
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regression toward the mean
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what are examples of regression toward the mean?
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sports illustrated curse - if an athlete gets his/her pic on the cover of sports illustrated, they start doing badly. myth - they are put on SI when they are doing better than their average so eventually they will start to go back to their average (get worse)
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correlation does not tell us about causation; but what can?
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a psychological/biological experiment
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factors/things that can change or vary
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variables
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a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors, called independent variables, while keeping everything else the same, to observe the effect on behaviors or mental processes, which would then be dependent variables
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experiment
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the factors being manipulated or changed in the experiment by the experimenter
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independent variables
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the factors being measured, the results we are examining
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dependent variables
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the people or animals being studied or experimented on
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subjects
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the parts of the experiment that expose subjects to the treatment, to one version of the independent variables; the subjects you try out the independent variable on
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experimental conditions and experimental groups
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the conditions you use for comparison, to see if the experimental condition changed the dependent variables; control groups are the subjects you use to compare the experimental groups to, to see if the experimental groups really changed in a meaningful way on the dependent variables
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control conditions and control groups
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how are participants assigned to experimental or control groups?
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randomly. by chance
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assigning participants to the experimental conditions and groups and the control conditions and groups by chance, so that each participant is equally likely to be in one or the other
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random assignment
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what does random assignment accomplish?
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it minimizes the differences between participants in the experimental groups and the control groups, so that any differences in the results are likely to be due to differences in the independent variables
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how would you design an experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of a drug?
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need to get people with colds and randomly assign them to the experimental group and control group
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what would be the independent variable in an experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of a drug?
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whether the person gets the drug or not
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what would be the experimental group in an experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of a drug?
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people that get the drug
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what would be the control group in an experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of a drug?
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people that don't get the drug
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what would make an ideal placebo in a drug study?
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sugar pill, injection of sterile water
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an experimental procedure in which neither the subjects nor the experimenters are aware of who is receiving the treatment and who is receiving the placebo
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double blind procedure
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how would you assign subjects in an experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of a drug?
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randomly
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how would you know if the drug was effective or not?
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???
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what very important general principle do such studies illustrate?
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???
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a neutral, harmless, inconsequential substance or treatment designed to make subjects think they are getting the real thing
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placebo
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do expectations of both subjects and experimenters have to be controlled for?
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yes
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what mistake do statistics protect us from, that relates to random patterns?
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???
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the odds that the results observed, often differences between groups or correlations between variables, could have happened just by chance, through entirely random variation
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statistical significance
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what are the generally accepted levels of statistical significance, and how are they described?
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2 commonly used criteria: .05 level (5%) - odds are no more than 5% that its random and 95% that it's true. another: .01 level (1%) - makes it harder to make a wrong assumption
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if something is statistically significant, does that make it important?
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no, its not always worth pursuing. it means it didn't happen by chance
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what two things must we look at to determine the meaningfulness of a finding? and what third question must we ask?
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1. significance (probability) 2. magnatide (size) -replication
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what is the proper decision process in determining how seriously to take a finding?
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???
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what is the relationship between psychological and biological aspects of behavior?
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everything psychological is simultaneously biological
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are there any exceptions, or purely psychological events?
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???
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an individual nerve cell; make up the entire nervous system. vary in size in shape
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neuron
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what are the main parts of the neuron?
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cell body, dendrites, and axon
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the central part of the cell, containing the nucleus, regulating the cell
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cell body
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on the input end of the neuron, bushy, branching extensions from the cell body that receive messages and conduct impulses through the body
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dendrites
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on the output end of the neuron, an elongated part of the cell on the opposite end from the dendrites, ending in tiny fibers that send messages to other neurons or sometimes to muscles or glands, depending on which type of cell they are adjacent to
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axon
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a layer of segmented fatty tissue surrounding some axons, that greatly speeds up the transmission of neural impulses and increases their effectiveness
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myelin sheath
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what is one disease the myelin sheath relates to and how?
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multiple sclerosis or lou gehrig's disease - de-myelinating diseases
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adjacent cells that nourish and protect neurons
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glial cells (glia)
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a brief electrical charge, a wave of electro-chemical energy, that travels very rapidly from the input end of the neuron to the output end, down the axon
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neural impulse
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what does not change in neural firing and what varies greatly?
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same/constant: amount of energy different/varies: frequency with which the neuron fires
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do neurons connect to each other directly?
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no they are right next to each other but theres no direct connection?
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the junction between the tip of the axon of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron
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synapse
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the tiny gap between the two neurons at the synapse
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synaptic gap/cleft
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how small is the synaptic gap/cleft?
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one millionth of an inch wide
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chemical messengers released by the neuron when it fires, that may (or may not) bind to receptor sites on the next neuron, influencing the likelihood that the next neuron will fire
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neurotransmitters
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are all neurotransmitters the same?
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???
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how quickly do neurotransmitters cross the synaptic gap?
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1/10,000 of a second
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a brief period of inactivity after a neuron has fired
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refractory period
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the process by which excess neurotransmitter chemicals are reabsorbed by the sending neuron
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reuptake
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natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters produced in your own brain, that are linked to pain control and to pleasure
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endorphins
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how do endorphins get their name and what do they do?
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endogenous morphine (coming from within drug). they help you cope with painful/stressful memories. can give you pleasurable sensation
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how do endorphins relate to opiate drug addiction?
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if you can feel good naturally, why not feel good with drugs. taking it long term makes the brain think it has a high level of endorphins so the brain stops making natural endorphins. so if you stop the drug you miss it
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all the nerve cells of the body; the body's speedy, electrochemical communication network
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nervous system
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the brain and spinal cord
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central nervous system
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the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body
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peripheral nervous system
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neural "cables" that contain many axons, bundled together, that are part of the peripheral nervous system, connecting the central nervous system to the muscles, glands, and sense organs
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nerves
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neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors (in your eyes, ears, skin, etc.) to the central nervous system
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sensory neurons
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neurons that carry outgoing command information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands, telling them what to do
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motor neurons
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neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally in between the sensory inputs and the motor outputs (deciding what to do about them)
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interneurons
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the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's voluntary skeletal muscles (muscles attached to bones)
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somatic nervous system
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the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs that operate automatically, without conscious decision of instruction
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automatic nervous system
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the part of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body and mobilizes its energy
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sympathetic nervous system
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the part of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body and conserves its energy
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parasympathetic nervous system
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LOOK AT FLOW CHART ON UNIT 1 PAGE 8
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LOOK AT FLOW CHART ON UNIT 1 PAGE 8
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in the brain do neurons connect only in a straight line, one by one?
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no
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how many neurons may a single neuron connect to?
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10,000
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approximately how many neurons are there in your brain
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40 billion
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how many total synaptic connections does that create
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400 trillion
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a set of glands that secrete hormones into the blood stream
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endocrine system
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does the endocrine system interact with the nervous system?
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???
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chemical messengers, manufactured by the endocrine glands, that are produced in one part of the body buy have effects elsewhere, affecting other tissues (including the neurons of the brain)
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hormones
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what is the relative speed of the endocrine system and the nervous system?
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???
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a pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys, that secrete the hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) which arouse the body in times of stress
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adrenal glands
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a pea sized structure located in the core of the brain and controlled by the hypothalamus; the most influential gland in the endocrine system, controlling the others endocrine glands and regulating growth in the body
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pituitary gland
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what is the relationship between the brain, the pituitary, other glands, and hormones?
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pituitary controls the other glands. glands secrete stuff in blood which flows into the brain
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how important is the brain and why?
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it is called the "master organ" of the body so it is very important. it is the one organ you cannot do without. you can not be you without it or if it was replaced
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how can the brain be studied?
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lesions, brain surgery, conventional x-rays, ct scans, mir, electroencephalograms (egg), pet (positron emission tomography) scans, fMRI scans
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figure out what they can no longer do and guess what part of the brain is causing it (Brokav's area)
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brain injuries
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intentionally destroy or remove some brain tissue and then see what that person/animal can't do anymore - this determines what each part of the brain controls
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lesions
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inject novocaine in brain, remove part of skull to get to brain, operate on brain without anyone feeling it. no pain centers. you can do brain surgery while patient's awake while in surgery the surgeon might electro shock part of brain and see what it controls. very unlikely to die in surgery
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brain surgery; stimulation; microelectrodes
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what is the problem with conventional x-rays?
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mainly see skull and not brain
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you can use it to see if the skull is fractured and assume that the brain under that part of the skull is damaged
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conventional x-rays
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inject dye in blood stream and have many pictures taken. computers combine pictures so you can see exactly whats going on in brain
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CT (computerized tomography) scans (CAT scans)
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use magnetic fields and radio waves. tell difference between tissue...can detect cancer cells
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MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans
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shows you brain waves. attach electrodes to skull-measures neurofiring beneath where its placed (brain). can't tell about individual neurons but good for overall
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electroencephalograms (EEG)
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inject radioactive glucose into blood stream. ask patients to do different things and see what part of brain lights up
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PET (positron emission tomography) scans
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we can see the brain functioning in real time with this type of scan
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fMRI (functional MRI) scans
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what are some of the lower-level brain structures?
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brain stem, medulla, reticular formation, thalamus, cerebellum, limbic system
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the oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; responsible for automatic survival functions
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brain stem
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the base of the brain stem, controlling heartbeat and breathing. basic survival functions
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medulla
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neural network in the brain stem that plays an important part in controlling arousal. you would go into a coma without this to bring you to consciousness
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reticular formation
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the brain's sensory switchboard, located on top of the brain stem, directing messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortes an transmitting replies to the cerebellum and medulla
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thalamus
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"little brain," attached to the rear of the brain stem, processes some sensory input, helps coordinate voluntary movement and balance, enabling nonverbal learning and nonverbal memory (for physical skills and tasks)
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cerebellum
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a donut-shaped system of neural structures at the border of the brain stem and the cerebral hemispheres, associated with emotions such as fear and aggression and drives such as those for food and sex; includes the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the hypothalamus
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limbic system
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involved in processing long-term memory. not fully developed when we are born which is why we don't have memories form ages 1-3
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hippocampus
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two almond-shaped neural clusters that are linked to emotion
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amygdala
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a neural structure lying below the thalamus, directing hunger and eating, thirst and drinking, body temperature, and sexual behavior; includes hypothalamic pleasure centers
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hypothalamus
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what happens if the amygdala is destroyed or electrically stimulated?
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make animal become placid and not aggressive at all
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how were the hypothalamic pleasure centers discovered and demonstrated in rats?
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discovered by accident during a study. they were putting electrodes into brain of rats and observing behavior. the rat seemed to want more of the stimulation. they realized something was unusual. difference in what they did - they misplaced the electrode. so then they got a different animal and purposely put the electrode there and the animals kept wanting more of the stimulation
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do they have the same effects in humans when electrically stimulated?
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??? yes
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the left and right halves of the large, almost spherical, main part of the brain, the cerebrum, that sits atop the brain stem
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cerebral hemispheres
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a fabric of interconnected neural cells forming a thin surface layer of the brain, covering the cerebral hemispheres; the ultimate control and information-processing center of the brain, also providing our conscious awareness
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cerebral cortex
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how big is the cerebral cortex?
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four pages of paper spread out
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lobe just behind the forehead
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frontal lobes
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lobe that is involved in speaking and muscle movements and making plans and judgments
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frontal lobes
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lobes at the top of the head, toward the rear
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parietal lobes
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lobes that include the sensory input for touch and body position
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parietal lobes
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lobes at the back of the head and just above the neck
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occipital lobes
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lobes that include visual input areas
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occipital lobes
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lobes low on the side and in the region above the ears
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temporal lobes
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lobes that include auditory input areas
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temporal lobes
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an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movement
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motor cortex
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how can the motor cortex be mapped and what have we learned from that?
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by electrically stimulating parts of it and seeing what it controls. if you stimulate the left side of the brain, the right side of the body is affected
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highly experimental devices (nowhere near ready for widespread medical use yet) that take information from recording electrodes placed in the motor cortex or speech centers of the brain and use it to operate mechanical devices to perform some of the functions of damaged, missing, or unusable body parts or synthesize speech
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neural prosthetics
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an area at the front of the parietal lobes that receives and processes sensations of touch and movement from your body
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somatosensory cortex
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what does mapping the somatosensory cortex reveal?
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lot of area devoted to lips. not much to toes
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"silent areas." areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary sensory or motor functions, but rather are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking
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association areas
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how do association areas respond to direct stimulation?
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they show no obvious response to direct electrical stimulation
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how do association areas differ in higher and lower animals?
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people: 3/4 of cortex is association areas small animals: small part
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how much of the human brain consists of association areas?
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3/4 of cortex
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how does this relate to the notion that normally we only use 10% of our brains? how true is that?
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total myth that we only use 10% of our brain
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the formation of new neurons
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neurogenesis
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do most cut, damaged, or destroyed neurons replace themselves (regenerate)?
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yes. they replace themselves
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can brain tissue reorganize in response to damage in some parts of the brain?
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brain tissue doesn't fix itself
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the brain's ability to adapt, at least partially, after injury and modify its functioning; however, many effects of brain damage are permanent
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plasticity
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when is plasticity most likely to occur?
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it is greatest in young people. least in old people
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a large band of neural fibers deep in the brain, connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them; the primary means of communication between the two brain hemispheres
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corpus callosum
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how are the two cerebral hemispheres different?
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they look similar but they do different things: left - speaking, calculating, logics, reasoning. right - perceptual tasks, emotional processing
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how have the differences in the two cerebral hemispheres been exaggerated in lore about the "left brain/right brain"? what is the truth of the matter?
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people say that people are either left brained or right brained, meaning they think very logically (left) or very emotionally (right). truth: most mental tasks use both sides of your brain
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what was found in Bouchard's studies of genetically identical twins who were brought up apart from each other? how have critics tried to explain this?
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the twins chose almost identical jobs - fireman. they had identical medical history, liked the same food, named their pet the same thing, same marriage history, married people with similar names. explanation: you can talk to someone for long enough and find similarities
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who studied genetically identical twins?
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Bouchard
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how many pairs of twins did Bouchard study?
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74 pairs
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study of environmental influences that, if experienced, trigger genetically determined behavior
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epigenetics
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how much do genetics vs. upbringing and environment have to do with the personalities that children develop as they grow into adulthood? how much credit or blame should parents be given?
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environment has no impact. most of personality is genetic in origin and upbringing doesn't change it. most parents take too much credit for their kids good qualities and they also take too much blame for the bad qualities
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what do parents influence about their children?
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parents have some influence - their genes
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our awareness of ourselves and our environment; the process of focusing our awareness on internal or external events and experiences that we can report
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consciousness
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is consciousness a biological function of the brain
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yes ???
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simultaneously processing information on separate conscious and unconscious tracks
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dual processing
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focusing of conscious attention only on certain stimuli
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selective attention
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on average, about how many pieces of information do we take in each second, and how many of those are we consciously aware of?
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11 million sensory inputs. aware of 40
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what must we remember about consciousness and information processing?
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most (in fact, the vast majority of) information processing goes on outside our conscious awareness
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what is our most profound and frequent altered state of consciousness?
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???
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biological changes that operate on 24-hour cycles
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circadian rythms
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what is our most noticeable circadian rythm?
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sleep. each person spends some time in each 24 hour day sleeping
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how is sleep a combination of two different cycles?
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you sleep once every 24 hours and go through 90 min cycles
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how does the brain process the meaning of certain stimuli while you are asleep?
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???
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what are the stages of sleep?
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pre sleep, NREM-1 sleep, NREM-2 sleep, NREM-3 sleep, REM sleep
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stage of sleep when you are very relaxed, conscious, headed toward sleep, if something important happened, you could stop the process and get up
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pre-sleep
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stage of sleep that only lasts a few min, not a lot happens, you might twitch a little bit, may have the sense of floating or falling, may see an image
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NREM-1 sleep
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transitional stage of sleep
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NREM-2 sleep
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stage of sleep that is the hardest to awaken you. most likely when you will sleep walk
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NREM-3 sleep
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last stage of sleep in which you are the closest to being awake
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REM (rapid eye movement) sleep
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how was rapid eye movement sleep (REM) discovered?
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by accident. grad student attached probes by the eyes and he was trying to look at the brain waves but he found out about this
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when does most dreaming occur?
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REM sleep
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why do we not physically act out what we are dreaming of doing while we are asleep?
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motor cortex of brain is sending messages but other part of brain near the stem tells muscles not to move. voluntary muscles are technically paralyzed when we're asleep in REM sleep stage
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how many dreams do we typically have in a year and in a lifetime?
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year: 1,500 lifetime: 10,000
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which cerebral hemisphere mainly controls dreaming and how does this influence dream content?
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right cerebral hemisphere - dreams don't have a lot of verbal content, lots of emotional content
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how much of our lives do we typically spend sleeping?
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1/3 of our lives
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how long will most people sleep if they can?
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9-10 hours a night
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what are the effects of not getting enough sleep?
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you feel fatigued (physically and mentally), productivity will decrease, accuracy decreases, don't do things as well as you normally would, irritability increases
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how does the switch from standard time to daylight savings time relate to accidents?
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spring forward - everyone loses an hour of sleep so the day after, traffic and wreck rates went up 10%. in fall when we get an extra hour, rates drop 6%
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in what ways does insufficient sleep affect our health?
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weakens your immune system (harder to resist getting flu, cancer, other sickness); change body metabolism (mimics old age); increase risk of stroke
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persistant inability to go to sleep or stay asleep
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insomnia
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what percent of adults suffer from insomnia?
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10-15%
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why are sleeping pills undesirable?
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have a lot of side effects: inhibits REM sleep (that is what provides psychological refreshment), so you end up not feeling good/refreshed the next day
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what are the best things to do to avoid insomnia?
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pick a schedule and stick to it: get up and go to bed at the same time, eat well before going to bed, don't study in bed, don't drink caffeine
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having short "sleep attacks." last 5ish minutes. severe cases: lose consciousness for a few min. triggered by emotional excitement. most common: laughter. anger's another one
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narcolepsy
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how long does a narcolepsy episode last?
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5ish minutes
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stop breathing at times throughout the night. don't get REM sleep. out of sorts. nightmares of people breaking into their house
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sleep apnea
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not normal nightmares. don't occur during REM like normal dreams. occur during NREM-3 when you're in deepest sleep. get feeling of heavy weight on chest, you think you wake up and see evil creature sitting on your chest. the creature will put its claws on your face. you will then actually wake up and scream and possibly run. hard to wake someone up. people have them repeatedly. occurs when people get too deep into sleep and their heart slows down a lot
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night terrors
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why do we sleep?
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-protective device -restores our body -helps with memory formation -helps with creative thinking -bodies wouldn't grow properly without sleep -better performance if all teammates get at least 10 hours of sleep every night
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how much of our life do we spend dreaming?
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average: 6 years
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are our dreams generally pleasant?
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no. 80% of our dreams have negative content
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how much do we dream about sex?
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men: 1 in 10 dreams are about sex women: 1 in 30 dreams are about sex
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how useful is dream interpretation?
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dreams might not be interpreted right so not useful
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what are various explanations for why we dream?
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Freud believed that dreams are where we experienced things that we wouldn't dare do in real life but this is not true. another explanation is that we are getting random patterns of neuron firing low in the brain and the upper brain tries to make sense of it. another explanation is that dreams are a key function of consolidating your memories
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what is the relationship between REM sleep and learning and memory?
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REM sleep is important for consolidating memories. don't pull an all nighter - if you do, leave 90 minutes at the end to sleep so you go through at least one REM cycle
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what is lucid dreaming and why might it be desirable to engage in it?
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maintaining a low level of conscious awareness while you are asleep and dreaming - you can decide what you want to dream about and chose the outcome. takes months of practice. why its good to lucid dream: if you have a problem and you don't know what to do, it would be good to dream about it because maybe the answer will come to you. sometimes people come up with awesome inventions or solve a math proof in dreams
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what is pizza dreaming?
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if you're feeling stressed, go to your favorite pizza place and pig out and drink lots of coke or eat a lot of chinese food. pizza makes you dream a lot and so does spicy food. dreams make you feel better. but your problem might not be fixed
question
state of narrowly focused attention in which the person becomes unusually suggestable
answer
hypnosis
question
can you hypnotize someone? can you convince people to be things or see things?
answer
yes and yes
question
what percent of people can't be hypnotized?
answer
15%
question
can everyone be hypnotized?
answer
no
question
how many people can be induced into a really deep hypnotic state?
answer
20% (1 in 5 people)
question
how do you hypnotize someone?
answer
tell them to get physically comfortable, put head in comfortable position, don't move, look all around room with eyes, look at ceiling and don't move head, pick one square foot on ceiling and stare at it, look at one feature on ceiling, put all mental and physical energy into it, do it until they start tearing up, tell them that their eyes are feeling very heavy, they want to close their eyes but not until i count from 10 to 1 slowly. once eyes are closed tell them to focus on breathing and to be really relaxed. if totally relaxed your chin might fall open
question
can you be hypnotized against your will?
answer
no
question
can you be stuck in a hypnotic state
answer
no - you will eventually come out of it
question
what is important to remember about hypnosis?
answer
the only things you are going to do under hypnosis are things you would do anyway if the situation were right and motivation was high enough
question
is there really such a thing as ESP (extra-sensory perception) and paranormal phenomena?
answer
no
question
what highly important element is missing in the search for reliable proof of ESP and paranormal phenomena?
answer
???
question
who is James Randi? what point does he make? what was his famous challenge?
answer
a professional magician/illusionist. he said if you see a magician do something, its not ESP just because you can't figure out how something is done. he had $1 million to give someone if they could prove they had ESP. he stood behind a fence to test people that said they could see his aura. some people believed they could leave their body and travel anywhere. he told people to fly into his attic and tell him what was on the table
question
is psychic surgery real?
answer
no - its a trick done by a bunch of con artists
question
when something familiar occurs in an unfamiliar environment
answer
de ja vu
question
what is a good source for rational, skeptical, scientific investigation of "paranormal" phenomena?
answer
the committee for skeptical inquiry, www.csicop.org; the skeptical inquirer - describes different claims that scientists have investigated. never verified any claim
