Mystery has always attracted and the belief in paranormal phenomena has helped man to survive as a species.
Even today many people are so fascinated by the world of the paranormal that they believe in the existence of ghosts . This, according to psychologist Christopher French of Goldsmiths University in London, is possible because of our more archaic thinking .
According to French’s theory, the brain has been shaped by millennia of evolution so that it believes that spirits and tables that are raised in the air are plausible to make sense of what it observes.
Human beings are capable of two types of thinking: reactive thinking , which allows them to make decisions on the spot, and reasoned thinking , which, however, takes time. however rational we may think ourselves, the first type is the one we prefer because it has allowed us to survive as a species.
A primitive man who hears a rustle coming from the bushes immediately thinks of danger , even if such danger does not actually exist. This was because if he thought of something harmless it could mean becoming a predator’s lunch. Consequently, it is better to make a few blunders rather than risk ending up in the jaws of a ferocious beast.
Added to this are two fundamental elements: the tendency to see connections between two things even if they do not exist in order to find a cause for any phenomenon and pareidolia , or the predisposition to recognize faces and objects in things (as when observing clouds in the sky and some may appear to resemble an object or animal). The result is that in order to find an explanation for something, one is also willing to believe in the paranormal.
- Why do we (still) believe in paranormal phenomena and ghosts? (focus.it)
