Why do most people loose all of their common sense when it comes to the paranormal?

Question

Instead of using their logic first, they just assume everything is paranormal?

I see this type all over YA. I am not talking about the ones asking questions because they are not familiar with the subject.

Answer 1

I don't think most people do this. I think most people think of these things as coincidences...untill they keep happening over and over again. Maybe if someone has a relative or friend who has recently died...they are more likely to think unusual things that happen might be the spirit of the one who died.  I know I called most things coincidences most of my life.  Even now..I don't jump to conclusions. Usually it has to happen a lot of times before I believe it's paranormal. The things I usually ask about are things that happened over and over again in the past. Nothing much happens to me now..but I do have hindsight about the things that happened for 10 yrs. almost daily.Those are the things I want to understand.

Edit..Just want you to know that theres no way I would have "believed" either..if such extra oridinary things hadn't happened to me...things that there couldn't possibly be a "scientific" answer for.  In those days.."I" was "you"...or like you...so I won't hold your remarks against you. How could I blame you for not believing  when you've never had it proven to you. That would be like blaming myself for not believing..before they happened to me.

Answer 2

Exactly for this reason:

http://data1.blog.de/blog/k/kalpeakatsas...

(the photo is a bonafide fake, btw).

Answer 3

There's a lot of people new to the field now that its more in the media.  I was that way when I first started doing research.  Of course, I was also 12 at the time.  

Honestly, it takes being willing to learn and study how to tell reality from flat out bunk. I guess a lot of people just want every thing to be so real that every thing is real to them.

I personally just want to know why.  It doesn't matter if its paranormal, just want to know what's causing this or that to go on.

Answer 4

Because people have yearning to want to embellish their insignificant existences in uneducated and simplistic ways. "Ohh I cant explain how that thing went bump in the night. Must have been a ghost" or "I was traveling through the desert when I saw a funny light in the sky. Must have been a UFO".

People have a need to fill a void with what they feel is missing from their lives by creating stories in their own minds that make them feel more significant. Nobody wants to admit to themselves that when they die, that is it. Final. So, they live their lives clinging to the false hope that whilst they are living, if they claim to be in contact with or see the spirit world, they can always be. In other words, although they will never admit it, they seek perpetuity.

It is born from ancient stories that whilst may have been relevant back 5000 years ago, there is no need to believe such irrational trains of thought in a modern society. It actually all comes down to one simple word - fear.

Answer 5

Yea, how dare they don't explain to us their not so stupid they haven't looked for and ruled out normal explanations first. I expect anybody that posts to tell their story to my satisfaction and standards.

Psi

Answer 6

People want to believe there is more than what they can see. It is not just the paranormal but in religion also. In the mystical churches that speak in tongues some people are just like the ones here. they see a sign or miracle in everything. Not every one is like this but religion especially the mystical religions like the above and in Wicca and other pagan religions people are attracted to the mystic side of these and thus everything is supernatural.  

There are many people involved in the paranormal and the above religions that are logical and not quick to see paranormal and supernatural in everything, but just the nature of these beliefs attract people who look for and see the supernatural and paranormal in everything.

BB

Answer 7

For several reasons.  Lets use photographs with "orbs" in them as our example.

1) People like simple answers they can understand.  Saying an "orb" is "a sphere of ghostly energy" is easier for some people to understand than how dust/insects/rain floating near the front of the lens when the flash goes off causes large, transparent, glowing spheres to appear.

2) Poor science education.  Some don't know enough about science, but make claims like, "It's transparent and perfectly round!  Dust wouldn't look like that or be that big."  When actually, it appears large because the dust is so close to the camera lens, and it is out of focus, which causes it to appear blurry in a rounded transparent way.

3) Because the paranormal makes life exciting.  "Oh!  There's an orb in my photograph!" is far more interesting than, "Darn, some dust got in the picture."

4) It makes you feel special. "Well, *I* took a picture of a ghost once!"  People don't like having that kind of belief taken away from them by hearing or accepting the truth.

5) Some people are confused about fantasy and reality.  If you show enough TV shows of people getting excited about "orbs" in photographs and video, even if the shows are presented as total fiction, people may think that it's real because they hear about it so often.  It becomes a kind of mass hallucination.

6) Popularity.  "Becky-Sue found orbs in one of her photos, so I looked and found some in mine too!"  Simply put, their friends believe it, so they do too.  If they disagreed they'd be afraid they might lose friends or not fit in.  It's easier to simply go with popular opinion, rather than the evidence, especially if it means disagreeing with the majority.

7) It fulfils a desire for evidence of their cherished beliefs.  "Ghosts are real.  See this photo!"  If people _want_ to believe something, they will often take whatever evidence they can get, even if their explanation for the evidence is the least probable explanation.

8) Because they feel doubt or disbelief in some particular evidence would throw all of their beliefs in doubt.  "This picture isn't of a ghost?  So you're saying ghosts don't exist?!?"  It's as though some are afraid that if they doubt any evidence, then that could open the door to all of their evidence being wrong, so they must instead accept all things that supposedly support their belief.

9) Because they think that there would be negative consequences if something else were true.  "If these aren't pictures of ghosts, and ghosts don't exist, then what happens to our souls?"  This is like falling from a plane and saying that you don't believe that there is any ground below, because if there was you'd eventually hit it and be killed.  Reality is what reality is, regardless whether that reality is good or bad, but some people don't want to accept that.

10) Common sense is overrated.  Some people rely on "common sense" instead of objective evidence, but "common sense" tells people that the Earth stands still while everything else revolves around it.  Objective scientific evidence is far more accurate than common sense.

For more, I recommend reading Michael Shermer's book, "Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_People_...

Answer 8

Because Hollywood makes everything BIG, SCARY and EXCITING. So, we expect paranormal experiences to be life-changing. Anything less just gets disregarded. It's too bad people expect life to be a thrill ride.

Answer 9

Paranormal is something that is impossible to explain scientifically. It takes time to unlock the secrets of it because most of the time, we cannot fathom the supernatural that easy. Paranormal is something which is beyond the human mind and what is often needed here is patience to get the further explanation...