Richmond Area Free Thinkers Society

Pareidolia: Imaginary Significance

Ever hear of a Rorschach test? Developed by Hermann Rorschach in the 1920’s, the inkblot is a commonly used tool for forensic assessment by Psychologists. While it is commonly thought that a Rorschach analysis is done by interpreting and psychoanalyzing what the patient sees in the inkblot (”Since you saw your dead mother, that means you have unresolved maternal issues”), they are more commonly analyzed with the Exner method: the responses of the patient are compared to a large statistical body of responses and a profile is created based on which personality types most fit the response. (”45% of the people that saw a crow also suffer from clinical depression. 60% of people who saw a bicycle are schizophrenics.” etc.) The interpretation is correlative, rather than directly interpretive.

Rorschach’s function based on some trickery of our brains known as pareidolia.Pareidolia is essentially when we perceive a random or vague visual/audio stimulus as being significant, when in fact it is not.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

New Series

SERIES PREMIERE!
EVOLVE:
EYES

Eyes are one of evolution’s most useful and prevalent inventions, equipping approximately 95 percent of living species. They exist in many different forms across nature, having evolved convergently across different species. Learn how the ancestors of jellyfish may have been the first to evolve light-sensitive cells. In the pre-Cambrian era, insects, in particular the dragonfly, would take the compound eye to new heights. Find out how dinosaurs adapted their eyes to become such successful hunters of prey. And while dinosaurs remained at the top of the food chain for 150 million years, tiny early mammals developed night vision to populate the night as a survival technique. Finally, learn how primates underwent several adaptations to their eyes to better exploit their new habitat, and how the ability to see colors helped them find food.

Read the rest of this entry »

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 12:25 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Irrationality

Certain athletes are notorious for having certain routines or rituals they do because it’s “lucky”. Some people believe that “psychics” like Sylvia Browne can speak with the dead. Others still believe that eating immediately before swimming is dangerous, even life-threatening.

The common thread between all of these things is irrationality – a bizarre glitch in the part of our brains that processes reality into the stuff of thoughts. For the purposes of this post, we’re using the definition of “irrationality” that means something that lacks “a sufficient ground of explanation or of logical defense.” In other words, it’s something we believe in spite of there being any sufficient explanation for it.

But what does that even mean?

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 10:49 am and is filed under Editorial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Ever hear of a Rorschach test? Developed by Hermann Rorschach in the 1920's, the inkblot is a commonly used tool for forensic assessment by Psychologists. While it is commonly thought that a Rorschach analysis is done by interpreting and psychoanalyzing what the patient sees in the inkblot ("Since you saw your dead mother, that means you have unresolved maternal issues"), they are more commonly analyzed with the Exner method: the responses of the patient are compared to a large statistical body of responses and a profile is created based on which personality types most fit the response. ("45% of the people that saw a crow also suffer from clinical depression. 60% of people who saw a bicycle are schizophrenics." etc.) The interpretation is correlative, rather than directly interpretive. Rorschach's function based on some trickery of our brains known as pareidolia.Pareidolia is essentially when we perceive a random or vague visual/audio stimulus as being significant, when in fact it is not. Some common examples of pareidolia (in addition to rorschach inkblots):

Seeing animal shapes in clouds
Seeing a "face" on the moon, or on Mars
Hearing words or phrase when playing a record backwards ("Saaaatan I lurrrrveyou Sataaaaaan")
Believing that certain religious figures, such as the Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ, have appeared in mundane places (i.e. a piece of toast, a baby's ultrasound image, in a cloud, on a bloody bandage, etc.)
Seeing human-like qualities in natural formations of rock, trees, etc.

You get the idea. There are a number of ideas about what causes pareidolia. Carl Sagan (the charismatic Cosmologist from PBS's Nova series) believed that human beings are "hard-wired" to identifying the human face. There are probably some survival implications in an ability like that. It could also simply be that we want to see these things, and so we do.

Seeing animal shapes in clouds
Seeing a "face" on the moon, or on Mars
Hearing words or phrase when playing a record backwards ("Saaaatan I lurrrrveyou Sataaaaaan")
Believing that certain religious figures, such as the Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ, have appeared in mundane places (i.e. a piece of toast, a baby's ultrasound image, in a cloud, on a bloody bandage, etc.)
Seeing human-like qualities in natural formations of rock, trees, etc.

The variety I always find a bit strange are the religious sightings: when people claim to see the face /body of Jesus or the Virgin Mary in bizarre places. There was one fellow from Ohio that claimed an image of Jesus appeared in his breakfast pancake! Someone else saw Jesus's face on a piece of toast. A woman named Diana Duyser saw what she believed was the Virgin Mary in a grilled cheese [pictured, left]. (She saved it and ate something else I presume). What's peculiar about this is the immediate jump to assuming that the identity behind the face is specifically the face of someone whom the viewer has not only never seen personally, but whose actual appearance was only recorded in text. How do these people know they aren't actually seeing a bearded man from Salem, Oregon? Or a lady's face from Sao Paolo, Brazil? If I went through all the trouble to have my face telekinetically projected onto a piece of toast far-far away, I'd be pretty annoyed if someone assumed it was the face of Christ. Remember the panic of Rock Music back when the Beatles grew their hair long, the Stones were still releasing their records on vinyl (instead of on iTunes), and parents would toss their kids "devil music" into a roaring fireplace? People believed that playing a record backwards (called Backwards Masking) revealed subliminal messages that advocated murder, satan-worshipping, and voting Democrat. I've heard some of these recordings and you have to listen really carefully to even hear something that sounds remotely like spoken English. Nevermind that our human brains aren't really equipped to decode audio in reverse -- so the fact that a hidden message is only noticeable when playing the record backwards is a moot point anyways. Then again, there are some that still believe Subliminal Sleep messages are an effective way of learning. The bottom line is that we naturally see what we want to see. But just like an optical illusion or a sleight-of-hand magic trick, our mind plays tricks on us. [post_title] => Pareidolia: Imaginary Significance [post_category] => 0 [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => pareidolia-imaginary-significance [to_ping] => [pinged] => http://purgatorio1.com/?p=593 [post_modified] => 2008-08-04 07:54:01 [post_modified_gmt] => 2008-08-04 15:54:01 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://www.richmond-freethinkers.org/?p=117 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 2 [ec3_schedule] => Array ( ) [filter] => raw ) [1] => stdClass Object ( [ID] => 116 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2008-05-06 12:25:31 [post_date_gmt] => 2008-05-06 20:25:31 [post_content] =>

SERIES PREMIERE! EVOLVE: EYES
Eyes are one of evolution's most useful and prevalent inventions, equipping approximately 95 percent of living species. They exist in many different forms across nature, having evolved convergently across different species. Learn how the ancestors of jellyfish may have been the first to evolve light-sensitive cells. In the pre-Cambrian era, insects, in particular the dragonfly, would take the compound eye to new heights. Find out how dinosaurs adapted their eyes to become such successful hunters of prey. And while dinosaurs remained at the top of the food chain for 150 million years, tiny early mammals developed night vision to populate the night as a survival technique. Finally, learn how primates underwent several adaptations to their eyes to better exploit their new habitat, and how the ability to see colors helped them find food. Throughout eons of evolution, the natural world has played host to a never-ending competition. Since the dawn of time roughly 99% of all species have become extinct. In order to survive, all creatures, including man, must treat life as a battlefield and master the natural weapons and defenses that have evolved: Tyrannosaurus Rex's 13-inch canines; the gecko's Velcro-like toe pads; the bald eagle's telescopic vision that is capable of spotting a hare a mile away. What is the history of these evolutions and how did they come about? They didn't just appear arbitrarily, they evolved for a common reason - to give these animals a critical edge in interspecies warfare. To evolve is to conquer! The new series EVOLVE traces the history of the key innovations that have driven nature's evolutionary arms race from the dawn of life to today, from the anatomical (eyes, jaws, and body armor) to the behavioral (movement, communication, and sex). This 13-part series will deftly blend spectacular live-action natural history sequences, CGI, epic docudrama, and experimental science to illustrate our and our fellow species' eternal struggle for survival on earth. PREMIERE: Tuesday, June 17 at 10pm/2am ET/PT LENGTH: 2 hours REPEATS: Sunday, June 22 at 11pm/3am ET/PT PRODUCED BY: Optomen Productions, Inc.

[post_title] => New Series [post_category] => 0 [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => new-series [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2008-05-08 17:57:36 [post_modified_gmt] => 2008-05-09 01:57:36 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://www.richmond-freethinkers.org/?p=116 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [ec3_schedule] => Array ( ) [filter] => raw ) [2] => stdClass Object ( [ID] => 114 [post_author] => 1 [post_date] => 2008-05-05 10:49:42 [post_date_gmt] => 2008-05-05 18:49:42 [post_content] => Certain athletes are notorious for having certain routines or rituals they do because it's "lucky". Some people believe that "psychics" like Sylvia Browne can speak with the dead. Others still believe that eating immediately before swimming is dangerous, even life-threatening. The common thread between all of these things is irrationality - a bizarre glitch in the part of our brains that processes reality into the stuff of thoughts. For the purposes of this post, we're using the definition of "irrationality" that means something that lacks "a sufficient ground of explanation or of logical defense." In other words, it's something we believe in spite of there being any sufficient explanation for it. But what does that even mean?

The Athletes

In the first case above, regarding the athletes: They fall into the "lucky charm" trap. One athlete might say: "Every time I wear these white socks, I hit a home run, so if I continue to wear these white socks, I should continue to hit home runs." This is technically a testable statement -- with his participation we could secretly put socks of varying colors (including white) on him and show that there is no correlation between his home run frequency and whether or not he is wearing white socks. But, after seeing this data, if he still believes that the white socks is the "lucky charm" for hitting home runs, then he is exhibiting irrationality.

Psychics

What about "psychics"? There have been many people that have insisted that the psychics are simply doing a parlor trick called "Cold Reading". "Crossing Over"'s John Edwards, Sylvia Browne, Uri Geller -- all of these self-proclaimed psychics lack any actual evidence to support their claims that they can know the unknown through supernatural revelation. James Randi, renowned skeptic and critic of Uri Geller (among others) has shown specifically how to do some of the Parlor Tricks that Geller has done publicly, including his famous "spoon bending" trick. Sylvia Browne has made testable claims on a number of occasions that turned out to be completely false. How many times does a psychic need to be completely confident in a prediction that turns out to be dead wrong before they stop being credible? The fact that this charlatan's profession is still successful clearly shows irrationality.

Swimming

And swimming after eating. How many of our parents told us that? I remember hearing it when I was young -- "Wait at least a half an hour before swimming or you'll get cramps and drown!" Nothing was ever said about how much you could or could not eat -- would a single peanut be too much? How about half a sandwich? A full plate of food? A three course meal? With dessert? Or how long you were supposed to wait: 20 minutes? Half an hour? A full hour? Half a day? Get 8 hours of rest first? I've even heard all kinds of reasoning behind it, when people attempt to reconcile reality with bizarre ideas like this: "Between breathing, digesting food, and physically exerting, your body can only do two of three at once." Did you know that no one has ever drowned from eating before swimming? No one's even come close. Every time I go swimming I pay no heed to this adage. Heck, sometimes I'll get out of the pool, go and eat a candy bar, and get back in and do a few more laps, just to live on the wild side. (Note: if you do know someone that drowned, and they did eat beforehand, that does not necessarily imply causality.) So, in spite of understanding that the drowning/eating link is completely groundless, if you still hesitate to go swimming after having a sandwich, that's irrationality at work!

Why?

The common thread here is that beliefs that are irrelevant (case 1), disproven (case 2), or groundless to begin with (case 3) are not inherently irrational (they're just plain false). Rather, it's our tendency to continue to believe these things in spite of being shown that they are irrelevant, disproven, or groundless that is irrational. Superstitious people commonly realize that there is no rhyme or reason for the number 13 to be unlucky, but feel compelled to see it (and its concentrated form: Friday the 13th) as an onus of misfortune. We are creatures of habit, and it is often difficult to rid ourselves of our habits without replacing the void with something else. So superstition endures, in spite of itself. Think it's just harmless good fun to spice up life? Check out whatstheharm.net, a collection of articles, accounts, and anecdotes of individuals that have been significantly affected by theirs or others' irrational beliefs. If you've got a superstitious, supernatural, or irrational belief, how much proof would you need to see before you finally let it go? [post_title] => Irrationality [post_category] => 0 [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => irrationality [to_ping] => [pinged] => http://www.noob.us/miscellaneous/psychic-sylvia-browne-is-a-fake/ [post_modified] => 2008-05-05 10:53:05 [post_modified_gmt] => 2008-05-05 18:53:05 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://www.richmond-freethinkers.org/?p=114 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 1 [ec3_schedule] => Array ( ) [filter] => raw ) ) )