Why our gut instinct is usually right

[Arouet]

Might be an interesting topic but you might want to start a new thread for it...

[NinjaPuppy]

[NinjaPuppy]

[craig weiler]

Hi Profwag,

Well, that's the million dollar question isn't it? Unfortunately, this is a mechanistic approach to something that really doesn't fit in that shoebox very well. In real life, this ability is simply blended in with the other senses so seamlessly to the point that even for psychics it is difficult to separate them. An acquaintance of mine refers to this as the "total readout." I suspect that this is why the ability shows so poorly in testing. It is unnatural to isolate it. It also improves with knowledge, which is admittedly frustrating for anyone who is trying to separate this skill out from a knowledgeable guess, but the fact is, the more you know about a subject, the better your psi will be in that area. I can look at people and get a sense for where they're hurting, but a doctor with a similar level of psychic ability would probably be able to give a rather detailed diagnosis. In fact, there are some anecdotal stories of this. I think in Russia they even have some medical psychics to help in diagnosis.

But I digress. You would need to test the general population for psychic ability and have a fairly substantial database to even begin to answer this question in any quantified way. This will give you numbers, but it still doesn't necessarily speak to who has the best psi. There seems to be a bit of a trade off of emotional stability for psychic ability so that when you're asking people to do a very stable activity, such as testing, the best won't respond very well. Testing is loaded with pressure, it is repetitive and stressful and isn't very interesting nor is there any emotional attachment. These things work against strong manifestations of psi.

As psychics evaluating psychics, we do what we do best; go by feel. Since we are so good at empathy, we look at how people are feeling. A person being psychic is quiet inside and a fraud is excessively noisy. A psychic has to turn inward and a fraud turns outward. A person well trained in body language could probably spot the difference, it's that obvious when you know what to look for.

[Craig Browning]

[craig weiler]

I was not aware of the Wikipedia definition of Schizotypal. It is wildly inaccurate and that is because it is undoubtedly very out of date.

Modern psychiatry recognizes many traits as normal that were once considered "off." For example, psychiatry now recognizes "flow" as essential to creativity. It seems that the whole field of psychology is becoming far more tolerant of different personalities as it gets away from the influence of Skinner and accumulates more data. In particular, the creative personality is now in vogue and there are many studies coming out examining the aspects of that personality. "Magical Thinking" can, of course, be found on that list.

[ProfWag]

[ProfWag]

[craig weiler]

No, reading body language is not very paranormal. Agreed. However what I am saying is that the body language of psychics and frauds is different enough to be noticeable by someone who can read body language.

As long as we're on the subject, this is one of areas where the lines blur because of that "total readout" thing. A psychic will normally both read body language and psychically tune into someone at the same time and the information will be totally mixed together to the point where you cannot tell where one ends and the other begins. I understand that this is not a satisfying answer to a skeptic. I'm just 'splainin'

[ProfWag]

To summarize Craig B, Craig W, and the wonderful, extremely intelligent, and amazing NinjaPuppy (yes, sucking up for the earlier gaff), basically from what you all have said is that to identify a "real" psychic, it, well, "takes one to know one." Am I close?

[NinjaPuppy]

[NinjaPuppy]

[craig weiler]

Well, I am saying that if you hang around real psychics for a while and see how they operate, you should be able to identify a fraud without much trouble whether you are psychic or not. There are incompetents, but that is another story . . .

[ProfWag]

[craig weiler]