True-believer syndrome
True-believer syndrome
| Terminology |
| Coined by |
M. Lamar Keene (1976) |
| Definition |
The condition of continuing to believe a paranormal event/phenomenon after it has been debunked |
| Signature |
Belief continues without grounds or base |
True-believer syndrome is an informal or rhetorical term coined by M. Lamar Keene in his 1976 book The Psychic Mafia. Keene used the term to refer to people who continued to believe in a paranormal event or phenomenon even after it had been proven to have been staged.[1][2] Keene considered it to be a cognitive disorder,[3][4] and regarded it as being a key factor in the success of many psychic mediums.[2]
Examples
Raoul
In his book The Psychic Mafia, Keene tells of a psychic medium named Raoul. Some people still believed that Raoul was genuine even after he openly admitted that he was a fake. Keene wrote "I knew how easy it was to make people believe a lie, but I didn't expect the same people, confronted with the lie, would choose it over the truth. ... No amount of logic can shatter a faith consciously based on a lie."[5][1]
Carlos
According to The Skeptic's Dictionary, an example of this syndrome is evidenced by an event in 1988 when James Randi, at the request of an Australian news program, coached stage performer José Alvarez to pretend he was channelling a two-thousand-year-old spirit named "Carlos". Even after it was revealed to be a fictional character created by Randi and Alvarez, many people continued to believe that "Carlos" was real.[4] Randi commented: "no amount of evidence, no matter how good it is or how much there is of it, is ever going to convince the true believer to the contrary."[6]
See also
References
- ^ a b Keene, M. Lamar (1976). The Psychic Mafia. St. Martin's Press; New York
- ^ a b Keene M. Lamar, Spraggett Allen (1997) The Psychic Mafia, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1-57392-161-0. page 151
- ^ W. Sumer Davis. Just Smoke and Mirrors: Religion, Fear and Superstition in Our Modern World. pp. 11–12. ISBN 0-595-26523-5.
- ^ a b "true believer syndrome". Skeptic's Dictionary. http://skepdic.com/truebeliever.html. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
- ^ Keene, M. Lamar and Allen Spraggett (1997) The Psychic Mafia, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1-57392-161-0. pp. 141–151
- ^ ABC News (1998-10-06) "The Power of Belief: How Our Beliefs Can Impact Our Minds", ABC News (2007-06-04)
Further reading
- Harriet A. Hall, (2006). Teaching Pigs to Sing: An Experiment in Bringing Critical Thinking to the Masses, Skeptical Inquirer, Vol 30, #3, May/June 2006, 36–39.
- Barry Singer and Victor A. Benassi, (1980). Fooling some of the People All of the Time, Skeptical Inquirer, Vol 5, #2, Winter 1980/81, 17–24.
- Lalich, Janja. Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults. University of California Press, 2004. ISBN 0-520-23194-5. 329 pp.
- Chet Raymo. Skeptics and True Believers: The Exhilarating Connection Between Science and Religion. Walker Publishing, 1998. ISBN 0-8027-1338-6. 288 pp.
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