Hocus pocus: x-ray eyes and spoon-bending

Did you know they’ve taken the word ‘gullible’ out of the dictionary? This one went around endlessly at school and I almost fell for it the first time, but never again. Why would I?

And so I segue mysteriously (yet relevantly) into the Channel 4 ‘Bodyshocks‘ series of documentaries. This week’s programme focussed on ‘the girl with the x-ray eyes’. Natasha, a seventeen-year-old from Russia claims to literally see inside people in order to diagnose their medical conditions. Having submitted to the sceptic’s tests, she was debunked, but not entirely satisfactorily.

About the author

Psychologist, Jeremy Dean, PhD is the founder and author of PsyBlog. He holds a doctorate in psychology from University College London and two other advanced degrees in psychology.

He has been writing about scientific research on PsyBlog since 2004. He is also the author of the book “Making Habits, Breaking Habits” (Da Capo, 2003) and several ebooks. 

And now my final, and not so mysterious segue, is into Professor Richard Wiseman’s research into spoon-bending. He had two sets of undergrads witness the trick. In half, the wannabe Yuri suggested that the spoon continued to bend after he put it down. Sure enough 40% reported the spoon continuing to bend – as if by magic.

SOURCE: PSYBLOG