The Sunday Independent ran a short piece on psychics the other week, in which I was quoted as referring to “unreliable forces” when I had actually said “unreliable sources.” My bad, I’m sure.
The writer had interviewed me for this piece many months ago. I guess the obvious joke here would somehow refer to the fact that I had no idea when it was going to be published. But I try not to make obvious jokes.
Here’s a taster:
With modern life comes instant gratification; people want immediate resolutions to their problems, but does the power of a psychic rest with personality type? Are you more likely to believe because you want to? Brian Hughes, Professor of Psychology at NUI Galway, doesn’t think so. “Human beings thrive on certainty and we are all prone to being convinced to some degree by authority figures; most of the information we get is from someone else. It’s not an individual character flaw that leads someone to trust unreliable forces.”
i.e., sources.
See what you make of the entire article by clicking here.
Brian Hughes is an academic psychologist and university professor in Galway, Ireland, specialising in stress, health, and the application of psychology to social issues. He writes widely on the psychology of empiricism and of empirically disputable claims, especially as they pertain to science, health, medicine, and politics.