You would think the legitimacy of psychic claims would be undermined by cases of proven psychic fraud over the years. Historical instances have existed, such as Lajos Pap, the Hungarian spiritualist medium, which was discovered to be fake animal appearances at seances. And more recently, James Hydrick, a self-described psychic, was exposed as a trickster. Hydrick confessed that tricks discovered in prison were his paranormal demonstrations. 

Another notable example was Peter Popoff, a televangelist. His wife used a wireless transmitter through an earpiece to relay information to Popoff about sermon attendees. Popoff claimed to obtain this knowledge through paranormal means and soared to fame hosting a national television show during which he performed almost miraculous cures on members of the audience.

But there are still many people who strongly believe in the influence of psychic ability, despite such instances. For instance, more than one-quarter of individuals assume that people have psychic powers, such as telepathy and clairvoyance, according to a US Gallup study.

A recent study may help to shed some light on why psychic powers continue to be believed by people. The study measured the same level of education and academic achievement among believers and sceptics and found that people who believe in psychic powers think less analytically. This implies that, from a subjective personal viewpoint, they prefer to view the world and fail to critically analyse facts. 

Believers also frequently interpret psychic statements, regardless of their evidence basis, as confirmatory evidence. This is illustrated by the case of Chris Robinson, who refers to himself as a "dream detective." 

Robinson claims to have foreseen terrorist attacks, catastrophes and deaths of celebrities. His statements stem from minimal and doubtful evidence. Tests conducted at the University of Arizona by Gary Schwartz offered evidence for the skill of Robinson, but other researchers using similar methods failed to validate Schwartz 's conclusion.

Psychic reports, such as predicting a plane accident or celebrity death, are often general and ambiguous and this is partially why so many individuals believe in the likelihood of psychic abilities. 

This is known as The Barnum effect, a widespread psychological phenomenon in which individuals appear to recognise ambiguous, generic definitions of personality as specific to themselves. 

For example, research has shown that people offer high accuracy ratings to explanations of their personality that are supposed to be specifically tailored to them, which are in reality ambiguous and broad enough to relate to a wide range of individuals. The name refers to Phineas Taylor Barnum, a circus man who had a reputation for being a master psychological manipulator.

The presence of empirical research that offers positive results is another aspect that promotes confidence in psychic abilities. This confirms the views of believers that statements are true and real phenomena, but ignores the fact that published studies are frequently questioned and replication is required in order to be recognized in general. 

 

One prominent example of this was a paper in the high-quality Journal of Personality and Social Psychology published by social psychologist Daryl Bem. The study was said to show evidence for the presence of a future event's precognition (conscious cognitive awareness) and premonition (affective apprehension). But these findings failed to be replicated by other researchers.

So it seems that people will continue to believe in psychic phenomena amid cases of falsehood, forgery and fraudulence, as well as mixed facts. Indeed, research has shown that one in three Americans believe that they have witnessed a psychic moment, and almost half of American women say that they have sensed a spirit 's presence. 

 

Whether this is due to lack of critical skills, real experiences, or simply in an effort to make the universe a bit more interesting, despite science suggesting otherwise, it seems believers will continue to believe.