Eyewitness Testimony and the Paranormal

Eyewitness Testimony and the Paranormal RICHARD WISEMAN, MATTHEW SMITH, and JEFF WISEMAN uch of the evidence relating to paranormal phenomena consists of eye- M witness testimony. However, a large body of experimental research has shown that such testimony can be extremely unreliable. Experiments show thai For example, in 1887 Richard Hodgson and S. John beliefs and expectations tan lead people to be unreliable Davey held seances in Britain (in which phenomena witnesses of supposedly were faked by trickery) for unsuspecting sitters and paranormal phenomena. requested each sitter to write a description of the seance Investigators must carefully assess testimony, regardless after it had ended. Hodgson and Davey reported that sit- of whether it reinforces or ters omitted many important events and recalled others opposes their own beliefs. in incorrect order. Indeed, some of the accounts were so unreliable that Hodgson later remarked: The account of a trick by a person ignorant of the method used in its production will involve a misde- scription of its fundamental conditions ... so marked that no clue is afforded the student for the actual expla- SKEPTICAL INQUIRER • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995 29 genuine psychic! These studies admirably demon- strate that eyewitness testimony of supposedly paranormal events can be unreliable. Additional studies have now started to examine some of the factors that might cause such inaccuracy. Clearly, many supposedly paranormal events are difficult to observe simply because of their duration, frequen- cy, and the conditions under which they occur. For example, ostensible poltergeist activity, stance phenomena, and UFO sightings often occur with- out warning, are over within a few moments, take place under poor light- ing or weather conditions, or happen at a considerable distance from observers. In addition, some people have sight/hearing deficiencies, while others have observed these phenomena under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or when they are tired (especially if they have had to wait a relatively long time for the phenomena to occur). It is also possible that observers' beliefs and expectations play an important role in the production of inaccurate testimony. Different people clearly have different beliefs and expectations prior to observing a supposed psychic—skep- nation (Hodgson and Davey 1887, which given phenomena took place, tics might expect to see some kind of p. 9). and to experience the illusory move- trickery; believers may expect a display ments of objects. of genuine psi. Some seventy years ago In a partial replication of this work, More recently, Singer and Benassi Eric Dingwall in Britain (1921) specu- Theodore Besterman (1932) in Britain in the United States (1980) had a lated that such expectations may distort had sitters attend a fake seance and stage magician perform fake psychic eyewitness testimony: then answer questions relating to vari- phenomena before two groups of uni- ous phenomena that had occurred. versity students. Students in one The frame of mind in which a per- Besterman reported that sitters had a group were told that they were about son goes to see magic and to a medi- tendency to underestimate the number to see a magician; the other group, um cannot be compared. In one case of persons present in the stance room, that they were about to witness a he goes either purely for amusement to fail to report major disturbances that demonstration of genuine psychic or possibly with the idea of discover- took place (e.g., the movement of the ability. Afterward, all of the students ing 'how it was done,' whilst in the experimenter from the seance room), were asked to note whether they other he usually goes with the to fail to recall the conditions under believed the performer was a genuine thought that it is possible that he psychic or a magician. Approximately will come into direct contact with Richard Wiseman is the Perron- Warrick two-thirds of both groups stated they the other world (p. 211). Senior Research Fellow at the University believed the performer to be a gen- of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, uine psychic. In a follow-up experi- Recent experimental evidence sug- Herts., ALIO 9AB, U.K. researching ment the researchers added a third gests that Dingwall's speculations are parapsychology and deception; Matthew condition, wherein the experimenter correct. Smith is a research assistant at the Uni- stressed that the performer was defi- Wiseman and Morris (1995a) in versity of Hertfordshire; Jeff" Wiseman is nitely a magician. Fifty-eight percent Britain carried out two studies investi- a freelance writer who assisted in the of the people in this group still stated gating the effect that belief in the para- experiments. they believed the performer to be a normal has on the observation of con- 30 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995 luring tricks. Individuals taking part in extrasensory perception (ESP). In one are unreliable and that eyewitnesses are the experiment were first asked several condition the demonstration was suc- either fooling themselves or being questions concerning their belief in the cessful (i.e., ESP appeared to occur) fooled by fraudulent mediums. paranormal. On the basis of their while in the other it was not. All individ- The authors carried out an experi- answers they were classified as cither UALS WERE UICII ,)M\Cu iu I c u m illc UC1UUI1- ment in the United Kingdom to assess believers (labeled "sheep") or skeptics stration. Sheep who saw the unsuccessful both the reliability of testimony relat- (labeled "goats"). [Gertrude Schmeid- demonstration distorted their memories ing to seance phenomena, and whether ler. City College, New York City, of it and often stated that ESP had paranormal events could be produced coined the terms sheep and goats.] occurred. Goats tended to correctly recall in a modern seance. We carried out our In both experiments individuals the demonstration, even if it appeared to experiment, titled "Manifestations," were first shown a film containing fake support the existence of ESP three times. Twenty-five people attend- psychic demonstrations. In the first In addition, Matthew Smith in ed on each occasion. They were first demonstration the "psychic" apparent- Britain (1993) investigated the effect asked to complete a short question- naire, noting their age, gender, and ly bent a key by concentrating on it; in that instructions (given prior to whether they believed that genuine the second demonstration he suppos- watching a film containing a demon- paranormal phenomena might some- edly bent a spoon simply by rubbing it. stration of apparent psychic ability) times take place during seances. After they watched the film, wit- had on the recall of the film. nesses were asked to rate the "para- Individuals were split into two groups. A seance room had been prepared. normal" content of the demonstrations One group was told that the film con- All of the windows and doors in the and complete a set of recall questions. tained trickery; the other group was room had been sealed and blacked out, told that it contained genuine para- Wiseman and Morris wanted to dis- and twenty-five chairs had been normal phenomena. The former cover if, as Hodgson and Dingwall had arranged in a large circle. Three group recalled significantly more suggested, sheep really did tend to mis- objects—a book, a slate, and a bell— information about the film than the remember those parts of the demon- had been treated with luminous paint latter group. strations that were central to solving and placed onto three of the chairs. A the tricks. For this reason, half of the All of the above experiments were small table, the edges of which were questions concerned the methods used carried out in controlled laboratory also luminous, was situated in the mid- to fake the phenomena. For example, the psychic faked the key-bending "Different people clearly have different demonstration by secretly switching the straight key for a pre-bent dupli- beliefs and expectations prior to observing cate by passing the straight key from a supposed psychic—skeptics might expect one hand to the other. During the switch the straight key could not be • . • trickery; believers may expect a dis- seen. This was clearly central to the play of genuine psi." trick's method; and one of the "important" questions asked was whether the settings. However, another recent dle of the circle. Two luminous mara- straight key had always remained in study suggests that the same inaccura- cas rested on the table. sight. A second set of "unimportant" cies may exist in a more natural setting, Following a brief talk on the aims of questions asked about parts of the namely, the seance room. the project, the participants were led demonstration that were not related to Many individuals have reported into the darkened seance room. the tricks' methods. experiencing extraordinary phenomena Richard Wiseman played the part of Overall, the results suggested that during dark-room stances. Eyewit- the medium. With the help of a torch, sheep rated the demonstrations as nesses claim that objects have mysteri- he showed each person to a chair, and, more "paranormal" than goats did, and ously moved, strange sounds have been where appropriate, asked them to pick that goats did indeed recall significant- produced, or ghostly forms have up the book, slate, or bell. ly more "important" information than appeared, and that these phenomena Next, he drew participants' atten- sheep. There was no such difference for have occurred under conditions that tion to the table and maracas. Those the recall of the "unimportant" infor- render normal explanations practically participants who had picked up the mation. impossible. other luminous objects were asked to This is not the only study to investi- Believers argue that conditions make themselves known, and the gate sheep/goat differences in observa- commonly associated with a seance "medium" collected the objects one by tion and recall of "paranormal" phenom- (such as darkness, anticipation, and one and placed them on the table.

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