The traits of a REAL psychic or medium.

thaiboxerken

Penultimate Amazing
thaiboxerken
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I've noticed among woos that there seems to be several traits that most of them agree on that constitutes if a psychic or medium is real or not. Here are a few:

Doesn't do it for profit. It seems like this is something that many woos will bring up anyone questions the sincerity of a psychic/medium's super abilities. I have to wonder why they think that superpowers will not work if you charge money to use them. Perhaps because they believe only heroes and saints can ever have such powers.

Welcomes skepticism Another trait that woos bring up. It's like they don't understand the difference between lip-service and sincerity.

Very nice person Again, seems to be a trait given to heroes and saints as well.

"Spiritual" Real psychics embrace all religions. Again, a trait of an archetype. Hmmm.

I think I see a pattern here. I have always wondered why many people believe psychics and mediums can only be good guy- superheroes. I would think that if such powers existed, there would be those who would use such powers for selfish reasons as well as "evil".

Does anyone else see archetype traits of "real" psychics and mediums that I haven't listed?
 
I get the strong impression that a lot of wooish stuff has a common theme that there is some force for good underlying all these powers - god or something vaguely godlike. So this force only allows you to use your powers for completely selfless reasons, since selfishness is apparently bad.

I got into this on IMDB of all places, on the board for "The Craft". I challenged somebody who claimed they could do real magic to take the JREF test and was told that no, that won't work because the powers dry up if you try to use them for profit. I suggested that she could sign the prize away to a charity for starving children before the test - surely if you were allowed to use your powers to help one person, there'd be no problem with using it to help countless numbers! Strangely enough there was no reply to that.
 
Trait of a REAL psychic or medium (without scare quotes around REAL): Has won one million dollars from JREF.

Trait that believers seem to think gives credence to a psychic or medium: Sincerity is key; if you can fake that you've got it made.
 
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Exactly.. if you can con them, then obviously you are a "real" psychic. Believers tend to arrogantly believe that their experiences trump all. "I KNOW what I saw. I KNOW it was real. I KNOW what I experienced. It was real."
 
Oh yah you betcha. Being aware of what a bad witness I am -- how dishonest my eye and memory can be, even when I try to be careful -- that's important to remember always.

To be really accurate I might have to resort to circumlocutions like "I know what I remember thinking I saw." :-D

[edit] Hope you'll pardon a quick plug. Your sig makes me think you might get a laugh out of this comic strip. It's David Simpson's "Ozy and Millie," and this is the strip your sig reminded me of:

http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2006/om20060417.html
 
Another Trait of a Medium

Being Bulletproof - If a psychic fails, his or her supporters make all sorts of excuses; one or two good guesses are hailed as proof of powers; and if one is caught out as a failure or fraud, it's OK because his scam "gives people hope," and it's wrong to disillusion a gullible person; even if the psychic had to resort to cheating while being tested, it doesn't prove that she cheated every time.
 
That is a good piont, Outhere.. It does seem that psychics can be caught cheating and still go on as if nothing happened. They might lose a couple of fans, but the rest dismiss the events. Sylvia Browne certainly didn't lose much when she botched up the miner incident on live radio a few months ago.
 
I like it, but is it an actual trait? Or a side-effect of their shrewdness/willingness to deceive? Maybe both? Probably doesn't matter; I'm over-analyzing. ;-)
 
That's a real trait that "psychics" have, yes. It's not a trait that the woo-woos will describe a "real" psychic with, though.
 
Mm, I see the distinction. I'm not used to looking through those particular rose-tinteds. Like someone else's prescription lenses, wearing them makes me just a little queasy. ;-)
 
Yes, and I can understand. Often, when I ask a woo what makes a person a "real" psychic, they evade the question.
 
Another trait?

How about sufficient ambiguity? Nothing a respected medium or psychic can say can be too specific. When Sylvia Browne said Al Gore would win the election in 2000, and didn't, she said she meant votes - not the actual result. We all know about the problems with the miners in West Virginia.

It's important to talk to dead people who can't remember their own names, can't remember specific, key events in their lives, can't remember the names of still-living loved ones, etc. You have to leave an escape route.
 
Yeah! Good point. Aleksandr Borodin managed to compose some pretty good music, yet he worked his day job as a chemist. So why the heck can't Sylvia earn a few honest bucks exterminating unwanted crickets? Is John Edward so high and mighty that used car sales is beneath him? ("I'm getting an 'M'... Mustang? Miata? Malibu?") What's with Uri Geller that he can't do a little ornamental ironwork now and then? And would it really hurt Prophet Yahweh that much to put in some hours as an air traffic controller? Why not? Because it would kill their cred -- they wouldn't be "REAL" any more.
 
Ahh yes. Real mediums always deliver happy messages from the other side, never will a loved one go to "hell".
 
a.k.a. the "Give the People What They Want" factor. Very important, that.

I recall a story (can't vouch for its authenticity) of a cranky old lady being given the usual bucket of swine-rinse, then ripping into the "psychic" for daring to suggest that her husband was in paradise. A colorful listing of his flaws was an appealing part of the tale.
 
Nope, because a "real" psychic would never use their powers for selfish reasons like that, grayman. Only the most moral and honest people can have superpowers in the minds of most woos.
 
digithead said:
Self-deception is also a trait...
Click to expand...

I reckon there are two flavours of psychic: those who self-deceive, and those who knowingly deceive others for financial gain.

I submit that there are two explanations for the existence of "psychic powers": delusion or fraud. Mad or criminal - take your pick.

An important trait of the criminal type is the ability to impersonate the deluded type.
 
The mentalist Derren Brown did a show called "Messiah" where he went to America to try and convince people he had 'gifts' whether it was remote viewing or the ability to convert people to his religion at a touch, or whatever.

In each case, he said to the camera that if he was asked "Is this a trick?" or "Is it real?" he would be honest, and tell them it was a trick.

Not one of them asked, and all became convinced. You just can't help the Woo crowd.
 
Hm, I was going to suggest what I think of as "grandiose modesty." To outsiders it might appear to be an insufferable condescending air of superiority, but to those in the know it's just how geniuses are.
 
Fomer Skeptic

A lot of the self-proclaimed psychics i'm familiar with very often describe themselves as "former skeptics", as someone who "didn't believe in all this psychic nonsense" until they "had an experience" which made them "realize that there really is something more out there, that there are things which are beyond science as we know it"; and gave them their special abilities.

Or perhaps they always had special abilities, and can point to incidents from their childhood which prove that they had been psychic; but their "skeptical nature" kept them "in denial, trying to explain it all away, as skeptics typically do" and prevented them from "accepting that this experience was real, and valuable, and could be used to help people and make the world a better place", and so on, ad nauseum.
 
Many "psychics" and "mediums" claim that everyone has superpowers, but that doubt clouds the minds of most people from being able to use them.
 
If their where such thing as ESP would the symptoms of several mental illnesses, also explain whats happening to them? Would people feel threatened that their secrets are no longer safe, because someone can read their mind?? Would they not know what they had to go through if they acknowledged their disturbing ability??? Would they not be treated like Freaks???? to be exploited and screwed with. For know perhaps its better left as a means of entertainment, a little physiology and knowledge of body language basic human behavior and any one can appear to have ESP. I think about having such abilities once and a while and it seems to be more of a curse then anything else
 
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Presumption of dishonesty on other people's parts.

Ask them why scientists can't replicate their effects, and its always something about how "close-minded" they are. As if the lack of integrity of the kind of people who developed the polio vaccine was self-evident.

They can never say, "That's a good question." They can only say, "Those people don't want to succeed." For them, there is never an honest disagreement over data; only a emotional refusal to acknowledge facts.

Projection: we always project ourselves onto others. For instance, I always assume that reducing all arguments to an emprical test is a good thing, and I am constantly surprised when some people disagree...
 
on one hand IF science can not explain it perhaps its not real,
on the other hand science can not explain everything, and so many people believe in it how could they all be wrong unless they where all told a lie.

we have scientific proof that the brain is real, what of the mind is it a tangible item?? how do we now its their???

its like trying to convince a hard core scientist that God is a omnipotent non-carbon based life form that science has not yet been able to recognize.

science is an on going process and is always growing/learning.
 
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