Are ghosts real? A social psychologist examines the evidence

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Many people certainly believe in ghosts – a spirit that has been left behind after someone who lived has died.

In a survey of 2021 under 1,000 American adults, 41% stated in believing in ghosts, and 20% stated that they had experienced them personally. If you are right, it is more than 50 million mental encounter in the United States alone.

This includes the owner of a retail business near my house, who believes that his place is being hit. When I asked what convinced him the most, he sent me dozens of uncanny surveillance video clips. He also brought in ghost hunters who intensified his suspicion.

Some of the videos show small light balls in the room. In others you can hear weak voices and noisy sound noises when nobody is there. Others show a book that flies from a desk and products that jump from a shelf.

It is not unusual for me to hear such stories. As a sociologist, some of my work deals with beliefs on things such as spirits, aliens, pyramid power and superstition.

Together with others who practice scientific skepticism, I am open while I say that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Tell me that you have a burger for lunch and I’ll take your word for it. Tell me that you shared your fries with Abraham Lincoln’s spirit, and I want to prove more.

In the “spirit” of critical thinking, consider the following three questions:

Are ghosts possible?

People may think they experience spirits when they hear strange voices, see moving objects, witnesses of balls or photographs or even translucent people.

But nobody describes ghosts as aging, eating, breathing or using bathing rooms ob alkalaries.

Could ghosts be made from a special kind of energy that floats and flies without loosening?

If this is the case, when ghosts shine, move objects and make noises, they behave like matter – something that takes up space and has mass, such as wood, water, plants and people. Conversely, they must not behave like matter when walking through walls or disappearing.

But centuries of physics research have found that there is nothing comparable, which is why physicists say that spirits cannot exist.

And so far there is no proof that part of a person can continue after death.

What is the proof?

Never before in history have people received so many ghost encounters, which some of the mobile phone cameras and microphones thank you. It seems that there would now be great evidence. But scientists don’t have it.

Instead, there are many ambiguous shots that are sabotaged by poor lighting and incorrect equipment. But popular television programs on ghost hunting many spectators convince that blurry pictures and emotional reactions are proof enough.

For all devices that use Ghost Hunters to grasp noise, electrical fields and infrared radiation – you may look scientifically, but they are not. The measurements are worthless without knowing what they measure.

When Ghost Hunters descends to an allegedly persecuted place for a night full of meanders and measurement, you will usually find something that you later consider paranormal. It can be a movable door (breeze?), A cold (gap in the planks?), Lights (light from outside?), Electrical fluctuations (old cabling?) Or bumps and weak voices (crew in other rooms?

Whatever happens, Ghost Hunters draw a bull eye with it, interpret it as “evidence” and do not investigate this.

Are there alternative explanations?

Personal experiences with ghosts can be misleading due to the restrictions of human sense. Therefore, anecdotes cannot replace objective research. Appropriate haunted declarations usually have many non-Ghostle explanations.

One example is the retail business in my neighborhood. I checked the surveillance camera clips and collected information about the location and layout of the business as well as the exact devices used in the records.

First, the “balls” have recorded many small balls of light, which apparently moved in the room.

In reality, the balls are tiny dust particles that blow near the camera lens, which are “blooming” by the infrared lights of the camera. It is an optical deception that they seem to float in the room. Take a close look at an Orb video and you will see that you will never go behind objects in the room. This is exactly what you would expect with dust particles near the camera lens.

Next voices and bumps: The shop is located in a busy Eckmini mall. Three walls on sidewalks, loading zones and parking spaces; A neighboring shop shares the fourth. The surveillance camera -Mics have probably recorded sounds from outdoor, other rooms and the adjacent unit. The owner never checked for these options.

Then the flight objects: The video shows objects that fall from the wall of the exhibition space. The shelf rests on adjustable brackets, one of which was not completely in his slot. The weight of the shelf prompted the bracket to have set up with a visible jerk. This movement sent some objects from the shelf.

Then, the Flying Book: I used a simple trick to reproduce the event at home: a hidden cord that was wrapped in the cover of a book, wrapped the kitchen island and pulled outside the camera range on my right hand.

Now I cannot prove that there was no spirit in the original video. It is about delivering a more plausible explanation than “it must have been a ghost”.

One final consideration: practically all ghostly experiences contain obstacles to make precise perceptions and judgments – poor lighting, emotional excitation, sleep phenomena, social influences, culture, misunderstandings, such as recording devices, and the previous beliefs and personality traits of those who claim to see ghosts. All of this offers the potential to induce unforgettable ghostly encounters.

But everyone can be explained without ghosts real.

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This article will be released from the conversation, a non -profit, independent news organization that brings you facts and trustworthy analyzes to help you understand our complex world. It was written by: Barry Markovsky, University of South Carolina

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Barry Markovsky does not work for a company or an organization that benefits from this article and have not published any relevant affiliations about their academic appointment.