The Final 2fer: Are you a Believer?

The belief in the supernatural is a general term used to describe the conviction that ghosts, aliens, and the like are real. One might say that such notions are absurd. Many believe that believers in the supernatural are few in number. However, this is not the case. The numbers of the believers are great, and for a reason. This reason is that they want to believe. The belief in the supernatural is incredibly widespread, and it is this way because people want to believe, and here are even benefits to believing.

Since these stories and beliefs seem outlandish, one might assume that few people believe in them. The reality is quite the opposite. According to a 2005 survey by Gallup News, 73% of Americans believed in one of ten items listed on the survey. This is a small decrease from the results of a similar survey done by Gallup News in 2001, which said that 76% of Americans believe. While the numbers have decreased from 2001 to 2005, the difference is very small - only 3%. Gallup News’ studies proved that 3 in 4 Americans believe in the supernatural. Furthermore, more surveys have said that nearly one in five Americans claim to have seen a ghost. If the same can be said for the other countries, the belief in the supernatural is widespread throughout the world.

There is still the question of why this is. Why do so many people put so much belief in otherworldly creatures and unbelievable powers that they could have never witnessed? The answer to this question is actually very simple; they want to believe. Brian Cronk, a professor of psychology at Missouri Western State University, says, “Many people simply just want to believe. The human brain is always trying to determine why things happen, and when the reason is not clear, we tend to make up some pretty bizarre explanations.” A lot of people believe in the supernatural for the same reason people in ancient times developed what is today known as mythology. They wanted an explanation for something. Sure, people can turn to science to explain things today. However, there are still questions that science can’t explain. For example, an astronomer releases a report that a strange sound was heard in the depths of space. The sound was said to be unlike anything heard in space before. People would hate to leave a question unanswered, so they would most likely assume the sound came from a UFO.

Believing in the supernatural is even shown to be beneficial to one’s self. One of the notable benefits is that it serves as a protective shield from the harsher truths of the world. Jennifer Whitson at the University of Texas, who studies pattern perception, judgement, and decision making, found that when a certain situation, like a death, job loss, or natural disaster, happens, the brain will scramble to find an answer to the madness. This will cause the person to see outside forces controlling the situation, as it is out of their control. Additionally, one study showed that when the subjects brought their lucky charm to a memory test, their memory significantly improved. What does this mean? The thing is, people don’t like to believe that things just happen randomly. So they will create beliefs and superstitions so they have an answer as to why something happens, other than, “It just did.” For example, they will assume that a malicious spirit was behind the unexpected thunderstorm, or that a ghost moved the door and caused it to creak. As for the memory test, the memory of the subjects seemed to increase when they brought their lucky charm with them because having the charm with them improved their confidence in their abilities. This improved confidence led to a better performance in the memory test. In other words, they felt that they could do well on the test because they had their lucky charm with them.

It is unknown whether the stories of the supernatural are true. However, there are a lot of believers, and they have a valid reason to believe. Skeptics may push aside such seemingly impossible claims, but there is a reason the believers accept them. This reason is to find an explanation for what seems to be unexplainable. As Adam Waytz at Northwestern University in Illinois puts it, “We create beliefs because we don’t like believing that the universe is random.” Additionally, as shown in the memory test results, having some kind of lucky charm can increase one’s confidence in their abilities.

Why this is my best possible 2fer: I found that I didn’t have to make many edits after the peer editing session. In fact, I only had to do two things, make the thesis more clear and add more details to the analysis of two of my body paragraphs, along with my conclusion. I also tried to pick a topic that was actually debatable, and I managed to fix the mistakes I kept making in past 2fers. Overall, I say that this is my best 2fer yet, and I have grown since writing the first one.

Citations: Gallup, Inc. “Three in Four Americans Believe in Paranormal.” Gallup.com, 16 June 2005, news.gallup.com/poll/16915/three-four-americans-believe-paranormal.aspx.

“Monsters, Ghosts and Gods: Why We Believe.” Live Science: The Most Interesting Articles, Mysteries & Discoveries. Web. http://www.livescience.com/5046-monsters-ghosts-gods.html.

“BBC - Future - Psychology: The truth about the paranormal.” BBC - Homepage. Web. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141030-the-truth-about-the-paranormal.