Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, we all know that. But Dr. Christopher French, professor of Anomalistic Psychology at the University of London, might know it more than the rest of us - he’s spent his career in pursuit of tangible evidence for all kinds of paranormal beliefs. Extrasensory perception, telepathy, dowsing - and has come up with little proof that these phenomena occur - but has not lost the skeptical spark that leaves all possibilities on the table.

Along the way, he became interested in the question of cognition - how do people come to believe in magical phenomena? Did they feel the appeal of motivated reasoning, or did it take them by surprise? Proof and disproof don’t seem to have much of an effect in this world of metaphysical beliefs, since cognition doesn’t depend on facts - it’s much more about emotions, tribal associations, and the way that humans *want* the world to be, rather than how it *is.*

ªº¬˚∆≤≥≤≥ Join the mailing list http://eepurl.com/gRUCZL​ ≤≥≤≥∆˚¬ºª

ªº¬˚∆≤≥≤≥ Subscribe & Ring the bell to study the Secrets of the Universe ≤≥≤≥∆˚¬ºª

EPISODE LINKS:

Dr. French Twitter: https://twitter.com/chriscfrench

Dr. French Lab Site: https://www.gold.ac.uk/apru/

Dr. French Articles on Anomalistic Psychology: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/chris-french

PODCAST INFO:

Blog: http://demystifyingscience.com/blog

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3uhn7J1

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/39IDJBD

RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss

Full episodes playlist: https://bit.ly/3sP1WgR

Clips playlist: https://bit.ly/2OieYEG

Donate: rb.gy/a7ueoz

Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y

SOCIAL:

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/demystifysci

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/demystifyingscience

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/demystifysci/

We wrote and performed the music in this episode!

Shilo Delay: https://soundcloud.com/laterisgone​

And everywhere else (Spotify, etc..)

https://g.co/kgs/fc8WbA