There is so much to blog this week but I thought I would report something about money-grabbing, attention-seeking, bloody psychics. Not the nice deluded psychics who contact me and really believe they have powers. No, I’m talking about the ones who are milking the gullibility of people.

In an article in Saturday’s Guardian, we learned that a Welsh police force had spent approximately £20,000 following up leads from psychic mediums regarding a suicide. They claimed to have been contacted by the ghost of the man and that he had been killed by gangsters who had forced him to drink petrol and bleach. A second autopsy was ordered and no evidence of such substances were found.

A statement from Dyfed-Powys police said: “The revelations of the mystics were brought to our attention via the family and these were followed to reassure the family that the full circumstances of the death were as they appeared. Police have a responsibility to the deceased, their family and the public to investigate all deaths thoroughly.” You can read the story for yourself but clearly this sets a terrible precedence. I imagine the distraught family were fleeced for cash and told a cock-n-bull story about a murder.

But it’s Sky1’s broadcast of über psychic conman Derek Acorah’s attempt to contact Michael Jackson in a live seance watched by more than 600,000 viewers on Friday, 6 November that sticks in the throat. I think Derren Brown writing on his blog put it most appositely, “Can you honestly imagine anything – anything – more anus-invertingly unpalatable than this? I hate myself for drawing attention to it. So proud to be in telly.” The Guardian review does a pretty impressive hatchet-job on this most irritating of scousers but here’s an excerpt, “Acorah’s manipulation of the vulnerable was in such bad taste that it couldn’t be seen as entertainment on any discernible level. It was depressing. That’s all it was.”

The sooner psychics are made to provide scientific evidence to support their claims (which they can’t), the sooner we can persecute I mean, prosecute them for taking money off the gullible public. And that includes exploitative television. Burn the witch!

With events at Fort Hood likely to cast a shadow over the coming days, I thought I would direct your attention to something more light-hearted. Today marks the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street. In a world of darkness and cynicism, it is important to remember and celebrate these nuggets of innocence and joy. But before you think that I have gone completely sappy, have a look at this alternative version of Sesame Street’s Count singing about what he loves to do best. If you are young enough then you probably hear the Count “counting.” If you are a bit older, then you probably heard something completely different! Shame on you.

The Kaniza Illusion

With the release of “The Men Who Stare at Goats” this week in the UK, one might be forgiven for thinking the US army are complete knuckleheads when it comes to dismissing woo. That of course, would be a sweeping generalization (or sergeantization) depending on the rank of the remark. Thankfully, there are some in the current US army who are less inclined to woo-sh*t when they smell it.

This article from the New York Times is both comical and chilling at the same time. Apparently the Iraqi army is relying on magic to locate bombs and placing their personnel at risk. According to the article, the US military is less convinced. Nevertheless, a completely unscrupulous company is apparently  selling magical wands that are allegedly based on nothing more than dowsing and the authorities are buying them up at $60,000 a piece. Here is some of the sales jargon that accompanies the product info.

Simultaneous Detection of Multiple Types of Explosives or Drugs. The ADE651® incorporates electrostatic ion attraction [ESA] technology to target the specific substances. It can accommodate multiple substance detection cards to detect a broad range of explosive or drug [narcotic] substances. It can more specifically identify a substance by removing detection cards from the ADE651® after detection is received until the attraction is lost.

Sounds plausible doesn’t it? I understand that there are chemical “sniffing” devices that we have all seen at airports etc, but apparently the claims of  this company are completely unwarranted. The James Randi foundation has challenged the company to scientifically prove the efficacy of their wands and the NYTimes article reports that the US Department of Defense has dismissed the claims. That does not stop the Iraqi’s Ministry of Interior spending a reputed $32m for these wands last year.  Major  General Jehad al-Jabiri, head of the Ministry of the Interior’s General Directorate for Combating Explosives is reported as saying, “Whether it’s magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs.”

So who are these charlatans of death who are willing to sell a completely bogus piece of junk that has the potential to cost lives? This is where I am aghast with horror. It apparently comes from our neck of the woods. They are listed at the Randi site as Cumberland Industries UK LTD but I think this information is out of date. I have checked and found these guys

Is this the woo wand that detects bombs?

A Mr Vic would appear to be the foreign sales director and I believe this is a photo of the offending device. If (and I truly accept that I may have been wrong in misrepresenting your product and claims) this report is wrong and misrepresents your company then please set the record straight and issue a press release and opportunity to verify your product claims. There are some very serious accusations being made against your company and frankly if it is the case of dowsing for bombs then this needs to be stopped.

BTW if I seem to overuse “apparently, allegedly” etc it’s not that I don’t have an opinion, it’s just that I don’t have a large defense fund to pay for lawyers. KEEP LIBELS LAWS OUT OF SCIENCE!

Well, Who Would Have Thought???

One of the most important books to influence me becoming a behavioural scientist was “The Selfish Gene” written 25 years ago. Today I finally got to meet the author who changed my worldview. It’s not the first time I have been in the same room  as Richard Dawkins. About 10 years ago, I shared a train carriage with him but he was so caught up in working on a manuscript and I was so star-struck that I didn’t have the nerve to introduce myself, and say what exactly?

As many of you know, my work has often been contrasted with Richard Dawkins and simpletons often misunderstand what I am saying as contrary to his meme thesis. However, today it was quite clear that we are singing from the same hymn sheet. We had a great discussion about essentialism before his co-presentation with his  wife, Lalla Ward (Yes, that’s right… Hammer Horror film actress and side -kick of Tom Baker’s Dr. Who). Children’s essentialism was raised again by a question from the audience (thank you for that Thalia of course!) where he discussed Ernst Mayr’s proposal that psychological essentialism was a fundamental obstacle in human reasoning when it came to understanding natural selection. Music to my ears of course.

He has a signed copy of SuperSense and promised to start reading it tonight. I even think he might! What a day to remember.

Last night I gave a lecture on the origins of supernatural beliefs in John the Baptist church in Bristol. The medieval church was decommissioned 25 years ago but for the first time since then, it had a full congregation who came to hear a scientist explain the brain basis for why we believe that unbelievable. I even threw in a bit of magic and fantasy to spice things up.

The church is still sanctified or holy if you like, which makes the content of my lecture with references to murder, sex with virgins, organ transplantation and cannibalism, holy inappropriate to those who consider these topics taboo within the context of a church. I even gave my sermon from the pulpit which was a very strange experience. There is something very empowering about being perched above a congregation and with them looking up to you. Still there was no devine retribution (so far) but I must admit, the evening did not go without some stress.

After the talk, we had a wine reception and book signing in the amazing crypt below complete with craved pumpkins and skulls. There are still tombs down there and I would imagine that if they could, the inhabitants would be turning at high speed. The book signing went well until the elderly lady from the bookseller took a very nasty tumble off a step onto the stone floor and a bunch of dodgy gate-crashers came in and started helping themselves to the wine. Anyway, the lady was alright and I booted the gate-crashers out. I bet Richard Dawkins doesn’t have to manage his own events! Speaking of which, I am introducing him next week when he comes to promote his new book. I did not have any protestors but I would imagine there might be some at the Dawkin’s event.

Note the "BMH" teeth

Thinking of our bookseller lady, maybe it’s not the speakers who attract the devine retribution but those around them who help out at the event. In which case I had better watch my own step at the Richard Dawkins talk. Check back next week when I update the blog with that event…. assuming I am still around to post one.

UPDATE: I just discovered that the church was broken into after my talk and the collection money stolen. Hmm…

Probably the most famous infant subject (apart from the baby Jesus) has finally been tracked down according to an article in the latest edition of American Psychologist. In what must be one of the most notorious psychological studies ever conducted, American behaviourist psychologist John B. Watson and his assistant Rosalie Raynor presented a nine-month-old baby, ‘Little Albert,’ with a white lab rat. At first the baby showed no fear, but then Watson sneaked up behind the infant and startled him with a loud bang by striking a hammer on a metal bar. Naturally, this startled Little Albert, and he cried. Every time Watson and Raynor presented the rat, they clanged the hammer to frighten the poor child. Very soon, the sight of the rat alone was enough to reduce Little Albert to a shaking bundle of nerves. He had learned to fear the sight of a rat. Little Albert soon became fearful of a number of similar objects that Watson and Raynor presented to him. Not too surprising considering that, whenever these two adults appeared, they seemed hell-bent on making his life a misery. Rabbits, dogs, a sealskin coat, and even a Santa Claus mask soon became sources of sheer terror for the poor child. Only by crawling away could Little Albert get some comfort and relief. He had become phobic to objects that had not previously upset him. Why did Watson and Raynor inflict such cruelty? – to prove that phobias could be acquired by associative learning.

What ever happened to Little Albert? Psychologist Hall Beck set out to track down the whereabouts of the unfortunate infant. Soon after the experiments, Little Albert and his mother moved away from John Hopkins and disappeared. By tracking down financial records Beck found out that he was most likely to be the illegitimate son of the campus nurse, Arvilla Merritte, who had a boy called, Douglas. Beck managed to trace the family and obtain photographs of the infant boy. Although blurry, FBI forensics made a positive match between Douglas and the photographs of Little Albert taken at John Hopkins.

However, the end of the story is somewhat tragic as Douglas died aged 6 years of age after developing hydrocephalus. In finishing the article Beck ends with a moving personal testimony,

None of the folktales we encountered during our inquiry had a factual basis. There is no evidence that the baby’s mother was “outraged” at her son’s treatment or that Douglas’s phobia proved resistant to extinction. Douglas was never deconditioned, and he was not adopted by a family north of Baltimore.

Nor was he ever an old man. Our search of seven years was longer than the little boy’s life. I laid flowers on the grave of my longtime “companion,” turned, and simultaneously felt a great peace and profound loneliness.

St John the Baptist Church in Bristol

Next Friday I am giving a Halloween lecture in St John the Baptist’s church in Bristol. It is a fantastic venue. In the 12th century there were five churches built into Bristol’s city walls, acting both as part of the city’s defences, and as places for travellers to offer prayers before a journey. St John’s is the only one that remains. The present church dates from the 14th century and the interior still feels medieval. Walter Frampton (died 1388), who was mayor of the city three times, founded the church, and his splendid monument stands in the chancel. His effigy lies on a tombchest decorated with heraldic shields, with a long-tailed dog at his feet.

So, a lecture about supernatural beliefs, Halloween and religion delivered by an AAA (apathetic atheist/agnostic-depending on how you define your god that you want me to reject) in a church, followed by a wine reception in the crypt below. Have I gone too far?

The church is decommissioned but still sanctified. Falling church attendances mean that many churches up an down the country face similar futures. Of course, the irony is that Halloween was once a pagan festival to rid the village of malevolent spirits. Possibly a religion if you wish to call it that. Certainly it was a ceremonial ritual to address the belief in supernatural entities. Down the track from where I live in the countryside, is a 5,000 year-old burial mound of another defunct religion-  this time maintained by the National Trust. It would seem that all religions are doomed but leave behind legacies.

I happen to like many religious monuments and buildings. They are a testament to the strength of conviction and inspiration that religious beliefs can generate. I may be a non-believer but I will be donating my speaker’s fee to the fund to support the upkeep of St John’s.

The Alamo (or what's left of it)

The Cognitive Development Society conference in San Antonio, Texas has just ended and I am sitting here in Atlanta, waiting for a connecting flight to Newark and then to Bristol, UK. This long journey home began this morning with a 7am flight. It will take me 24hrs to reach jolly olde England but I guess that this is nothing compared to journeys before the modern era.

Whilst here, I checked out The Alamo and was surprised to discover that of the 189 men who died defending the fort in the struggle for Texan independence from Mexico, the majority were not from Texas. In fact, 29 were Europeans with a mixture of English, Irish, Scots, Welsh, German and even Danish. Imagine traveling all that distance to end up in a massacre.

Davy Crockett's Flintlock

Decades later another Englishman was less welcome in San Antonio. The Alamo is considered sacred and the Shrine of Texas Liberty. All hats must be removed on entering the hallowed remains. No photographs are allowed inside. And like religious shrines, it has its relics including Davy Crockett’s gun and personal belongings on display in glass cabinets. (ok so I violated the strict rules with this iPhone shot). So it is no surprise that the authorities did not take too kindly to a drunken Ozzy Osbourne, dressed in his wife’s clothes urinating on the Alamo back in 1982 during a binge in San Antonio. (By taking away his clothes, Sharon thought he would have no way of getting out of the hotel).

The Texans were so outraged by this desecretion that Ozzy was banned from San Antonio for 10 years until he finally apologized and apparently made a $10K donation to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas who maintain the upkeep of the Alamo. I looked into this amusing story and found reports that he had not in fact desecreted the Alamo but rather the cenotaph outside the fort erected much later. Still, sacred is sacred and you don’t want to piss off Texans – they like to carry guns and consult the bible when deciding the fate of criminals.

I am off to Texas next week to attend the Cognitive Development Society meeting in San Antonio- ye hah!

Prisoner 3165

I will not be posting but I will be checking in periodically to read your comments. In case you get lonesome for me, here is the interview that I did at Googleplex during the SciFoo Meeting in July at Mountain View, California. Check out the jazzy piano at the beginning by the talented neuroscientist turned-musician, Vijay Iye (actually he was doing his own thing). I love the ethereal choir as well.

The very talented and smart Dr. Sam Harris (I am not sure whether he has finished his doctorate so I apologise if I have not given him the correct title) has just published a neuroimaging study of believers and non-believers in the online journal, Public Library of Science (PLoS) where he reports on the brain activation when evaluating the truth of religious (“Jesus Christ really performed the miracles attributed to him in the Bible”) and non-religious propositions (“Alexander the Great was a very famous military leader”). They found differential activation in the brains of believers and non-believers. Thank goodness for that or we would all be screwed! For a full exposition on that remark, see my discussion of mind body dualism in my book SuperSense.

Brain imaging is an immensely seductive technique as it resonates (ha –ha  neuroscience joke) with how we intuitively think the brain works. We like pictures of the internal workings of the brain. I should point out that Harris and colleagues are comparative experts in this fields as I am a virgin imager but about to pop my neuroimaging cherry later in Nov when we embark on a project of neuroimaging believers and non-believers as well. I too am looking for differential activation but one that is counter-intuitive to what one would expect. That’s where I think the technique can be valuable so stay posted. A recent review of the whole methodology of neuroimaging of social functions was highly critical claiming that most studies were subject to experimenter bias. Let’s hope our study avoids this pitfall and produces publishable results though the initial seduction for publishing neuroimaging research seems to have worn off in the scientific community in recent years.

You used to be able to get any imaging study published in the top science journals Nature and Science in the 1990’s but that’s all changed now – every department seems to have scanner now desperately seeking funding to operate. So where does one publish? The Public Library of Science of PLoS is a fast track journal but you have to pay to have your studies published there. There is something that sticks in my throat about that. It smacks of correspondence degrees but I guess all journals have costs and may that will be the way of the future. More importantly it has free public access which is great.

If you did not know, Sam Harris is the best-selling author of “The End of Faith” and “Letter to a Christian Nation,” and has some of the best put-downs I have ever heard when confronted about his out-spoken views in public. He has now returned his attention to his science and I expect that he is enjoying a welcomed relief to the vitriol that must have come his way. So I was delighted to see his recent papers. I blogged his intriguing finding about cognitive dissonance earlier and he seems to gathering empirical evidence to support his theory that belief is primarily transmitted by others.

However, Harris and colleagues’s discussion of my hypothesis (never a theory till proven) in the current paper that beliefs are a combination of intuitive reasoning embedded in culture is somewhat misrepresented and to say that Justin Barrett and I are coming from the same position is simply not true – Barrett interprets cognitive biases as intelligent design! I was pleased that Harris and colleagues acknowledge the supersense hypothesis but a bit dismayed when they dismissed it with the straw man statement, “Whatever the evolutionary underpinnings of religion, it seems unlikely that there is a genetic explanation for the why the French, Swedes, and Japanese tend not to believe in the God of Abraham while Americans, Saudis, and Somalis do.”

Well dah. Come on Sam, I am not like the others. You didn’t read the book-did you? I made it perfectly clear that just as any child is innately endowed to acquire a language, there is no genetic basis for French. What we need to know is why some people believe and some don’t even when they are raised in the same exact environment. That cannot just be culture. Some of us are different – why? I think this new empirical approach to looking at the brain basis of belief is going to be an interesting research agenda as it has implications about individual differences. I hope Harris and colleagues continue this work.

I am more on your side than you realize. So relax. Enjoy life. There probably is no God.