Why Do Many People Still Believe in Paranormal? Essay Example

Three out of four people in the United States and the rest of the world believe in paranormal. Some of the beliefs include things like the reality of Unidentified Flying Objects; the United States Federal government is hiding aliens, a secret and evil elite society is planning a New World Order, the devil resides in the Bermuda Triangle taking souls from vessels that disappear therein, ghosts are real, bigfoot is a reality, the zodiac signs, the power of magic, and demons can cause harm to us if they wish to.

With all the above-mentioned beliefs, psychologists delved into research to find out the reasons why people believe in such manner of things; some studies show that human beings believe in the supernatural because they can only be comfortable if they have an explanation of everything that is happening around them (Willard, 83).

The belief in the paranormal is not only something that is characteristic of laymen and ordinary people in the society. Notable people with sharp minds like Winston Churchill have also attested to believing in the paranormal. For example, on one of his visits to the White House Winston Churchill claimed to have seen the ghost of Abraham Lincoln and even had a meaningful conversation with it. Besides, since the ghost did not mean any harm, Churchill was not harmed.

Other reasons why people believe in the paranormal is because they look to shield themselves from the harsher truths and realities of the world (Valdesolo and Jesse Graham, 37). The pattern perception, judgment, and decision-making faculties of our brains are wired to seek explanation on why things are happening the way they are around us. It is for this reason that human beings will look to find meaning for sudden death, a job loss, or a natural disaster. A failure to perceive meaning is not healthy as it may lead to a bad mental state or even madness. An example of a phenomenon human beings have not found an explanation to is the Bermuda Triangle; some have accredited its nature to gravity while others have credited it to be the doings of the underworld (Burbank, 55).

Believers in the paranormal, as psychologists believe, are most likely characterised by weaker cognitive inhibition. For this reason, their brain is bound to seek hidden and lurking figures in the dark, hidden faces in photographs, and explanations for occurrences as to why they get seek or why a branch is tapping at their window.

In summary, human beings believe in the paranormal because it is characteristic of them not to want to believe that the world is random. With so many possible chaoses that life puts them through, it is only natural that they try to find meaning in the chaos.

Works Cited

Burbank, Victoria. "The embodiment of sorcery: Supernatural aggression, belief, and envy in a remote Aboriginal community." The Australian Journal of Anthropology (2017).

Willard, Aiyana K. The basis of belief: the cognitive and cultural foundations of supernatural belief. Diss. University of British Columbia, 2015.

Valdesolo, Piercarlo, and Jesse Graham. "Awe, uncertainty, and agency detection." Psychological science 25.1 (2014): 170-178.