Announcements

• Final Exam schedule– Lecture Center C3– Fri. Dec 10 from 10:30 am - 12:30 pm. 

• If you have a final exam conflict with this course, please you’ll need to e-mail me to reschedule the exam.

What’s the point?

• There are a number of industries that profit by tricking people– subliminal tapes– memory enhancing drugs– psychics– tarot card readings– media psychologists

What’s the point?

• Why should psychologists care?• Many of the tricks that are used are designed to

exploit people’s need to be understood, loved, and valued.– example: paying psychics to communicate with

deceased loved ones• To the extent that people turn to these industries in

order to meet their needs, they miss the opportunity to be helped by professionals who use scientifically validated techniques.

• We’ll focus on two such industries, one rooted in the paranormal and the other astrology

• Thousands of Americans turn to psychics and astrologers for advice on love, relationships, work, and parenting.

• What methods do these individuals use to understand the world? Are these methods similar to the ones we’ve discussed in this class? And, if not, how could the methods we’ve discussed in this class be applied?

Psychic Powers

• Miss Cleo– late-night television psychic– (read the story on http://

www.courttv.com/news/feature/cleo/misscleo_ctv.html )

– Audio example: http://www.courttv.com/news/feature/cleo/script1.html

        

              

What is Tarot?

• Tarot is a set of seventy-eight cards, each featuring different symbolic pictures. A standard Tarot deck is made up of 22 cards called the major arcana or trumps, and four suits of 14 cards - similar to playing cards - called the minor arcana or pip cards. – http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot– http://www.amystickalgrove.com/cgi-bin/site/site.c

gi?conf=CatID7

Three Fates

Celtic Cross

                             

                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                        

                                         

                                                                                                       

                                

                                                                                                          

                                         

                                                                                           

How does it work?

• Subcontractors, referred to as “bookstores,” recruit and train thousands of psychics

• When the hotline is called, the call gets routed to the subcontractors, such as Nevada-based Buckwood Communications, who manage the psychics

• Psychics are paid 14 to 24 cents per minute; 25 cents for obtaining an address and 10 cents for obtaining an e-mail address.

• Not much money, but whether the subcontractors route the calls to a particular psychic depends upon the psychic’s record for keeping people on-line

"When you feel that the caller is hanging up after only a few minutes because he/she wants the free minutes only, try saying that, in your opinion, if they call back for several short free readings they will only get what they are paying for, but if they stay on now and let you complete their reading, you are sure it will change their life,"

“We’re obliged to keep people on the line. We have to make things up, because we need the priority rating or we won’t get calls. It’s impossible. Last week, even though I had a 61-minute call, I didn’t get anything for six days”

– South Florida psychic reader who worked for the agency that promotes Miss Cleo

How does it work?

http://www.amystickalgrove.com/cgi-bin/tarot/index2.cgi

Three Fates

How do these methods fare?

• How do these methods compare with those discussed in this course?

• What would it take to establish the validity of a psychic’s ability?

• Are these methods (or the evidence derived from them) part of what is advertised?