WEBVTT 00:00:00.337 --> 00:00:05.482 (narrator) If he does his job well they want to be fooled. 00:00:05.482 --> 00:00:10.629 (tutor) Uh, Sharla, could you pass that back? Wendy? 00:00:10.629 --> 00:00:13.090 (narrator) From the astrology test each student was given a 00:00:13.090 --> 00:00:16.687 detailed horoscope. 00:00:16.687 --> 00:00:17.797 (tutor) Robin, could you pass that over. 00:00:17.797 --> 00:00:20.097 (narrator) They were told it was drawn up by a professional 00:00:20.097 --> 00:00:22.225 based on information they had supplied about when 00:00:22.225 --> 00:00:30.847 and where they were born. 00:00:30.847 --> 00:00:33.131 Actually, these horoscopes were not quite what they 00:00:33.131 --> 00:00:35.533 appeared to be. 00:00:35.533 --> 00:00:37.661 I'd like you to share something with me if you'd be so kind, 00:00:37.661 --> 00:00:38.559 just with a show of hands... 00:00:38.559 --> 00:00:42.236 (narrator) I asked the students to grade them for accuracy on a scale of one to five; 00:00:42.236 --> 00:00:44.535 five being the most accurate. 00:00:44.535 --> 00:00:45.986 Uh, how many gave it a one? 00:00:45.986 --> 00:00:56.911 Let's see a show of hands. Two, three, four and five. 00:00:56.911 --> 00:00:57.495 Okay. 00:00:57.495 --> 00:01:01.036 So we scored pretty highly with this, then. 00:01:01.036 --> 00:01:02.137 Let's do a little experiment. 00:01:02.137 --> 00:01:03.910 You've got your horoscopes right in front of you. 00:01:03.910 --> 00:01:05.993 Take them in your hand like this and hand them 00:01:05.993 --> 00:01:08.744 over your shoulder to the person behind you, 00:01:08.744 --> 00:01:09.660 okay everybody? 00:01:09.660 --> 00:01:11.639 And the guy at the end down there you'll have to come up 00:01:11.639 --> 00:01:13.134 to the front because these people in 00:01:13.134 --> 00:01:15.295 the front don't have one now. 00:01:15.295 --> 00:01:16.794 Okay? 00:01:16.794 --> 00:01:17.913 Everybody change them around? 00:01:17.913 --> 00:01:18.911 Everybody's got one. 00:01:18.911 --> 00:01:24.230 Open up somebody else's horoscope and read it carefully, please. 00:01:31.736 --> 00:01:32.292 (offscreen voice) This is the same thing. 00:01:32.292 --> 00:01:33.082 Oh, it does! 00:01:33.082 --> 00:01:34.663 This is the same as mine says! 00:01:34.663 --> 00:01:36.934 What a surprise. 00:01:36.934 --> 00:01:43.794 (narrator) They had all received the same horoscope. 00:01:43.794 --> 00:01:46.961 The personality descriptions were generally true of everyone, 00:01:46.961 --> 00:01:51.854 like recently you have had to recover from a disappointment. 00:01:51.854 --> 00:01:55.741 Some of them seem specific because they were so personal. 00:01:55.741 --> 00:02:00.489 Your sexual adjustment has presented some problems for you. 00:02:00.489 --> 00:02:04.858 And there were others that anyone might hope would be true. 00:02:04.858 --> 00:02:08.267 You have a great deal of unused capacity. 00:02:08.267 --> 00:02:12.498 People like to believe certain things are true, 00:02:12.498 --> 00:02:15.448 and they like to fall for very specific, absolutely, 00:02:15.448 --> 00:02:19.471 enormously accurate horoscopes, right? 00:02:19.471 --> 00:02:21.094 Of course they are. 00:02:21.094 --> 00:02:22.901 Did you have a question? Yes, I have a question. 00:02:22.901 --> 00:02:27.991 (offscreen voice) So why do people persist in ascribing to these systems? 00:02:27.991 --> 00:02:30.094 That's the big question, of course, 00:02:30.094 --> 00:02:33.516 and psychologically that is the most interesting question. 00:02:33.516 --> 00:02:35.730 I think that people are trying to get some control 00:02:35.730 --> 00:02:36.781 over their lives. 00:02:36.781 --> 00:02:39.001 By knowing more about themselves of course they 00:02:39.001 --> 00:02:42.015 get control over their lives, but that's what we're doing, 00:02:42.015 --> 00:02:46.330 all of us, each and every day of our lives, whether it's financial, 00:02:46.330 --> 00:02:48.801 whether it's emotional, whether it's a love interest, 00:02:48.801 --> 00:02:49.801 whether it's health, 00:02:49.801 --> 00:02:51.635 we're trying to get control of our lives, 00:02:51.635 --> 00:02:55.602 we're looking for power and astrology offers you apparently 00:02:55.602 --> 00:02:58.014 a very old and a very easy formula 00:02:58.014 --> 00:03:00.513 whereby you can do that sort of thing. 00:03:00.513 --> 00:03:06.016 What you've presented me today is evidence that 00:03:06.016 --> 00:03:07.510 this can be misused or abused, 00:03:07.510 --> 00:03:10.467 but you have not convinced me that there is nothing to this. 00:03:10.467 --> 00:03:12.303 Oh no, no, I didn't intend to do that. 00:03:12.303 --> 00:03:15.001 Okay, and I feel that your exercise today was kind of 00:03:15.001 --> 00:03:18.181 cynical and one-sided and somehow it is wise to be 00:03:18.181 --> 00:03:20.781 unbelieving of this sort of thing. 00:03:20.781 --> 00:03:21.898 Well, I can't prove it doesn't work. 00:03:21.898 --> 00:03:23.353 I can never prove it doesn't work. 00:03:23.353 --> 00:03:25.166 And I've seen a lot of times where intellectuals have had, 00:03:25.166 --> 00:03:28.059 have wanted to disprove mystical things because since it 00:03:28.059 --> 00:03:29.187 didn't fit into their framework 00:03:29.187 --> 00:03:32.098 of beliefs ... they wouldn't allow it. 00:03:32.098 --> 00:03:35.136 But I can't prove to you that Santa Claus doesn't exist. 00:03:35.136 --> 00:03:37.057 I really can't. 00:03:37.057 --> 00:03:38.761 I can't disprove anything. 00:03:38.761 --> 00:03:40.338 I can't prove a negative, but I can show you that 00:03:40.338 --> 00:03:43.843 it's not very likely to be true. 00:03:43.843 --> 00:03:47.172 That's the best I can do. 00:03:51.950 --> 00:03:56.027 (narrator) Needless to say, my message isn't always popular. 00:03:56.027 --> 00:04:00.858 My friend Ray Hyman is a psychologist and he has an idea why. 00:04:00.858 --> 00:04:03.126 We seem to be taken, as we're taking something 00:04:03.126 --> 00:04:05.073 away and not giving something in return, 00:04:05.073 --> 00:04:06.782 and these people want something, they're looking 00:04:06.782 --> 00:04:09.239 for something and I think we have to understand what 00:04:09.239 --> 00:04:12.235 is it they're searching for and what they're seeking. 00:04:12.235 --> 00:04:15.396 (narrator) Ray has an insider's perspective on these questions. 00:04:15.396 --> 00:04:17.730 He once worked as a professional palm reader. 00:04:17.730 --> 00:04:20.793 On a recent visit to Florida he allowed me to 00:04:20.793 --> 00:04:26.286 observe while he gave readings to two volunteers. 00:04:26.286 --> 00:04:28.245 Now, I want to look at a few other things before we 00:04:28.245 --> 00:04:29.059 go very far. 00:04:29.059 --> 00:04:30.810 I looked at your thumb, it's the most important. 00:04:30.810 --> 00:04:33.022 Ray started reading palms to help put himself 00:04:33.022 --> 00:04:34.221 through college. 00:04:34.221 --> 00:04:36.473 There's a little narrowing of the second joint here. 00:04:36.473 --> 00:04:39.811 That, that's tact, that's just tactfulness. 00:04:39.811 --> 00:04:43.080 At the time he was convinced there was nothing to it. 00:04:43.080 --> 00:04:44.734 Ah, this is the spiritual mental. 00:04:44.734 --> 00:04:47.311 I had no belief that it would work, but to be 00:04:47.311 --> 00:04:49.892 convincing I did read the books and I did study the 00:04:49.892 --> 00:04:54.756 lines and told it as it's supposed to be told and to 00:04:54.756 --> 00:04:57.648 my surprise it worked, and then it became a very 00:04:57.648 --> 00:05:00.978 rapid believing in palm reading. 00:05:00.978 --> 00:05:02.589 There's a break in your lifeline; 00:05:02.589 --> 00:05:04.422 this is your lifeline right here, 00:05:04.422 --> 00:05:08.448 so you've had some physical problems and you still may have some problems here, 00:05:08.448 --> 00:05:10.348 some medical problems of some sort. 00:05:10.348 --> 00:05:12.903 He was right about that; that I have had some 00:05:12.903 --> 00:05:14.949 health problems. 00:05:14.949 --> 00:05:16.568 Is there anything there about my mother? 00:05:16.568 --> 00:05:21.315 About your mother - um, the one thing that, 00:05:21.315 --> 00:05:23.990 the thing that's clear is that, uh, right from the 00:05:23.990 --> 00:05:26.621 beginning, uh, you didn't want to be dominated by her. 00:05:26.621 --> 00:05:28.742 You wanted to make up your own mind about what your 00:05:28.742 --> 00:05:30.944 life was going to be like and so on. 00:05:30.944 --> 00:05:34.402 I have been very headstrong when it comes to my mother, 00:05:34.402 --> 00:05:37.316 and she has kind of tried to dominate me sometimes and I've 00:05:37.316 --> 00:05:39.195 rebelled against it. 00:05:39.195 --> 00:05:40.629 At the same time you wanted to be, 00:05:40.629 --> 00:05:43.160 you wanted to be on your own terms and stuff like that. 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:46.237 He was pretty right on the money with a lot of things. 00:05:46.237 --> 00:05:49.015 Maybe he's got some part to himself that others are 00:05:49.015 --> 00:05:51.686 not in touch with and he knows these things. 00:05:51.686 --> 00:05:53.460 ....concerned about the relationship between your 00:05:53.460 --> 00:05:54.285 mother and yourself. 00:05:54.285 --> 00:05:57.736 (narrator) As a palm reader Ray was quite successful, 00:05:57.736 --> 00:06:00.188 then a college friend bet him that he would do just as 00:06:00.188 --> 00:06:02.804 well if he told his subjects the opposite of 00:06:02.804 --> 00:06:05.102 what he read in their palms. 00:06:05.102 --> 00:06:07.900 He decided to give it a try. 00:06:07.900 --> 00:06:11.746 And I did this on my first client and she didn't say a word; 00:06:11.746 --> 00:06:14.074 she had no reaction at all which is very spooky to me 00:06:14.074 --> 00:06:16.199 because I'm used to feedback. 00:06:16.199 --> 00:06:19.588 I thought it was because I bombed, but it turned out 00:06:19.588 --> 00:06:22.855 because she was so stunned I was so accurate. 00:06:22.855 --> 00:06:25.911 And this was really a shock to me because I had 00:06:25.911 --> 00:06:27.691 done everything wrong, so I did the next client 00:06:27.691 --> 00:06:29.247 wrong and then I realized it doesn't make a 00:06:29.247 --> 00:06:32.649 difference what you tell them it's more what you 00:06:32.649 --> 00:06:37.962 convince them how good you are and what you get them to believe. 00:06:37.962 --> 00:06:39.699 (narrator) As a professional psychologist, 00:06:39.699 --> 00:06:43.197 Ray is very much aware of the role that careful observation 00:06:43.197 --> 00:06:45.378 can play in a reading. 00:06:45.378 --> 00:06:47.374 You're living in a strange world. 00:06:47.374 --> 00:06:50.807 You'd be better if you're living maybe 50, 00:06:50.807 --> 00:06:53.155 40 years ago in some ways. 00:06:53.155 --> 00:06:56.381 I've always said that, I should've been born a long time ago. 00:06:56.381 --> 00:06:59.965 This present world is, is, presents problems for you 00:06:59.965 --> 00:07:02.161 and you're not too happy with it. 00:07:02.161 --> 00:07:03.046 You'd be much better... 00:07:03.046 --> 00:07:04.566 From the way she was dressed and so on, I could 00:07:04.566 --> 00:07:07.858 say that she'd rather be living in an earlier time than today; 00:07:07.858 --> 00:07:10.459 in fact she was dressed for an earlier time anyway. 00:07:10.459 --> 00:07:11.545 There's a change. 00:07:11.545 --> 00:07:13.426 There's been uh, there for a while looked like you 00:07:13.426 --> 00:07:16.659 had two jobs or two careers, I'm not sure, 00:07:16.659 --> 00:07:19.215 and, uh, very recently you have switched. 00:07:19.215 --> 00:07:21.714 In fact there's been a major career change. 00:07:21.714 --> 00:07:25.372 I've been in the same career for six years. 00:07:25.372 --> 00:07:27.923 Next year I'm thinking about changing careers, 00:07:27.923 --> 00:07:30.593 but I haven't done it yet so he could just be a 00:07:30.593 --> 00:07:33.694 little off on his timing. 00:07:33.694 --> 00:07:36.549 If you set people up right you can tell them most anything. 00:07:36.549 --> 00:07:38.203 If they've really got a creative and intelligent 00:07:38.203 --> 00:07:40.323 mind they can make sense out of naught. 00:07:40.323 --> 00:07:42.269 How crazy it seems to be, they can find a way of, 00:07:42.269 --> 00:07:47.726 of reinterpreting it so it really fits them like a glove. 00:07:47.726 --> 00:07:50.176 This person wants me to succeed. 00:07:50.176 --> 00:07:53.250 I should work out some accommodation. 00:07:55.333 --> 00:07:57.010 Well you certainly don't need someone to 00:07:57.010 --> 00:07:58.906 deliberately fool you to have what seems to be a 00:07:58.906 --> 00:07:59.959 psychic experience. 00:07:59.959 --> 00:08:02.512 Your mind can create one all by itself. 00:08:02.512 --> 00:08:05.065 Let's say you don't like to fly and you're worried 00:08:05.065 --> 00:08:06.732 about a trip you're going to take then suddenly 00:08:06.732 --> 00:08:08.427 during the flight the plane suddenly, whoa, 00:08:08.427 --> 00:08:11.924 drops a few thousand feet because of a downdraft. 00:08:11.924 --> 00:08:14.309 You might very well choose to think that you had some 00:08:14.309 --> 00:08:16.515 kind of psychic intuition about this, 00:08:16.515 --> 00:08:19.099 but what you forget is that you've had that same queasy 00:08:19.099 --> 00:08:22.090 feeling every time you've gotten on an airplane and if it 00:08:22.090 --> 00:08:25.126 doesn't fulfill itself, you forget about it. 00:08:25.126 --> 00:08:27.013 You see, the brain is constantly searching for 00:08:27.013 --> 00:08:28.104 relationships. 00:08:28.104 --> 00:08:30.728 It's trying to work out cause and effect so we can 00:08:30.728 --> 00:08:32.599 know what to expect in our lives. 00:08:32.599 --> 00:08:33.852 That's natural. 00:08:33.852 --> 00:08:36.432 The brain is very good at this but it does make mistakes, 00:08:36.432 --> 00:08:39.473 and one way to explain these mistakes is by some kind 00:08:39.473 --> 00:08:42.944 of psychic explanation. 00:08:47.359 --> 00:08:50.515 My investigations have taken me to dozens of countries, 00:08:50.515 --> 00:08:52.442 but until recently one of the most 00:08:52.442 --> 00:08:56.743 interesting wasn't open to scrutiny. 00:08:58.956 --> 00:09:00.837 It's long been rumored that Russia harbors 00:09:00.837 --> 00:09:05.956 psychic talent like nowhere else in the world. 00:09:05.956 --> 00:09:08.930 The country has an ancient, 00:09:08.930 --> 00:09:11.333 mystical tradition, and the government has encouraged 00:09:11.333 --> 00:09:13.136 psychic research. 00:09:13.136 --> 00:09:14.539 To Moscow? That's right. 00:09:14.539 --> 00:09:15.715 Any luggage to check in, sir? 00:09:15.715 --> 00:09:18.972 Two pieces. 00:09:21.159 --> 00:09:23.698 Now that the country is open to visitors, I wanted 00:09:23.698 --> 00:09:28.434 to check things out for myself. 00:09:30.171 --> 00:09:36.585 I've seen the films that came out during the Cold War. 00:09:36.585 --> 00:09:39.892 Juno was a famous healer who had Brezhnev as a client. 00:09:48.538 --> 00:09:51.151 Karl Nikolaiev could apparently turn on lights 00:09:51.151 --> 00:09:54.570 with the force of his will.