Quick Life Update: Please feel free to skip this if you're only interested in the content of today's blog, but lately I have been feeling a bit up and down about the blog - like I'm getting in the way of people (especially when I try and promote it) so I feel like oh should I not talk about it at all? Do I stop posting on Facebook because people get annoyed at me posting about it? But then I made a poll on Instagram asking if people enjoy it and it was 90% positive. I don't know why I've been feeling so confused about it. Blogging and content creation is something that I've wanted to do since I was a teenager, I've just never been brave enough until now and fortunately, I'm in a situation where the support from Luke is ample so I can do something like this. I really want to focus on it and grind and grind until it is successful. Because it makes me so happy seeing like 200+ views on a blog (because surely that has to be more than just my friends) and also 3000+ views on a YouTube video is pretty cool. I don't know why I also hyperfixate if there's like a few negative comments because the positive ones should absolutely outweigh the negative. But yeah, I'm thinking to maybe challenge myself to go back to daily blogs (just for a month) to see if that would give me a but more motivation. Anyway, that's my two cents there. Back to the blog.
Update 30/10/2024 - I made a YT video to go along with this post. Please check it out!
Hi friends! Happy Friday. How are ya'll going today? Guess what! Friday has rolled around again and it's time for another Freaky Friday Files! And I know, I don't get to these every week but I feel like if they were every week, this is what I'd only been focusing on and I'd like to write OTHER stuff too. Anyways. In today's post, we're going to discuss why do people believe in ghosts?
I've discussed ghosts and "paranormal" things on the blog A LOT and I am fascinated by this stuff. I love ghost videos, I love watching ghost-hunting videos on YouTube and I've definitely had my fair share of creepy experiences. But, what are the driving factors that make us believe in ghosts? And what is the science behind it? Or more specifically, can we use science to explain ghosts?
The Sociology of Believing in Ghosts
Socialisation - firstly, socialisation is the process by which individuals internalise norms and ideologies of society (I kinda think of this like social context i.e., where we find ourselves is what will impact our views). Psychologists will say that socialisation is linked to developmental psychology (and I agree) where people require social experiences to learn and develop as a person. Just think about how cr*ppy we all felt in all those lockdowns when we couldn't socialise. So to relate this back to ghosts, a person might learn about ghosts or supernatural things through their families, friends, communities, and media that they consume. In turn, this leads to the "normalisation" of such beliefs (aka a belief in ghosts).
Cultural influence - again, I would say cultural influence is very similar to one's social context with the definition hyperlinked being "Cultural influence refers to the impact that a culture, including its norms, values, beliefs, and practices has on shaping the behaviors and perceptions of individuals who belong to it or interact with it. The influence reflects the ways individuals within a culture perceive the world and behave accordingly." So to relate this back to ghosts would be to say that someone's belief in ghosts is stemmed in tradition, folklore, or religious teachings for example. Such beliefs can be passed down generation from generation.
Social identity - I know a lot of these theories are very similar to each other but they are all slightly different and important in sociology (and just in general) but social identity theory is how someone perceives themselves compared to others. It's all about the self-concept and there's plenty of readings on it if you'd like to go further. Basically think "how do I categorise myself" in my society or in my own social group? In relation to ghosts or the supernatural, if a person's friend group all believes in ghosts then said friend might believe in ghosts to create a sense of community or even a sense of belonging - kinda similar to why people might join a religion. And then in creating such a belief, it perpetuates the belief cycle.
Confirmation bias - ah confirmation bias, one of my favourite things to talk about. Basically, if you don't know what confirmation bias is by now then what are you doing here? No no, I'm just kidding lol. Confirmation bias is where someone has a tendency to search for what reiterates their beliefs e.g., you go looking for something on the internet, you're gonna find it somewhere. Furthermore, people will favour or interpret information that supports their beliefs. So if someone thinks they saw a ghost or maybe they've posted a scary TikTok and commenters have agreed that it was that scary thing they said, they're going to interpret it like they did experience it.
Sense of control - I would say that this one is kinda self-explantory but having a sense of control over things like death might make people feel a lot more comfortable with their mortality and even grief. Ah, I saw a ghost, that means life doesn't just end at death - there's something else out there. It might also help people with death anxiety and uncertainty.
Psychological comfort - ghosts can also provide a sense of comfort, especially when someone is dealing with grief/the passing of a loved one. Often people will "see" ghosts of those who have passed and it will give them a sense of comfort.
Coping mechanism - if a person is dealing with negative things or some kinda of trauma (not always), they might associate that trauma with something supernatural as a way of coping and ghosts in turn become a coping mechanism for dealing with something.
Explaining Ghosts with SCIENCE!
Sensory deception - sensory deception is where our own senses deceive us, think of something like an optical illusion, for example. There are illusions that can be misinterpreted as stimuli that come from external objects. If this occurs to someone, it can be very easy for our eyes to play tricks on us and see things that might not be there. Some factors that might play a role in this include: low light, fatigue, suggestibility (e.g., a ghost tour), and environmental conditions.
Pattern recognition/pareidolia - the brain is said to be "wired" to recognise patterns even when presented with ambiguous stimuli. Therefore, if someone is seeing something, their brain could present it as "human form" for example. Think the Rorschach Test (they are literally just ink blots lol).
Sleep paralysis - if you have ever experienced this, I'm so sorry, it's terrifying and an awful thing to happen to anyone. I think that I've had it once but was able to get out pretty fast (like wake myself up) but I have had some people experience it close to me as well as someone who told me about the scary demons that crawled through their walls when it happened to them once. Anyway, sleep paralysis is when a person has the feeling of being unconscious but is unable to move (basically being awake with your eyes open). It often happens in a transitional stage of sleep. Often, when sleep paralysis occurs, people will hallucinate and if someone hallucinates during this time, it might be perceived as real. And even though, these hallucinations can be explained with science, a person who has experienced it might believe them to be a real experience with something supernatural.
Cognitive bias/memory distortions - Now we all know that memories suck and that we remember things wrong and whatnot, so if someone is recounting a story with a ghost or about a ghost, it would be very easy for them to remember it "differently" or interpret it in a way that might not be specifically correct to what actually happened. I know this sounds really confusing but think about that movie Memento - I feel like that's a good example of memory issues.
Cultural conditioning - yes this is similar to cultural influence but growing up where three are cultural beliefs of ghosts means it is more likely for someone to believe in said ghosts (the power of suggestion might be important here too).
Inattentional blindness - you know that Gorilla video where people are playing basketball and you never actually see the guy in the Gorilla suit? That's inattentional blindness because you're so focused on something else, you don't see it. According to "this source", inattentional blindness can lead to some people feeling like there's a ghost in the room with them. For example, a person might feel as if something is amiss or "ghostly" if what they are feeling doesn't match up with what's currently happening. Take this example "Recently, a team of scientists re-created the feeling of a ghostly presence in their lab, using a robot. Participants were blindfolded and asked to reach an arm forward to poke a robot with their pointer finger. When participants touched the robot, they also moved their pointer fingers around however they pleased. While they did this, a second robot hidden behind them would copy their movements and touch their backs. When the hidden robot copied participants’ movements perfectly, the participants felt like they were reaching forward and somehow poking their own backs! When the hidden robot moved slightly more slowly than the participants, the participants said they felt like another person was touching their backs. They also said this made them feel an invisible presence in the room, which they described as different from the participants themselves, the scientists, and the robot—kind of like when you feel a ghostly presence in a dark room". SPOOKY!
Ashy's Thoughts!
So I kinda feel like I HAVE had some paranormal experiences in my life, but then I'm still 50/50 on whether or not I believe in ghosts myself. I don't know why, I just feel like I want some sort of scientific evidence. What I do find interesting here is that a person's belief in ghosts or the supernatural isn't specific to their education or intelligence levels, it's more to do with their social context. I also have a masters degree in sociology and think it could be possible that they're real but then again, I don't know. Although "this article" talks about the reason for ghost belief being due to personal experience and the media so that's some food for thought.
A random side note though that I really want to mention is recently, two of my friends from New Zealand moved over to Melbourne and apparently I called them being a couple before they were a couple. It was New Year's Eve in Christchurch and I was out with my friends for the last NYE in CHCH so I think my filter was just gone and I messaged a friend of mine that "X likes you, come hang" and I was probably quite drunk at the time so when she told me this the other day I was like uh what, no way! And I went back like 2-3 years in our messages and clear as day, there was the message. Unbeknown to me at the time, both of them had partners (whoopsie) but now they live in Melbourne and are a couple hahaha. Luke also told me when we were out with one of his mates, I was trying to match-make him with someone. And, I have been told I've been right about these sorts of things before too. So maybe I should start a side gig of "Ashy the drunk psychic". I don't know how this is relavent to this blog but I thought it kinda relates to "psychic stuff". And I don't think I'm psychic, it might just be that I have a good read on people thanks to my years of sociology and psychology. Fun facts with Ash! Hahah.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this more academic-style blog and let me know if you want to see even more "academic writing" and I'll try and be more academic. It's not super academic, it's just more academic than my stream-of-consciousness writing. To end off this week's Freaky Friday Files, here are some readings for you to check out.
Some Readings (all found on Google Scholar/Google so should be open access)
Baker, J.O. and Bader, C.D., 2014. A social anthropology of ghosts in twenty-first-century America. Social Compass, 61(4), pp.569-593.
Luhrmann et al. (2021) Sensing the presence of gods and spirits across cultures and faiths - https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2016649118.
Thoksakis & Papesh (2022) "Why Some People See, Hear, Or Feel "Ghosts?"" - https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2022.790073#:~:text=Inattentional%20blindness%20can%20even%20make,what%20you%20think%20is%20happening.
Harris, V., 2020. Ghosts of archive: Deconstructive intersectionality and praxis. Routledge.
Van, V.H., 2020. From the belief of the immortality of the soul, the blessing or the harassing of the soul towards people to the worship of the souls of Vietnamese people. Asian Social Science, 16(3), p.1.
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