Predictable Human Reactions

I’m going to steal a page from my friend Phil Plait’s** playbook today and write about a silliness of the human condition that would be funny if it weren’t so sad: consulting psychics.

In paging through the news the past few days, I ran across a story about how more and more Americans are turning to psychics for advice as the economy tanks.

I’m having a hard time understanding this, mostly because psychics and the “advice” they peddle are pure bunkum.  Anybody who has lost their job, or is about to lose their house, or their savings who takes what little money they have left and spends it on “psychic” advice from someone who purports to “know” the future is simply wasting money they can’t afford to lose.  Worse, they’re being taken advantage of by hucksters at a time when they’re most vulnerable.  Pretty low stuff, especially since there’s absolutely NO scientific data or evidence that points to the existence of anybody being able to read minds or tell the future. None.

But, these practitioners make a living at their “trade”, which tells me that not everybody is a skeptic.

What exactly does one get when one “consults” a psychic?  I tried it once when I was a teenager and I felt like I’d been taken. I was ushered into this dark room and while I dark adapted and listened to spooky music, this woman bade me to sit down. Before she would say another word she informed me that the spirits didn’t speak until an offering was given.

Once she had my $5.00 in her hands, she then proceeded to study my palm and describe all kinds of interesting things about me that weren’t true. She populated her “reading” with all kinds of predictions of wealth and tall, dark, handsome men who I was going to meet and marry (presumably serially).  Oh, and I was going to have many children and win some money. And, she said, I’d be visiting exotic lands.  And, I’d probably end up in movies.

It was the verbal equivalent of a horoscope, where horoscopists just pretty much fling very general things at you hoping that some of it will stick and you’ll believe that the planets somehow foretold them. Her reading was a potpourri of generalities and nothing very specific about me in particular.  And, it really didn’t help me feel any better, especially since I’d wasted $5.00 on her “services.”

So, I wonder… what exactly is a psychic going to tell someone after they’ve lost their job or house or retirement money?   Somehow I think that “You will win the lottery”  or “Things will look up for you soon” isn’t going to cut it… and in fact, stuff like that just preys on people’s hopes.

Here’s my prediction about pychics who take advantage of economic downturns (and I won’t even charge for it): psychics are going to tell their marks pretty much anything just so long as money gets paid up front.  It’s too bad that the downturn in the market will be good for psychics and others who take advantage of people’s misfortunes. It’s despicable, but unfortunately it’s completely understandable as part of the human condition.

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**Phil Plait is a notable skeptic and is, in fact, President of the James Randi Educational Foundation. His blog, Badastronomy, features a lot of news about astronomy and space science, but he also writes a LOT about debunking myths, thinking skeptically, and pointing out bad science in politics, movies, and the press.He’s also a friend of mine and a damned good writer!