Why are people closed minded about paranormal events?

Question

I just wanna know what it is that keeps someones mind so closed that they can't even for a second try to understand that there may be more than they know about in this world.

I personally think that if you close your mind to new things that you stagnate and quit learning. Maybe I need answers from a skeptic that has had something happen to them that has opened their mind up since they have been on both ends of the spectrum.

Answer 1

I believe for two reasons:
1. They are defending their faith (in the science they know)
2. They are reacting emotionally to their knowledge
having to be correct when faced with contradicting
evidence.

For the record this is not unusual Einstein called the now demonstrated phenomena of entanglement in quantum physics "Spooky action at a distance" He could not explain it via his knowledge and so rejected it. He was wrong.
When Thomas Edison lit up Menlo Park no scientist attended the demonstration and Scientific American Magazine ran an article by a leading metallurgist explaining why metal could never be used in a long lasting bulb and how ignorant Edison must be of such established facts.

A better example might be Robert Rosenthal who came up with the Experimenter Effect which is now one of the most accepted (and supported) hypothesis in all of the sciences. He received a rejection letter from a journal for his paper on the same day that he received a letter informing him that his paper had won the Socio-Psychological Prize for 1960 from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

New ideas especially ones that require altering, adding to, etc. established knowledge is always resisted. It's also very well established that people resist change in almost anything.

Michael John Weaver, M.S.

Answer 2

That would possibly be me; I am still a bit of a "skeptic". Quite certain I will know when I see this"paranormal" and so will everyone else believe it or not. Some will be led blindly and others hopefully will not be blind to it...Better yet; I hope no one will be led blindly. Long story especially if you are "closed minded" about the Great Book...Bible.
Just because it is hear does not mean we are suppose to apply it. What exactly is paranormal to you?

These "new things" really are not new at all. Just buried because we are all so ignorant.
Don't forget there is darkness and light. Be very aware in what you dabble in. You WILL have to pay the "Piper" in the end. You know what you should and should not be doing. Leave the darkness alone. It is not ours. As they say..."Stay in the Light". I believe strongly in God but have been forced to "open my mind" to this "paranormal" you are so dangerously interested in. If we believe it our minds absorb it and then we believe even more or not all that people try to make be when it is not. There is spiritual beauty that you will fine quiet fullfilling. I hope your journey brings you much peace.. . Isn't it enough the studys and the mysteries of God and Heaven can engross your whole life? net

Answer 3

Atheists are free thinkers as long as they continue to explore the reasoning behind their rejection of God. Atheist, as well as many in many other faiths, become closed minded when they shut-off the rest of the worlds views without challenging their own. For example, a Christian who just bases their faith on nothing more than the Bible, while true, is closed-minded. I have, as a personal note, tried to keep my mind open as a Christian. However, that said, I have not a satisfactory argument which has actually denounced the Bible's legitimacy. As such, I have become stronger in my faith due to the lack of evidence against it. I have noticed some atheists are closed-minded because they totally and absolutely reject anything that they cannot witness with their own eyes. This includes the paranormal. They MAY also be threatened by the thought because once a person acknowledges a spirit realm as a possibility than their argument of "no God" is in serious jeopardy.

Answer 4

We live in the scientific age. In the Middle Ages, people were told what to believe. Many were poor, they could not read, were uneducated, and traveled only short distances from their birthplaces. Natural occurrences were often given a supernatural cause. Crop failures, plagues, earthquakes were viewed as a punishment or the result of witchcraft or other supernatural forces.

With the arrival of the renaissance, it became no longer acceptable to be told what to believe by others or to unquestioningly accept the explanations of those in positions of higher authority. A new way or paradigm of thinking about the world took place. The scientific method began to take hold. People began to determine for themselves through the process of questioning and confirmation of beliefs through experimentation what was true.

We've had approximately four hundred or so years of this new thought paradigm which has profoundly affected our world and outlook. No longer is it acceptable (or prudent) to simply blindly believe anything simply because someone tells you it is so. A large part of our modern society demands data, factual evidence to support a claim, as well as direct experience to back up the claim if at all possible.

It isn't wrong to reserve judgment or reject an idea if it does not have credible supporting evidence or does not come from a credible source. Perhaps it is the choice of how an unsupported idea is handled when represented by another that is the crux of your issue. Politeness and courtesy are always appropriate if possible. A person need not agree with the beliefs of another but can avoid being disagreeable. Also realize that all beliefs are not equally valid (relativism). Some beliefs are mutually exclusive of others. It cannot be acceptable to both kill female children or the elderly and yet at the same time belief that killing is wrong. All religions cannot be equally valid. Some (or all but one) have to be wrong by their very nature. You have to make a choice. If you choose to accept an extreme viewpoint unsupported by factual evidence you should not be surprised when others are skeptical of your new belief. That someone chooses not to belief as you do is their right and should be respected just you you desire respect from others, whether in the scheme of things you view their decision as reasonable or wise or not. Just as others need to learn to respect the thoughts of others, others need to honor that there will always be individuals who disagree with their own beliefs. In the end, what does it matter? If the disagreement does not harm you or others then I would suggest moving on, not overly worrying about it, and associating with like-minded individuals whose company you enjoy.

Answer 5

Because paranormal events do not happen every day to every one. Some see ghosts and paranormal in everything and this causes the skeptic to be even more skeptical.

The paranormal is real and I have documented many things that cannot be explained otherwise, but these things do not happen every day.

The nieve, the mentally ill and the too eager are reasons many do not believe and would not believe if a ghost or something paranormal was right in front of them.

Answer 6

Because the stories are always hearsay. Not one has ever been proven and they never ever happen in front of highly respected educated people or in a place that it can be scientifically documented. In spite of all I just said I am still very hopeful and I did have an experience when I was a child. I saw a door in my grandmother's bedroom which I new was never there so I sat down on her bed next to it and wanted to open it but was afraid so I went downstairs and asked my grandmother about it. She, myself and my parents went upstairs to her room to see what I was talking about and when we got there it was gone! She kept telling me that I must have been dreaming but I never slept when I was at her house but I could see this was a hopeless case trying to convince her so I just pretended I went along with her theory but my mother believed me because she had a strange thing happen to her in that room. I always wondered what would have happened if I had opened it.

Answer 7

We are not so much closed minded to the paranormal as we are open minded to the great probability that all of it is nonsense.

Meli, the people who understand best are either the skeptics, (like me), or the frauds, (like Sylvia Browne or Jonathan Richard or Uri Geller). What both groups have in common is their knowledge that it is nonsense. People aren't generally afraid of paranormal stuff. They can't get enough of it. What I fear is the effect of ignorance and superstition. I fear the kinds of things that happened in Jonestown as the result of too many people believing in too much on the basis of too little. They were duped, and then they all died. Over 900 of them. Anybody who believes in these things, despite the impressive absence of evidence for them, is an ill-informed potential victim or someone who is trying to pass himself off as an Occult guru. Which one are you?

Answer 8

Basically you have already found an answer to this. They are afraid to even look at the remotest possibility that they don't even have a clue as what they are talking about when they are so quick to shoot down something they themselves are afraid to admit they have closed down their minds to anything they don't even wish to look at, as does not take away from honesty? They are very stagnate and close-mined and to be would be such a bore to be around anyways.
I have at least shut a few mouths from spewing their crap by proving without a shadow of a doubt that the Paranormal does exist and I just shake my head at them and choose not to even get into another of their boring, dull and nothing backed up attitude. They are not even willing to hear what someone who can prove the Paranormal but one is to sit and listen to them. No, I don't think so!!!! The Paranormal does exist without a doubt and I thank God I have an open mind as I do not ever want to stagnate.
That you for the question. I really like the way you worded it.

Answer 9

i agree about being open minded but a lot of the time 'paranormal' events are just as easily explained in a mundane way, and it seems like believers don't want to accept the obvious explanation because it's not interesting enough.

Answer 10

As a scientist, I realize very well that there are a lot of things about the world of which I, and to a somewhat lesser extent science, are ignorant. Indeed, this is a basic premise of science. (Not much need for science if there's nothing new to discover).

On the other hand, "paranormal events" (a *very* broad category) has, historically, been the domain of charlatans. Science depends upon 1) measurement and 2) repeatability to determine the existence of things - in other words, to describe them with any degree of accuracy. I am not certain of the type of paranormal events to which you are referring, but as a scientist I would want to experience it myself before agreeing that any such event were occurring. Failing that (assuming that I were unable to experience such an event), I would want incontrovertible proof that such an event were happening.

Bottom line: most "paranormal events" are either intentional cons, intentional tales used to gain attention, or unintentional hallucination. No one can say with any certainty that they *all* are. I, for example, believe that miraculous healings *have* occurred - because there is medical evidence of such. I also believe that by *far* the majority of *claimed* miraculous healings fall into one of the three categories mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph - i.e. no healing actually occurred.

It is not wise to believe everyone with a claim of a "paranormal event", and given its history, the *only* wise course is to be *skeptical* (not dismissive) until such time as proof *of the particular event* can be offered.

Jim, B.S. in Physics, John Carroll University