Magic and the Mind

Subbotsky, Eugene

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195393873.001.0001

Cited by 78 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 159 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The phenomenon of “magical thinking” 14 (Frazer, 1900; Subbotskii, 2010; Hutson, 2012) is a potential product of primary consciousness. Magical thinking is a style of cognition in which supernatural interpretations of phenomena are made.…”

Section: Introducing Primary Consciousness and Primary Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs

Carhart‐Harris

Leech

Hellyer

et al. 2014

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

862

948

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Entropy is a dimensionless quantity that is used for measuring uncertainty about the state of a system but it can also imply physical qualities, where high entropy is synonymous with high disorder. Entropy is applied here in the context of states of consciousness and their associated neurodynamics, with a particular focus on the psychedelic state. The psychedelic state is considered an exemplar of a primitive or primary state of consciousness that preceded the development of modern, adult, human, normal waking consciousness. Based on neuroimaging data with psilocybin, a classic psychedelic drug, it is argued that the defining feature of “primary states” is elevated entropy in certain aspects of brain function, such as the repertoire of functional connectivity motifs that form and fragment across time. Indeed, since there is a greater repertoire of connectivity motifs in the psychedelic state than in normal waking consciousness, this implies that primary states may exhibit “criticality,” i.e., the property of being poised at a “critical” point in a transition zone between order and disorder where certain phenomena such as power-law scaling appear. Moreover, if primary states are critical, then this suggests that entropy is suppressed in normal waking consciousness, meaning that the brain operates just below criticality. It is argued that this entropy suppression furnishes normal waking consciousness with a constrained quality and associated metacognitive functions, including reality-testing and self-awareness. It is also proposed that entry into primary states depends on a collapse of the normally highly organized activity within the default-mode network (DMN) and a decoupling between the DMN and the medial temporal lobes (which are normally significantly coupled). These hypotheses can be tested by examining brain activity and associated cognition in other candidate primary states such as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and early psychosis and comparing these with non-primary states such as normal waking consciousness and the anaesthetized state.

show abstract

Section: Introducing Primary Consciousness and Primary Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs

Carhart‐Harris

Leech

Hellyer

et al. 2014

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

862

948

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Piaget (1927) showed that up to the age of about 12 years, magical thinking forms a major part of children’s inner world (but see Rosengren and Hickling, 1994 for earlier estimates). Despite refinements to this early claim, recent evidence still suggests that children show a more blurred distinction between reality and imagination than adults ( Rosengren and Hickling, 1994 ; Woolley, 1997 ; Subbotsky, 2010 ). With increasing age, magical thinking is assumed to dissipate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Priming psychic and conjuring abilities of a magic demonstration influences event interpretation and random number generation biases

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Magical ideation and belief in the paranormal is considered to represent a trait-like character; people either believe in it or not. Yet, anecdotes indicate that exposure to an anomalous event can turn skeptics into believers. This transformation is likely to be accompanied by altered cognitive functioning such as impaired judgments of event likelihood. Here, we investigated whether the exposure to an anomalous event changes individuals’ explicit traditional (religious) and non-traditional (e.g., paranormal) beliefs as well as cognitive biases that have previously been associated with non-traditional beliefs, e.g., repetition avoidance when producing random numbers in a mental dice task. In a classroom, 91 students saw a magic demonstration after their psychology lecture. Before the demonstration, half of the students were told that the performance was done respectively by a conjuror (magician group) or a psychic (psychic group). The instruction influenced participants’ explanations of the anomalous event. Participants in the magician, as compared to the psychic group, were more likely to explain the event through conjuring abilities while the reverse was true for psychic abilities. Moreover, these explanations correlated positively with their prior traditional and non-traditional beliefs. Finally, we observed that the psychic group showed more repetition avoidance than the magician group, and this effect remained the same regardless of whether assessed before or after the magic demonstration. We conclude that pre-existing beliefs and contextual suggestions both influence people’s interpretations of anomalous events and associated cognitive biases. Beliefs and associated cognitive biases are likely flexible well into adulthood and change with actual life events.

show abstract

“…For example, Benassi et al (1980) showed that exposure to magic tricks (portrayed as demonstrations of psychic powers) increased belief in psychic phenomena (also see Mohr et al, 2014 ). Subbotsky (2010) used magic demonstrations to investigate magical thinking in both children and adults. Magic has even been used to explore the neural basis of causality ( Parris et al, 2009 ), the origins of insightful thinking ( Danek et al, 2013 , 2014 ), and the nature of free will ( Shalom et al, 2013 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A framework for using magic to study the mind

Rensink

Kuhn

2015

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Over the centuries, magicians have developed extensive knowledge about the manipulation of the human mind—knowledge that has been largely ignored by psychology. It has recently been argued that this knowledge could help improve our understanding of human cognition and consciousness. But how might this be done? And how much could it ultimately contribute to the exploration of the human mind? We propose here a framework outlining how knowledge about magic can be used to help us understand the human mind. Various approaches—both old and new—are surveyed, in terms of four different levels. The first focuses on the methods in magic, using these to suggest new approaches to existing issues in psychology. The second focuses on the effects that magic can produce, such as the sense of wonder induced by seeing an apparently impossible event. Third is the consideration of magic tricks—methods and effects together—as phenomena of scientific interest in their own right. Finally, there is the organization of knowledge about magic into an informative whole, including the possibility of a science centered around the experience of wonder.

show abstract

Magic and the Mind

Cited by 78 publications

References 159 publications

The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs

The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs

Priming psychic and conjuring abilities of a magic demonstration influences event interpretation and random number generation biases

A framework for using magic to study the mind

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About