The Psychological Process of Magical Thinking

ESP has been defined as ‘anomalous processes of information or energy transfer, processes such as telepathy… that are currently unexplained in terms of known physical or biological mechanisms.' Magical thinking is defined as believing that one event happens as a result of another without a plausible link of causation. For example: I got up on the left side of the bed today therefore it will rain. The problem with this definition, however, is that exactly what constitutes a plausible link of causation can be difficult to pin down.. On the other hand, rejecting the use of any and all criteria with which to judge cause and effect leaves us vulnerable to believing that anything can cause anything—or even worse, that an effect can occur without a cause at all. Tune in and get a psychological perspective on these powerful influencers!