Dr. Joe Schwarcz: Superstition, spiritualism and the "ideomotor response"

Dr. Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society, on the reason pendulums and other objects can appear to move on their own.

[@unladpinoytv]

so how can you explain this i had a dream few days ago and that exact dream happened??? it's pretty much happening to majority of everyone..

[@cravintage]

that happens with me bro

[@okbasto9541]

His hand is movin

[@andrewtaylor8759]

Exactly

[@p33kin89]

I think that in almost every case of "supernatural" experiences there is a scientific and reproducible explanation. However, I have always been a pragmatic person, and after using a ouija board with some friends frequently over the course of a month, all of us began experiencing new unexplained issues in our homes. My friend started hearing banging in his basement, when he went to his basement there would be knocking in his room upstairs. He heard distinct footsteps walking from the end of his hallway stopping in front of his bedroom door. His mother would yell at who she thought was an intruder and called the police twice. My other friend had a radio that when turned off would say "good bye". It started turning on then off when we visited his house or when he turned the lights off and was trying to sleep, only at those times. He also heard movement in his kitchen and his TV in the living room would turn on randomly. I had multiple encounters with something that made me feel in ways that I have never felt before or after the duration of the "haunting." I had things in my basement thrown at my bedroom wall in the middle of the night, heard my closet door creak as if someone pushed on it (reproduced the exact same sound,) felt my bed sink down next to me, heard the springs creak as I lay frozen in fear, followed by a blast of cold/hot (not sleep paralysis, I was fully awake and hyper aware). It is all interesting stuff when there is truly no other explanation. I still wonder to this day if I was just being over emotional and assumptive. There is just so much distance between my reality now and those experiences, I try to tell myself it was all coincidental for my own sake. Luckily I have not experienced anything like this for 12 years.

[@KitaSoPretty]

Demonic spirits

[@justaguybeingaguy]

The idiomotor response can be influenced by either the unconscious, intuition or conscious mind. If one asks a question but has already decided the answer, then he is more likely to influence the outcome with his own belief. However, if he were to put his own convictions to the side for a more 'unbiased' answer, he might find that his unconscious mind, or subconscious giving a totally different answer. Its obvious that in his example he had already decided the answer and therefore the idiomotor phenomenon was initiated and controlled by his conscious mind.

[@newmediaofficial]

Why did you cut the last scene before giving a "convincing" pendulum move? Not very scientific is it! And you did not "really" explain how the "ideomotor response" works and what is the "mind" and where does the "thought" come from. So be a scientist and give a more convincing video with more clarity please.

[@lil_weasel219]

why not read studies on it if you want this is not some documentary just general stuff

[@lil_weasel219]

are you serious w the pendulummstuff LOL it was literal humour

[@catgoeskek]

find a pendulum (or any necklance) and youll find that even miniscule movements in your arm, wrist and hand can cause it to move wildly without it looking like you've moved at all.

[@thomasdowney4390]

Anyone else find it unscientific that he proves that something can be ideomotor, so therefore spirits don’t exist. What are you talking about dude? The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Also what about charlatans that want to trick others? Ideomotor is unintentional, the former isn’t. How do you infallibly prove whether it’s purposefully or not? Think about it this way: if I’m looking for information about a subject, does that mean it doesn’t exist because I couldn’t personally find it? If my argument is terrible, does that make me a terrible person as a whole? The uncharitably here of the subject is astounding. I liked the history aspect in explanation but the conclusion is unscientific at best, a purposefully confounded bias at worse. Believe whatever you want, but don’t bring bias into science

[@BucketOfHugs]

How’d he lift the table?

[@mike814031]

I think he had strings attached to the outside edges or something of that nature

[@ednagirl1]

BucketOfHugs when he takes the blue cover off you can see there’s some kind of stick attached to the blanket. That’s why he sets the blanket down at an angle.

[@kumard6451]

he used a cloth to cover the table as well as his "waist"..may be some thing from his waist would have lift it, if spirits not..!!!

[@JackCulling]

This was.. a waste of time. I do not doubt that the ideomotor effect is real, or that there are charlatans out there. However, that has little to do with the existence of spirits.

[@sirick93]

its true he just proves that there is no way to show that spirits exist

[@bizuett]

Total waste of time indeed

[@youreadingleberry7434]

It has everything to do with the fact the oujia boards don’t work. Spirits do not exist, and death is like a dreamless sleep. It’s just the way things are. Deal with it.

[@JackCulling]

@@youreadingleberry7434 those are your unsupported thoughts. relax.

[@ClaesFeldt]

I´ll think Dirk Losander will thank you for expose his Floating table. Noddys should not do things that they are not familliar with.

[@nikhilaradhya4088]

0:59 and 1:04 Wtf is that beneath the cloth you cheater???

[@sonofgod6717]

We have put a 25 cents in a bowl, we put our fingers on the side of the bowl and after my prayer to the demon the 25 cents started moving by itself really fast in every directions without us touching the 25 cents. Its the short version of my real story. Explain that Sherlock. Do i have telekinesis power? I don't think so. demons do exist. Pray Jesus and the Angels of God. Don't play.with.ouija boards or practice witchcraft. ( i am not english.native )

[@skcmcmsk5032]

What nonsense lol and then you expect me to believe you. Deal with the truth ghosts and demons don't exist

[@andrewtaylor8759]

This guy is interestingly fraudulent 😂