Sheep and goats
I hope that I've put this in the right place.
I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the so called 'sheep an goats effect'.
This is an academic thing with scientists, as usual stating the obvious, that people with an interest in psychic, ESP and psi etc. tend to do better in their tests. It has also been found, - and this is the part that interests me - that those with a strong aversion to such things tend to get negative results and do worse than the average in the tests. (Ref' on request)

Thinking about this and taking it a stage further, do they also have a detrimental effect on the positive results?

The thing that highlighted this for me was the recent, in the UK, Richard Dawkins BBCTV series 'Enemies of Reason' where, basically, he tried to make people with different views to himself look silly. The most striking part of it all for me was when the dowsers were unable to get results when Dawkins was present and they were looking around in amazement, wondering what had gone wrong. Some of them were quite elderly and had been dowsing all of their lives.
What I tend to think was happening was that his negative attitude was cancelling their positive knowledge of dowsing. Thus proving that Dawkins also is using a psychic ability of his own, albeit in a negative sense. He would of course never admit to such things as his street-cred' would be destroyed.

This, interestingly also presents a paradox, in that this idea can never be tested as the goats would insist that the test would be unfair if they were excluded for the above reasons – spoiling the test.  

Hmmm.... I saw that programme, and to be haonest I thought the dowsers were pretty poor. They used weak methods and seemed to be more basing their dowsing on the right feeling or their hunch or spirit rather than the true dowser that uses hazel twigs to divine water.

But under those circumstances it is very hard to be in the right frame of mind, cameras and a skeptic don't make the best of environments in which to dowse, and to be honest  when I dowse I am finding underground springs for wells with maybe 100,000 (+ -) gallons not a 2 litre bottle of Evian lol. Hmmm I might go and try it though  <gg>  Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Hi Gem
I would have thought that you would have hung-up you pendulum and forked stick at your age?
I tend to agree that the program makers only seemed to show the victims n a poor light, but then the nature and purpose of it was for that reason.
Do you agree that extreme scepticism is a psychic form?
Al

We are the most creative of animals.  We create with thought power.  It does work!

I find these latest spate of TV shows regarding psychic abilities is trying for the entertainment value.  And people do like to see a winner and a loser.  I did not, of course, see this particular show.

I don't think I do well with the psi test formulated but then I have not been in a controlled, scientific atmosphere to test that theory.  The idea is that the results are above what a guess could produce - they do not admit to any other influence.  Not everyone is psychic in exactly the same way - we are all unique and individual beings.  One test does not fit all.

Hi spiritalk
I have been thinking about our minds creative power lately although I can't say that I know much about the subject. Can you recommend any reading?
I tend to think the programs you mentioned are for the benefit of skeptics – with a K. My British spell checker doesn't like this.
There have been many scientific studies that have given very positive results, but these are never mentioned and I ask myself “Do I care anyway”? Things are the way that they are.
Being at a loose-end today, I thought I might stir a little interest with some subject and maybe get to know one or two of you good people.
Al