Why do people think they have ESP?

Answer 1

Simple. Many if not most folks have had at least one experience where they had the impression that they were "reading someone's thoughts" based on what they saw in the actions of that other. Let's do a hypothetical, okay? Work with me here. A shopper is walking down the aisle in the market, and she sees a man looking at the magazine rack. Further, things are such that the magazines on the rack can't be seen by the woman. She has the impression that this person, this man, is going to pick up a magazine on, say, home decorating. As she gets closer, the man reaches for the rack and picks up a magazine on home decorating. It's as if she "saw it coming" in this instance. And that can make a person feel like she "knew the thoughts" of that other person. Let's do another. An individual is sitting at a bistro having coffee and gets the impression that a friend or family member in another city has just had an auto accident. Images in the head of the coffee drinker are really vivid. A white car comes in from the right and slams into the SUV of the friend or family member. The force of the impact, the noise, the sounds of metal being torn and glass breaking are as real as if our java sipper was the person in the car. Later in the day a phone call relates information that the friend or family member was in an accident and is in the hospital. One more? Then let's. An individual sits down in a warm, quiet place and closes his eyes to relax. He begins to see an image of a large open area near a stream. Trees run all along one side of it. Toward the stream, grasses rise tall and green in the sun. In the middle of a large stand of grass is a body wrapped in a sheet. The individual picks up the phone and calls the police. Do you see what we did? We've gone through a few examples of what we've seen on TV or read about in books. ESP, extra-sensory perception, takes some different forms. Some of the incidents can be explained away by coincidence. Others just don't appear to wash. What's more, we each have probably experienced something that allowed us to see something, know something or otherwise become aware of something that we would not ordinarily be able to know or visualize. Incidents like this continue to happen, and sometimes a single individual continues to have it happen to him or her. These people are singled out as seers, psychics or the like. We're raised with this stuff. And most of us experience snippets of it personally. Even if it's just "a feeling" regarding a fact, an action, a situation, whatever. We "just knew" what we knew "out of the blue" with no explainable link to how we knew. Some people report that they experience things like this all the time. This can sometimes lead us to the conclusion that we may have ESP. Do we? Does anyone? That's another question. Below is a link to the Wikipedia post on ESP. Why not drop by and check it out? It's a good read, and whether you buy in or not right this moment, you should be aware of some background on this so-human aspect of cognition. The smart money is that you'll come away with a nice handful of facts or ideas that will come in handy. And soon!