# Why Do People Believe Weird Things?... Pareidolia



## Heisenberg (Dec 29, 2010)

Ever wonder why people see the virgin Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich? How about the giant human face on the surface of mars? What about electronic voice phenomena, where people hear ghosts talking behind white noise? Believe it or not these things are all related by a common mistake of perception called Pareidolia. 

Pareidolia is the tendency humans have to perceive patterns in vague and random stimuli. This happens when you look up at the clouds and see shapes. This happens when you make shadow puppets on the wall. This also happens a lot during what people perceive as a paranormal experience. It's a well known, well understood, well documented phenomenon.

Evolution has rewarded those who were better able to recognize patterns in the wild. Being able to make out a human face in near darkness, for example, offers an advantage over someone who can't. Recognizing patterns is part of learning, and those who can recognize better, tend to learn better. As a result our ability to see patterns sometimes leads us to see one where none exists. 

- - - - - - -
 ..........=
........=
......=
....=

The above is just a series of dashes, but your brain recognizes it as the number 7. Your mind immediately and without effort, fills in the blanks. Indeed, you couldn't prevent it if you wanted to. You've just experienced pareidolia. 

Now lets think about that grilled cheese sandwich. Does it seem likely that the virgin Mary wants to appear there? What purpose does it serve? Should we believe that Mary wanted to be there, her reasons being her own, and ignore the obvious questions? Or is it more likely pareidolia is at work, something we understand very well. If the sandwich had a blotch that resembled Pee Wee Herman, would it have still been special?

The face on mars is a great example. For many years the picture was studied and proclaimed real by some, a hoax by others. If you look at the image, it does indeed look very much like a human face. It also seems that it was built with the intentions of being seen from space. Should we take this as evidence of an alien colony as many did, or should we recognize yet another example of pareidolia? Well turns out years later we have much clearer images of the very same spot where the face is located, and it's now obvious that it was nothing but hills and shadows.

One of the most convincing occurrences of pareidolia in my opinion is electronic voice phenomena. This is when people leave an audio recorder in an old house that's suppose to be haunted, or an abandoned mental hospital, or even a graveyard. When the audio is played back and dissected, there are sometimes unexplained voices that can clearly, or sometimes not so clearly, say phrases. Sure, often these phrases make no sense. "she's in the mustard" "Laundry tuesday applecart" But still, there are voices saying these things and we can play it back over and over as proof! Ghost hunters have speculated that spirits use an enormous amount of energy to manipulate sounds in an effort to speak to us. The easiest to manipulate is white noise, and because it takes so much effort the spirits often get words wrong, or get cut off, in any case they can't do it for very long. If it takes so much 'energy', Why they would do it in an empty basement of an abandoned house is beyond me. I guess it's pretty easy to see the explanation which makes more sense, audio pareidolia. 

Often the pareidolia is made worse by front loading. Front loading is when you are told what you are going to hear before you hear it, and so of course...that's what you hear. People who are front loaded often hear the same phrase as the original listener. People who aren't may still hear a voice, but each person hears slightly different words. 

Another example of audio pareidolia is back masking. When you play records backwards it sometimes sounds like phrases. In the 80's thousands of parents actually thought this was a threat. They never stopped to ask, even if the phrases were constructed by a musical genius, what harm do they cause? Another case is when people hear words coming from the mouths of animals. I have heard some recordings of jackals, wolves and dogs and some of them made my neck hair prickle. Really spooky shit! I have heard a wolf howling quite clearly, "Sooo Alooooonnneee" and a dog when asked "how come you can talk?" easily say, "I learned". 

When you think about it, pareidolia is probably responsible for many other weird beliefs, like mermaids, leprechauns, lake monsters, ect. Mistakes of perception are the first and most prolific reason people believe strange things. Mistakes of memory would be the next most responsible, and mistakes of logic are unfortunately the most convincing. You can see how pareidolia triggers all three.

So anyway, I hope this poorly constructed post from a recluse stoner does you some good. The world can be intimidating, but it's a little less scary when we understand what is actually going on out there.


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## coonword (Dec 29, 2010)

+rep great thread!


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## Juicy Fruit (Dec 29, 2010)

simply awsome and alot of what I belive already, but then again I think MJ opens the mind alot, certainly has help me understand things better.


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## guy incognito (Dec 29, 2010)

you should read "why people believe weird things" by michael shermer.


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## mindphuk (Dec 29, 2010)

Isn't pareidolia a specific type of apophenia? Or is it the other way around?


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## Heisenberg (Dec 29, 2010)

guy incognito said:


> you should read "why people believe weird things" by michael shermer.


 heh, I have never read one skeptical book. I have however heard Michael talk for hours and hours about skeptisism. I would not have begun to use that title had I realized it was exactly the name of his book, but oh well. Most of what I am regurgitating in these posts I learned from listening to Steven Novella.


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## Heisenberg (Dec 29, 2010)

mindphuk said:


> Isn't pareidolia a specific type of apophenia? Or is it the other way around?



That's right, apophenia tends to be used to refer to abstract concepts, such as the connections people assume from post hoc reasoning mistakes. Pareidolia refers to sensory perception.

Makes me wonder if pareidolia ever occurs with smell/taste, something I never thought about before.


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## LightningMcGreen (Dec 29, 2010)

So is this the same thing as matrixing? The brain trying to make order out of chaos?


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## Heisenberg (Dec 29, 2010)

LightningMcGreen said:


> So is this the same thing as matrixing? The brain trying to make order out of chaos?


 Yep. Strictly speaking, both terms mean the same thing. Matrixing is a sort of slang made popular by ghost hunters. This means that some of the more serious ghost hunters are at least aware of this potential mistake when looking at ghost photographs. Of course others just say the spirits manipulated the image to take advantage of your pareidolia, in which case it's referred to as matrixing.


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## Heisenberg (Aug 13, 2012)




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## tyler.durden (Aug 13, 2012)

Great thread, Heis! Chief, make sure you read the OP twice


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## tyler.durden (Aug 13, 2012)

Heisenberg said:


>


Hey, it's Clapton! (Close enough to a god for me)


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## Chief Walkin Eagle (Aug 13, 2012)

tyler.durden said:


> Great thread, Heis! Chief, make sure you read the OP twice


Indeed, it was a great post. Though I dont see how this applies to me, maybe with the UFO's I seen doing impossible maneuvers, but even then its not far fetched to label them aliens lol. Though if you think every person claiming to of experienced a ghost or seen a UFO is under the influence of pareidolia then you do so because it makes you feel more comfortable about your views and beliefs... just sayin....


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## eye exaggerate (Aug 13, 2012)

...cool thread, Heis. I have to admit that when I saw the dashes, my mind went to 'ah, a clever way to insinuate that we're going to 'veer' now', because pattern recognition seemed to be getting a boost in the first paragraph  ... it also kind of reminded me of stairs at first - but I grew up with video games like Pit Fall and those low bit types so that's natural. That's kinda neat though, our brains see, or know, that stairs are going to be 7" high. It's the way we work.

...it's obvious I need no further thc in my system for a bit


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## Chief Walkin Eagle (Aug 13, 2012)

I just seen dashes, I was wondering what he was trying to demonstrate before I read it.


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## eye exaggerate (Aug 13, 2012)

@ the banner ad - Asian women are usually pretty nice, yes. Good manners, all that. Thanks, now, go away 

'veered'


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## Heisenberg (Aug 13, 2012)

Chief Walkin Eagle said:


> Indeed, it was a great post. Though I dont see how this applies to me, maybe with the UFO's I seen doing impossible maneuvers, but even then its not far fetched to label them aliens lol. Though if you think every person claiming to of experienced a ghost or seen a UFO is under the influence of pareidolia then you do so because it makes you feel more comfortable about your views and beliefs... just sayin....


I don't believe pareidolia is responsible for very many UFO sightings. It is responsible for constellations, so I guess it plays a small part in astrology. You may, or may not, be mistaking some other heavenly body or object for alien spacecraft, but that does not qualify as pareidolia. 

There are many visual illusions that are mistaken for UFO's. A good example is someone who looks out their car window to see a thin disk shaped object hovering in the sky and keeping exact time with the car, no matter how fast or slow they go. Upon stopping and getting out of the car it become apparent that they were seeing their headlights reflected off a tiny portion of the electrical wire that parallels the road. Inside the car the black wires were invisible against the black night, fooling the brain into thinking the light was floating in the sky and following the car. This specific example probably doesn't explain very many sightings, but it does demonstrate that human perception is vulnerable to mistakes that the brain sometimes interprets wrong.

Pareidolia can not account for all ghost sightings, but the bulk of what convinces people of ghosts is evidence such as pictures and audio recordings. If we value parsimony then we must favor possibilities which make sound assumptions over those which do not. This simply means, if we have an explanation grounded in reality which _fully_ explains the phenomena, we favor it over ones that do not. In this case we have to throw out pretty much all of the photographs and recordings, unless they were done under strict controls. Does this disprove all ghost evidence? No, it just means we need much much more to go on.


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## Heisenberg (Aug 13, 2012)

While I was watering the girls I thought of a famous UFO sighting that does involve pareidolia. The Phoenix lights.

[video=youtube;KdIdDpJYSOM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdIdDpJYSOM[/video]

It's widely accepted that these were military style flares. Many people saw this as indication of a V shaped UFO. In fact many witnesses later drew or described something like this.



These were essentially just vague dots outlined against an obscure background, and some people's brain's, having so little input to go on, filled in the blanks with something it could understand.

It becomes obvious that these were flares, or at least individual objects, when you overlay an image of the mountain range onto the nighttime footage. The mountains are invisible at night. During the part where the lights seem to wink out, their disappearance corresponds exactly with the mountain peaks, meaning the objects were behind the mountains despite appearing much closer.


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## Heisenberg (Aug 13, 2012)

[video=youtube;WeAh6wyXi6M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeAh6wyXi6M[/video]

Now that your brain has more input to go on, what does it see? The lady asks "are these merely flares dropping behind a mountain, or UFO's mysteriously vanishing?" The question seems a little absurd now that the pareidolia has been broken.


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## Heisenberg (Aug 13, 2012)

Here is another phenomina that causes some people to see unexplained lights in the sky. It's called a Fata Morgana Mirage. This is when atmospheric conditions cause images near the ground to appear above their position. In the distance on the horizon, it can even pull images, like headlights, above the point where the earth curves, or if line of sight is obscured by hills and such, making them to appear to have no source. These often get blamed on UFO's or ghost lights.

[video=youtube;Rh2tzXvBlJg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh2tzXvBlJg[/video]


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## olylifter420 (Aug 13, 2012)

I dont know man, the universe is extremely vast and endless, who knows whats out ther. For all we know, we might be some sub species created by aliens lol..

But really, the universe is very big


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## Zaehet Strife (Aug 14, 2012)

olylifter420 said:


> I dont know man, the universe is extremely vast and endless, who knows whats out ther. For all we know, we might be some sub species created by aliens lol..
> 
> But really, the universe is very big


Hmmm, i am impressed oly, never thought i would utter those words. I appreciate the input, and commend you on the understanding that our outline understanding of the universe is extremely limited. 

For all we know... we don't dont know anything at all. 

+rep bro, keep up the good work, and continue the well thought out intelligent insights. The universe is a very big place indeed my friend.


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## Doer (Aug 14, 2012)

Chief Walkin Eagle said:


> I just seen dashes, I was wondering what he was trying to demonstrate before I read it.


Me too. I saw a dashed underline and a slanted row of indents. It took me until very recently to see the Man in the Moon. I always saw a Rabbit. Still can. The Man is elusive. 

How about those abstract, fine grain posters that are supposed to have a dragon or something if you squint or stare or de-focus? I can't see anything, but digital hash.


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## Chief Walkin Eagle (Aug 14, 2012)

Those posters never worked on me either. And I cant see anything at all in the moon, even with outlined pictures I dont see how people can make that connection to a man or a rabbit.


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## Heisenberg (Aug 14, 2012)

I coincidentally came across this story today.

Sightings App Lets Users Insert Images Of Jesus, Virgin Mary And Bigfoot Into Food Photos

Don'y worry, ghosts are available too. These are already being used to fool media outlets.


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## tyler.durden (Aug 14, 2012)

Heisenberg said:


> I coincidentally came across this story today.
> 
> Sightings App Lets Users Insert Images Of Jesus, Virgin Mary And Bigfoot Into Food Photos
> 
> ...


Strange that they don't have an app for faking scientific findings, I wonder why that is?


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## eye exaggerate (Aug 14, 2012)

Doer said:


> Me too. I saw a dashed underline and a slanted row of indents. It took me until very recently to see the Man in the Moon. I always saw a Rabbit. Still can. The Man is elusive.
> 
> How about those abstract, fine grain posters that are supposed to have a dragon or something if you squint or stare or de-focus? I can't see anything, but digital hash.


...hey Doer, the rabbit on the moon - another reference to the elixir 

...and to Astarte

...and

...and


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## eye exaggerate (Aug 14, 2012)

Heisenberg said:


> I coincidentally came across this story today.



...saying that something is a coincidence - direct use of pattern recognition?


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## tyler.durden (Aug 14, 2012)

eye exaggerate said:


> ...saying that something is a coincidence - direct use of pattern recognition?


I think it would've been pattern recognition if he wrote that the instances were somehow linked


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## eye exaggerate (Aug 15, 2012)

tyler.durden said:


> I think it would've been pattern recognition if he wrote that the instances were somehow linked


...linked _is_ coincidence - it was inherent in the statement, damn it! (...just keeping the joke rolling  )


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## Heisenberg (Aug 15, 2012)

*

Ironically I came across this story today.​


* Coincidence and irony are often confused, and I guess I am guilty of it as well. You would expect me to find the article on the day I was researching pareidolia examples. Instead I found it the next day while meandering around the net. The more disparity between what is expected and what actually happens, the more ironic something is.


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## eye exaggerate (Aug 15, 2012)

Heisenberg said:


> *
> 
> Ironically I came across this story today.​
> 
> ...



...coincidentally, I 2 find this ironic


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## dtp5150 (Aug 15, 2012)

retarded. yep. on my grave put https://www.rollitup.org/spirituality-sexuality-philosophy/396096-why-do-people-believe-weird.html is retarded


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## Subnoyze (Sep 4, 2012)

You JFKed me bro


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## Trolling (Sep 4, 2012)

Heisenberg said:


> Ever wonder why people see the virgin Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich? How about the giant human face on the surface of mars? What about electronic voice phenomena, where people hear ghosts talking behind white noise? Believe it or not these things are all related by a common mistake of perception called Pareidolia.
> 
> Pareidolia is the tendency humans have to perceive patterns in vague and random stimuli. This happens when you look up at the clouds and see shapes. This happens when you make shadow puppets on the wall. This also happens a lot during what people perceive as a paranormal experience. It's a well known, well understood, well documented phenomenon.
> 
> ...


I actually didn't see the 7 until you mentioned it lol.


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