A Rational Look at Ghosts
A Scientific Explanation for a Worldwide Paranormal Belief
Human beings evolved in a world that was very different to today's. It was a brutal world with a constant threat of hunger, thirst, disease and predators.
In the blink of an evolutionary eye, many people are now born into a relatively comfortable life, with a secure home and little or no threat from many of the old dangers. Human brains, however, have not caught on. In the past, spotting or hearing a hidden threatening animal or malicious member of another tribe could mean the difference between life and death.
A 'true positive', seeing something that is there, was advantageous. A 'false positive', thinking something is there, when in fact it was just a rustling leaf or a random shadow, was neither good nor bad. A 'false negative', however, not noticing something of danger, could end in death.
Evolution's Product - The Suspicious Brain
This survival of alert and suspicious ancestors, and death of those that didn't notice a danger until it was too late, has given today's population the tendency to see and hear things that are simply not there.
Young children desperately tell sleep-deprived parents about the monster outside the window. Grown adults stare towards the corner of the room, convinced they've just seen something in the corner of their eye.
The human brain sees and hears things that are not there, because they have evolved to be over-cautious. With this in mind, stories of ghostly apparitions, foot-steps in the middle of the night, objects that change position, and whispering voices in a deserted churchyard suddenly have a rational, psychological explanation.
Add to this mix a culture of scary Hollywood movies, a wide-spread belief in the paranormal, and various religious sensibilities that assume the existence of ghosts and spirits, and the result is a population with a natural tendency to sense things that aren't there, coupled with an enormous amount of fuel for the imagination.
Phenomena Related to Ghosts
Sleep paralysis, where a person wakes but cannot move, is also a situation where there is both a rational and non-rational explanation. Some sufferers of this condition often describe being held down by a strange being, or abducted by aliens.
In fact, this is a condition that has been documented throughout history, with the 'monster of the era' being present, such as demons in the dark ages, and aliens in modern times. During sleep, the brain switches-off most types of movement to prevent a dreamer from acting out their dream. If the conscious mind wakes before the brain reactivates motion, the individual feels paralysed, and the subconscious seeks a reason. Sometimes, this reason is imagined to be an entity holding the person down.
It is of course possible that ghosts exist, their existence cannot be completely disproved. But from a scientific point of view, there is a simpler and more rational explanation of this and many related phenomena.
Further Reading
- Superstitions evolved to help us survive, New Scientist
- Sagan, Carl. The Demon Haunted World. Headline Book Publishing; New edition edition (9 Jan 1997)
Are Ghosts Real? Or Imaginary?
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