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Watching a magic trick is a unique experience in which seemingly impossible events appear possible but without any suspension of disbelief. Unfortunately, relatively little work has examined the psychological impact of this fascinating experience. In the current study, participants first completed a measure of the degree to which they disliked magic (Loathing of Legerdemain Scale: LOLS) and then watched a video that either contained a series of magic tricks (magic video) or carefully matched non-magic tricks (control video). Participants then rated the degree to which they experienced positive epistemic emotions (Epistemically Related Emotion Scale: ERES), their belief about impossible events being possible in the future (Modal Judgment Task: MJT), general optimism (State Optimism Measure: SOM) and subjective wellbeing (Satisfaction With Life Scale: SWLS). Compared to participants who watched the control video, those who saw the magic video reported more positive epistemic emotions on the ERES. There were no significant differences on the MJT, SOM and SWLS. Participants' LOLS scores were negatively correlated with the ERES, SOM and SWLS, suggesting that those who like magic are more likely to experience positive epistemic emotions, have higher levels of general optimism, and express greater satisfaction with their lives. These findings are discussed within the context of short-term and long-term exposure to magic, along with recommendations for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyber threats and vulnerabilities present an increasing risk to the safe and frictionless execution of business operations. Bad actors ("hackers"), including state actors, are increasingly targeting the operational technologies (OTs) and industrial control systems (ICSs) used to protect critical national infrastructure (CNI). Minimisations of cyber risk, attack surfaces, data immutability, and interoperability of IoT are some of the main challenges of today's CNI. Cyber security risk assessment is one of the basic and most important activities to identify and quantify cyber security threats and vulnerabilities. This research presents a novel i-TRACE security-by-design CNI methodology that encompasses CNI key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to combat the growing vicarious nature of remote, well-planned, and well-executed cyber-attacks against CNI, as recently exemplified in the current Ukraine conflict (2014–present) on both sides. The proposed methodology offers a hybrid method that specifically identifies the steps required (typically undertaken by those responsible for detecting, deterring, and disrupting cyber attacks on CNI). Furthermore, we present a novel, advanced, and resilient approach that leverages digital twins and distributed ledger technologies for our chosen i-TRACE use cases of energy management and connected sites. The key steps required to achieve the desired level of interoperability and immutability of data are identified, thereby reducing the risk of CNI-specific cyber attacks and minimising the attack vectors and surfaces. Hence, this research aims to provide an extra level of safety for CNI and OT human operatives, i.e., those tasked with and responsible for detecting, deterring, disrupting, and mitigating these cyber-attacks. Our evaluations and comparisons clearly demonstrate that i-TRACE has significant intrinsic advantages compared to existing "state-of-the-art" mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality of learning in cooperative education sites was assessed in a survey of 383 site supervisors and 97 students. Indicators identified by both groups were as follows: student professional development, challenging experiences, constructive climate, academic integrity, student professionalism, and occupational skills. Supervisors added problem solving and independence; students added academic approach and critical thinking. (Contains 23 references.) (SK)

Cooperative education coordinators (n=383) identified the following quality indicators of worksites for student placement: promote students' professional development, encourage professionalism in the co-op experience, help develop thinking and communication skills, provide challenging learning experiences, and encourage pride and competence. (SK)

Results of a study involving 340 Japanese and 272 U.S. college students and another study with 206 Japanese and 681 U.S. college students found that 21 scenarios did contain different Japanese and American behavioral rules. Results of the second study showed the multidimensionality of the behavioral rules and the difficulties of intercultural situations. (SLD)

Examines the effects of teacher immediacy in the multicultural classroom on perceived cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning for White, Asian, Hispanic, and Black students. Finds that, in general, teacher immediacy behaviors enhance students' learning. Notes similarities and differences in the effects of teacher immediacy cues across United States cultural groups. (SR)

ABERFAN IS A SMALL VILLAGE IN SOUTH WALES. IN the 1960s, many of those living there worked at a nearby mine that had been built to exploit the large amount [...]

Previous work suggests that unexpected and surprising experiences (e.g., living in another culture or looking at surreal images) promotes creative thinking. This targeted literature review examines whether the inherent cognitive disruption associated with experiencing the seemingly impossible has a similar effect. Correlational and experimental research across six domains (entertainment magic, fantasy play, virtual reality and computer gaming, dreaming, science fiction/fantasy, and anomalous experiences) provided consistent support for the hypothesis. In addition, anecdotal evidence illustrated the possible impact that the creative output associated with each of these areas may have had on technology, science, and the arts. It is argued that impossible experiences are an important driver of creative thinking, thus accounting for reports of such experiences across the lifespan and throughout history. The theoretical and practical implications of this work are discussed, along with recommendations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE SAVOY HOTEL IN LONDON IS FAMOUS for fine dining, attentive service, grandiose interiors, and, of course, a three-foot high wooden black cat called Kaspar. In 1898, a South African [...]

This commentary is on the systematic review by Lee et al. on pages 49–58 of this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the notion that people who believe in psychic ability possess various psychological attributes that increase the likelihood of them misattributing paranormal causation to experiences that have a normal explanation. The paper discusses the structure and measurement of belief in psychic ability, then reviews the considerable body of work exploring the relationship between belief in psychic ability, and academic performance, intelligence, critical thinking, probability misjudgement and reasoning, measures of fantasy proneness and the propensity to find correspondences in distantly related material. Finally, the paper proposes several possible directions for future research, including: the need to build a multi-causal model of belief; to address the issue of correlation versus causation; to resolve the inconsistent pattern of findings present in many areas; and to develop a more valid, reliable and fine-grained measure of belief in psychic ability., Surveys suggest that approximately 50% of Americans believe in the existence of extrasensory perception (e.g. Newport & Strausberg, 2001), and that similar levels of belief exist throughout much of Western [...]

The first author, a proponent of evidence for psychic ability, and the second, a sceptic, have been conducting a systematic programme of collaborative sceptic-proponent research in parapsychology. This has involved carrying out joint experiments in which each investigator individually attempted to mentally influence the electrodermal activity of participants at a distant location. The first two collaborations obtained evidence of 'experimenter effects', that is, experiments conducted by the proponent obtained significant results but those conducted by the sceptic did not. This paper describes a new collaborative study that attempted to replicate our previous findings and explore potential explanations for past results. The new study failed to replicate our previous findings. The paper investigates whether the results obtained in our initial studies may have been caused by a genuine psychic effect, and this third experiment failed to replicate this finding because some aspect of the study disrupted the production of that effect, or whether the results from our first two studies represented chance findings or undetected subtle artifacts, and the results obtained in the present study accurately reflect the absence of a remote detection of staring effect. The implications of this work are discussed, along with the benefits of conducting collaborative work for resolving disagreements in other controversial areas of psychology., For well over a hundred years scientists have explored the possible existence of psychic ability (Edge, Morris, Palmer, & Rush, 1986). This work has generated considerable controversy, with proponents arguing [...]

Mediums claim to be able to communicate with the deceased. Such claims attract a considerable amount of public interest and, if valid, have important implications for many areas of psychology. For over 100 years, researchers have tested alleged mediums. This work has obtained mixed results and provoked a considerable amount of methodological debate. This paper reviews the key issues in this debate, describes how the authors devised a method of testing that aimed to prevent the many problems that have hindered past research, and how they then used this method to test several professional mediums. The results of this work did not support the existence of genuine mediumistic ability. Competing interpretations of these results are discussed, along with ways in which the methodology presented in the paper could be used to assess conceptually similar, but non-paranormal, claims made in clinical, occupational and forensic contexts., Some individuals claim to possess mediumistic abilities that allow them to contact the 'spirit world' and receive information from the deceased. There are several reasons to subject these claims to [...]

Some alleged psychics appear to be able to deform metallic objects, such as keys and cutlery, by thought alone. This paper describes two studies that examined whether one aspect of these demonstrations could be created by verbal suggestion. In the first study, participants were shown a videotape in which a fake psychic placed a bent key on a table. Participants in one condition heard the fake psychic suggest that the key was continuing to bend, whilst those in the other condition did not. Participants in the suggestion condition were significantly more likely to report that the key continued to bend. These findings were replicated in the second study. In addition, participants who reported that the key continued to bend displayed a significantly higher level of confidence in their testimony than others, and were significantly less likely to recall that the fake psychic had suggested the continued bending of the key. Neither experiment revealed any differences between participants who expressed a prior belief in the paranormal compared with those who did not. The paper discusses the implications of these results for the psychology of suggestion and the assessment of eyewitness testimony for anomalous events., Psychics and mediums claim to possess a diverse range of paranormal powers, including, for example, the ability to predict the future, communicate with the dead, and read minds (Wiseman & [...]

In Experiment 1, participants took part in a fake seance. An actor suggested that a table was levitating when, in fact, it remained stationary. After the seance, approximately one third of participants incorrectly reported that the table had moved. Results also showed a significant relationship between the reported movement of the table and belief in the paranormal, with a greater percentage of believers than disbelievers, reporting that the table had moved. Experiment 2 varied whether the suggestion was consistent, or inconsistent, with participants' belief in the paranormal. Results again showed that believers were more susceptible to suggestion than disbelievers, but only when the suggestion was consistent with their belief in the paranormal. Approximately one fifth of participants believed that the fake seances contained genuine paranormal phenomena., The method of the seance is precisely adapted to produce illusions and hallucinations, and it strains credulity to imagine that any trustworthy observations come from it. (Coover, 1927, p. 262) [...]

In cases of alleged hauntings, a large number of seemingly trustworthy witnesses consistently report experiencing unusual phenomena (e.g. apparitions, sudden changes in temperature, a strong sense of presence) in certain locations. The two studies reported here explored the psychological mechanisms that underlie this apparent evidence of 'ghostly' activity. The experiments took place at two locations that have a considerable reputation for being haunted--Hampton Court Palace (Surrey, England) and the South Bridge Vaults (Edinburgh, Scotland). Both studies involved participants walking around these locations and reporting where they experienced unusual phenomena. Results revealed significantly more reports of unusual experiences in areas that had a reputation for being haunted. This effect was not related to participants' prior knowledge about the reputation of these areas. However, the location of participants' experiences correlated significantly with various environmental factors, including, for example, th e variance of local magnetic fields and lighting levels. These findings strongly suggest that alleged hauntings may not necessarily represent evidence for 'ghostly' activity, but could be, at least in part, the result of people responding to 'normal' factors in their surroundings., Recent polls reveal that approximately 38% of Americans believe that ghosts exist (Gallup, 2001), and 13% report having experienced one (MORI, 1998). Such experiences involve a diverse range of phenomena, [...]

It has been claimed that experimenter effects may account for inconsistent findings in the study of cognitive correlates of paranormal belief and in psi research. The present study investigates these 2 strands by having 2 experimenters each administer to 30 participants a paranormal belief questionnaire, 2 tests of cognitive ability (a syllogistic reasoning task and Raven's Progressive Matrices), and an ESP task. For all 60 participants, a significant negative correlation was found between paranormal belief and syllogisms performance. This correlation was attributable to just i of the experimenters, and the experimenters' belief-cognitive ability correlations significantly differed, thus demonstrating an experimenter effect for this measure. Additional post hoc analyses were conducted to clarify the mechanism underlying the belief-cognitive ability correlation. There was no evidence of an experimenter effect for the ESP task., Experimenter effects, that is, experimenters' influence on their research participants and subsequently on the outcome of their research, have a long history in psychology (e.g., Harris & Rosenthal, 1985; Rosenthal, [...]

Hampton Court Palace is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in England, with both staff and visitors reporting unusual phenomena in many areas of the building. This investigation aimed to discover the extent to which these reports were related to 3 variables: belief in ghosts, suggestion, and magnetic fields. Participants (N = 678) completed questionnaires measuring belief in ghosts, previously experienced unusual phenomena and whether they attributed these phenomena to ghosts. Believers reported significantly more unusual phenomena than disbelievers and were significantly more likely to attribute the phenomena to ghosts. Participants then walked around an allegedly haunted area of the Palace and reported unusual phenomena they experienced. Believers reported significantly more anomalous experiences than disbelievers and were significantly more likely to attribute these to a ghost. Prior to visiting the locations, half of the participants were told that the area was associated with a recent increase in unusual phenomena, whereas the other half were told the opposite. In line with previous work, the number of unusual experiences reported by participants showed a significant interaction between belief in ghosts and these suggestions. Results indicated a possible relationship between the locations in which participants reported their experiences and local magnetic fields., Hampton Court Palace has been the home to some of Britain's most famous monarchs for over 500 years, and it is now one of the country's most popular historical attractions. [...]

This paper describes a mass participation experiment examining the possible existence of extra-sensory perception (ESP). The Mind Machine consisted of a specially designed steel cabinet containing a multi-media computer and large touch-screen monitor. The computer presented participants with a series of videoclips that led them through the experiment. During the experiment, participants were asked to complete an ESP task that involved them guessing the outcome of four random electronic coin tosses. All of their data were stored by the computer during an II-month tour of some of Britain's largest shopping centres, museums, and science festivals. A total of 27,856 participants contributed 110,959 trials, and thus, the final database had the statistical power to detect the possible existence of a very small ESP effect. However, the cumulated outcome of the trials was consistent with chance. The experiment also examined the possible relationship between participants' ESP scores and their gender, belief in psychic ability, and degree of predicted success. The results from all of these analyses were non-significant. Also, scoring on 'clairvoyance' trials (where the target was selected prior to the participant's choice) was not significantly different from 'precognitive' trials (where the target was chosen after the participants had made their choice). Competing interpretations of these findings are discussed, along with suggestions for future research., Parapsychologists have carried out a large number of studies examining the possible existence of extra-sensory perception (ESP). One of the principal types of experimental design uses the 'forced-choice' procedure, in [...]

Some scientists have argued that recent meta-analyses of many different types of parapsychological study suggest that extrasensory perception (ESP) might exist, albeit as a small effect. Large-scale ESP experiments conducted via newspapers, magazines, radio and television can generate a huge number of guesses and offer researchers a way of quickly obtaining enough data to discover reliably whether such small effects actually exist. The experimental conditions used in mass-media ESP studies are almost identical to most national lotteries (i.e. large numbers of people sitting at home attempting to guess the identity of a distant target) and so positive results from such studies would challenge the notion that lotteries are unpredictable. Meta-analysis of eight ESP studies conducted via the mass media, representing over 1.5 million individual trials, indicate a very low, negative effect size (z/[N.sup.1/2] = -.0046) whose overall cumulative outcome did not differ significantly from chance expectation (Stouffer z = -1.60). The paper discusses the implications of these results for the debate about the existence of ESP and its practical implications for lottery organizers., September 1937 saw the beginning of one of the largest tests of extrasensory perception (ESP) ever conducted (Goodfellow, 1938). Every Sunday evening for 15 weeks, the Zenith Radio Corporation made [...]

In his book, Seven Experiments That Could Change The World, Rupert Sheldrake suggested that the public carry out experiments to test whether pets can psychically detect when their owners are returning home. The first of these tests was undertaken by an Austrian television company and involved an owner in the northwest of England, Pain Smart (PS) and her dog (Jaytee). The test appeared remarkably successful and seemed to show Jaytee responding when PS set off to return home from a remote location. Rupert Sheldrake and PS asked the authors if they would like to carry out their own investigation into Jaytee's abilities. This paper outlines various 'normal' explanations that might account for the phenomenon and presents an experimental design that minimizes these possibilities. The paper then details the procedure and results of four experiments. Analysis of the data did not support the hypothesis that Jaytee could psychically detect when his owner was returning home. Finally, the paper discusses a possible reason for the difference in results of these studies and those carried out by the Austrian television company., In his book, Seven Experiments That Could Change The World, Rupert Sheldrake (1994) urged the public to carry out experiments that tackle questions that are currently being ignored by the [...]

This paper describes two experiments which investigate how believers in the paranormal (labelled 'Sheep') and disbelievers (labelled 'Goats') recall different aspects of pseudo-psychic demonstrations (i.e. conjuring tricks that can be misinterpreted as genuine psychic phenomena). In both experiments subjects were first shown a videotape containing pseudo-psychic trickery. They were then asked to rate the 'paranormal' content of the videotape and complete a set of recall questions. Subjects were then told that the videotape contained magic tricks, and asked to complete a second set of recall questions. The recall questions contained information both 'important' and 'unimportant' to the method of the tricks. Overall, the results suggested that (i) Sheep displayed a slight tendency to rate the demonstrations as more 'paranormal' than Goats, (ii) initially Goats tended to recall significantly more 'important' information than Sheep and that, (iii) even when told that the videotape contained trickery, Goats tended to recall more 'important' information than Sheep (but only after Sheep had lost access to 'surface' memory for the videotape). Suggestions for improved methodology are given, along with proposals for future work in this area., ... the account of a trick by a person ignorant of the method used in its production will involve a misdescription of its fundamental conditions ... so marked that no [...]