Mensa lecture Nov. 14

[Carol]

?Why Smart People Believe Weird Things?

By LORETTA DEMKO
T&D Correspondent
Sunday, November 12, 2006

COLUMBIA ? UFOs. Alien visits. Near-death experiences. Telekinesis. Even with scientific evidence to the contrary, why do people continue to believe?

This is the topic on which Dr. Shane R. Thye will be speaking at the Central South Carolina Mensa dinner meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

Thye received a bachelor?s degree in experimental psychology and a PhD from the University of Iowa. He has been a professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina for eight years. He teaches a course titled, ?Sociology of the Paranormal.?

?During the course, students investigate various scientific claims and what counts as evidence in science,? Thye said. ?A basic assumption that scientists make is that the speed of light limits travel.?

The course explores these and other issues through the study of the scientific method, statistics, physiology and biology, he said.

?Ninety-two percent of adult Americans believe in some form of the paranormal,? Thye said.

As a social psychologist, Thye is interested in beliefs and perceptions. He devoted the focus of his master?s degree thesis to a particular belief. He became interested in pyramid power. This is the belief that objects enclosed in a pyramid shaped object would be preserved.

?This helps to explain why the pharaohs were buried in them,? Thye said.

His lecture Tuesday, ?Why Smart People Believe Weird Things,? will include a discussion of such topics as UFOs, alien life forms, daytime TV psychics such as John Edwards, psychics and clairvoyance.

The Mensa dinner meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Grecian Gardens Restaurant at 2312 Sunset Blvd. in West Columbia. The meeting is open to the public.

T&D Correspondent Loretta Demko can be reached by e-mail at eeshtenem@yahoo.com. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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