MovieChat Forums > Paranormal Survivor (2015) Discussion > Why do these people ignore the hauntings...

Why do these people ignore the hauntings?


They do not take action or seek help until the "situation" is totally out of hand. Just unrealistic, stupid people.

"A stitch in time, saves your embarrassment." (RIP Ms. Penny LoBello)

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Says the expert.

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fredpall

It is common sense. You know, right?

"A stitch in time, saves your embarrassment." (RIP Ms. Penny LoBello)

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Debilitating fear of the unknown.

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OP - with all respect, you might just need to read more about 'cognitive biases'. Being human we are all subject to certain errors in reasoning to a greater or lesser extent. Yes, that includes you, in some way, I guarantee you.

For example - if you live in a block of flats, and it's 3AM and the fire alarm sounds, you will likely gather a few possessions quickly and make haste for the fire escape. Once outside, you will find yourself standing with most other residents. Yes, most other residents will be standing outside... But do you know why all people will never be outside?

Discounting those who are deaf to the sound of the continuing fire alarm, there will always be those who are subject to what is called 'normalcy bias'. Basically, once any extreme event happens, a certain minority of people will adjust to it, abnormally fast, and just continue as if nothing just happened. Normalcy bias (please look the term up for yourself if you don't believe me) is, nonetheless, partly the reason why in many hauntings people don't leave until things really get out of control. Their brains keep telling them that this abnormal situation is actually normal, and not at all dangerous. So they stay on longer than is rational to do so. It doesn't mean they're stupid either.

Another cognitive bias which affects people to the extent that they just 'put up' with any haunting is 'belief bias'. We're all told (e.g, when young) that ghosts etc., cannot exist. A few of us know to the contrary... but most still continue to believe such all their lives. After all, scientists aren't exactly coming forward with double blind proof yet! So, when a haunting occurs, and all the unusual events start happening, our brains are telling us that what we've always believed to be true must continue to be true - no matter how unusual the situation may be. Our 'belief bias' keeps us trapped, longer than is rational, in a haunting situation, because we simply take too long to adjust to the reality of what is going on around us.

There is a known derivative of 'belief bias' and 'normalcy bias' known as 'the bystander effect', which basically translates to mean that when somebody collapses in a crowded street of (for example) a HA, people will just keep on walking by, as if nothing happened. Too many people believe that what just happened must be somebody else's responsibility, it is a very crowded street after all, so nobody does anything to help the afflicted individual, and he might continue on (if particularly unlucky) to end his life - unhelped by anybody there and then. Such really has happened in real life. And you'll be guaranteed several times, during your lifetime, to read in a newspaper about how someone died on a crowded street while nobody helped him/her (or as happened a few years ago in China, to a baby!). Whereas if you should fall down suddenly stricken on a quiet laneway, you have far more chance that somebody will come along and assume responsibility to help you. (if you ever fall down on a crowded street, you must reach out immediately to someone in particular to help you, otherwise you might be waiting a long time, as many a news report confirms...)

Anyway, please don't believe that any of these people are stupid. They're just as human as any other of us, and we humans are far from perfect. You'd be surprised to learn of the cognitive biases with which you are most prone! But don't believe just because you'd move faster from any haunting, that you are immune from all cognitive biases... Or, I could put it this way: I know the cognitive biases and even I am not immune from all of them, simply by reason of my knowledge ;-)

HTH


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Sandwiched between The Principle of Mediocrity & Rare Earth Theory, you should see The Fermi Paradox

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supadude2004

Then how do you explain that woman (forgot her name) in "When Ghosts Attack", who was sexually assaulted for over ten years and the entity attacked her never baptized son, through adulthood to this day?

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In the episode "Don't Invite Them In", a pregnant woman is drugged, her husband's throat was cut and this cult was after her and her baby. We are talking about a homicide and nothing was done to explain the murder? She (Maria) shows up at her friend's home and tells her what had transpired. Again, no one brought up the police. WTH???

I do not understand that behavior.

"A stitch in time, saves your embarrassment." (RIP Ms. Penny LoBello)

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Hi Maya5555,

Thanks for responding. Before I say anything else, I should initially also qualify what I wrote above, inasmuch as please know that when I give psychological reasons for certain apparently irrational behaviour - that does not of itself also preclude the possibility that a person may/may not also have (to put it bluntly) low IQ. Moreover, please take my response above partly to mean that it's just that most, otherwise 'clever' persons, are just as susceptible to certain known cognitive biases as anyone else is.

That is, I was explaining why persons who might at first appear to be cerebrally challenged (aka 'stupid') for not moving sooner, actually could just as easily, if not preferably, be understood - without any need to sleight their apparent lack of IQ. I hope I've already got that point across, but in case I didn't, I've reiterated it now.

With that being said, in your first example (the 1st episode from series 2) it may well be (notwithstanding the presence, or not, of any 'cognitive bias') that those who suffered were simply able to put up with what happened to them, and for just that long (...incredible as it might be!); that is, we all have our different levels of tolerance. And some folk are quite unusual indeed, in this respect. Please consider, for example, a woman who bears a large family of 10+ children; she is able to tolerate/bear and indeed overcome (notwithstanding that love is, arguably, the ultimate natural anxiolytic, after all) all the near constant crying, defecation, sleepless nights, nuisance etc caused by the birth of so many(!!!) successive babies over the relentless course of a decade+!!! I'd expect one baby to be disruptive enough, never mind a family of 10,12 plus children, which a minority choose to raise. There is no question that whatever toils may appear absolutely intolerable to one person, may not only be tolerated, but also for a great deal longer by another. Albeit, we all have our 'breaking points' eventually. Having said that, If I've taken your first query incorrectly then please feel welcome to expand on it, and I'll do my best to respond further. Thank you.

Re your second query, here you do indeed raise an excellent objection; and, in all fairness, I quite agree with you. After all, I do myself have, quite frankly, my own difficulties in accepting not just that particular episode (and partly for the reasons you gave) but also most stories from that first season of 'Paranormal Survivor' - the majority of which, beggar belief (to put it kindly) so again, I quite agree with you, inasmuch as the story itself seems too far fetched to be satisfactorily explained ...cough... etc.
And I think I should best leave it at that for now.

Before I go I must repeat that I'm, nevertheless, refreshingly encouraged, having watched the first four episodes from season 2, to find no evidence of any duplicity whatsoever, nor anything which indicates that any story from season two, has been contrived by any means. BTW, do you, yourself, notice any differences in the way contributors present their contributions, between the seasons?

Lastly, I await with interest, whether the remainder of Season 2, will be just as compelling. Season 2 has been quite excellent to date.


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Sandwiched between The Principle of Mediocrity & Rare Earth Theory, you should see The Fermi Paradox

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supadude2004

I agree with you, totally.

I did not catch every episode so discerning the seasonal differences can be difficult.

I guess I can be biased as I have studied the occult since the late 1980s. I worked in an area where many people practiced Santeria and I wished to know what I witnessed.

As an example, I walked to a small crossroad in the back of a store and found painted black/red coconuts and keys???
Or another time a decapitated red rooster! UGH!

So creeped out, I became curious and studied EVERYTHING. I never did any rituals. However, I just became more aware about the spiritual "world".

Thank you kindly for your reply.


"A stitch in time, saves your embarrassment." (RIP Ms. Penny LoBello)

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