A recent study of  over a thousand Austrian men and women found that  a link between length of fingers and supernatural belief. Martin Voracek, a psychologist at the University of Vienna, found that the ratio of length of the ring finger to the index finger predicted who was more inclined to believe in woo. Voracek found that “higher feminized” digit ratio in men was associated with stronger paranormal and superstitious beliefs, even when they took age, education, height and weight into consideration. Shorter feminized digit ratios in women (as seen on the left hand here) was associated with more superstitious beliefs, as did a woman’s lighter weight at birth. So it would appear that there is some biological basis for individual differences in supernatural beliefs as I have pointed out in my recent book, “SuperSense.”

So maybe this is why woomen are more likely to believe in the supernatural… it all comes down to biology.

How do you measure up?

The cheapest cabins left for the twelve night cruise are are £2,650. The premier suite and marquee suite have sold out but the superior and balcony junior are still available at £5,995 and £5,195 respectively. Call me a cynic but I think they are telling porky pies. First, I don’t really think there are that many Titanic groupies with that sort of  cash who would pay for this. Also I don’t believe that most cabins would sell out so quickly - especially if the event is still 2 years away. But most importantly, I don’t believe that there are that many willing to tempt fate. If you really felt some connection with that terrible event, would you want to retrace the footsteps? I don’t think so.  I may be wrong but I await to see.

It was a terrible time when Michel’s father and suitcase went missing. The Jewish Holocaust of the Second World War was one of most atrocious crimes against humanity in modern times. For the half million annual visitors today, one of the most disturbing displays from the museum at Auschwitz is the pile of battered suitcases that once contained all the worldly possessions of families that would end their days in the death camp. Each case was labelled with the name of the owner in the belief that they would be re-united with their belongings again. The Nazis knew that to maintain the charade, people had to think that their possessions were going to be kept safely and returned to them at some later date.

In 2005, Michel visited the Shoah memorial centre in Paris that was hosting a temporary Holocaust exhibit including some of the suitcases on loan from Auschwitz. He knew his father had died during the war but could not believe his eyes when he spotted the suitcase with the hand-written label reading “86 Boul, Villette, Paris Pierre Levi.” He asked for it to be returned. When the Auschwitz museum refused to hand over the suitcase, Michael took them to court. In court papers, the museum stated, “The suitcases of prisoners deported to Auschwitz that are exhibited at the museum are among the most valuable objects that we have.”

Only this summer, has a settlement been finally reached.  the Auschwitz Museum has decided to leave the suitcase in the Paris Shoah museum on a long-term basis. Mr. Levi-Leleu’s family, in turn, has renounced its claims. To throw a little humour on what be a very painful episode, I guess we can say that the incident is now an open and shut case.

I find these sentimental objects absolutely fascinating and have dedicated a large section of my book to the issue. Why do we form these strong emotional attachment to inanimate objects? My eldest daughter is still attached to her “blankies” at 15 years of age, while my youngest never formed such an attachment. It is a particularly Western phenomenon and is thought to be related to our sleeping practices where we separate children from mothers during the second year whereas children in the Far East sleep with the mother well into middle childhood. Presumably, the teddy bears and blankets in the crib help the child to self-soothe and provide a comforting reminder of context. But these objects soon become the focus of obsessional behaviour and our researc shows that young children treat them as if they have feelings and thoughts.

Any parent who has ever suffered the loss of their child’s attachment object will be familiar with the distress such events can cause. I know have a small collection of photographs of wanted posters put up around Bristol by parents desperate to reunite some rag doll with its owner. The one in the picture above was lost a couple of years back. I called the mother to find out if mouse was ever found. She told me that some kind-hearted soul had taken one the poster to their Gran who was an expert knitter. She produced another “Mouse” that looked exactly the same. However, as far as Laurel (the little girl in the poster) was concerned. It was an acceptable replacement. There is something deeply essential about such objects that go over and beyond what they are made off or look like.

The funniest story I have heard concerning this phenomenon is the little boy who left his teddy behind in Australia when the family emigrated to the UK. Years later at his wedding ceremony, he received a telegram from “Teddy.” Apparently, this brought a tear to the young man’s eye.

Could you easily cut up a photograph of a loved one? Could you stab him or her through the eyes with the scissors? How much would I have to pay you to do it? £10?… £100?… £1000? Even though it is just an image, most people would refuse to do this. Why? It’s only a piece of paper. You might say that you don’t want to be seen to be disrespectful but what if the act was done alone and no one saw you doing it? It wouldn’t make a difference. Most people would be very uncomfortable.

This kind of thinking is at the root of voodoo magical thinking where the image becomes the object. It is based on the old idea of sympathetic magic where things that look alike are connected so that if you damage one, the other is similarly affected. In the past, people used dolls and effigies but today, photographs are a convenient way of representing the target with a true likeness. For example, in Africa where witchcraft beliefs are still very common, people use photographs of political opponents as a means of cursing the other party.

Photographs are a powerful reminder of the person you cherish, and the image can easily trigger mental representations. This is why you don’t want to damage the photograph as this elicits associated thoughts with the real person. But this can also be put to good use. A study published this week in our flagship psychology journal, “Psychological Science,” reports that people can tolerate much more pain when viewing a photograph of a loved one. Seeing photographs of loved ones primed mental representations of being loved and supported, which attenuated the experience of pain.

This finding fits with a lot of common sense as people have always carried around reminders and keepsakes of loved ones. However, it does suggest that when loved ones cannot be near, photographs should be made available. I wonder if this is something that the army are aware of.

It’s Fresher’s week here at Bristol University and I just took a stroll in the Indian summer sunshine among the sea of new students milling around the campus. Actually, Bristol University doesn’t have a campus, but with over 23,000 students, the streets of Redland have been taken over, so it feels like one big urban student sprawl.

The average age of this part of Bristol has just dropped below 25 years and this makes me feel strangely young and old at the same time. Young because I don’t feel any older inside and want to go partying with this army of youth but then, very old as I become acutely aware that they look at me as an old man. One youngster just called me “sir” and while I appreciate the deferential address that is so rare these days, I hate to be thought of as a teacher.

I don’t care what others say. I find growing old very difficult and I am not even considered that old by many (thankfully I have been blessed with youth genes – and I don’t mean Levi’s). Most of my friends from my own student days graduated decades ago and are now captains of industry or languishing in some unfulfilled career. I have been immensely lucky to become an academic – to have a career studying and researching what I find fascinating. But the university environment comes at a cost. Each year I am reminded that my care-free days have passed and that my mortality is limited. And what’s more is that the parents of these students are starting to look young to me- oh the horror of that.

Inside I am still stuck mentally somewhere around my early twenties but my body is now double that age. It’s like the opposite of the IQ – a measure where your mental age divided by chronological gives you the score. So if you are 20 years old, but solve tasks that on average are suitable for 30-year-olds then you have an IQ of 150. By that reckoning, I think I have an IQ of around 50, which technically makes me a moron and not suitable for university.

Still that did not stop other papers regurgitating the same nonsense the following day. The Daily Mail got 178 comments which is always a good sign that there is a cat among the pigeons. I even got a plug on Radio Four’s godspot “Thought for the Day.” I was pretty miffed and contacted the Sunday Times journalist who had interviewed me for the article. What I did not know is that it is the sub editors who dream up the catchy and often misleading headlines and they don’t care too much for detail. Just get them eyeballs on the article.

The Sunday Times apologised and offered to print a correction online which they have now done. I wrote a new article for the paper entitled “Where Do Supernatural Beliefs Come From?” explaining that while all religions have supernatural beliefs, not all supernatural beliefs are religious. More to the point, many of us have our own personal supernatural beliefs so indoctrination cannot be the only way to get your beliefs. I think our own brains are responsible but if you want to know how, well read the book.

So far no one has left a comment on my article for the Sunday Times. It would appear that people prefer to get hot and bothered about what they think I said rather what I really did. Oh well…. guess that’s the nature of people.

So why do so many of us believe in the unbelievable? Well the answers are in my book, “SuperSense: From Superstition to Religion - the Brain Science of Belief,” but I am not about to give you them all away for free in this blog. Rather I will tantalize you with new findings from science, the latest theories, but to keep things fun - a lighter look on stories from around the world that show that supernatural beliefs are still very common.

What I want you to come away from this blog is an understanding that we all have a bit of supernatural thinking in ourselves, not matter how rational we think we are. This is where my scientific research comes in. I will tell you of my voodoo studies, transplanting organs from a murderer and why one in five traveling salesmen carry a teddy bear with them. You will learn some interesting facts and super-dooper stories to share at the dinner table. Reading my blog will increase your IQ - I guarentee.