Insecure Minds Wired for Pattern-Finding

Overall, the researchers found that the subjects who were made to feel less control perceived significantly more illusory patterns or connections.

"Having a sense of control has a wide variety of adaptive advantages," Whitson told Discovery News. "Not only are people who feel in control less likely to see things that aren't there and end up chasing ghosts, but there are also a wide variety of health and societal benefits."

When people feel in control of a medical procedure, for instance, they've been shown to recover more quickly, Whitson said. When people feel in control they can also endure longer and more intense pain.

"This is the first study I've seen that really ties the lack of control to pattern perception," said Benjamin Radford, a science-based paranormal investigator for the Center for Inquiry and editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine. "A lack of control leads a lot of people to superstition."

Rubbing a rabbit's foot, knocking on wood or wearing only a certain "lucky" shirt to a casino are all examples of superstitions that give people a better sense of control, Radford explained, to offer a few harmless examples.

Conspiracy theories and even political exploitation of this quirk in human perception could be more serious. Disproven and illusory political concepts such as the idea that immigration is harmful to the U.S. economy or that Saddam Hussein was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks find fertile ground in minds that are feeling less and less secure, said Galinsky.

Fortunately, Whitson and Galinsky have also found that when their subjects underwent "self-affirmation" exercises to give them a better sense of control and security, the illusions went away.

"Feeling secure is part and parcel of feeling in control," Whitson explained. "When people can affirm the self they are less likely to underperform in the face of negative stereotypes, to act defensively or aggressively or prejudicially."

In fact, feeling secure by self-affirmation reduces all sorts of defensive thoughts and behaviors. Even some psychotherapy is based on this idea.

"Give a person a sense of security and control, and defensiveness and obsessiveness melt away," said Whitson.

On the more spectacular UFO, Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster level, however, the bottom line is even more straightforward.

"The take-home message is that just because we perceive something," said Radford, "it doesn't mean it's really there."

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How Stuff Works: The Human Mind