Charlie Charlie Challenge: Can You Really Summon a Demon?

Live Science:

“Charlie, Charlie, can we play?”

That is the seemingly innocent question that begins a new “spirit-summoning” game that is taking the Internet by storm. The so-called Charlie Charlie Challenge is based on shaky science (the objective is to summon a malignant spirit from beyond the grave), but there are some real and powerful forces behind this parlor game, according to one expert.

Here’s how the Charlie Charlie Challenge works: players balance one horizontally aligned pencil on top of a vertically aligned pencil (essentially, in the shape of a cross).

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A 2012 study published in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science found that people often employ a “response expectancy” in certain situations. In other words, by anticipating that something will occur, a person’s thoughts and behaviors will help bring that anticipated outcome to fruition. In the case of this spirit-summoning game, it could be that players expect a certain result and their actions during the game help bring it about (for instance, a well-timed breath or a subtle wave of the hand).

Read the whole story: Live Science