Oregon daily emerald., May 24, 1973, Page 4, Image 4

Former magician
delves into occult
By SCOTTA CALLISTER
Of the Emerald
Ray Hyman doesn’t have to use
magic to get students to enroll in
his class, but that might be
what's keeping them there.
Hyman, formerly a
professional magician, teaches a
class on pseudo-psychology in
which he delves into the occult,
ESP and “other challenges to
existing science” and demon
strates some of the techniques he
used when he was a palmist and
mind-reader
A native of Boston, Hyman
began his career as a magician at
the age of 7. when he gave a show
for a parent-teacher
organization. From then on, he
gave several magic shows a year
"all over the East Coast.”
His interest shifted from slight
of-hand tricks to mind-reading
and palmistry because “people
are more willing to believe it’s
real.”
Hyman said that if a person
puts a lot of time and effort into
learning "psychic” skills, he will
convince himself that his powers
are real.
That’s what happened to him.
After studying books on
palmistry and related subjects,
Hyman said he became a “sin
cere believer” for about 5 years.
His belief was shaken when a
friend, also a mind-reader,
suggested that Hyman ex
periment by telling people
exactly the opposite of what he
ead in their palms. It turned out
that he was just as correct in his
predictions as he always had
been.
The point, Hyman said, is that
the human mind is so creative
that people will make what a
fortune-teller says fit them.
That discovery was partly
responsible for his decision to
become a psychologist. He taught
at Harvard for 5 years, and then
joined the University faculty in
1969.
Students in his class aren’t
always happy when they are
faced with the fact that some
popular beliefs are mere
trickery. Hyman said one student
claimed he changed his ideas
about the supernatural, but the
new-found skepticism seemed to
take “some of the fun out of life.”
Hyman said that interest in
psychic phenomena is good in
that it represents open
mindedness and a healthy
skepticism about what is ac
cepted by the establishment.
However, he said the desire to
believe can be distorted to make
people fool themselves, and it can
become a new way for people to
exploit others.
He said that most magicians
are entertainers, but some at
tempt to exploit the public with
their skills. Hyman said that
Kreskin, the television en
tertainer. falls in the latter
category because he insinuates
that he is a real mystic.
After Kreskin did a show in
Eugene, Hyman said he
duplicated the whole per
formance for his class, openly
admitting that it was trickery.
Hyman said he faces a dilemma
because he can’t really expose
Kreskin and others like him
Professor Ray Hyman, magician turned
psychologist, reads the palm of Vicki
Photo by Jean O'Leary
Stiekrod, demonstrating a skill he once used
to make a living.
without giving away trade
secrets.
Recently, the Stanford
Research Institute (SRI) con
ducted experiments on a 25-year
old Israeli, Uri Geller, who had
been demonstrating apparently
phenomenal psychic powers. The
Department of Defense called
Hyman to investigate Geller
when it was asked to help fund
the research.
According to Time magazine.
Geller caused quite a sensation
among SRI staff members with
his feats of mental telepathy and
telekinesis (the ability to move
objects by concentration), but
Hyman said he found no proof of
the Israeli’s powers.
He says researchers used
inadequate controls in testing
Gelier’s powers, and according to
Time, Hyman even caught him
using fairly standard tricks of the
trade.
Some of Geller’s tricks, such as
driving a car blind-folded,
reading what a person writes by
watching his arm movements
and bending objects by con
centration, are offered in
magician's catalogs.
Hyman’s skepticism about
Geller wasn’t accepted with open
arms by the SRI staff, who seem
to be just like everybody else.
They’re looking for something
supernatural to believe in.
Applications are now being accepted
for the salaried positions as
director and assistant director of
SEARCH.
Applications are available in 310 EMC.
LAST DATE TO APPLY IS MAY 31.
It’s a short step
from 301 Allen Hall
to Madison Ave.
Sell ads for the ODE
Good Money—good hours
i
I Apply now.
IFC hears
final budget
requests
It was close to midnight
Tuesday before the Incidental
Fee Committee (IFC) finished
hearing final requests for budget
increases, but the calmness in the
EMU did not reflect the sharp
exchanges that had taken place
that evening between IFC
members and program directors.
More than 75 people crowded
into 337 EMU to protest cuts in
the proposed ESCAPE budget.
Program director Judy Coffey
told IFC members that “you have
cut us below the budget we were
given to start the program in
1970.”
Most of the cuts in the
program’s budget occurred in
salaries. Earlier in the evening,
IFC members voted to reconsider
their decision not to allow any
programs more than two salaried
positions Hie IFC was scheduled
to make a decision Wednesday on
whether to fund more than two
salaried positions, but did vote to
increase the ESCAPE budget
allocations in office supplies and
printing and duplication.
Coffey added that if the IFC
finalizes the proposed cuts, the
program would “terminate”
June 10, and would end any
chance of ESCAPE receiving
University funding.
All but one of the programs that
protested cuts during the latter
half of the session did receive
some increases.
Three programs that did not
receive any allocations in the
proposed IFC recommendations
received increases or possible
increases from the committee.
The Community Video Access
Center received $500 while the
Tax Center, whose budget is
almost totally salaries, was told
that it might receive funding
after the IFC makes it decisions
on the salaried positions because
it is a “unique service.”
The Canterbury Center had its
budget revived with a $1350 in
crease from the IFC.
Other groups that received
increases in their budget were
Recreational Folk Dance,
SEARCH, the Native American
Student Union, the Black Student
Union and the Gay People’s
Alliance.