The ideomotor phenomenon is the tendency for a thought or mental image to produce a small, automatic muscular movement without the person's conscious awareness or intention. It has been used to explain outcomes long attributed to supernatural causes, including the movement of a dowsing rod, a planchette during table-turning, and a pointer on a Ouija board, since in each case a person's own expectations can produce the very motion they believe is happening independently of them. The same mechanism is used deliberately in analytical hypnotherapy, where a patient is asked to signal answers through small prearranged physical movements rather than speaking.
Facts
Core ClaimA subject makes motions unconsciously. 1 First Described Year Sources
1. Ideomotor phenomenon, Wikipedia
Lead paragraph
The ideomotor phenomenon is a psychological phenomenon wherein a subject makes motions unconsciously.
History, origin of the term
The term ideomotor was first used by William Benjamin Carpenter in 1852.
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