Palm Reading as a Form of Public Psychology

Palm Reading as a Form of Public Psychology
By Hannah Grigorian and Christian Panier

                Yesterday, in our first official class we spoke a lot about “public psychology”. “Public psychology” is a field of pseudoscience based on theories with no real footing in fact. Examples given in “A History of Modern Psychology” include phrenology, physiognomy, mental healing, and mesmerism. To extend upon this idea we decided to look into what we consider to be a modern form of public psychology: palm reading.  Palm reading, like other forms of public psychology, still comes up in news stories, online how-to articles, and books as an idea that has a slight glimmer of truth. However, as it does not have a strong enough base in science it is rejected by the psychological community. It certainly continues to appeal to the public with their desire to know their futures. As a group we spent a good deal of time looking at our own palm lines and determining heart, life, and love lines among many others using online sources. It was easy to see how someone could be so easily drawn into this especially when the result was what you wanted. This is one of the things that keep the public draw so strong: the ability to get the answer they desire. In the book, Benjamin touched on the fact that a success phrenologist could simply be a more observant psychologist and able to give personalized life advice based on what they gather of a person from observations of their character and not their cranial structure. This idea eventually led to the diagnostic interview. This can be applied to palm reading as well. If a palm reader can simply predict the motives and aspirations of a customer they can employ the same tactics to gain success in their field and cast the illusion of legitimacy. This fits the theme of public psychology and the other examples given because of its lack of basis in scientific fact but its success with the overall public. This is evidenced by palm readers and business that are still currently popular and available. In fact, we were able to find a number of palm readers specific just to central London that boast their skills in not just reading palms but also tarot cards, psychic readings, and other forms of public psychology. We are planning on checking out one such location at some point during our trip to explore public psychology in action. A link to one such palm reader can be found below and a brief how to illustration of the basics of palm reading is shown at the top of the page. While we do not support this as a practice of true psychology it would be interesting to see a form of public psychology in action.

http://www.readingpalms.co.uk/