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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dowsing | 4/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:18:56.970197+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Betz 1990 study === In a 1987–88 study in Munich by Hans-Dieter Betz and other scientists, 500 dowsers were initially tested for their skill, and the experimenters selected the best 43 among them for further tests. Water was pumped through a pipe on the ground floor of a two-story barn. Before each test, the pipe was moved in a direction perpendicular to the water flow. On the upper floor, each dowser was asked to determine the position of the pipe. Over two years, the dowsers performed 843 such tests and, of the 43 pre-selected and extensively tested candidates, at least 37 showed no dowsing ability. The results from the remaining 6 were said to be better than chance, resulting in the experimenters' conclusion that some dowsers "in particular tasks, showed an extraordinarily high rate of success, which can scarcely if at all be explained as due to chance … a real core of dowser-phenomena can be regarded as empirically proven." Five years after the Munich study was published, Jim T. Enright, a professor of physiology who emphasized correct data analysis procedure, contended that the study's results are merely consistent with statistical fluctuations and not significant. He believed the experiments provided "the most convincing disproof imaginable that dowsers can do what they claim", stating that the data analysis was "special, unconventional and customized". Replacing it with "more ordinary analyses", he noted that the best dowser was on average 4 millimeters (0.16 in) out of 10 meters (32.81 ft) closer to a mid-line guess, an advantage of 0.04%, and that the five other "good" dowsers were on average farther than a mid-line guess. Enright emphasized that the experimenters should have decided beforehand how to statistically analyze the results; if they only afterward chose the statistical analysis that showed the greatest success, then their conclusions would not be valid until replicated by another test analyzed by the same method. He further pointed out that the six "good" dowsers did not perform any better than chance in separate tests. Another study published in Pathophysiology hypothesized that such experiments as this one that were carried out in the twentieth century could have been interfered with by man-made radio frequency radiation, as test subjects' bodies absorbed the radio waves and unconscious hand movement reactions took place following the standing waves or intensity variations.
== Scientific reception ==
=== Ideomotor phenomenon === Science writers such as William Benjamin Carpenter (1877), Millais Culpin (1920), and Martin Gardner (1957) accept the view of some dowsers that the movement of dowsing rods is the result of unconscious muscular action. This view is widely accepted amongst the scientific community. The dowsing apparatus is known to amplify slight movements of the hands caused by a phenomenon known as the ideomotor response: people's subconscious minds may influence their bodies without consciously deciding to take action. This would make the dowsing rod susceptible to the dowsers' subconscious knowledge or perception; and also to confirmation bias.
=== Pseudoscience === Dowsing is considered to be a pseudoscience. Psychologist David Marks in a 1986 article in Nature included dowsing in a list of "effects which until recently were claimed to be paranormal but which can now be explained from within orthodox science." Specifically, dowsing could be explained in terms of sensory cues, expectancy effects, and probability. Science writer Peter Daempfle has noted that when dowsing is subjected to scientific testing, it fails. Daempfle has written that although some dowsers claim success, this can be attributed to the underground water table being distributed relatively uniformly in certain areas. According to archaeologist Kenneth Feder, "the vast majority of archaeologists don't use dowsing, because they don't believe it works." Psychologist Chris French has noted that "dowsing does not work when it is tested under properly controlled conditions that rule out the use of other cues to indicate target location." Water dowsers often achieve good results because random chance has a high probability of finding water in favorable terrain.
== In pop culture == Dowsing rods have appeared in many forms of popular media, such as Coraline and Pokémon. It is often associated with ghostly or creepy themes and stories with superstitious elements. Other elements of popular media that reference dowsing rods include use of a dowsing pendulum by Professor Calculus in Tintin, appearing as a card in Magic: The Gathering, and appearing as a plot device multiple times in The Smurfs (1981).
== Notable dowsers ==
Notable dowsers include:
== See also ==
== References ==
=== Bibliography === Inglis, Brian (1986). The Paranormal: An Encyclopedia of Psychic Phenomena. Paladin. pp. 245–256. ISBN 978-0-586-08463-2 – via Internet Archive.
== Further reading ==
== External links ==
Footage of water dowser at work Archived 2010-06-19 at the Wayback Machine George P. Hansen: "Dowsing: A Review of Experimental Research". In: Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Volume 51, Number 792, October 1982, pp. 343–367 James Randi, "The Matter of Dowsing" The Skeptics Dictionary – Includes details of various scientific tests "Dowsing, on season 8 , episode 2". Scientific American Frontiers. Chedd-Angier Production Company. 1997–1998. PBS. Archived from the original on 2006-01-01. On "Beyond Science" video Archived 2015-11-06 at the Wayback Machine featuring Ray Hyman, November 19, 1997