Scientific explanations win converts by being more interesting than paranormal ones.
Evidence
Then, at about age 20, she realized there were other explanations for the observations that not only made more sense, but were more interesting than the same old methods of ghost hunting. “I don’t think it was just a complete change. I think that I was probably curious about these things, and becoming a ghost hunter was just how I happened to reach my conclusions.” … What helped were discussions on Internet forums where skeptics were interested in the same phenomena, but in the process proposed their own, scientific explanations for them on an equal footing. … “I can remember getting really excited looking at the photographs we had taken as ghosthunters and going, oh my gosh, could this be the pareidolia effect?” These clues became the starting point for her own research, which led her to new findings that were even more fascinating to her. — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 209
Categorization
- XREF: Echoes how better explanations displace worse ones – links to the theme in the grafting chapter of curiosity as the motive force, and to how open discussion on equal footing (like the diamond bourse’s private trust regime) creates commitment.