Flutterby™! : Fooled by Ideomotor Action

How People Are Fooled By Ideomotor Action:

Hare carried out several more such experiments with similar results. Apparently he never fully understood the key aspect of Faraday's results -- that honest, intelligent people can unconsciously engage in muscular activity that is consistent with their expectations.

One of the things I respect about the "New Age" movement is that parts of it are consciously looking to leverage our subconscious behaviors and desires. And if the placebo effect really is getting stronger (formerly), then there's lots of untapped potential in our beliefs. The problem is that in order to be effective we have to believe that fooling our minds works, so riding the ragged edge of belief without falling headlong into the fallacies is extremely difficult.