Dear Zaquie, Thanks for your update

“Dear Zaquie, Thanks for your update, and also thanks for the results you sent by post which we’ve analysed. They come out showing the usual pattern. The big problem with this staring research is that as soon as people start thinking about it, the mind gets in the way. That makes it hard to design experiments that set up mental or emotional conditions. One of the things I found in a recent experiment was that people’s predictions of their ability were usually quite reliable. I asked people to say if they thought they were particularly good at influencing people through their stares, and also found people who said they felt they were quite sensitive to this. By putting the strong starers together with the sensitive people, the hit rate was in fact higher. It might be worth trying this in one of your other groups. I’m so pleased that you are persisting with this research and it’s helpful to have the kind of detailed explorations you are doing. Best wishes Rupert”