# A real paranormal poll... What number am I thinking of? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456 "2010-01-11T01:18:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/1 "2010-01-11T01:18:09Z")
I would like to try and experiment in psychic ability. I am thinking of a number from 1 to 10. I will post the number I am thinking of one week from now (Sunday, 1/10/2010) and see how everyone did. I promise on my honor as a Doper that I will not change the number I am thinking of between now and next Sunday. Ok. I have my number. Lets see how many get it right. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/2 "2010-01-11T01:45:59Z")
Aaaand, the Amazing Psychic Synesthete says you are thinking of… orange. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/3 "2010-01-11T01:51:24Z")
1. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/4 "2010-01-11T01:55:08Z")
4, it’s always 4. If you believe anything else you are deceiving yourself. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/5 "2010-01-11T02:18:00Z")
When this poll is said and done, I’ll know what number to think of in the future to fool people. (I selected 7.) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/6 "2010-01-11T02:50:56Z")
A little early to tell yet but an interesting curve; in general people shy away from guessing the extremes or exactly in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/7 "2010-01-11T05:21:08Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > A little early to tell yet but an interesting curve; in general people shy away from guessing the extremes or exactly in the middle. It _is_ sort of bell-curvish isn’t it? 1. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/8 "2010-01-11T06:09:58Z")
six ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/9 "2010-01-11T06:24:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It _is_ sort of bell-curvish isn’t it? The act of observing changes the observed. 10. Mwahaha. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/10 "2010-01-11T21:11:28Z")
Well i didn’t guess what YOU may have been thinking but I figured out what 16 others were thinking. So I’m still pretty psychic, I just can’t control what I was picking up. There was too much of an interference from the higher picked numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/11 "2010-01-11T22:11:38Z")
69, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/12 "2010-01-11T22:15:32Z")
√2 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/13 "2010-01-11T22:48:39Z")
π . ---
**Author:** ![LunarPlexus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LunarPlexus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LunarPlexus)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/14 "2010-01-11T23:37:49Z")
Shouldn’t we have the answer by now? Was the OP assassinated by the amazing Randi because he was about to collect a million bucks? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/15 "2010-01-11T23:43:09Z")
Unless it trails off, I think 100 votes would be good. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/16 "2010-01-11T23:55:28Z")
Most people are really bad at picking a “random” number. So even though you said you’re thinking of a number between 1 and 10, it’s unlikely that you’re thinking of 1, 2, 5, 9, or 10, since people don’t tend to pick the extremes or right in the middle. That leaves 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 as likely choices. For a lot of people, odd numbers \*feel \*more random than even ones, so that whittles it down to 3 or 7. I figure that there’s about a 40% chance that I’m right by picking 7. A real test would be if you rolled a 10-sided die and thought of THAT number … . ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/17 "2010-01-12T02:43:31Z")
The poll will be open for a week and will end Sunday 1/17. I figure that would be more than enough time to see how this goes. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/18 "2010-01-12T02:46:31Z")
> [@Dragwyr](#): > > The poll will be open for a week and will end Sunday 1/17. I figure that would be more than enough time to see how this goes. So, you can gurantee that you will think of just one number for that whole time, that you won’t think of anything else, not even for a second? really? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/19 "2010-01-12T03:32:09Z")
I read somewhere (great cite, I know) that seven is the most commonly picked number (by both question poser and respondent) in this game. So that’s what I went with. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456/20 "2010-01-12T03:41:42Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > I read somewhere (great cite, I know) that seven is the most commonly picked number (by both question poser and respondent) in this game. So that’s what I went with. I’ve read that 7 is the most common favorite number, which might also explain why so many picked it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-paranormal-poll-what-number-am-i-thinking-of/524456.md?page=2)