Synchroners, High Emotion, and Coincidence Interpretation

Coincidences may be characterized by three primary variables: their frequency, the emotional intensity they generate, and the usefulness derived from their interpretation. The frequency of coincidence detection is related to certain personality characteristics as well as to situations that generate intense emotions. In this article, we describe characteristics of people who detect high frequencies of coincidences, the highly charged situations in which people are more likely to notice coincidences, and some of the benefi ts and problems with coincidence interpretations. Coincidences are generally interpreted on two different planes: the personal and transpersonal. They can highlight some implications of current problems and decisions as well as indicate the possible existence of a “greater mind.” To many, they seem to provide evidence of benefi cence: a collective unconscious geared toward individuation, or a superordinate caring intelligence (or God) intervening in our lives. Less often addressed is the fact that some coincidence interpretations lead to destructive outcomes, as several of our cases will illustrate. Individual rates of coincidence detection are likely to be normally distributed; in one tail of the bell-shaped curve lie those who frequently detect coincidences, while in the other tail are those who rarely if ever notice one. We use the term “synchroner” to denote the highfrequency detectors. 1 Synchroners regu