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Parapsychology

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Parapsychology is the study of certain types of paranormal phenomena (parapsychology comes from the Greek para, “beside, beyond,” + psychology, derived from the Greek psyche, “soul, mind,” + logos “rational discussion”). The term was coined by Max Dessoir (1889). J. B. Rhine adopted it to refer to the scientific study of paranormal phenomena which are manifestations of psi.<ref>http://www.medicalglossary.org/psychological_phenomena_and_processes_parapsychology_definitions.html Medical Glossary.org</ref><ref>http://www.mdani.demon.co.uk/para/paraglos.htm#P Psychic Science.com</ref><ref>http://www.parapsych.org/glossary_l_r.html#p The Parapsychological Association, Inc. (PA) is the international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of ‘psi’</ref> According to The Parapsychological Association, an organization affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science<ref>Parapsychological Association. "What is the PA? Mission Statement"</ref> parapsychological phenomena can be categorized thus:

These [paranormal] anomalies fall into three general categories: ESP[...] [Extra-Sensory Perception], PK [Psychokinesis], and phenomena suggestive of survival after bodily death, including near-death experiences, apparitions, and reincarnation. Most parapsychologists today expect that further research will eventually explain these anomalies in scientific terms, although it is not clear whether they can be fully understood without significant (some might say revolutionary) expansions of the current state of scientific knowledge. Other researchers take the stance that existing scientific models of perception and memory are adequate to explain some or all parapsychological phenomena.<ref name=PA_FAQ>http://www.parapsych.org/faq_file1.html FAQ of the Parapsychological Association</ref> [links not in original]

Many see the term parapsychology as synonymous with paranormal. However, the paranormal may also include subjects considered to be outside of the scope of parapsychology, including UFOs, Bigfoot, vampires, alchemy, paganism, the Bermuda Triangle and many other non-psychical subjects.<ref name=PA_FAQ/>

The basic mechanisms and physical laws which govern parapsychological phenomena (if the paradigm of physical laws holds for these occurrences) are unknown to current science. However, the active agent by which mind influences matter and is able to receive ESP impressions has been named psi (Ψ, ψ).<ref name="ConsciousUniverse"> The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena by Dean I. Radin Harper Edge, ISBN 0-06-251502-0</ref>

The scientific reality of parapsychological phenomena and the validity of scientific parapsychological research is a matter of frequent dispute and criticism. It is regarded by critics as a pseudoscience, but proponents claim that parapsychology does not deal with the supernatural, because many of its research results are scientifically rigorous. A number of academic institutions now conduct research on the topic, employing laboratory methodologies and statistical techniques, such as meta-analysis. The Parapsychological Association has been a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for over 20 years.<ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/>

Parapsychology is difficult to define because of the lack of theoretical understanding of the subject matter.<ref>http://www.parapsych.org/faq_file3.html#21 Parapsychological Association, FAQ #21</ref> This is such a prominent fact in the field that Dr. Dean Radin, a leading parapsychological researcher and President of the Parapsychological Association, defines parapsychology on his website as "the scientific and scholarly study of certain unusual events associated with human experience."

Contents

[edit] Types of parapsychological phenomena

Parapsychologists study Extra sensory perception, which includes phenomena which are commonly assumed to constitute information transfer, both from mind to mind and from the environment to the mind. They also study phenomena which are thought to be caused by the influence of the mind on matter or energy. Extra sensory perception includes mind-to-mind phenomena such as telepathy, and "vibes" such as the sense that one is being stared at.<ref>http://www.parapsych.org/faq_file1.html#6</ref><ref name=PA_GLOSSARY>http://www.parapsych.org/glossary_a_d.html</ref><ref>http://www.sheldrake.org/papers/Staring/JCSpaper1.pdf The Sense of Being Stared At And Other Unexplained Powers of the Human Mind Part 1: Is it Real or Illusory? By Rupert Sheldrake</ref><ref>http://www.siib.org/Downloads/Schmidt_EDA_DMILS_MA_BJP_2004.pdf Distant intentionality and the feeling of being stared at: Two meta-analyses By Stefan Schmidt, Rainer Schneider, Jessica Utts and Harald Walach</ref> Environment-to-mind influences include precognition, retrocognition, clairvoyance (also known as remote viewing), psychometry xenoglossy, clairaudience, clairsentience, hauntings, apparitions, and possession.<ref name=PA_GLOSSARY/><ref name=PA_historical_glossary>http://www.parapsych.org/historical_terms.html </ref><ref>http://www.parapsych.org/faq_file1.html#6</ref> Mind-to-environment influences include psychokinesis (often called telekinesis), psychic healing, faith healing, synchronicity and poltergeists.<ref name=PA_GLOSSARY/><ref>http://www.parapsych.org/faq_file1.html#6</ref><ref>http://www.parapsych.org/faq_file1.html#10</ref>

Also studied are such paranormal phenomena as morphic fields, mediumism, channeling, out-of-body experiences (also known as astral projections), near-death experiences, and reincarnation.<ref>http://www.parapsych.org/faq_file1.html#6</ref><ref name=PA_historical_glossary/><ref>The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance & the Habits of Nature By Rupert Sheldrake</ref>

[edit] History, claims and scientific investigation

Main articles: History of parapsychology, Claims of parapsychology, and Scientific investigation of telepathy

[edit] Status of the field

Many professional scientists study parapsychology. It is an interdisciplinary field, attracting psychologists, physicists, engineers, and biologists, as well as those from other sciences. One organization involved in the field, the Parapsychological Association is an affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). [1]. At present (2006) there are about two hundred and seventy five members in the Parapsychological Association.

As a general rule, while trained scientists may not be as likely to believe in parapsychological phenomena as the general public, they are far from monolithic in their disbelief. Surveys of this group are rare, but in their 1994 paper in the Psychological Bulletin entitled Does psi exist? Replicable evidence for an anomalous process of information transfer Daryl J. Bem and Charles Honorton quote a 1979 survey:

A survey of more than 1,100 college professors in the United States found that 55% of natural scientists, 66% of social scientists (excluding psychologists), and 77% of academics in the arts, humanities, and education believed that ESP is either an established fact or a likely possibility. The comparable figure for psychologists was only 34%. Moreover, an equal number of psychologists declared ESP to be an impossibility, a view expressed by only 2% of all other respondents (Wagner; Monnet, 1979).

A number of Nobel Laureates have been of the belief that the field of parapsychology is worthy of funding and study. Among these are Brian Josephson, Kary Mullis,<ref>National Public Radio Scienc Friday, May 1999. See http://lkm.fri.uni-lj.si/xaigor/slo/znanclanki/Wildey2.pdf</ref> and Wolfgang Pauli.<ref>Lindorff, D. (2004). Pauli and Jung: The Meeting of Two Great Minds. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books.</ref> Many eminent scientists from a variety of fields also support parapsychology research, such as Hans Eysenck,<ref>Eysenck, H. J. (1998). Intelligence: A new look. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.</ref> Robert G Jahn,<ref>Dunne, J. B. and Jahn, R. G. (2003). Information and uncertainty in remote perception research, Journal of Scientific Exploration</ref> Daryl Bem<ref>See Bem's web site: http://dbem.ws/</ref> and Rupert Sheldrake.<ref>Sheldrake, R. (2003). The sense of being stared at: And other unexplained powers of the human mind. New York: Random House.</ref>

[edit] State of the controversy

Proponents of parapsychology claim that their subject is not controversial because it lacks valid scientific results, but rather because parapsychology touches on areas of profound human ignorance such as physics and the nature of consciousness, and also areas of deep meaning such as religion, superstition, and traditional beliefs.<ref>http://www.parapsych.org/faq_file3.html FAQ of the Parapsychological Association, Why is parapsychology so controversial?</ref>

Some skeptics have accused scientists involved in parapsychology of being frauds and pseudoscientists who bias their results to fulfill their emotional needs.<ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/>

There are at least half a dozen peer-reviewed journals of parapsychology. However, research in this area has been characterized by deception, fraud, and incompetence in setting up properly controlled experiments and evaluating statistical data (Alcock 1990; Gardner 1981; Gordon 1987; Hansel 1989; Hines 1990; Hyman 1989; Park 2000; Randi 1982)."<ref>http://skepdic.com/parapsy.html Skeptics Dictionary on Parapsychology</ref>

Proponents of parapsychology have responded that the skeptics are promoting "scientism"<ref>http://www.enlightenment.com/media/interviews/tartall/tart.html#Anchorpsi An Enlightenment Interview with Professor Charles T. Tart</ref> rather than real science by acting as if results which contradict established knowledge cannot be real:

A characteristic of many scoffers is their pejorative characterization of proponents as "promoters" and sometimes even the most protoscientific anomaly claimants are labelled as "pseudoscientists" or practitioners of "pathological science." In their most extreme form., scoffers represent a form of quasi-religious Scientism that treats minority or deviant viewpoints in science as heresies (Truzzi, 1996).<ref>http://skepticalinvestigations.org/anomalistics/perspective.htm Anomalistics The Perspective of Anomalistics By Marcello Truzzi</ref>

Skeptics have responded, in the words of Carl Sagan, that "…extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence".<ref>http://www.angelfire.com/ok/TheDeepSkies/SaganQuotes.html Carl Sagan Quotes</ref> Parapsychologists riposte that they have attained levels of proof which are more than sufficient to prove their results in any other field of science.<ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/>

Another factor which makes parapsychology highly controversial is that there is no theory which can account for parapsychological results.<ref>http://www.goertzel.org/dynapsyc/1996/subtle.html Subtle Connections: Psi, Grof, Jung, and the Quantum Vacuum By Ervin Laszlo</ref><ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/> Psi seems to be able to establish informational links both to the past and the future. Its effects do not seem to drop off according to the inverse square law, as with other physical forces. And information gathered using psi does not seem to require energy to facilitate its transfer. Also, there may not be any limit on the complexity of information gained by psi.<ref>http://jeksite.org/psi/jp01.pdf J. E. Kennedy in The Journal of Parapsychology, Vol. 65, September 2001 (pp. 219-246)</ref>

Parapsychology is also disturbing to those who believe that to admit that psi exists would encourage religion, superstition, and psychic frauds, as all these are based either on manifestations of psi, or on reports which are hard to distinguish from it. Skeptics wonder if this would undermine the foundations of science and reason.<ref name="para3"/>

There have been a huge number of parapsychological experiments performed under controlled laboratory conditions. According to Dr. Dean Radin,

In 1993, the parapsychologist Charles Honorton, from the University of Edinburgh, considered what skeptics of psi experiments used to claim, and what they no longer claimed. He demonstrated that virtually all the skeptical arguments used to explain away psi over the years had been resolved through new experimental designs. This does not mean the experiments conducted today are “perfect,” because there is nothing perfect in the empirical sciences. But it does mean that the methods available today satisfy the most rigorous skeptical requirements for providing “exceptional evidence.” As we’ve seen, such experiments have been conducted, with successful results.<ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/>(Radin 1997:208-209)

Many of these experiments have been done with the aid of skeptics of parapsychology, and also with the aid of professional conjurors, in order to eliminate as much as possible all controversies concerning the analysis of the data gathered, and to prevent fraud on the part of the subjects. Dean Radin quotes parapsychologist George Hansen as saying that

Although the public tends to view magicians as debunkers, the opposite is more the case. Birdsell (1989) polled a group of magicians and found that 82 percent gave a positive response to a question of belief in ESP. Truzzi (1983) noted a poll of German magicians that found that 72.3 percent thought psi was probably real. Many prominent magicians have expressed a belief in psychic phenomena. …. It is simply a myth that magicians have been predominantly skeptical about the existence of psi.<ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/>(Radin 1997:207)

Concerning a series of computer-controlled ganzfeld experiments done by the parapsychologist Charles Honorton in the 1980s, magician Ford Kross, an officer of the Psychic Entertainers Association wrote that

In my professional capicity as a mentalist, I have reviewed Psychophysical Research Laboratories' automated ganzfield system and found it to provide excellent security against deception by subjects.<ref>Bem, D.J., and C. Honorton. 1994. Does psi exist? Replicable evidence for an anomalous process of information transfer. Psychological Bulletin 115:4-18</ref><ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/>(Radin 1997:86)

Another major reason that psi has remained controversial is that parapsychologists have sometimes been fooled by hoaxes. Some parapsychological studies have been badly designed, in such a way as to permit fraud. In the case of Project Alpha, magician James Randi planted magicians as subjects of a parapsychological experiment, and they were able to fool the researchers. Such methodological failures have been cited by skeptics as evidence of the probability that most if not all parapsychological results derive from error or fraud.<ref>http://www.banachek.org/nonflash/project_alpha.htm Project Alpha, The Skeptical Inquirer Summer 1983 The Project Alpha Experiment: Part one. The First Two Years by James Randi</ref>

Andrew Greeley, a Catholic priest and a sociologist from the University of Arizona, studied surveys on belief in ESP from 1978 through 1987, and he also studied the mental health of believers in ESP. The surveys he studied showed that from 1978 through 1987, the number of American adults who reported psychic experiences rose from 58% to 67% (clairvoyance and contacts with the dead were reported by 25% of his respondents). According to Greeley, the elderly, women, widows and widowers, and the conventionally religious report a higher incidence of such experiences. He also tested the psychological well-being of people reporting mystical experiences with the "Affect Balance Scale" and found that people reporting mystical experiences received top scores. Greeley summarized his findings by writing:

People who've tasted the paranormal, whether they accept it intellectually or not, are anything but religious nuts or psychiatric cases. They are, for the most part, ordinary Americans, somewhat above the norm in education and intelligence and somewhat less than average in religious involvement. [2]

A few parapsychologists are skeptics, for example Chris French and his colleagues at the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths College in London, and Richard Wiseman and his colleagues at the Perrott-Warrick Research Unit in the Psychology Department of the University of Hertfordshire, both of which units include individuals who are members of the Parapsychological Association. These researchers do not approach the field with a belief in the paranormal, but are rather interested in the purely psychological aspects of those who report paranormal experiences, along with the study of the psychology of deception, hallucination, etc. These researchers also have provided their own guidelines and input to other parapsychologists for the design of experiments and how to properly test those who claim psychic abilities. While some of these guidelines have been useful, many have suffered from a naive understanding of scientific practice in general and in parapsychology in particular, from a distorted view of the methodology actually in use in the field, and the unfortunate habit of some skeptics of making sweeping statements about the applicability of counter-hypotheses to lines of research without actually investigating the appropriateness of those counter-hypotheses to the details at hand. (See, for example a mostly-positive review of one of these guidelines written by skeptics[3].)

[edit] Interpretation of the evidence

Scientists who support parapsychology research hold that there is at least a small amount of data from properly controlled experiments that can be trusted for a small number of psi phenomena. Some of these scientists hold that this evidence is not definitive, but suggestive enough to warrant further research [4]. Others believe that a great deal of evidence has been collected, which, if it addressed more conventional phenomena, would be sufficient to provide proof.

Some experiments have tested the ability to use ESP to get above-average scores when guessing targets such as cards, pictures, or videos. Other experiments have tested the ability to foretell future events, both consciously, and unconsciously by using electrodes to measure galvanic skin responses to future stimuli. There have also been many ganzfield experiments testing the ability to influence random number generators. Many of these experiments have had positive results, with subjects scoring significantly above chance. This significance, when analyzed using statistics, has often been astronomically high.<ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/>(Radin 1997:84) However, such results only seem impressive to those educated in statistics, because the results have been only a few percentage points above chance. For instance, where chance = 25%, a psychic might score, on average, between 33% and 37%.<ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/>(Radin 1997:83-88) Some of the studies have returned results which are not significantly above chance (often defined as a 95% confidence interval).<ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/>(Radin 1997:78-84) When results of these studies are combined in meta-analyses, they return astronomically high results in favor of the existence of psi (or some unknown factor). This is so even when common statistical tools are used to rule out "file drawer" cases which might occur when insignificant results are not reported. Other experiments aimed at detecting psi, especially those performed by experimenters and subjects who disbelieve in psi, have scored significantly below chance (this is called psi-missing).<ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/>(Radin 1997:108-109) Despite the extremely positive results of psi experiments, however, parapsychology remains highly controversial, due to the lack of a theory which explains its results.<ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/><ref>Entangled Minds by Dean Radin, Simon & Schuster, Paraview Pocket Books , 2006</ref>

[edit] Objections to parapsychology

There are a variety of other objections to parapsychology as well.

  • Parapsychology as Taboo
Some believe that paranormal phenomena should not be studied. There are various reasons for this attitude, among them that the subject is forbidden by religious doctrine, promotes superstition among the public by giving scientific credence to bunk, or opens the investigators to some sort of "spiritual attack". Parapsychology is also seen as a taboo subject in science and the academy, and individuals who show an interest in studying psychic phenomena, even from a skeptical point of view, often find themselves losing or being pushed out of employment, or denied funding. Anthropologist of science, David J. Hess, has written on this topic.[5]

[edit] Noted parapsychologists

List of parapsychologists

[edit] Critics of parapsychology

[edit] References

<references />

[edit] Further reading

  • Parapsychology, by Rene Sudre, Citadel Press, NY, 1960, Library of Congress Catalog 60-13928.
  • Parapsychology, by Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi, Al-Kitaab Publication, 1985.
  • The Conscious Universe, by Dean Radin, Harper Collins, 1997, ISBN 0-06-251502-0.
  • Entangled Minds by Dean Radin, Simon & Schuster, Paraview Pocket Books, 2006
  • Parapsychology: A Concise History, by John Beloff, St. Martin's Press, 1993, ISBN 0-312-09611-9.
  • Parapsychology: The Controversial Science, by Richard S. Broughton, Ballantine Books, 1991, ISBN 0-345-35638-1.
  • Our Sixth Sense, by Charles Robert Richet, Rider & Co., 1937, First English Edition
  • The Elusive Quarry: A Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research, by Ray Hyman, Prometheus Books, 1989, ISBN 0-87975-504-0.
  • Readings in the Philosophical Problems of Parapsychology, ed. Antony Flew, Prometheus Books, 1987, ISBN 0-87975-385-4
  • The First Psychic: The Peculiar Mystery of a Victorian Wizard, by Peter Lamont, Little, Brown, UK, 2005 (Daniel Dunglas Home biography)
  • Sixty Years of Psychical Research : Houdini and I Among the Spirits, by Joseph Rinn, Truth Seeker, 1950
  • The Newer Spiritualism, by Frank Podmore, Arno Press, 1975, reprint of 1910 edition
  • Revelations of a Spirit Medium by Harry Price and Eric J. Dingwall, Arno Press, 1975, reprint of 1891 edition by Charles F. Pigeon. This rare, overlooked, forgotten book gives the "insider's knowledge" of 19th century deceptions.
  • Mediums of the 19th Century Volume Two, Book Four, Chapter One, Some Foreign Investigations by Frank Podmore, University Book, 1963, reprint of Modern Spiriritualism, 1902
  • Occult and Supernatural Phenomena by D. H. Rawcliffe, Dover Publications, reprint of Psychology of the Occult, Derricke Ridgway Publishing co., 1952
  • The Paranormal: The Evidence and its Implications for Concsciousness by Jessica Utts and Brian Josephson, 1996 [6]
  • Edgar Cayce on Atlantis by Hugh Lynn Cayce, Castle Books, 1968
  • Milbourne Christopher, ESP, Seers & Psychics : What the Occult Really Is, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1970, ISBN 0-690-26815-7
  • Milbourne Christopher, Mediums, Mystics & the Occult by Thomas Y. Crowell Co, 1975
  • Milbourne Christopher, Search for the Soul, Thomas Y. Crowell Publishers, 1979
  • Georges Charpak, Henri Broch, and Bart K. Holland (tr), Debunked! ESP, Telekinesis, and Other Pseudoscience, (Johns Hopkins University). 2004, ISBN 0-8018-7867-5
  • Hoyt L. Edge, Robert L. Morris, Joseph H. Rush, John Palmer, Foundations of Parapsychology: Exploring the Boundaries of Human Capability, Routledge Kegan Paul, 1986, ISBN 0710-0226-1
  • Paul Kurtz, A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology, Prometheus Books, 1985, ISBN 0-87975-300-5
  • Carl Edwin Lindgren. (1990, December). The future of parapsychology. Fate, pp. 60-64.
  • Jeffrey Mishlove, Roots of Consciousness: Psychic Liberation Through History Science and Experience. 1st edition, 1975, ISBN 0-394-73115-8, 2nd edition, Marlowe & Co., July 1997, ISBN 1-56924-747-1 There are two very different editions. online
  • D. Scott Rogo, Miracles: A Parascientific Inquiry into Wondrous Phenomena, New York, Dial Press, 1982.
  • John White, ed. Psychic Exploration: A Challenge for Science, published by Edgar D. Mitchell and G. P. Putman, 1974, ISBN 39911342-8
  • Richard Wiseman, Deception and self-deception: Investigating Psychics. Amherst, USA: Prometheus Press. 1997
  • Benjamin B. Wolman, ed, Handbook of Parapsychology, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1977, ISBN 0-442-29576-6

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Independent research organizations

[edit] University research organizations

[edit] Other links

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