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Parapsychology is a discipline that seeks to investigate the existence and causes of psychic abilities and life after death using the scientific method. Parapsychological experiments have included the use of random number generators to test for evidence of precognition and psychokinesis with both human and animal subjects, sensory-deprivation and Ganzfeld experiments to test for extrasensory perception, and research trials conducted under contract to the United States government to investigate whether remote viewing would provide useful intelligence information. The results of such experiments are regarded by some parapsychologists as having demonstrated the existence of some forms of psychic abilities.

In contrast, the consensus of the scientific community is that psychic abilities have not been demonstrated to exist. Critics argue that methodological flaws may explain any apparent experimental successes. The status of parapsychology as a science has also been disputed. Many scientists regard the discipline as pseudoscience because parapsychologists continue investigation although no one has demonstrated conclusive evidence of psychic abilities in more than a century of research.

Laboratory and field research is conducted through private institutions and a relatively small number of universities worldwide. Privately-funded units at universities in the United Kingdom are among the most active today. In the US, interest in research peaked in the 1970s and university-based research is now slight, although private institutions still receive considerable funding. Most of the recent parapsychology research is published in a small number of niche journals.

Terminology

The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by psychologist Max Dessoir. It was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research in order to indicate a significant shift toward experimental methodology and academic discipline. The term originates from the Template:Lang-el para meaning "alongside", and psychology. Parapsychologists generally refer to the phenomena that they study to be psi phenomena. This term was introduced in the 1940s by Thouless and Weisner in order to collectively refer to the phenomena described as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis, without implying that they were separable constructs, nor that they were subserved by a specific mechanism, such as "extra-sensory perception". J. B. Rhine, who had promoted the term ESP in the 1930s, fully and immediately endorsed use of the term "psi". Some further sub-categories were proposed by Thouless and Wiesner: between psi-gamma for ESP, and psi-kappa for PK, but these terms have not been widely adopted.

History

Early psychical research

The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was founded in London in 1882. The formation of the SPR was the first systematic effort to organize scientists and scholars for a critical and sustained investigation of paranormal phenomena. The early membership of the SPR included philosophers, scholars, scientists, educators and politicians, such as Henry Sidgwick, Arthur Balfour, William Crookes, Rufus Osgood Mason and Charles Richet.

The SPR classified its subjects of study into several areas: telepathy, hypnotism, Reichenbach's phenomena, apparitions, haunts, and the physical aspects of Spiritualism such as table-tilting and the appearance of matter from unknown sources, otherwise known as materialization. One of the first collaborative efforts of the SPR was its Census of Hallucinations, which researched apparitional experiences and hallucinations in the sane. The census was the Society's first attempt at a statistical evaluation of paranormal phenomena, and the resulting publication in 1886, Phantasms of the Living is still widely referenced in parapsychological literature today. The SPR became the model for similar societies in other European countries and the United States during the late 19th century. Largely due to the support of psychologist William James, the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) opened its doors in New York City in 1885.

Today, the SPR and ASPR continue the investigation of psi phenomena. The SPR's purpose, stated in every issue of its Journal, is "to examine without prejudice or prepossession and in a scientific spirit those faculties of man, real or supposed, which appear to be inexplicable on any generally recognized hypothesis."

Rhine era

In 1911, Stanford University became the first academic institution in the United States to study extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK) in a laboratory setting. The effort was headed by psychologist John Edgar Coover. In 1930, Duke University became the second major U.S. academic institution to engage in the critical study of ESP and psychokinesis in the laboratory. Under the guidance of psychologist William McDougall, and with the help of others in the department—including psychologists Karl Zener, Joseph B. Rhine, and Louisa E. Rhine—laboratory ESP experiments using volunteer subjects from the undergraduate student body began. As opposed to the approaches of psychical research, which generally sought qualitative evidence for paranormal phenomena, the experiments at Duke University proffered a quantitative, statistical approach using cards and dice. As a consequence of the ESP experiments at Duke, standard laboratory procedures for the testing of ESP developed and came to be adopted by interested researchers throughout the world.

The publication of J.B. Rhine's book, New Frontiers of the Mind (1937) brought the laboratory's findings to the general public. In his book, Rhine popularized the word "parapsychology," which psychologist Max Dessoir had coined over 40 years earlier, to describe the research conducted at Duke. Rhine also founded an autonomous Parapsychology Laboratory within Duke and started the Journal of Parapsychology, which he co-edited with McDougall.

The parapsychology experiments at Duke evoked much criticism from academic psychologists who challenged the concepts and evidence of ESP. Rhine and his colleagues attempted to address these criticisms through new experiments, articles, and books, and summarized the state of the criticism along with their responses in the book Extra-Sensory Perception After Sixty Years.

The administration of Duke grew less sympathetic to parapsychology, and after Rhine's retirement in 1965 parapsychological links with the university were broken. Rhine later established the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man (FRNM) and the Institute for Parapsychology as a successor to the Duke laboratory. In 1995, the centenary of Rhine's birth, the FRNM was renamed the Rhine Research Center. Today, the Rhine Research Center is a parapsychology research unit, stating that it "aims to improve the human condition by creating a scientific understanding of those abilities and sensitivities that appear to transcend the ordinary limits of space and time."

Establishment of the Parapsychological Association

The Parapsychological Association (PA) was created in Durham, North Carolina, on June 19, 1957. Its formation was proposed by J. B. Rhine at a workshop on parapsychology which was held at the Parapsychology Laboratory of Duke University. Rhine proposed that the group form itself into the nucleus of an international professional society in parapsychology. The aim of the organization, as stated in its Constitution, became "to advance parapsychology as a science, to disseminate knowledge of the field, and to integrate the findings with those of other branches of science".

Under the direction of anthropologist Margaret Mead, the Parapsychological Association took a large step in advancing the field of parapsychology in 1969 when it became affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the largest general scientific society in the world. In 1979, physicist John A. Wheeler argued that parapsychology is pseudoscientific, and that the affiliation of the PA to the AAAS needed to be reconsidered. His challenge to parapsychology's AAAS affiliation was unsuccessful. Today, the PA consists of about three hundred full, associate, and affiliated members worldwide and maintains its affiliation with the AAAS. The annual AAAS convention provides a forum where parapsychologists can present their research to scientists from other fields and advance parapsychology in the context of the AAAS's lobbying on national science policy.

Decade of increased research (1970s)

The affiliation of the Parapsychological Association (PA) with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, along with a general openness to psychic and occult phenomena in the 1970s, led to a decade of increased parapsychological research. During this period, other notable organizations were also formed, including the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine (1970), the Institute of Parascience (1971), the Academy of Religion and Psychical Research, the Institute of Noetic Sciences (1973), the International Kirlian Research Association (1975), and the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory (1979). Parapsychological work was also conducted at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) during this time.

The scope of parapsychology expanded during these years. Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson conducted much of his controversial research into reincarnation during the 1970s. Psychologist Thelma Moss devoted time to the study of Kirlian photography at UCLA's parapsychology laboratory. The influx of spiritual teachers from Asia, and their claims of abilities produced by meditation, led to research on altered states of consciousness. American Society for Psychical Research Director of Research, Karlis Osis, conducted experiments in out of body, and astral beaconing. Physicist Russell Targ coined the term remote viewing for use in some of his work at SRI in 1974.

During this period, academics outside parapsychology also appeared to have a general optimism towards this research. In 1979, a survey of more than 1,100 college professors in the United States found that only 2% of psychologists expressed the belief that extrasensory perception was an impossibility. A far greater number, 34%, indicated that they believed ESP was either an established fact or a likely possibility. The percentage was even higher in other areas of study: 55% of natural scientists, 66% of social scientists (excluding psychologists), and 77% of academics in the arts, humanities, and education.

The surge in paranormal research continued throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. By the end of the 1980s, the Parapsychological Association reported members working in more than 30 countries. Additionally, research not affiliated with the PA was being carried out in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Parapsychology today

Since the 1970s, contemporary parapsychological research has waned considerably in the United States. Early research was considered inconclusive, and parapsychologists were faced with strong opposition from their academic colleagues. Some effects thought to be paranormal, for example, the effects of Kirlian photography, disappeared under more stringent controls, leaving those avenues of research at dead-ends. Many university laboratories in the United States have closed, citing a lack of acceptance by mainstream science as the reason, leaving the bulk of parapsychology confined to private institutions funded by private sources. After 28 years of research, Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory (PEAR) closed in 2007.

Two universities in the United States still have academic parapsychology laboratories: the Division of Perceptual Studies, a unit at the University of Virginia's Department of Psychiatric Medicine, studies the possibility of survival of consciousness after bodily death; the University of Arizona's Veritas Laboratory conducts laboratory investigations of mediums. Several private institutions, including the Institute of Noetic Sciences, conduct and promote parapsychological research. Britain leads parapsychological study in Europe, with privately funded laboratories at the universities of Edinburgh, Northampton, and Liverpool Hope, among others.

The Parapsychological Association states that the presently available, cumulative statistical database for experiments studying some parapsychological effects provides strong, scientifically credible evidence for these effects. This includes presentiment, ESP, and mind-matter interaction. The Association states that an increasing number of parapsychologists are moving beyond proof-oriented research, because they believe experimental success has already been established, and instead looking at more detailed factors to better understand the phenomena.

Parapsychological research has also been augmented by other sub-disciplines of psychology. These related fields include transpersonal psychology, which studies transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human mind, and Anomalistic psychology, which examines paranormal beliefs and subjective anomalous experiences in traditional psychological terms.

Research

Scope

Parapsychologists study a number of ostensible paranormal phenomena, including but not limited to:

• Telepathy: Transfer of information on thoughts or feelings between individuals by means other than the five classical senses.
• Precognition: Perception of information about future places or events before they occur.
• Clairvoyance: Obtaining information about places or events at remote locations, by means unknown to current science.
• Psychokinesis: The ability of the mind to influence matter, time, space, or energy by means unknown to current science.
• Reincarnation: The rebirth of a soul or other non-physical aspect of human consciousness in a new physical body after death.
• Hauntings: Phenomena often attributed to ghosts and encountered in places a deceased individual is thought to have frequented, or in association with the person's former belongings.

The definitions for the terms above may not reflect their mainstream usage, nor the opinions of all parapsychologists and their critics. Many critics, for example, feel that parapsychologists are engaged in the study of phenomena that disappear under stringent experimental conditions and are thus normal processes.

According to the Parapsychological Association, parapsychologists do not study all paranormal phenomena, nor are they concerned with astrology, UFOs, Bigfoot, paganism, vampires, alchemy, or witchcraft.

Methodology

Parapsychologists employ a variety of approaches for the study of apparent paranormal phenomena. These methods include qualitative approaches used in traditional psychology, but also quantitative empirical methodologies. Their more controversial studies involve the use of meta-analysis in examining the statistical evidence for psi.

Experimental research

Ganzfeld

The ganzfeld (German for "whole field") is a technique used to test individuals for telepathy. The technique was developed to quickly quiet mental "noise" by providing a mild, unpatterned sensory field to mask the visual and auditory environment. Isolating the visual sense is usually achieved by creating a soft red glow which is diffused through half ping-pong balls placed over the recipient's eyes. The auditory sense is usually blocked by playing white noise, static, or similar sounds to the recipient. The subject is also seated in a reclined, comfortable position to minimize the sense of touch.

In the typical ganzfeld experiment, a "sender" and a "receiver" are isolated. The receiver is put into the ganzfeld state, and the sender is shown a video clip or still picture and asked to mentally send that image to the receiver. The receiver, while in the ganzfeld, is asked to continuously speak aloud all mental processes, including images, thoughts, and feelings. At the end of the sending period, typically about 20 to 40 minutes in length, the receiver is taken out of the ganzfeld and shown four images or videos, one of which is the true target and three of which are non-target decoys. The receiver attempts to select the true target, using perceptions experienced during the ganzfeld state as clues to what the mentally "sent" image might have been.

According to parapsychologists such as Dean Radin, Charles Honorton, and Daryl Bem, the results of ganzfeld experiments—collectively gathered from over 3,000 individual sessions conducted by about two dozen investigators worldwide—indicate that, on average, the target image is selected by the receiver more often than would be expected by chance alone. Because the results of these meta-analyses of ganzfeld results are said to be statistically significant, they have sparked debates within mainstream academic psychology journals over how to properly interpret the data.

Remote viewing

Remote viewing experiments test the ability to gather information about a remote target consisting of an object, place, or person that is hidden from the physical perception of the viewer and typically separated from the viewer by some distance. In one type of remote viewing experiment, a pool of several hundred photographs are created. One of these is randomly selected by a third party to be the target. It is then set aside in a remote location. The remote viewer attempts to sketch or otherwise describe that remote target photo. This procedure is repeated for a number of different targets. Many ways of analytically evaluating the results of this sort of experiment have been developed. One common method is to take a group of seven target photos and responses, randomly shuffle the targets and responses, and then ask independent judges to rank or match the correct targets with the participant's actual responses. This method assumes that if there were an anomalous transfer of information, the responses should correspond more closely to the correct targets than to the mismatched targets.

Several hundred such trials have been conducted by investigators over the past 25 years, including by the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory (PEAR) and by scientists at SRI International and SAIC, under contract by the U.S. government. The cumulative data was interpreted by Professor of Aerospace Science Robert G. Jahn and psychologist Brenda Dunne at PEAR as indicating that information about remote photos, actual scenes, and events can be perceived beyond chance expectation.

Psychokinesis on random number generators

The advent of powerful and inexpensive electronic and computer technologies has allowed the development of fully automated experiments studying possible interactions between mind and matter. In the most common experiment of this type, a true random number generator (RNG), based on electronic or radioactive noise, produces a data stream that is recorded and analyzed by computer software. A subject attempts to mentally alter the distribution of the random numbers, usually in an experimental design that is functionally equivalent to getting more "heads" than "tails" while flipping a coin. In the RNG experiment, design flexibility can be combined with rigorous controls, while collecting a large amount of data in very short period of time. This technique has been used both to test individuals for psychokinesis and to test the possible influence on RNGs of large groups of people.

Major meta-analyses of the RNG database have been published every few years since appearing in the journal Foundations of Physics in 1986. PEAR founder Robert G. Jahn and his colleague Brenda Dunne say that the effect size in all cases was found to be very small, but consistent across time and experimental designs, resulting in an overall statistical significance. The most recent meta-analysis was published in Psychological Bulletin, along with several critical commentaries. This was composed of 380 studies, with the authors reporting an overall positive effect size that was statistically significant but very small—according to one of the critical commentaries, this could be potentially explained by publication bias.

Direct mental interactions with living systems

Formerly called bio-PK, "direct mental interactions with living systems" (DMILS) studies the effects of one person's intentions on a distant person's psychophysiological state. One type of DMILS experiment looks at the commonly reported "feeling of being stared at." The "starer" and the "staree" are isolated in different locations, and the starer is periodically asked to simply gaze at the staree via closed circuit video links. Meanwhile, the staree's nervous system activity is automatically and continuously monitored.

Parapsychologists have interpreted the cumulative data on this and similar DMILS experiments to suggest that one person's attention directed towards a remote, isolated person can significantly activate or calm that person's nervous system. In a meta-analysis of these experiments published in the British Journal of Psychology in 2004, researchers found that there was a small but significant overall DMILS effect. However, the study also found that when a small number of the highest-quality studies from one laboratory were analyzed, the effect size was not significant. The authors concluded that although the existence of some anomaly related to distant intentions cannot be ruled out, there was also a shortage of independent replications and theoretical concepts.

Near death experiences

A near-death experience (NDE) is an experience reported by a person who nearly died, or who experienced clinical death and then revived. NDEs include one or more of the following experiences: a sense of being dead; an out-of-body experience; a sensation of floating above one's body and seeing the surrounding area; a sense of overwhelming love and peace; a sensation of moving upwards through a tunnel or narrow passageway; meeting deceased relatives or spiritual figures; encountering a being of light, or a light; experiencing a life review; reaching a border or boundary; and a feeling of being returned to the body, often accompanied by reluctance.

Interest in the NDE was originally spurred by the research of psychiatrists Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, George Ritchie, and Raymond Moody Jr. In 1998, Moody was appointed chair in "consciousness studies" at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The International Association for Near-death Studies (IANDS) was founded in 1978 to meet the needs of early researchers and experiencers within this field of research. Later researchers, such as psychiatrist Bruce Greyson, psychologist Kenneth Ring, and cardiologist Michael Sabom, introduced the study of near-death experiences to the academic setting.

Some researchers, including Dr. Rick Strassman, believe that near death experiences may be related to the chemical DMT's (Dimethyltryptamine) release from the pineal gland. The chemical is released naturally during sleep, is thought to have an effect on dream content, and is used as a recreational drug. Strassman sees the chemical as a mediator for hyperdimensional experiences, and points out that experiences with the drug are comparable to NDE's.

Anomalous psychology

A number of studies conducted in the American, European, and Australasian continents have found that a majority of people surveyed report having had experiences that could be interpreted as telepathy, precognition, and similar phenomena. Variables that have been associated with reports of psi-phenomena include belief in the reality of psi; the tendency to have hypnotic, dissociative, and other alterations of consciousness; and, less reliably so, neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience. Although psi-related experiences can occur in the context of such psychopathologies as schizotypal personality, dissociative, and other disorders, most individuals who endorse a belief in psi are well-adjusted, lack serious pathology, and are not intellectually deficient or lacking critical abilities.

Contributions to other disciplines

Parapsychology has produced novel concepts and methods regarding subjects such as the relationship between mind and matter, and the nature of chance and scientific evidence that have contributed to other disciplines.

Scientific methods

Parapsychology has contributed to the development of scientific methods and data-analysis tools. The practice of randomization and associated techniques such as "blind" administration of conditions were principally developed in the conduct of early psychical research, and have since become standard practice in scientific experiments. The field has also contributed to the advance of statistical methodology, with probability theory having been adopted by Charles Richet to the evaluation of card-guessing results, and considerably advanced by Rhine, Pratt and associates at the Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory from the 1930s. A monographic review of the first sixty years of organised parapsychological research has been identified as the first meta-analysis in the history of science, and a similar effort was offered by parapsychological researchers in the journal Nature immediately prior to the now common practice of statistically generalising over independently conducted experiments. Improved analysis of multiple responses to individual targets was inspired by the occurrence of the challenge in some group tests of ESP, and similar challenges inspired the development of other statistical techniques.

Psychology

Parapsychology has contributed to the development of general psychology. Early investigations of parapsychological phenomena supported development of the concepts of repressed memory (or "cryptomnesia" as it was then called), ideomotor action, dissociation, hallucination, selective attention, and the psychological basis of so-called "hysteria". Ongoing contributions have been made in the study of automaticity, visualisation, implicit memory, false memory, deception, and experimenter effects, as well as terminological and methodological contributions. Many of the concepts and findings in unconscious perception research were first identified in the parapsychological literature, including the informativeness of significant below-chance deviation (or "psi-missing"), decline in identification scores over time, and the role of task preference. The development of the "sequential analysis of behavior", including the role of cognitive biases against random series, has also been identified as based on early studies of telepathy, including a contribution from the well-known psychologist B. F. Skinner. Key developments in the methods of psychophysiology were also based on parapsychological studies. Hans Berger, often noted as the inventor of the EEG, developed the instrument in order to identify a neurophysical basis for telepathy, and Vinagradov gave us the first psychophysiological spike when he proposed that it was possible to "psychically" transfer hypnotic paralysis from one arm of a patient to another.

Philosophy, biology, and other disciplines

The contributions of parapsychological research to other fields have been recognized by many of their leading practitioners. Leading philosophers, including C.D. Broad and C.J. Ducasse, have found examination of parapsychological issues to be particularly informative on such issues as the mind-body relationship, and the nature of scientific enquiry and evidence. Leading biologists, including Sir Alister Hardy, have found in parapsychological concepts and data a promising line of biological research, as well as the possibility of explanation of some fundamental issues within their own field. In physics, parapsychological data have been sourced in the interest of modelling the relationship of consciousness to the physical world. The relationship of parapsychological concepts and findings to these and other fields – including anthropology, neuroscience, religion and literature – has been extensively articulated by practitioners of these fields in various reviews.

Opinion, criticism and controversy

Surveys of academic opinion

The study of psi – as psychical research, or parapsychology – has long interested practitioners of many diverse disciplines, and often some of the most prominent members of them. These include Nobelians Charles Richet, Henri Bergson and Brian Josephson, Fellows of the Royal Society including its president Sir William Crookes and Sir Oliver Lodge, and leading philosophers including Henry Sidgwick, C. D. Broad, H. H. Price and C. J. Ducasse. Investigators and members of the professional research associations have included well-known scientists and scholars such as Sir William Barrett, the Curies, Augustus de Morgan, and Sir Alister Hardy; psychologists William James, William McDougall, Sigmund Freud, Gardner Murphy and Ulric Neisser; and well-known authors and other artists including Mark Twain and J. B. Priestley. Such lists might suggest the keen interest and support for the academic study of psi across the sciences and humanities. More representative information on this point, however, can be obtained by surveys of professional opinion.

Six key surveys of academic opinion have been reported since the inception of parapsychology in the 1930s until the early 1980s. These have largely addressed the same four main questions, albeit to somewhat different populations.

• The first study of this kind was conducted in the later 1930s and involved an extensive survey of the 603 full members of the American Psychological Association (APA), achieving a response-rate of 58%.
• A further study with the same method was conducted in the early 1950s, involving 515 APA members, achieving a 70% response-rate.
• Two further polls conducted in the 1950s targeted new associates of the APA, with responses in 1950 from 60% of 621, and, in 1955, 60% of 1323, new associates being received.
• A 1973 survey of readers of the science magazine New Scientist involved a less selected sample: From a possible 72,000 copies of the magazine being sold, there were 1,416 returns; 63% of respondents with degrees, and 13% being students.
• A larger and more representative study during the late 1970s surveyed 2400 randomly selected college professors of large academic institutions, from the faculties of social and natural sciences, humanities, arts and education, achieving a 50% response-rate with demographics suggesting the sample was representative of the population.
• A more restricted sample of the early 1980s was based on querying 497, and receiving responses from 353 (71%), council members and selected section committee members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Responses to the key questions attained the following proportions.

Is ESP an established fact or likely possibility?

• 9% of the 1930s US psychologists agreed
• 17% of the 1950s US psychologists agreed
• 32% of the new 1950s US psychologists agreed
• 67% of the 1970s New Scientist readers agreed
• 66% of the 1970s college professors agreed (including 25% of psychologists)
• 29% of the 1980s AAAS leaders agreed

This question also permitted an option to deny the possibility of ESP. Those endorsing this option were as follows.

• 15% of the 1930s US psychologists denied
• 10% of the 1950s US psychologists denied
• 7% of the new 1950s US psychologists denied
• 3% of the 1970s New Scientist readers agreed
• 4% of the 1970s college professors denied (including 25% of psychologists)
• 9% of the 1980s AAAS leaders denied

Additionally, the survey of AAAS leaders gave the following related attitude for rating:

• "There is insufficient evidence for psychic ability" – 71% agreed.

Is ESP a legitimate scientific undertaking?

• 89% of the 1930s psychologists agreed (76% indicated that it should be studied within academic psychology)
• 89% of the 1950s psychologists agreed (exactly the same as in the 1930s; 77% indicated that it should be studied within academic psychology)
• 94% of the new 1950s psychologists agreed (78% indicated that it should be studied with academic psychology)
• 85% of the 1970s New Scientist readers agreed (20% indicated that it should be studied with academic psychology; many commented that physics would be more appropriate)
• 84% of the 1970s college professors agreed
• 69% of the 1980s AAAS leaders agreed

Additionally, the survey of AAAS leaders gave the following related attitudes for rating:

• "Parapsychology threatens the established mechanistic world view of scientists" – 13% agreed.
• "Parapsychology conflicts with current physical or biological theories" – 36% agreed.

Is the present research direction appropriate?

This question concerned the manner of research, as exemplified in reports in the Journal of Parapsychology.

• 32% of the 1930s psychologists approved (another 7% indicating "probably" or "partially" appropriate)
• 31% of the 1950s psychologists approved (another 6% indicating "probably" or "partially" appropriate)
• 35% of the new 1950s psychologists approved (another 9% indicating "probably" or "partially" appropriate)

Those who considered that the research was decidedly not conducted "in the proper direction" were as follows.

• 13% of the 1930s psychologists disapproved (another 0.6% indicating "probably not")
• 18% of the 1950s psychologists disapproved (about another 4% indicating "probably not")
• 9% of the new 1950s psychologists disapproved (about another 1% indicating "probably not")

The largest proportions across these surveys were represented by those who indicated they were "blank and doubtful", and that they "have not read it" - about 45% in each study.

Another way of addressing this issue was given in the 1970s studies:

• "Parapsychology is important and making steady progress" – 62% of the New Scientist readers, and 57% of the college professors, agreed.
• "Parapsychology is a pseudoscience" – 4% of the New Scientist readers, and 3% of the college professors, agreed.

This specific question was not addressed to the AAAS members, but similar measures were made of the following attitudes.

• "Scientists feel that parapsychological research has not been conducted in a competent manner" – 68% agreed.
• "The complexity and elusiveness of psi makes it extremely difficult to research" – 62% agreed.

What is the source of academic opinion?

Several options were given to this question, somewhat differing over the studies, but most consistently asking if the respondents relied on journal reports. Personal experience was also queried in most studies as a specific alternative. (Other options, in one or another study, were newspapers, books by J. B. Rhine, hearsay, and a priori belief.)

Journal reports

• 41% of the 1930s psychologists
• 35% of the 1950s psychologists
• 16% of the new 1950s psychologists
• 26% of the 1970s college professors
• 30% of the 1980s AAAS leaders

Personal experience

• 2% of the 1930s psychologists
• 8% of the 1950s psychologists
• 11% of the 1970s college professors
• 28% of the 1980s AAAS leaders

In the New Scientist study, of those 25% who considered ESP to be fully established, 40% indicated their view was based on reading scientific literature; most cited personal experience.

The researchers reporting these results have generally noted, in discussion, that the findings are surprisingly consistent over the decades, research methods, and populations sampled; although psychologists and AAAS representatives tended to indicate less positive attitude; the elite scientists of the AAAS were particularly prone to basing attitude on the (lack of) personal experience of ESP rather than reading of the scientific literature; more contemporary scientists were less familiar with the scientific literature of parapsychology than were psychologists in the 1930s; and academics in the humanities were generally most positive in their attitude to the phenomena. In both the college professor and AAAS leader studies, no significant relationship was observed between age or sex and the measured attitudes.

Criticism

Scientists who are critical of parapsychology begin with the assertion that extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence, i.e., proponents of hypotheses that contradict centuries of scientific research must provide extraordinary evidence if their hypotheses are to be taken seriously. Many analysts of parapsychology hold that the entire body of evidence to date is of poor quality and not adequately controlled. In their view, the entire field of parapsychology has produced no conclusive results whatsoever. They cite instances of fraud, flawed studies, a psychological need for mysticism, and cognitive biases (such as clustering illusion, availability error, confirmation bias, illusion of control, and the bias blind spot) as ways to explain parapsychological results. Skeptics have also contended that people's desire to believe in paranormal phenomena causes them to discount strong evidence that it does not exist.

The existence of parapsychological phenomena and the scientific validity of parapsychological research is disputed by independent evaluators and researchers. In 1988, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences published a report on the subject that concluded that "no scientific justification from research conducted over a period of 130 years for the existence of parapsychological phenomena." In the same report, however, they also recommended monitoring some parapsychological research, such as psychokinesis on random number generators and ganzfeld effects, for possible future studies. The studies at the PEAR lab, recommended for monitoring by the report, have since concluded. These studies likewise failed to elicit a positive response by the scientific community despite numerous trials. A 2008 study using fMRI showed no detectable psi effect.

Additionally, the methods of parapsychologists are regarded by some critics, including those who wrote the science standards for the California State Board of Education, to be pseudoscientific. Some of the more specific criticisms state that parapsychology does not have a clearly defined subject matter, an easily repeatable experiment that can demonstrate a psi effect on demand, nor an underlying theory to explain the paranormal transfer of information. James E. Alcock, Professor of Psychology at York University – a controversial commentator on psi research – has asserted that few of parapsychology's experimental results have prompted interdisciplinary research with more mainstream sciences such as physics or biology, and that parapsychology remains an isolated science to such an extent that its very legitimacy is questionable, and as a whole is not justified in being labeled "scientific"; see, however, parapsychology's Contributions to other disciplines. Many in the scientific community consider parapsychology a pseudoscience because it continues to explore the hypothesis that psychic abilities exist, despite a century of experimental results that fail to conclusively demonstrate that hypothesis.

Fraud

There have been instances of fraud in the history of parapsychology research. The Soal-Goldney experiments of 1941–43 (suggesting precognitive ability of a single participant) were long regarded as some of the best in the field because they relied upon independent checking and witnesses to prevent fraud. However, many years later, statistical evidence, uncovered and published by other parapsychologists in the field, suggested that Dr. Soal had cheated by altering some of the raw data.

In 1974 a number of experiments by Walter J. Levy, J. B. Rhine's successor as director of the Institute for Parapsychology, were exposed as fraud. Levy had reported on a series of successful ESP experiments involving computer-controlled manipulation of non-human subjects, including eggs and rats. His experiments showed very high positive results. Because the subjects were non-human, and because the experimental environment was mostly automated, his successful experiments avoided criticism concerning experimenter effects, and removed the question of the subject's belief as an influence on the outcome. However, Levy's fellow researchers became suspicious about his methods. They found that Levy interfered with data-recording equipment, manually creating fraudulent strings of positive results. Rhine fired Levy and reported the fraud in a number of articles.

Some instances of fraud amongst spiritualist mediums were exposed by early psychical researchers such as Richard Hodgson and Harry Price. In the 1920s, magician and escapologist Harry Houdini said that researchers and observers had not created experimental procedures which absolutely preclude fraud. In 1979, magician and debunker James Randi engineered a hoax, now referred to as Project Alpha. Randi recruited two young magicians and sent them under cover to Washington University's McDonnell Laboratory with the specific aim of exposing poor experimental methods and the credulity thought to be common in parapsychology. The McDonnell laboratory did not make any formal statements or publications suggesting that the effects demonstrated by the two magicians were genuine. However, Randi has stated that both of his recruits deceived experimenters over a period of three years with demonstrations of supposedly psychic abilities: blowing electric fuses sealed in a box, causing a light weight paper rotor perched atop a needle-point to turn inside a bell jar, bending metal spoons sealed in a glass bottle, etc.

Criticism of experimental results

Some critical analysts are not satisfied with experimental parapschology studies. Some reviewers, such as statistician Jessica Utts and psychologist Ray Hyman, contend that apparently successful experimental results in psi research are more likely due to sloppy procedures, poorly trained researchers, or methodological flaws than to genuine psi effects. For example, the experiments at the PEAR laboratory were criticized by Utts, who stated that these experiments suffered numerous problems with regard to randomization, statistical baselines and the application of statistical models, and concluded that the significance values quoted in the experiments were meaningless due to defects in experimental and statistical procedures of the studies.

A typical measure of psi phenomena is statistical deviation from chance expectation. However, critics point out that statistical deviation is, strictly speaking, only evidence of a statistical anomaly, and the cause of the deviation is not known. Hyman contends that even if psi experiments could be designed that would regularly reproduce similar deviations from chance, they would not necessarily prove psychic functioning. Critics have coined the term The Psi Assumption to describe "the assumption that any significant departure from the laws of chance in a test of psychic ability is evidence that something anomalous or paranormal has occurred... assuming what they should be proving." These critics hold that concluding the existence of psychic phenomena based on chance deviation in inadequately designed experiments is affirming the consequent or begging the question.

Selection bias and meta-analysis

Selective reporting has been offered by critics as an explanation for the positive results reported by parapsychologists. Selective reporting is sometimes referred to as a "file drawer" problem, which arises when only positive study results are made public, while studies with negative or null results are not made public. Selective reporting has a compounded effect on meta-analysis, which is a statistical technique that aggregates the results of many studies in order to generate sufficient statistical power to demonstrate a result that the individual studies themselves could not demonstrate at a statistically significant level. For example, a recent meta-analysis combined 380 studies on psychokinesis, including data from the PEAR lab. It concluded that, although there is a statistically significant overall effect, it is not consistent and relatively few negative studies would cancel it out. Consequently, biased publication of positive results could be the cause.

The popularity of meta-analysis in parapsychology has been criticized by numerous researchers, and is often seen as troublesome even within parapsychology itself. Critics have said that parapsychologists misuse meta-analysis to create the incorrect impression that statistically significant results have been obtained that indicate the existence of psi phenomena.

Researcher J. E. Kennedy has argued that concerns over the use of meta-analysis in science and medicine apply as well to problems present in parapsychological meta-analysis. As a post-hoc analysis, critics emphasize the opportunity the method presents to produce biased outcomes via the selection of cases chosen for study, methods employed, and other key criteria. Critics say that analogous problems with meta-analysis have been documented in medicine, where it has been shown different investigators performing meta-analyses of the same set of studies have reached contradictory conclusions.

Organizations and publications

The lack of acceptance by mainstream science has led to a decline in academic ties to parapsychological research in the United States. Still, there are some university laboratories that continue to conduct parapsychological experiments worldwide. Among these are the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at the University of Edinburgh; the Parapsychology Research Group at Liverpool Hope University; the Veritas Research Program at the University of Arizona; the Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology Research Unit of Liverpool John Moores University; the Center for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes at the University of Northampton; and the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths University of London.

Research and professional organizations include the Parapsychological Association; the Society for Psychical Research, publisher of the Journal of Society for Psychical Research; the American Society for Psychical Research, publisher of the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research; the Rhine Research Center and Institute for Parapsychology, publisher of the Journal of Parapsychology; the Parapsychology Foundation, publisher of the International Journal of Parapsychology; and the Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research, publisher of the Australian Journal of Parapsychology. The European Journal of Parapsychology is independently published.

Organizations that encourage a critical examination of parapsychology and parapsychological research include the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, publisher of the Skeptical Inquirer; and the James Randi Educational Foundation, founded by magician and skeptic James Randi.

Notes

1. Schmidt, Helmut (1969). "Clairvoyance Tests with a Machine'". Journal of Parapsychology. 33.
2. Schmidt, Helmut (1970). "PK Experiments with Animals as Subjects". Journal of Parapsychology. 34.
3. Schmidt, Helmut (1973). "PK Tests with a High Speed Random Number Generator'". Journal of Parapsychology. 37.
4. ^ Dunne, Brenda (2003). "Information and Uncertainty in Remote Perception Research" (PDF). Journal of Scientific Exploration. 17 (2): 207–241. Retrieved 2000-02-02. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
5. What is the state-of-the-evidence for psi?, FAQ of the Parapsychological Association. Retrieved: 2009-01-07
6. ^ Science Framework for California Public Schools. California State Board of Education. 1990.
7. Wheeler, J. A. (1979). "Point of View: Drive the Pseudos Out...". Skeptical Inquirer. 3: 12–13.
8. Kurtz, P. (1978). "Is Parapsychology a Science?". Skeptical Inquirer. 3: 14–32.
9. ^ Druckman, D. and Swets, J. A. eds. (1988). Enhancing Human Performance: Issues, Theories and Techniques. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. p. 22. ISBN 0-309-07465-7. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
10. Reuters (5 September 2003). "Telepathy gets academic in Sweden". CNN. Retrieved 9 March 2009. Despite decades of experimental research ... there is still no proof that gifts such as telepathy and the ability to see the future exist, mainstream scientists say. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
11. Hyman, R. "Parapsychological research: A tutorial review and critical appraisal" (PDF). Retrieved 20 September. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
12. Flew, Antony (1982), "Parapsychology: Science or Pseudoscience?", in Grim, Patrick (ed.), Philosophy of Science and the Occult
13. ^ Cordón, Luis A. (2005). Popular psychology: an encyclopedia. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. p. 182. ISBN 0-313-32457-3. The essential problem is that a large portion of the scientific community, including most research psychologists, regards parapsychology as a pseudoscience, due largely to its failure to move beyond null results in the way science usually does. Ordinarily, when experimental evidence fails repeatedly to support a hypothesis, that hypothesis is abandoned. Within parapsychology, however, more than a century of experimentation has failed even to conclusively demonstrate the mere existence of paranormal phenomenon, yet parapsychologists continue to pursue that elusive goal.
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17. (Odling-Smee 2007) " the field is livelier. Britain is a lead player, with privately funded labs at the universities of Edinburgh, Northampton and Liverpool Hope, among others."
18. (Odling-Smee 2007) "The status of paranormal research in the United States is now at an all-time low, after a relative surge of interest in the 1970s. Money continues to pour from philanthropic sources to private institutions, but any chance of credibility depends on ties with universities, and only a trickle of research now persists in university labs."
19. (Odling-Smee 2007) "But parapsychologists are still limited to publishing in a small number of niche journals."
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References

• Odling-Smee, Lucy (2007-03-01). "The lab that asked the wrong questions". Nature. 446 (446): 10–11. doi:10.1038/446010a. Retrieved 2007-06-29.

Further reading

• Broughton, Richard S. (1992). Parapsychology. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0345379586.
• Holzer, Hans Ph.D. Parapsychologist, Author: The Supernatural: Explaining the Unexplained Publisher: Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2003.
• Houran, James (2001). Hauntings and Poltergeists: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. McFarland & Company. pp. 330 pages. ISBN 0786409843.
• Irwin, Harvey J. (2007). An Introduction to Parapsychology. McFarland & Company. p. 320. ISBN 978-0786430598. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Melton, J. Gordon (1996). Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology. Gale Group. ISBN 978-0810394872.
• Radin, Dean (2006). Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality. Paraview Pocket Books. p. 368. ISBN 978-1416516774.
• Randi, James (1982). Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions. Prometheus Books. p. 342. ISBN 0345409469. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Randi, James (1997). An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 336. ISBN 0312151195. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Sagan, Carl (1997). The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Ballantine Books. p. 349. ISBN 0345409469. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Shepard, Leslie (2000). Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Thomson Gale. pp. 1939 pages. ISBN 978-0810385702. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Wiseman, Richard (2005). Parapsychology (International Library of Psychology). Ashgate Publishing. pp. 501 pages. ISBN 978-0754624509. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

• Parapsychology FAQ Frequently asked questions, by the Parapsychological Association, a professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of psychic phenomena, affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1969.
• FindArticles.com Index Large number of articles about parapsychology, from publications such as the Journal of Parapsychology and the Skeptical Inquirer.
• Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Organization formed in 1976 to promote scientific skepticism and encourage the critical investigation of paranormal claims and parapsychology.
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• Parapsychology
• Paranormal