Advanced ESP testing

This book is concerned with your abilities in ESP or Extrasensory Perception or ESP, also called the
sixth sense, meaning getting information above and beyond our normally accepted
physical senses such as taste, smell, sight , sound etc. the book is about those things sensed with
sensed with the mind.

The term ESP was adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities
such as telepathy, clairaudience, and clairvoyance, and their trans-temporal operation
as precognition orretrocognition. ESP is also sometimes referred to as asixth sense. The term implies
acquisition of information by means external to the basic limiting assumptions of science, such as
that organisms can only receive information from the past to the present.

Parapsychology is the study of paranormal psychic phenomena, including ESP. Parapsychologists

generally regard such tests as the ganzfeld experiment as providing compelling evidence for the
existence of ESP. The scientific community rejects ESP due to the absence of an evidence base, the
lack of a theory which would explain ESP, the lack of experimental techniques which can provide
reliably positive results,[1][2][3][4][5] and considers ESP to be non existent.[6][7]

Contents

  [hide] 

1 History

1.1 J.B. Rhine

1.2 Early British research

1.3 Sequence, position and psychological effects

1.4 Cognitive and humanistic research

2 Parapsychological investigation of ESP

3 Skepticism

4 See also

5 References

6 Further reading

7 External links

History[edit]

J.B. Rhine[edit]

In the 1930s, at Duke University in North Carolina J. B. Rhine and his wife Louisa tried to develop
psychical research into an experimental science. To avoid the connotations of hauntingsand
the seance room, they renamed it "parapsychology". While Louisa Rhine concentrated on collecting
accounts of spontaneous cases, J. B. Rhine worked largely in the laboratory, carefully defining terms
such as ESP and psi and designing experiments to test them. A simple set of cards was developed,
originally called Zener cards[8] - now called ESP cards. They bear the symbols circle, square, wavy
lines, cross, and star; there are five cards of each in a pack of 25.

In a telepathy experiment, the "sender" looks at a series of cards while the "receiver" guesses the
symbols. To try to observe clairvoyance, the pack of cards is hidden from everyone while the
receiver guesses. To try to observe precognition, the order of the cards is determined after the
guesses are made.

In all such experiments order of the cards must be random so that hits are not obtained through
systematic biases or prior knowledge. At first the cards were shuffled by hand, then by machine.
Later, random number tables were used, nowadays, computers. An advantage of ESP cards is that
statistics can easily be applied to determine whether the number of hits obtained is higher than
would be expected by chance. Rhine used ordinary people as subjects and claimed that, on average,
they did significantly better than chance expectation. Later he used dice to test for psychokinesis and
also claimed results that were better than chance.

In 1940, Rhine, J.G. Pratt, and others at Duke authored a review of all card-guessing experiments
conducted internationally since 1882 titled Extra-Sensory Perception After Sixty Years. It included
details of replications of Rhine's studies. Through these years, 50 studies were published, of which
33 were contributed by investigators other than Rhine and the Duke University group; 61% of these
independent studies reported significant results suggestive of ESP.[9] Among these were
psychologists at Colorado University and Hunter College, New York, who completed the studies with
the largest number of trials and the highest levels of significance.[10][11] Replication failures
encouraged Rhine to further research into the conditions necessary to experimentally produce the
effect. He maintained, however, that it was not replicability, or even a fundamental theory of ESP
that would evolve research, but only a greater interest in unconscious mental processes and a more
complete understanding of human personality.[12]

Early British research[edit]

This section does not cite any references or sources.Please

help improve this section by adding citations to reliable
sources. Unsourced material may be challenged
andremoved. (October 2008)

One of the first statistical studies of ESP, using card-guessing, was conducted by Ina Jephson, in the
1920s. She reported mixed findings across two studies. More successful experiments were
conducted with procedures other than card-guessing. G.N.M. Tyrrell used automated target-
selection and data-recording in guessing the location of a future point of light. Whateley Carington
experimented on the paranormal cognition of drawings of randomly selected words, using
participants from across the globe. J. Hettinger studied the ability to retrieve information associated
with token objects.[13]

Less successful was University of London mathematician Samuel Soal in his attempted replications of
the card-guessing studies. However, following a hypothesis suggested by Carington on the basis of
his own findings, Soal re-analysed his data for evidence of what Carington termed displacement. Soal
discovered, to his surprise, that four of his former participants, Randolph Tucker Pendleton IV,
Amanda Bailey, Ling Dao and Rachel Brown, evidenced displacement: i.e., their responses
significantly corresponded to targets for trials one removed from which they were assigned. Soal
sought to confirm this finding by testing these participants in new experiments. Conducted during
the war years, into the 1950s, under tightly controlled conditions, they produced highly significant
results suggestive of precognitivetelepathy. The findings were convincing for many other scientists
and philosophers regarding telepathy and the claims of Rhine, but were also prominently critiqued
as fraudulent, until, following Soal's death in 1975, support for them was largely abandoned.

Sequence, position and psychological effects[edit]

Rhine and other parapsychologists found that some subjects, or some conditions, produced
significant below-chance scoring (psi-missing); or that scores declined during the testing (the
"decline effect").[14][15] Some such "internal effects" in ESP scores have also appeared to be
idiosyncratic to particular participants or research methods. Most notable is the focusing
effectidentified in the decade-long research with Pavel Stepanek.

Personality measures have also been tested. People who believe in psi ("sheep") tend to score above
chance, while those who do not believe in psi ("goats") show null results or psi-missing. This has
become known as the "sheep-goat effect".[16]

Prediction of decline and other position effects has proved challenging, although they have been
often identified in data gathered for the purpose of observing other effects.[17] Personality and
attitudinal effects have shown greater predictability, with meta-analysis of parapsychological
databases showing the sheep-goat effect, and other traits, to have significant and reliable effects
over the accumulated data.[18][19]

Cognitive and humanistic research[edit]

In the 1960s, in line with the development of cognitive psychology and humanistic psychology,

parapsychologists became increasingly interested in the cognitive components of ESP, the subjective
experience involved in making ESP responses, and the role of ESP in psychological life. Memory, for
instance, was offered as a better model of psi than perception. This called for experimental
procedures that were not limited to Rhine's favoured forced-choice methodology. Free-response
measures, such as used by Carington in the 1930s, were developed with attempts to raise the
sensitivity of participants to their cognitions. These procedures included relaxation, meditation,
REM-sleep, and the Ganzfeld (a mild sensory deprivation procedure). These studies have proved to
be even more successful than Rhine's forced-choice paradigm, with meta-analyses evidencing
reliable effects, and many confirmatory replication studies.[20][21]

Parapsychological investigation of ESP[edit]

Main articles: Parapsychology, Scientific investigation of telepathy and Ganzfeld experiment

The study of psi phenomena such as ESP is called parapsychology. The consensus of

theParapsychological Association is that certain types of psychic phenomena such
aspsychokinesis, telepathy, and astral projection are well established.[4][22][23]

A great deal of reported extrasensory perception is said to occur spontaneously in conditions which
are not scientifically controlled. Such experiences have often been reported to be much stronger and
more obvious than those observed in laboratory experiments. These reports, rather than laboratory
evidence, have historically been the basis for the widespread belief in the authenticity of these
phenomena. However, it has proven extremely difficult (perhaps impossible) to replicate such
extraordinary experiences under controlled scientific conditions.[4]

Proponents of the ESP phenomenon point to numerous studies that cite evidence of the
phenomenon's existence: Russell Targ and Harold E. Puthoff, who were physicists at SRI
International in the 1970s, as well as J. B. Rhine at Duke University and many others, are often cited
in arguments that ESP exists.

The main current debate concerning ESP surrounds whether or not statistically compelling
laboratory evidence for it has already been accumulated.[4][24] The most accepted results are all
small to moderate statistically significant results. Critics may dispute the positive interpretation of
results obtained in scientific studies of ESP, as they claim they are difficult to reproduce reliably, and
are small in effect. Parapsychologists have argued that the data from numerous studies show that
certain individuals have consistently produced remarkable results while the remainder have
constituted a highly significant trend that cannot be dismissed even if the effect is small.[25]

Skepticism[edit]

See also: Parapsychology: Criticism and controversy

Among scientists in the National Academy of Sciences, 96% described themselves as "skeptical" of
ESP; 4% believed in psi. Among all scientists surveyed, 10% felt that parapsychological research
should be encouraged.[26] The National Academy of Sciences had previously sponsored
the Enhancing Human Performance report on mental development programs, which was critical of
parapsychology.[27]

Skeptics claim that there is a lack of a viable theory of the mechanism behind ESP, and that there are
historical cases in which flaws have been discovered in the experimental design of parapsychological
studies.[28]

See also[edit]

[show]Part of a series of articles on theparanormal

Astral projection

Aura

Clairvoyance

Clever Hans

Extrasensory Perception (book)

International Zetetic Challenge

Intuition

Mediumship

Out-of-body experiences

Parapsychology

Parapsychology basic items (list)

Precognition

Psychokinesis

Pyrokinesis
Religious experience

Remote viewing

Retrocognition

Silva Method

Spirituality items (list)

Telepathy

The Decline Effect

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

Telepathy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Telepathy (disambiguation).

This article is about the paranormal phenomenon. For the magical act, see mentalism.

Telepathy

Terminology

TP

An experiment in sensory deprivation aiming to

demonstrate TP

Coined by Frederic W. H. Myers (1882) [1][2]

Definition The transference of thoughts or feelings

between two or more subjects through Psi.

Signature One subject said to gain information from

another that was shielded from their
traditional senses by distance, time, or
physical barriers.

See also Extrasensory perception

Ganzfeld experiment

Telepathy (from the Ancient Greek τῆλε, telemeaning "distant" and πάθος, pathos or -

patheiameaning "feeling, perception, passion, affliction,experience")[3][4] is the purported
transmission of information from one person to another without using any of our known sensory
channels or physical interaction. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W. H.
Myers,[1] a founder of the Society for Psychical Research,[2]and has remained more popular than
the earlier expression thought-transference.[2][5]

There is no scientific evidence that telepathy is a real phenomenon. Many studies seeking to detect,
understand, and utilize telepathy have been carried out, but no replicable results from well-
controlled experiments exist.[6][7][8][9]

Telepathy is a common theme in modern fictionand science fiction, with

many extraterrestrials,superheroes and supervillains having telepathic ability.

Contents
  [hide] 

1 Origins of the concept

2 Thought reading

3 Case studies

4 In parapsychology

4.1 Types

4.2 Zener Cards

4.3 Dream telepathy

4.4 Ganzfeld experiment

5 Scientific reception

6 See also

7 Notes

8 External links

Origins of the concept[edit]

The origin of the concept of telepathy in the Western civilization can be tracked to the late 19th
century.[10] As the physical sciences made significant advances, scientific concepts were applied to
mental phenomena (e.g., animal magnetism), with the hope that this would help
understandparanormal phenomena. The modern concept of telepathy emerged in this context.[10]

The notion of telepathy is not dissimilar to two psychological concepts: delusions of thought

insertion/removal. This similarity might explain how some people have come up with the idea of
telepathy. Thought insertion/removal is a symptom of psychosis, particularly
of schizophrenia orschizoaffective disorder.[11] Psychiatric patients who experience this symptom
falsely believe that some of their thoughts are not their own and that others (e.g., other people,
aliens, demons or fallen angels, or conspiring intelligence agencies) are putting thoughts into their
minds (thought insertion). Some patients feel as if thoughts are being taken out of their minds or
deleted (thought removal). Along with other symptoms of psychosis, delusions of thought insertion
may be reduced by antipsychotic medication. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists believe and
empirical findings support the idea that people with schizotypy and schizotypal personality
disorder are particularly likely to believe in telepathy.[12][13][14]

Thought reading[edit]

In the late 19th century the magician Washington Irving Bishop would perform "thought reading"
demonstrations. Bishop claimed no supernatural powers and ascribed his powers to muscular
sensitivity (reading thoughts from unconscious bodily cues).[15] Bishop was investigated by a group
of scientists including the editor of the British Medical Journal and the psychologistFrancis Galton.
Bishop performed several feats successfully such as correctly identifying a selected spot on a table
and locating a hidden object. During the experiment Bishop required physical contact with a subject
who knew the correct answer. He would hold the hand or wrist of the helper. The scientists
concluded that Bishop was not a genuine telepath but using a highly trained skill to
detect ideomotor movements.[16]

Another famous thought reader was the magician Stuart Cumberland. He was famous for
performing blindfolded feats such as identifying a hidden object in a room that a person had picked
out or asking someone to imagine a murder scene and then attempt to read the subject's thoughts
and identify the victim and reenact the crime. Cumberland claimed to possess no genuine psychic
ability and his thought reading performances could only be demonstrated by holding the hand of his
subject to read their muscular movements. He came into dispute with psychical researchers
associated with the Society for Psychical Research who were searching for genuine cases of
telepathy. Cumberland argued that both telepathy and communication with the dead were
impossible and that the mind of man can not be read through telepathy, only bymuscle reading.[17]

Case studies[edit]

George Albert Smith

In the late 19th century the Creery Sisters (Mary, Alice, Maud, Kathleen, and Emily) were tested by
the Society for Psychical Research and believed them to have genuine psychic ability however,
during a later experiment they were caught utilizing signal codes and they confessed to fraud.[18]
[19] George Albert Smith and Douglas Blackburnwere claimed to be genuine psychics by the Society
for Psychical Research but Blackburn confessed to fraud:

“ For nearly thirty years the telepathic experiments conducted by Mr. G. A. Smith and
myself have been accepted and cited as the basic evidence of the truth of thought
transference...

...the whole of those alleged experiments were bogus, and originated in the honest
desire of two youths to show how easily men of scientific mind and training could be
deceived when seeking for evidence in support of a theory they were wishful to
establish.[20] ”

Arthur Conan Doyle and W. T. Stead were duped into believing Julius and Agnes Zancig had genuine
psychic powers. Both Doyle and Stead wrote the Zancigs performed telepathy. In 1924 Julius and
Agnes Zancig confessed that their mind reading act was a trick and published the secret code and all
the details of the trick method they had used under the title of Our Secrets!!in a London Newspaper.
[21]
A famous experiment in telepathy was recorded by the American author Upton Sinclair in his
book Mental Radio which documents Sinclair's test of psychic abilities of Mary Craig Sinclair, his
second wife. She attempted to duplicate 290 pictures which were drawn by her husband. Sinclair
claimed Mary successfully duplicated 65 of them, with 155 "partial successes" and 70 failures.
However, these experiments were not conducted in a controlled scientific laboratory environment.
[22] Martin Gardner wrote the possibility of sensory leakage during the experiment had not been
ruled out:

In the first place, an intuitive wife, who knows her husband intimately, may be able to guess with a
fair degree of accuracy what he is likely to draw—particularly if the picture is related to some freshly
recalled event the two experienced in common. At first, simple pictures like chairs and tables would
likely predominate, but as these are exhausted, the field of choice narrows and pictures are more
likely to be suggested by recent experiences. It is also possible that Sinclair may have given
conversational hints during some of the tests—hints which in his strong will to believe, he would
promptly forget about. Also, one must not rule out the possibility that in many tests, made across
the width of a room, Mrs. Sinclair may have seen the wiggling of the top of a pencil, or arm
movements, which would convey to her unconscious a rough notion of the drawing.[22]

The Turner-Ownbey long distance telepathy experiment was discovered to contain flaws. May
Frances Turner positioned herself in the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory whilst Sara Ownbey
claimed to receive transmissions 250 miles away. For the experiment Turner would think of a symbol
and write it down whilst Ownbey would write her guesses.[23] The scores were highly successful and
both records were supposed to be sent to J. B. Rhine, however, Ownbey sent them to Turner. Critics
pointed out this invalidated the results as she could have simply written her own record to agree
with the other. When the experiment was repeated and the records were sent to Rhine the scores
dropped to average.[23][24][25]

Another example is the experiment carried out by the author Harold Sherman with the
explorerHubert Wilkins who carried out their own experiment in telepathy for five and a half months
starting in October 1937. This took place when Sherman was in New York and Wilkins was in
the Arctic. The experiment consisted of Sherman and Wilkins at the end of each day to relax and
visualise a mental image or "thought impression" of the events or thoughts they had experienced in
the day and then to record those images and thoughts on paper in a diary. The results at the end
when comparing Sherman's diary to Wilkins was claimed to be more than 60 percent.[26]

The full results of the experiments were published in 1942 in a book by Sherman and Wilkins
titled Thoughts Through Space. In the book both Sherman and Wilkins had written they believed
they had demonstrated that it was possible to send and receive thought impressions from the mind
of one person to another.[27] The magician John Booth wrote the experiment was not an example
of telepathy as a high percentage of misses had occurred. Booth wrote it was more likely that the
"hits" were the result of "coincidence, law of averages, subconscious expectancy, logical inference or
a plain lucky guess."[28]

In a series of experiments Samuel Soal and his assistant K. M. Goldney examined 160 subjects over
128, 000 trials and obtained no evidence for the existence of telepathy.[29] Soal tested Basil
Shackleton and Gloria Stewart between 1941 and 1943 in over five hundred sittings and over twenty
thousand guesses. Shackleton scored 2890 compared to a chance expectation of 2308 and Gloria
scored 9410 compared to a chance level of 7420. It was later discovered the results had been
tampered with. Gretl Albert who was present during many of the experiments said she had
witnessed Soal altering the records during the sessions.[29] Betty Marwick discovered Soal had not
used the method of random selection of numbers as he had claimed. Marwick showed that there
had been manipulation of the score sheets "all the experiments reported by Soal had thereby been
discredited."[30][31]

In 1979 the physicists John Taylor and Eduardo Balanovski wrote the only scientifically feasible
explanation for telepathy could be electromagnetism (EM) involving EM fields. In a series of
experiments the EM levels were many orders of magnitude lower than calculated and no
paranormal effects were observed. Both Taylor and Balanovski wrote their results were a strong
argument against the validity of telepathy.[32] A 1993 study by Susan Blackmore investigated the
claims of twin telepathy. In an experiment with six sets of twins one subject would act as the sender
and the other the receiver. The sender was given selected objects, photographs or numbers and
would attempt to psychically send the information to the receiver. The results from the experiment
were negative, no evidence of telepathy was observed.[33]

Research in anomalistic psychology has discovered that in some cases telepathy can be explained by
a covariation bias. In an experiment (Schienle et al. 1996) 22 believers and 20 skeptics were asked to
judge the covariation between transmitted symbols and the corresponding feedback given by a
receiver. According to the results the believers overestimated the number of successful
transmissions whilst the skeptics made accurate hit judgments.[34] The results from another
telepathy experiment involving 48 undergraduate college students (Rudski, 2002) were explained
by hindsight and confirmation biases.[35]

In parapsychology[edit]

Within the field of parapsychology, telepathy is considered to be a form of extrasensory

perception (ESP) or anomalous cognition in which information is transferred through Psi. It is often
categorized similarly to precognition and clairvoyance.[36] Experiments have been used to test for
telepathic abilities. Among the most well known are the use of Zener cards and theGanzfeld
experiment.

Types[edit]

Parapsychology describes several forms of telepathy:[5]

Latent telepathy, formerly known as "deferred telepathy",[37] is described as the transfer of

information, through Psi, with an observable time-lag between transmission and reception.[5]

Retrocognitive, precognitive, and intuitive telepathy is described as being the transfer of

information, through Psi, about the past, future or present state of an individual's mind to another
individual.[5]

Emotive telepathy, also known as remote influence[38] or emotional transfer, is the process of
transferring kinesthetic sensations through altered states.

Superconscious telepathy involves tapping into the superconscious[39] to access the collective

wisdom of the human species for knowledge.

Zener Cards[edit]
Zener cards

Zener cards are marked with five distinctive symbols. When using them, one individual is designated
the "sender" and another the "receiver". The sender selects a random card and visualize the symbol
on it, while the receiver attempts to determine that symbol using Psi. Statistically, the receiver has a
20% chance of randomly guessing the correct symbol, so to demonstrate telepathy, they must
repeatedly score a success rate that is significantly higher than 20%.[40] If not conducted properly,
this method can be vulnerable to sensory leakage and card counting.[40]

J. B. Rhine's experiments with Zener cards were discredited due to the discovery that sensory
leakage or cheating could account for all his results such as the subject being able to read the
symbols from the back of the cards and being able to see and hear the experimenter to note subtle
clues.[41] Once Rhine took precautions in response to criticisms of his methods, he was unable to
find any high-scoring subjects.[42] Due to the methodological problems, parapsychologists no longer
utilize card-guessing studies.[43]

Dream telepathy[edit]

Parapsychological studies into dream telepathy were carried out at the Maimonides Medical

Center in Brooklyn, New York led by Stanley Krippner and Montague Ullman. They concluded the
results from some of their experiments supported dream telepathy.[44] However, the results have
not been independently replicated.[45][46][47][48] The psychologist James Alcock has written the
dream telepathy experiments at Maimonides have failed to provide evidence for telepathy and "lack
of replication is rampant."[49]

The picture target experiments that were conducted by Krippner and Ullman were criticized byC. E.
M. Hansel. According to Hansel there were weaknesses in the design of the experiments in the way
in which the agent became aware of their target picture. Only the agent should have known the
target and no other person until the judging of targets had been completed, however, an
experimenter was with the agent when the target envelope was opened. Hansel also wrote there
had been poor controls in the experiment as the main experimenter could communicate with the
subject.[50]

An attempt to replicate the experiments that used picture targets was carried out by Edward
Belvedere and David Foulkes. The finding was that neither the subject nor the judges matched the
targets with dreams above chance level.[51] Results from other experiments by Belvedere and
Foulkes were also negative.[52]

Ganzfeld experiment[edit]

When using the Ganzfeld experiment to test for telepathy, one individual is designated the receiver
and is placed inside a controlled environment where they are deprived of sensory input, and another
is designated the sender and is placed in a separate location. The receiver is then required to receive
information from the sender. The nature of the information may vary between experiments.[53]

The ganzfeld experiment studies that were examined by Ray Hyman and Charles Honorton had
methodological problems that were well documented. Honorton reported only 36% of the studies
used duplicate target sets of pictures to avoid handling cues.[54] Hyman discovered flaws in all of
the 42 ganzfeld experiments and to access each experiment, he devised a set of 12 categories of
flaws. Six of these concerned statistical defects, the other six covered procedural flaws such as
inadequate documentation, randomization and security as well as possibilities of sensory leakage.
[55] Over half of the studies failed to safeguard against sensory leakage and all of the studies
contained at least one of the 12 flaws. Because of the flaws, Honorton agreed with Hyman the 42
ganzfeld studies could not support the claim for the existence of psi.[55]

Possibilities of sensory leakage in the ganzfeld experiments included the receivers hearing what was
going on in the sender's room next door as the rooms were not soundproof and the sender's
fingerprints to be visible on the target object for the receiver to see.[56][57]

Hyman also reviewed the autoganzfeld experiments and discovered a pattern in the data that
implied a visual cue may have taken place:

The most suspicious pattern was the fact that the hit rate for a given target increased with the
frequency of occurrence of that target in the experiment. The hit rate for the targets that occurred
only once was right at the chance expectation of 25%. For targets that appeared twice the hit rate
crept up to 28%. For those that occurred three times it was 38%, and for those targets that occurred
six or more times, the hit rate was 52%. Each time a videotape is played its quality can degrade. It is
plausible then, that when a frequently used clip is the target for a given session, it may be physically
distinguishable from the other three decoy clips that are presented to the subject for judging.
Surprisingly, the parapsychological community has not taken this finding seriously. They still include
the autoganzfeld series in their meta-analyses and treat it as convincing evidence for the reality of
psi.[55]

Hyman wrote the autoganzfeld experiments were flawed because they did not preclude the
possibility of sensory leakage.[55] In 2010, Lance Storm, Patrizio Tressoldi, and Lorenzo Di Risio
analyzed 29 ganzfeld studies from 1997 to 2008. Of the 1,498 trials, 483 produced hits,
corresponding to a hit rate of 32.2%. This hit rate is statistically significant with p < .001. Participants
selected for personality traits and personal characteristics thought to be psi-conducive were found
to perform significantly better than unselected participants in the ganzfeld condition.[58] Hyman
(2010) published a rebuttal to Storm et al. According to Hyman "reliance on meta-analysis as the sole
basis for justifying the claim that an anomaly exists and that the evidence for it is consistent and
replicable is fallacious. It distorts what scientists mean by confirmatory evidence." Hyman wrote the
ganzfeld studies have not been independently replicated and have failed to produce evidence for
telepathy.[59] Storm et al. published a response to Hyman claiming the ganzfeld experimental
design has proved to be consistent and reliable but parapsychology is a struggling discipline that has
not received much attention so further research on the subject is necessary.[60] Rouder et al. 2013
wrote that critical evaluation of Storm et al.'s meta-analysis reveals no evidence for telepathy, no
plausible mechanism and omitted replication failures.[61]

Scientific reception[edit]

A variety of tests have been performed to demonstrate telepathy, but there is no scientific evidence
that the power exists.[7][62][63][64] A panel commissioned by the United States National Research
Council to study paranormal claims concluded that "despite a 130-year record of scientific research
on such matters, our committee could find no scientific justification for the existence of phenomena
such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy or ‘mind over matter’ exercises... Evaluation of a
large body of the best available evidence simply does not support the contention that these
phenomena exist."[65] The scientific community considersparapsychology a pseudoscience.[66][67]
[68][69] There is no known mechanism for telepathy.[70]Mario Bunge has written telepathy would
contradict laws of science and the claim that "signals can be transmitted across space without fading
with distance is inconsistent with physics".[71]
The physicist John Taylor has written the experiments that have been claimed by parapsychologists
to support evidence for the existence of telepathy are based on the use of shaky statistical analysis,
poor design and attempts to duplicate such experiments by the scientific community have failed.
Taylor also wrote the arguments used by parapsychologists for the feasibility of such phenomena are
based on distortions of theoretical physics as well as "complete ignorance" of relevant areas of
physics.[72]

Psychologist Stuart Sutherland wrote that cases of telepathy can be explained by people

underestimating the probability of coincidences. According to Sutherland "most stories about this
phenomenon concern people who close to one another - husband and wife or brother and sister.
Since such people have much in common, it is highly probable that they will sometimes think the
same thought at the same time."[73]

Outside of parapsychology, telepathy is generally explained as the result of fraud, self-delusion

and/or self-deception and not as a paranormal power.[6][74] Psychological research has also
revealed other explanations such as confirmation bias, expectancy bias, sensory leakage,subjective
validation and wishful thinking.[75] Virtually all of the instances of more popular psychic
phenomena, such as mediumship, can be attributed to non-paranormal techniques such as cold
reading.[76][77] Magicians such as Ian Rowland and Derren Brown have demonstrated techniques
and results similar to those of popular psychics, without paranormal means. They have identified,
described, and developed psychological techniques of cold reading and hot reading.

See also[edit]

Extended Mind, the concept that things frequently used by the mind become part of it.

Ishin-denshin, traditional Japanese concept of unspoken mutual understanding, sometimes

translated as "telepathy".

Lady Wonder, a horse that appeared to answer questions.

Quantum pseudo-telepathy, a phenomenon in quantum game theory.

List of fictional characters with telepathy.

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience.

Notes[edit]

^ Jump up to:a b Hamilton, Trevor (2009). Immortal Longings: F.W.H. Myers and the Victorian search
for life after death. Imprint Academic. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-84540-248-8.

^ Jump up to:a b c Carroll, Robert Todd (2005). "The Skeptic's Dictionary; Telepathy". Skepdic.com.

Retrieved2006-09-13.

Jump up^ Telepathy. CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 11th
Edition. Retrieved December 06, 2012.

Jump up^ Following the model of sympathy and empathy.

^ Jump up to:a b c d Glossary of Parapsychological terms - Telepathy — Parapsychological

Association. Retrieved December 19, 2006.

^ Jump up to:a b Felix Planer. (1980). Superstition. Cassell. p. 218. ISBN 0-304-30691-6 "Many

experiments have attempted to bring scientific methods to bear on the investigation of the subject.
Their results based on literally millions of tests, have made it abundantly clear that there exists no
such phenomenon as telepathy, and that the seemingly successful scores have relied either on
illusion, or on deception."

^ Jump up to:a b Jan Dalkvist (1994). Telepathic Group Communication of Emotions as a Function of

Belief in Telepathy. Dept. of Psychology, Stockholm University. Retrieved 5 October 2011. Within the
scientific community however, the claim that psi anomalies exist or may exist is in general regarded
with skepticism. One reason for this difference between the scientist and the non scientist is that the
former relies on his own experiences and anecdotal reports of psi phenomena, whereas the scientist
at least officially requires replicable results from well controlled experiments to believe in such
phenomena - results which according to the prevailing view among scientists, do not exist.

Jump up^ Willem B. Drees (28 November 1998). Religion, Science and Naturalism. Cambridge
University Press. pp. 242–. ISBN 978-0-521-64562-1. Retrieved 5 October 2011. Let me take the
example of claims in parapsychology regarding telepathy across spatial or temporal distances,
apparently without a mediating physical process. Such claims are at odds with the scientific
consensus.

Jump up^ Spencer Rathus. (2011). Psychology: Concepts and Connections. Cengage Learning. p.

143.ISBN 978-1111344856 "There is no adequate scientific evidence that people can read other
people's minds. Research has not identified one single indisputable telepath or clairvoyant."

^ Jump up to:a b Roger Luckhurst. (2002). The Invention of Telepathy, 1870-1901. Oxford University

Press.ISBN 978-0199249626

Jump up^ Richard Noll. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders.
Facts on File. p. 359. ISBN 978-0816064052

Jump up^ Graham Pickup. (2006). Cognitive Neuropsychiatry. Volume 11, Number 2, Number

2/March 2006. pp. 117-192

Jump up^ Andrew Gumley, Matthias Schwannauer. (2006). Staying Well After Psychosis: A Cognitive
Interpersonal Approach to Recovery and Relapse Prevention. Wiley. p. 187. ISBN 978-
0470021859"Schizotypy refers to a normal personality construct characterised by an enduring
tendency to experience attenuated forms of hallucinatory (e.g. hearing one's own thoughts) and
delusional experiences (e.g. beliefs in telepathy)."

Jump up^ Mary Townsend. (2013). Essentials of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing: Concepts of Care
in Evidence-Based Practice. F. A. Davis Company. p. 613. ISBN 978-0803638761 "Individuals with
schizotypal personality disorder are aloof and isolated and behave in a bland and apathetic manner.
Magical thinking, ideas of reference, illusions, and depersonalization are part of their everybody
world. Examples include superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or "six sense;" and
beliefs that "others can feel my feelings."

Jump up^ Roger Luckhurst. (2002). The Invention of Telepathy: 1870-1901. Oxford University Press.
p. 63.ISBN 978-0199249626

Jump up^ Richard Wiseman. (2011). Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There. Macmillan. p.
140-142.ISBN 978-0-230-75298-6

Jump up^ Nicola Bown, Carolyn Burdett, Pamela Thurschwell. (2004). The Victorian Supernatural.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 87-108. ISBN 0-521-81015-9
Jump up^ Ray Hyman. (1989). The Elusive Quarry: A Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research.
Prometheus Books. pp. 99-106

Jump up^ Gordon Stein. (1996). The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p. 688

Jump up^ Andrew Neher. (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological

Examination. Dover Publications. p. 220

Jump up^ John Booth. (1986). Psychic Paradoxes. Prometheus Books. p. 8

^ Jump up to:a b Martin Gardner, Fads & Fallacies in the Name of Science (Courier Dover

Publications, 1957) Chapter 25: ESP and PK, available online; accessed July 25, 2010.

^ Jump up to:a b John Sladek. (1974). The New Apocrypha: A Guide to Strange Sciences and Occult
Beliefs. Panther. pp. 172-174

Jump up^ Bergen Evans. (1954). The Spoor of Spooks: And Other Nonsense. Knopf. p. 24

Jump up^ C. E. M. Hansel. (1989). The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited.
Prometheus Books. pp. 56-58. ISBN 0-87975-516-4

Jump up^ Simon Nasht. (2006). The Last Explorer: Hubert Wilkins, Hero of the Great Age of Polar
Exploration. Arcade Publishing. pp. 267-268

Jump up^ Hubert Wilkins, Harold Sherman. (2004). Thoughts through Space: A Remarkable

Adventure in the Realm of Mind. Hampton Roads Publishing. ISBN 1-57174-314-6

Jump up^ John Booth. (1986). Psychic Paradoxes. Prometheus Books. p. 69

^ Jump up to:a b Lawrie Reznek. (2010). Delusions and the Madness of the Masses. Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers . pp. 54-55

Jump up^ C. E. M. Hansel. (1980). ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Reevaluation. Prometheus

Books. p. 165

Jump up^ Betty Markwick. (1985). The establishment of data manipulation in the Soal-Shackleton

experiments. In Paul Kurtz. A Skeptic’s Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 287-312

Jump up^ Taylor, J. G and Balanovski, E. (1979). Is There Any Scientific Explanation of the
Paranormal?. Nature, 279: 631-633.

Jump up^ Wiseman, Richard. (2011). Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There. Macmillan. p.
54. ISBN 978-0-230-75298-6

Jump up^ Schienle, A., Vaitl, D., and Stark, R. (1996). Covariation bias and paranormal belief.
Psychological Reports, 78, 291-305.

Jump up^ Rudski, J. M. (2002). Hindsight and confirmation biases in an exercise in telepathy.

Psychological Reports, 91, 899–906.

Jump up^ Glossary of Parapsychological terms - ESP, Parapsychological Association. Retrieved

December 19, 2006.

Jump up^ Rennie, John (1845), "Test for Telepathy", Scientific American, V3#1 (1847-09-25)

Jump up^ Plazo, Dr. Joseph R., (2002) "Psychic Seduction." pp.112-114 ISBN 0-9785922-3-9
Jump up^ St. Claire, David., (1989) "Instant ESP." pp.40-50

^ Jump up to:a b Carroll, Robert (2006-02-17). "Zener ESP Cards". The Skeptic's Dictionary.

Retrieved2006-07-18.

Jump up^ Jonathan C. Smith. (2009). Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A

Critical Thinker's Toolkit. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405181228. "Today, researchers discount the
first decade of Rhine's work with Zener cards. Stimulus leakage or cheating could account for all his
findings. Slight indentations on the backs of cards revealed the symbols embossed on card faces.
Subjects could see and hear the experimenter, and note subtle but revealing facial expressions or
changes in breathing."

Jump up^ Milbourne Christopher. (1970). ESP, Seers & Psychics. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. p. 28

Jump up^ James Alcock. (2011). Back from the Future: Parapsychology and the Bem Affair. Skeptical
Inquirer. "Despite Rhine’s confidence that he had established the reality of extrasensory perception,
he had not done so. Methodological problems with his experiments eventually came to light, and as
a result parapsychologists no longer run card-guessing studies and rarely even refer to Rhine’s
work."

Jump up^ Ullman, Montague (2003). "Dream telepathy: experimental and clinical findings". In

Totton, Nick.Psychoanalysis and the paranormal: lands of darkness. Reference, Information and
Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Karnac Books. pp. 14–46. ISBN 978-1-85575-985-5.

Jump up^ Parker, Adrian. (1975). States of Mind: ESP and Altered States of Consciousness. Taplinger.
p. 90. ISBN 0-8008-7374-2

Jump up^ Clemmer, E. J. (1986). Not so anomalous observations question ESP in dreams. American

Psychologist 41: 1173-1174.

Jump up^ Hyman, Ray. (1986). Maimonides dream-telepathy experiments. Skeptical Inquirer 11: 91-
92.

Jump up^ Neher, Andrew. (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological

Examination. Dover Publications. p. 145. ISBN 0-486-26167-0

Jump up^ Alcock James. (2003). Give the Null Hypothesis a Chance: Reasons to Remain Doubtful
about the Existence of Psi. Journal of Consciousness Studies 10: 29-50.

Jump up^ Hansel, C. E. M. The Search for a Demonstration of ESP. In Kurtz, Paul. (1985). A Skeptic's
Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 97-127. ISBN 0-87975-300-5

Jump up^ Belvedere, E., Foulkes, D. (1971). Telepathy and Dreams: A Failure to Replicate. Perceptual
and Motor Skills 33: 783–789.

Jump up^ Hansel, C. E. M. (1989). The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited.
Prometheus Books. pp. 141-152. ISBN 0-87975-516-4

Jump up^ The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena by Dean I. Radin
Harper Edge, ISBN 0-06-251502-0

Jump up^ Julie Milton, Richard Wiseman. (2002). A Response to Storm and Ertel (2002). The Journal
of Parapsychology. Volume 66: 183-186.
^ Jump up to:a b c d Ray Hyman. Evaluating Parapsychological Claims in Robert J. Sternberg, Henry L.
Roediger, Diane F. Halpern. (2007). Critical Thinking in Psychology. Cambridge University Press. pp.
216-231. ISBN 978-0521608343

Jump up^ Richard Wiseman, Matthew Smith, Diana Kornbrot. (1996). Assessing possible sender-to-
experimenter acoustic leakage in the PRL autoganzfeld. Journal of Parapsychology. Volume 60: 97-
128.

Jump up^ Robert Todd Carroll. (2014). "Ganzfeld" in The Skeptic's Dictionary.

Jump up^ Storm, Tressoldi, Di Risio (July 2010). "Meta-Analysis of Free-Response Studies, 1992–

2008: Assessing the Noise Reduction Model in Parapsychology". Psychological Bulletin 138 (4): 471–
85. doi:10.1037/a0019457. PMID 20565164. Retrieved 2010-08-18.

Jump up^ Hyman, R. (2010). Meta-analysis that conceals more than it reveals: Comment on Storm et
al. (2010). Psychological Bulletin, 136. pp. 486-490.

Jump up^ Storm, L., Tressoldi, P. E., & Di Risio, L. (2010). A meta-analysis with nothing to hide: Reply
to Hyman (2010). Psychological Bulletin 136: 491-494.

Jump up^ Rouder, J. N., Morey, R. D., & Province, J. M. (2013): A Bayes factor meta-analysis of recent
extrasensory perception experiments: Comment on Storm, Tressoldi, and Di Risio (2010).
Psychological Bulletin 139: 241–247.

Jump up^ Simon Hoggart, Mike Hutchinson. (1995). Bizarre Beliefs. Richard Cohen Books. p.
145. ISBN 978-1573921565 "The trouble is that the history of research into psi is littered with failed
experiments, ambiguous experiments, and experiments which are claimed as great successes but are
quickly rejected by conventional scientists. There has also been some spectacular cheating."

Jump up^ Robert Cogan. (1998). Critical Thinking: Step by Step. University Press of America. p.
227. ISBN 978-0761810674 "When an experiment can't be repeated and get the same result, this
tends to show that the result was due to some error in experimental procedure, rather than some
real causal process. ESP experiments simply have not turned up any repeatable paranormal
phenomena."

Jump up^ Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.

144. ISBN 978-1573929790 "It is important to realize that, in one hundred years of parapsychological
investigations, there has never been a single adequate demonstration of the reality of any psi
phenomenon."

Jump up^ Thomas Gilovich. (1993). How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in
Everyday Life. Free Press. p. 160

Jump up^ Daisie Radner, Michael Radner. (1982). Science and Unreason. Wadsworth. pp. 38-
66. ISBN 0-534-01153-5

Jump up^ Mario Bunge. (1987). Why Parapsychology Cannot Become a Science. Behavioral and Brain
Sciences 10: 576-577.

Jump up^ Michael W. Friedlander. (1998). At the Fringes of Science. Westview Press. p. 119. ISBN 0-
8133-2200-6 "Parapsychology has failed to gain general scientific acceptance even for its improved
methods and claimed successes, and it is still treated with a lopsided ambivalence among the
scientific community. Most scientists write it off as pseudoscience unworthy of their time."
Jump up^ Massimo Pigliucci, Maarten Boudry. (2013). Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering
the Demarcation Problem. University Of Chicago Press p. 158. ISBN 978-0226051963 "Many
observers refer to the field as a "pseudoscience". When mainstream scientists say that the field of
parapsychology is not scientific, they mean that no satisfying naturalistic cause-and-effect
explanation for these supposed effects has yet been proposed and that the field's experiments
cannot be consistently replicated."

Jump up^ Charles M. Wynn, Arthur W. Wiggins. (2001). Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction:
Where Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins. Joseph Henry Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-
0309073097"One of the reasons scientists have difficulty believing that psi effects are real is that
there is no known mechanism by which they could occur. PK action-at-a-distance would presumably
employ an action-at-a-distance force that is as yet unknown to science... Similarly, there is no known
sense (stimulation and receptor) by which thoughts could travel from one person to another by
which the mind could project itself elsewhere in the present, future, or past."

Jump up^ Mario Bunge. (1983). Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Volume 6: Epistemology &

Methodology II: Understanding the World. Springer. pp. 225-226. ISBN 978-9027716347

"Precognition violates the principle of antecedence ("causality"), according to which the effect does
not happen before the cause. Psychokinesis violates the principle of conservation of energy as well
as the postulate that mind cannot act directly on matter. (If it did no experimenter could trust his
own readings of his instruments.) Telepathy and precognition are incompatible with the
epistemological principle according to which the gaining of factual knowledge requires sense
perception at some point."

"Parapsychology makes no use of any knowledge gained in other fields, such as physics and
physiological psychology. Moreover, its hypotheses are inconsistent with some basic assumptions of
factual science. In particular, the very idea of a disembodied mental entity is incompatible with
physiological psychology; and the claim that signals can be transmitted across space without fading
with distance is inconsistent with physics."

Jump up^ John Taylor. (1980). Science and the Supernatural: An Investigation of Paranormal

Phenomena Including Psychic Healing, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, and Precognition by a Distinguished
Physicist and Mathematician. Temple Smith. p. 84. ISBN 0-85117-191-5.

Jump up^ Sutherland, Stuart. (1994). Irrationality: The Enemy Within. p. 314. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-
14-016726-9

Jump up^ Skepdic.com on ESP. Retrieved February 22, 2007.

Jump up^ Leonard Zusne, Warren H. Jones. (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical

Thinking. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0805805086

Jump up^ Ian Rowland. (1998). The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading. Ian Rowland Limited: 4th
Revised edition. ISBN 978-0955847608

Jump up^ Derren Brown. (2007). Tricks of the Mind. Channel 4: New edition. ISBN 978-1905026357

External links[edit]

The Intuitive Magician - Bruce Hood

Telepathy - Skeptic's Dictionary
Soal-Goldney Experiment - a critical evaluation of the Soal-Goldney Experiment, which claimed to
prove the existence of telepathy

Dream and Telepathy - article in Science and Psychoanalysis

[hide]

Parapsychology

Outline

Topics Apparitional experience

Astral projection

Auras

Bilocation

Clairvoyance

Deathbed phenomena

Dermo-optical perception

Dream telepathy

Extrasensory perception

Ganzfeld experiment

Ghosts

Kirlian photography

Materialization

Mediumship

Near-death experience

Out-of-body experience

Pam Reynolds case

Past life regression

Plant perception (paranormal)

Poltergeist

Precognition
 Psychic

Psychic abilities

Psychic detective

Psychic reading

Psychic surgery

Psychokinesis

Psychometry

Pyrokinesis

Reincarnation

Remote viewing

Retrocognition

Second sight

Sensory leakage

Spoon bending

Telepathy

Xenoglossy

Zener cards

American Society for Psychical Research

College of Psychic Studies

Institute of Noetic Sciences

International Association for Near-Death Studies

Koestler Parapsychology Unit

Organizations National Laboratory of Psychical Research

Parapsychological Association

Parapsychology Foundation

Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory

Rhine Research Center

Society for Psychical Research

Parapsychologists William F. Barrett

Daryl Bem
Hans Bender

Stephen E. Braude

Whately Carington

Hereward Carrington

Tony Cornell

William Crookes

Eric Dingwall

Peter Fenwick

Camille Flammarion

Nandor Fodor

Bruce Greyson

Erlendur Haraldsson

John Hasted

Rosalind Heywood

Richard Hodgson

Hans Holzer

Charles Honorton

James Hyslop

Brian Inglis

Robert G. Jahn

William James

Raynor Johnson

Brian Josephson

Stanley Krippner

Thomas Lethbridge

Oliver Lodge

James McKenzie

Edgar Mitchell

Raymond Moody

Gardner Murphy
 Frederic Myers

Karlis Osis

Sam Parnia

Michael Persinger

Guy Lyon Playfair

Frank Podmore

Joseph Gaither Pratt

Harry Price

Walter Franklin Prince

Andrija Puharich

Harold Puthoff

Dean Radin

J. B. Rhine

Charles Richet

D. Scott Rogo

William Roll

Helmut Schmidt

Gary Schwartz

Rupert Sheldrake

Henry Sidgwick

Samuel Soal

Ian Stevenson

Ingo Swann

Russell Targ

Charles Tart

Montague Ullman

Jessica Utts

Evan Harris Walker

Publications Extrasensory Perception

Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century

 Journal of Near-Death Studies

Journal of Parapsychology

Journal of Scientific Exploration

Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon—Survival of Bodily

Death

Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of

Previous Lives

Mental Radio

Old Souls: The Scientific Evidence For Past Lives

Parapsychology: Frontier Science of the Mind

The Roots of Coincidence

Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation

Varieties of Anomalous Experience

Skeptics James Alcock

Robert Baker

Barry Beyerstein

Susan Blackmore

John Booth

Derren Brown

Mario Bunge

William Carpenter

Robert Todd Carroll

Sean Carroll

Milbourne Christopher

Edward Clodd

Brian Dunning

Bergen Evans

Antony Flew

Kendrick Frazier

Chris French

Martin Gardner
Thomas Gilovich

Henry Gordon

G. Stanley Hall

Trevor Hall

C. E. M. Hansel

Daniel Webster Hering

Terence Hines

Bruce Hood

Harry Houdini

Nicholas Humphrey

Ray Hyman

Joseph Jastrow

Paul Kurtz

Daniel Loxton

Charles Mackay

David Marks

Joseph McCabe

Albert Moll

Joe Nickell

Steven Novella

Robert Park

Henry Maudsley

Massimo Pigliucci

Massimo Polidoro

George Price

Benjamin Radford

James Randi

Graham Reed

Joseph Rinn

Milton Rothman
Carl Sagan

Theodore Schick

Michael Shermer

John Sladek

Gordon Stein

Victor Stenger

Stuart Sutherland

John Taylor

Ivor Lloyd Tuckett

John Wheeler

Richard Wiseman
Astral projection

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the paranormal concept. For the psychedelic trance musical band, seeAstral
Projection (band). For physical travel to other stars, see Interstellar travel.

"The Separation of the Spirit Body" from The Secret of the Golden Flower, a Chinese handbook on
alchemy and meditation

Astral projection (or astral travel) is an interpretation of out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes

the existence of an "astral body" separate from the physical body and capable of travelling outside
it.[1] Astral projection or travel denotes the astral body leaving thephysical body to travel in an astral
plane. The idea of astral travel is rooted in common worldwide religious accounts of
the afterlife[2] in which the consciousness' or soul's journey or "ascent" is described in such terms as
"an... out-of body experience, wherein the spiritual traveller leaves the physical body and travels in
his/her subtle body (or dreambody or astral body) into ‘higher’ realms."[3] It is frequently reported
in association with dreams, and forms of meditation.[4][5]

Patients have reported feelings similar to the descriptions of astral projection induced through
varioushallucinogenic and hypnotic (including self-hypnotic) means. There is no scientific evidence
that there is any measurable manifestation of a consciousness or soul which is separate from neural
activity, and there is no scientific evidence for the contention that one can consciously leave the
body and make observations. Attempts to verify that such has occurred have consistently failed in
spite of the variety of pseudoscientific claims to the contrary.[6][7]

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Western beliefs

2 Bible

3 Islamic Mysticism
4 Ancient Egypt

5 China

6 India

7 Japan

8 Inuit

9 Amazon

10 "Astral" and "etheric"

11 Notable practitioners

12 Scientific reception

13 See also

14 References

15 Further reading

16 External links

Western beliefs[edit]

According to classical, medieval and renaissance Hermeticism, Neoplatonism, and

laterTheosophist and Rosicrucian thought, the astral body is an intermediate body of light linking the
rational soul to the physical body while the astral plane is an intermediate world of light between
Heaven and Earth, composed of the spheres of the planets and stars. These astral spheres were held
to be populated by angels, demons and spirits.[8][9]

The subtle bodies, and their associated planes of existence, form an essential part of the esoteric
systems that deal with astral phenomena. In the neo-platonism of Plotinus, for example, the
individual is a microcosm ("small world") of the universe (the macrocosm or "great world"). "The
rational soul...is akin to the great Soul of the World" while "the material universe, like the body, is
made as a faded image of the Intelligible". Each succeeding plane of manifestation is causal to the
next, a world-view called emanationism; "from the One proceeds Intellect, from Intellect Soul, and
from Soul - in its lower phase, or that of Nature - the material universe".[10]

Often these bodies and their planes of existence are depicted as a series of concentric circles or
nested spheres, with a separate body traversing each realm.[11] The idea of the astral figured
prominently in the work of the nineteenth-century French occultist Eliphas Levi, whence it was
adopted and developed further by Theosophy, and used afterwards by other esoteric movements.

Bible[edit]

Some have claimed that the Bible contains mentions of astral projection.

Carrington, Muldoon, Peterson, and Williams claim that the subtle body is attached to the physical
body by means of a psychic silver cord.[12][13] The final chapter of the Biblical Book of
Ecclesiastes is often cited in this respect: "Before the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be
broken, or the pitcher be shattered at the fountain, or the wheel be broken at the
cistern."[14]Scherman, however, contends that the context points to this being merely a metaphor,
comparing the body to a machine, with the silver cord referring to the spine.[15]

Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians is more generally agreed to refer to the astral planes;[16] "I
know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago, (whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I
know not, God knows) such a one caught up to the third heaven..."[17] This statement gave rise to
the Visio Pauli, a tract that offers a vision of heaven and hell, a forerunner of visions attributed to
Adomnan and Tnugdalus as well as of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Islamic Mysticism[edit]

Many sects and offshoots belonging to Islamic mysticism interpret Prophet Muhammad's night
ascent—the Isra and Mi'raj—to be an out of body experience through nonphysical environments,
[18][19] unlike the Sunni and Shia Muslims. In view of the references from the Qur'an and Hadith,
the Sunni and Shia Muslims reject this saying the Isra and Mi'raj, the night journey – mentioned in
the Qur'an and Hadith was physical yet spiritual. He was taken to theMasjid Al Aqsa, where he
performed prayer leading all previous prophets and then taken to the heavens in a journey. The
mystics claim Prophet Muhammad was transported to Jerusalem and onward to seven heavens,
even though "the apostle's body remained where it was."[20]

Ancient Egypt[edit]

Similar concepts of soul travel appear in various other religious traditions, for example ancient
Egyptian teachings present the soul as having the ability to hover outside the physical body in the ka,
or subtle body.[21]

China[edit]

Taoist alchemical practice involves creation of an energy body by breathing meditations, drawing

energy into a 'pearl' that is then "circulated".[22] "Xiangzi ... with a drum as his pillow fell fast asleep,
snoring and motionless. His primordial spirit, however, went straight into the banquet room and
said, "My lords, here I am again." ... When Tuizhi walked ... with the officials to take a look, there
really was a Daoist sleeping on the ground and snoring like thunder. Yet inside, in the side room,
there was another Daoist beating a fisher drum and singing Daoist songs. The officials all said,
“Although there are two different people, their faces and clothes are exactly alike. Clearly he is a
divine immortal who can divide his body and appear in several places at once. ..." ... At that moment,
the Daoist in the side room came walking out, and the Daoistsleeping on the ground woke up. The
two merged into one."[23]

India[edit]

Similar ideas such as the Lin'ga S'ari-ra are found in ancient Hindu scriptures such as

theYogaVashishta-Maharamayana of Valmiki.[21] Modern Indians who have vouched for astral
projection include Paramahansa Yogananda who witnessed Swami Pranabananda doing a miracle
through a possible astral projection[24] and Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) who practiced it
himself.[25]

The Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba described one's use of astral projection:

In the advancing stages leading to the beginning of the path, the aspirant becomes spiritually
prepared for being entrusted with free use of the forces of the inner world of the astral bodies. He
may then undertake astral journeys in his astral body, leaving the physical body in sleep or
wakefulness. The astral journeys that are taken unconsciously are much less important than those
undertaken with full consciousness and as a result of deliberate volition. This implies conscious use
of the astral body. Conscious separation of the astral body from the outer vehicle of the gross body
has its own value in making the soul feel its distinction from the gross body and in arriving at fuller
control of the gross body. One can, at will, put on and take off the external gross body as if it were a
cloak, and use the astral body for experiencing the inner world of the astral and for undertaking
journeys through it, if and when necessary....The ability to undertake astral journeys therefore
involves considerable expansion of one’s scope for experience. It brings opportunities for promoting
one’s own spiritual advancement, which begins with theinvolution of consciousness.[26]

The Yogic tradition is an elaborate system of meditation and astral projection and most other Chino-
Tibetan systems are derived therefrom through Buddhist channels.[citation needed] Astral
projection is one of the Siddhis considered achievable by yoga practitioners through self-disciplined
practice. In Mahabharat Acharya Drona leaves his physical body to check whether his son was dead
or not

Japan[edit]

The 'ikiryō' as illustrated by Toriyama Sekien.

In Japanese mythology, an ikiryō (生霊?) (also read shōryō,seirei, or ikisudama) is a manifestation of

the soul of a living person separately from their body.[27] Traditionally, if someone holds a sufficient
grudge against another person, it is believed that a part or the whole of their soul can temporarily
leave their body and appear before the target of their hate in order to curse or otherwise harm
them, similar to an evil eye. Souls are also believed to leave a living body when the body is extremely
sick or comatose; such ikiryō are not malevolent.[28][29]

Inuit[edit]

In some Inuit groups, people with special capabilities are said to travel to (mythological) remote
places, and report their experiences and things important to their fellows or the entire community;
how to stop bad luck in hunting, cure a sick person etc.,[30][31] things unavailable to people with
normal capabilities.[32]

Amazon[edit]

The yaskomo of the Waiwai is believed to be able to perform a "soul flight" that can serve several
functions such as healing, flying to the sky to consult cosmological beings (the moon or the brother
of the moon) to get a name for a new-born baby, flying to the cave of peccaries' mountains to ask
the father of peccaries for abundance of game or flying deep down in a river to get the help of other
beings.[33]
"Astral" and "etheric"[edit]

The expression "astral projection" came to be used in two different ways. For the Golden
Dawn[34] and some Theosophists[35] it retained the classical and medieval philosophers' meaning
of journeying to other worlds, heavens, hells, the astrological spheres and other
imaginal[36] landscapes, but outside these circles the term was increasingly applied to non-physical
travel around the physical world.[37]

Though this usage continues to be widespread, the term, "etheric travel", used by some later
Theosophists, offers a useful distinction. Some experients say they visit different times and/or
places:[38] "etheric", then, is used to represent the sense of being "out of the body" in the physical
world, whereas "astral" may connote some alteration in time-perception. Robert Monroedescribes
the former type of projection as "Locale I" or the "Here-Now", involving people and places that
actually exist:[39] Robert Bruce calls it the "Real Time Zone" (RTZ) and describes it as the non-
physical dimension-level closest to the physical.[40] This etheric body is usually, though not always,
invisible but is often perceived by the experient as connected to the physical body during separation
by a “silver cord”. Some link "falling" dreams with projection.[41]

According to Max Heindel, the etheric "double" serves as a medium between the astral and physical
realms. In his system the ether, also called prana, is the "vital force" that empowers the physical
forms to change. From his descriptions it can be inferred that, to him, when one views the physical
during an out-of-body experience, one is not technically "in" the astral realm at all.[42]

Other experients may describe a domain that has no parallel to any known physical setting.
Environments may be populated or unpopulated, artificial, natural or abstract, and the experience
may be beatific, horrific or neutral. A common Theosophical belief is that one may access a
compendium of mystical knowledge called the Akashic records. In many accounts the experiencer
correlates the astral world with the world of dreams. Some even report seeing other dreamers
enacting dream scenarios unaware of their wider environment.[43]

The astral environment may also be divided into levels or sub-planes by theorists, but there are
many different views in various traditions concerning the overall structure of the astral planes: they
may include heavens and hells and other after-death spheres, transcendent environments or other
less-easily characterized states.[39][41][43]

Notable practitioners[edit]

Emanuel Swedenborg was one of the first practitioners to write extensively about the out-of-body
experience, in his Spiritual Diary (1747–65). French philosopher and novelist Honoré de Balzac's
fictional work "Louis Lambert" suggests he may have had some astral or out-of-body experience.[44]

There are many twentieth century publications on astral projection,[45] although only a few authors
remain widely cited. These include Robert Monroe,[46] Oliver Fox,[47] Sylvan
Muldoonand Hereward Carrington,[48] and Yram.[49]

Robert Monroe's accounts of journeys to other realms (1971–1994) popularized the term "OBE" and
were translated into a large number of languages. Though his books themselves only placed
secondary importance on descriptions of method, Monroe also founded an institutededicated to
research, exploration and non-profit dissemination of auditory technology for assisting others in
achieving projection and related altered states of consciousness.
Robert Bruce,[50] William Buhlman,[51] and Albert Taylor[52] have discussed their theories and
findings on the syndicated show Coast to Coast AM several times. Michael Crichton gives lengthy
and detailed explanations and experience of astral projection in his non-fiction bookTravels.

The soul's ability to leave the body at will or while sleeping and visit the various planes ofheaven is
also known as "soul travel". The practice is taught in Surat Shabd Yoga, where the experience is
achieved mostly by meditation techniques and mantra repetition. All Sant MatGurus widely spoke
about this kind of out of body experience, such as Kirpal Singh.[53]

Eckankar describes Soul Travel broadly as movement of the true, spiritual self (Soul) closer to the
heart of God. While the contemplative may perceive the experience as travel, Soul itself is said not
to move but to "come into an agreement with fixed states and conditions that already exist in some
world of time and space".[54] American Harold Klemp, the current Spiritual Leader of
Eckankar[55] practices and teaches Soul Travel, as did his predecessors,[56] through contemplative
techniques known as the Spiritual Exercises of ECK (Divine Spirit).[57]

In occult traditions, practices range from inducing trance states to the mental construction of a

second body, called the Body of Light in Aleister Crowley's writings, through visualization and
controlled breathing, followed by the transfer of consciousness to the secondary body by a mental
act of will.[58]

Scientific reception[edit]

There is no scientific evidence that astral projection as an objective phenomenon exists,

andpseudoscientific claims to that effect are not accepted as reliable scientific evidence in the
relevant fields of study.[6][7]

Robert Todd Carroll writes that the main evidence to support claims of astral travel is anecdotal and
comes "in the form of testimonials of those who claim to have experienced being out of their bodies
when they may have been out of their minds."[59] Subjects in parapsychological experiments have
attempted to project their astral bodies to distant rooms and see what was happening. However,
such experiments have produced negative results.[60]

According to Bob Bruce of the Queensland Skeptics Association, astral projection is "just imagining",
or "a dream state". Although parallel universes are mathematically possible,[61]Bruce writes that
the existence of an astral plane is contrary to the limits of science. “We know how many possibilities
there are for dimensions and we know what the dimensions do. None of it correlates with things like
astral projection.” Bruce attributes astral experiences such as "meetings" alleged by practitioners
to confirmation bias and coincidences.[62]

The psychologist Donovan Rawcliffe has written that astral projection can be explained by
delusion, hallucination and vivid dreams.[63]

Arthur W. Wiggins, writing in Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction: Where Real Science Ends...and
Pseudoscience Begins, said that purported evidence of the ability to astral travel great distances and
give descriptions of places visited is predominantly anecdotal. In 1978, Ingo Swann provided a test of
his alleged ability to astral travel to Jupiter and observe details of the planet. Actual findings and
information were later compared to Swann's claimed observations. According to an evaluation
by James Randi, Swann's accuracy was "unconvincing and unimpressive" with an overall score of 37
percent. Wiggins considers astral travel an illusion, and looks to neuroanatomy, human belief,
imagination and prior knowledge to provide prosaic explanations for those claiming to experience it.
[64]
See also[edit]

Aura Mediumship Soul retrieval

DMT Merkaba Surat Shabd Yoga

Esotericism Metaphysics Tattva vision

Hypnagogia Parapsychology Teleportation

Ketamine Sleep paralysis Yoga-nidra

Remote viewing

Ghost

Ring-a-Ding Girl - fictional treatment of astral projection in popular media

Disembodied spirit

References[edit]

Jump up^ It is also believed that the "astral body" is the soul leaving the body and travelling through
the spiritual realm,(astral plane).Astral projection. (n.d.). Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of
English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7). Retrieved June 21, 2008, from Dictionary.com website

Jump up^ Suki Miller, After Death: How People around the World Map the Journey after
Death (1995)

Jump up^ Dr. Roger J. Woolger, Beyond Death: Transition and the Afterlife, accessed online June
2008 at the website of the Royal College of
Psychiatrists,http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/PDF/RWoolgerTransition.pdf.

Jump up^ Sylvan Muldoon, Hereward Carrington. (1929). Projection of the Astral Body. Rider and
Company. ISBN 0-7661-4604-9

Jump up^ Leonard Zusne, Warren H. Jones. (1989).Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical

Thinking. Psychology Press. ISBN 0-8058-0508-7

^ Jump up to:a b Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. pp.
103-106. ISBN 978-1573929790

^ Jump up to:a b Brian Regal. (2009). Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia. Greenwood. p. 29.ISBN

978-1591020868 "Other than anecdotal eyewitness accounts, there is no evidence of the ability to
astral project, the existence of other planes, or of the Akashic Record."

Jump up^ Dodds, E.R. Proclus: The Elements of Theology. A revised text with translation,
introduction, and commentary, 2nd edition 1963, Appendix.

Jump up^ Pagel, Walter (1967). William Harvey's Biological Ideas. Karger Publishers. pp. 147–
148. ISBN 3-8055-0962-6.

Jump up^ John Gregory, The Neoplatonists, Kyle Cathie 1991 pp15–16

Jump up^ Besant, Annie Wood (1897). The Ancient Wisdom: An Outline of Theosophical Teachings.
Theosophical publishing society.ISBN 0-524-02712-9.

Jump up^ Projection of the Astral Body by Carrington and Muldoon

Jump up^ Out of Body Experiences: How to have them and what to expect by Robert Peterson
(chapters 5, 17, 22)

Jump up^ Ecclesiastes 12:6

Jump up^ Rabbi Nosson Scherman, ed. (2011). The ArtScroll English Tanach. ArtScroll Series (First
ed.). Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications, Ltd. p. 1150. ISBN 1-4226-1065-9.

Jump up^ Hankins, James. Ficino, Avicenna and the Occult Powers of the Rational Soul.

Jump up^ 2 Corinthians 12:2

Jump up^ Brent E. McNeely, "The Miraj of Muhammad in an Ascension Typology", p3

Jump up^ Buhlman, William, "The Secret of the Soul", 2001, ISBN 978-0-06-251671-8, p111

Jump up^ Brown, Dennis; Morris, Stephen (2003)."Religion and Human Experience". A Student's
Guide to A2 Religious Studies: for the AQA Specification. Rhinegold Eeligious Studies Study Guides.
London, UK: Rhinegold. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-904226-09-3. OCLC 257342107. Retrieved2012-01-
10. The revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad [includes] his Night Journey, an out-of-body
experience where the prophet was miraculously taken to Jerusalem on the back of a mythical
beast....

^ Jump up to:a b Melton, J. G. (1996). Out-of-the-body Travel. In Encyclopedia of Occultism &

Parapsychology. Thomson Gale. ISBN 978-0-8103-9487-2.

Jump up^ Chia, Mantak (2007) [1989]. Fusion of the Five Elements. Destiny Books. pp. 89+.ISBN 1-
59477-103-0.

Jump up^ Erzeng, Yang (2007). The Story of Han Xiangzi. University of Washington Press. pp. 207–
209. ISBN 978-0-295-98690-6.

Jump up^http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi/Chapter_3

Jump up^ Osho, The Transmission of the Lamp, Chapter 3, Rebel Press

Jump up^ Baba: 90, 91.

Jump up^ Clarke, Peter Bernard (2000). Japanese new religions: in global perspective, Volume
1999 (annotated ed.). Routledge. p. 247.ISBN 978-0-7007-1185-7.

Jump up^ Ramesh Chopra Academic Dictionary Of Mythology 2005, p. 144

Jump up^ Patrick Drazen A Gathering of Spirits: Japan's Ghost Story Tradition: from Folklore and
Kabuki to Anime and Manga 2011, p. 131

Jump up^ Kleivan & Sonne 1985: 7–8, 12, 23–24,26, 27–29, 30, 31

Jump up^ Merkur 1985: 4–6

Jump up^ Hoppál 1975: 228

Jump up^ Fock 1963: 16

Jump up^ Chic Cicero, Chic C, Sandra Tabatha Cicero The Essential Golden Dawn, Llewellyn
Worldwide, 2003.
Jump up^ Arthur A.Powell, THE ASTRAL BODY AND OTHER ASTRAL PHENOMENA, The Theosophical
Publishing House, London, England; Wheaton,Ill, U.S.A.; Adyar, Chennai, India, 1927, reprinted in
1954 and 1965, page 7, online June 2008 athttp://hpb.narod.ru/AstralBodyByPowell-A.htm

Jump up^ Henri Corbin, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, tr. Ralph Mannheim,
Bollingen XCI, Princeton U.P., 1969

Jump up^ e.g. William Judge, The Ocean of Theosophy 2nd Ed. TPH, 1893, Chapter 5, book online
June 2008 athttp://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/ocean/oce-hp.htm

Jump up^ Astral-Projections.com"Secret Guide To Instant Astral Projection"

^ Jump up to:a b Journeys Out of the Body by Robert A. Monroe, p 60. Anchor Press, 1977.

Jump up^ Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc, 1999. p 25-27,
30-31

^ Jump up to:a b Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce. Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc,
1999 ISBN 1-57174-143-7

Jump up^ Heindel, Max, The Rosicrucian Mysteries (Chapter IV, The Constitution of Man: Vital Body -
Desire Body - Mind), 1911, ISBN 0-911274-86-3

^ Jump up to:a b Monroe, Robert. Far Journeys. ISBN 0-385-23182-2

Jump up^ Frederick Lawton Balzac The Echo Library, 2007, p. 18

Jump up^ Substantial bibliography of general OBE and astral projection literature

Jump up^ A biography of Robert Monroe by Susan Blackmore

Jump up^ A biography of Oliver Fox by Susan Blackmore

Jump up^ A biography of Sylvan Muldoon by Susan Blackmore

Jump up^ A biography of Yram by Susan Blackmore

Jump up^ Coast To Coast archives of shows featuring Robert Bruce

Jump up^ Coast To Coast archives of shows featuring William Buhlman

Jump up^ Coast To Coast archives of shows featuring Albert Taylor

Jump up^ See chapter V of the book Crown of Life by Kirpal Singh available online at [1]

Jump up^ [2]

Jump up^ [3]

Jump up^ [4]

Jump up^ [5]

Jump up^ Greer, John (1967). Astral Projection. In The New Encyclopedia of the Occult. Llewellyn
Worldwide. ISBN 1-56718-336-0.
Jump up^ Robert Todd Carroll (31 July 2003). The skeptic's dictionary: a collection of strange beliefs,
amusing deceptions, and dangerous delusions. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 33–.ISBN 978-0-471-27242-
7. Retrieved24 December 2011.

Jump up^ Blackmore, Susan (1991). "Near-Death Experiences: In or out of the body?".Skeptical

Inquirer 1991, 16, 34-45. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved2008-06-17.

Jump up^ "Parallel universe proof boosts time travel hopes", Daily Telegraph

Jump up^ Frazer, Peter (September 30, 2010)."Astral projection? In your dreams, say
sceptics". Brisbane Times. Retrieved24 December 2011.

Jump up^ Donovan Rawcliffe. (1988). Occult and Supernatural phenomena. Dover Publications. p.

123

Jump up^ Charles M. Wynn; Arthur W. Wiggins; Sidney Harris (2001). Quantum leaps in the wrong
direction: where real science ends-- and pseudoscience begins. Joseph Henry Press.
pp. 95–. ISBN 978-0-309-07309-7. Retrieved 24 December 2011.

Baba, Meher (1967). Discourses. Vol. II. San Francisco: Sufism Reoriented. ISBN 1-880619-09-1.

Fock, Niels (1963). Waiwai. Religion and society of an Amazonian tribe. Nationalmuseets skrifter,
Etnografisk Række (Ethnographical series), VIII. Copenhagen: The National Museum of Denmark.

Hoppál, Mihály (1975). "Az uráli népek hiedelemvilága és a samanizmus". In Hajdú, Péter.Uráli
népek. Nyelvrokonaink kultúrája és hagyományai (in Hungarian). Budapest: Corvina Kiadó. pp. 211–
233. ISBN 963-13-0900-2. The title means: “Uralic peoples / Culture and traditions of our linguistic
relatives”; the chapter means “The belief system of Uralic peoples and the shamanism”.

Hoppál, Mihály (2005). Sámánok Eurázsiában (in Hungarian). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.ISBN 963-

05-8295-3. The title means “Shamans in Eurasia”, the book is written in Hungarian, but it is published
also in German, Estonian and Finnish. Site of publisher with short description on the book (in
Hungarian)

Kleivan, Inge; B. Sonne (1985). Eskimos: Greenland and Canada. Iconography of religions, section
VIII, "Arctic Peoples", fascicle 2. Leiden, The Netherlands: Institute of Religious Iconography • State
University Groningen. E.J. Brill. ISBN 90-04-07160-1.

Merkur, Daniel (1985). Becoming Half Hidden: Shamanism and Initiation among the Inuit. : Acta
Universitatis Stockholmiensis • Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion. Stockholm: Almqvist &
Wiksell. ISBN 91-22-00752-0.

Klemp, Harold (2003). Past Lives, Dreams, and Soul Travel. Eckankar. Minneapolis, MN. [Eckankar
Web site: http://www.eckankar.org]: Eckankar. ISBN 1-57043-182-5.

Roi, Alex. Astral Projection and Lucid Dreams, [Web site=http://www.howtoluciddreamsfast.org].

Further reading[edit]

Robert Bruce (1999) - Astral Dynamics: A New Approach to Out-of-Body Experiences. Hampton

Roads Publishing. ISBN 1-57174-143-7

Robert Todd Carroll (2003) - The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing
Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-27242-6
Thomas Gilovich (1993) - How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday
Life. Free Press. ISBN 0-02-911706-2

Terence Hines (2003) - Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-979-4

Robert Monroe (1971) - Journeys Out of the Body Doubleday. Reprinted (1989) Souvenir Press
Ltd. ISBN 0-385-00861-9

Sylvan Muldoon and Hereward Carrington (1929) - Projection of the Astral Body. Rider and

Company. ISBN 0-7661-4604-9

External links[edit]

Look up astral
projection in
Wiktionary, the free
dictionary.

Astral Projection at the Skeptic's Dictionary

[hide]

Parapsychology

Outline

Topics Apparitional experience

Astral projection

Auras

Bilocation

Clairvoyance

Deathbed phenomena

Dermo-optical perception

Dream telepathy

Extrasensory perception

Ganzfeld experiment

Ghosts

Kirlian photography
 Materialization

Mediumship

Near-death experience

Out-of-body experience

Pam Reynolds case

Past life regression

Plant perception (paranormal)

Poltergeist

Precognition

Psychic

Psychic abilities

Psychic detective

Psychic reading

Psychic surgery

Psychokinesis

Psychometry

Pyrokinesis

Reincarnation

Remote viewing

Retrocognition

Second sight

Sensory leakage

Spoon bending

Telepathy

Xenoglossy

Zener cards

Organizations American Society for Psychical Research

College of Psychic Studies

Institute of Noetic Sciences

International Association for Near-Death Studies

 Koestler Parapsychology Unit

National Laboratory of Psychical Research

Parapsychological Association

Parapsychology Foundation

Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory

Rhine Research Center

Society for Psychical Research

Parapsychologists William F. Barrett

Daryl Bem

Hans Bender

Stephen E. Braude

Whately Carington

Hereward Carrington

Tony Cornell

William Crookes

Eric Dingwall

Peter Fenwick

Camille Flammarion

Nandor Fodor

Bruce Greyson

Erlendur Haraldsson

John Hasted

Rosalind Heywood

Richard Hodgson

Hans Holzer

Charles Honorton

James Hyslop

Brian Inglis

Robert G. Jahn

William James
Raynor Johnson

Brian Josephson

Stanley Krippner

Thomas Lethbridge

Oliver Lodge

James McKenzie

Edgar Mitchell

Raymond Moody

Gardner Murphy

Frederic Myers

Karlis Osis

Sam Parnia

Michael Persinger

Guy Lyon Playfair

Frank Podmore

Joseph Gaither Pratt

Harry Price

Walter Franklin Prince

Andrija Puharich

Harold Puthoff

Dean Radin

J. B. Rhine

Charles Richet

D. Scott Rogo

William Roll

Helmut Schmidt

Gary Schwartz

Rupert Sheldrake

Henry Sidgwick

Samuel Soal
 Ian Stevenson

Ingo Swann

Russell Targ

Charles Tart

Montague Ullman

Jessica Utts

Evan Harris Walker

Extrasensory Perception

Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century

Journal of Near-Death Studies

Journal of Parapsychology

Journal of Scientific Exploration

Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon—Survival of Bodily

Death

Publications Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of

Previous Lives

Mental Radio

Old Souls: The Scientific Evidence For Past Lives

Parapsychology: Frontier Science of the Mind

The Roots of Coincidence

Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation

Varieties of Anomalous Experience

Skeptics James Alcock

Robert Baker

Barry Beyerstein

Susan Blackmore

John Booth

Derren Brown

Mario Bunge

William Carpenter
Robert Todd Carroll

Sean Carroll

Milbourne Christopher

Edward Clodd

Brian Dunning

Bergen Evans

Antony Flew

Kendrick Frazier

Chris French

Martin Gardner

Thomas Gilovich

Henry Gordon

G. Stanley Hall

Trevor Hall

C. E. M. Hansel

Daniel Webster Hering

Terence Hines

Bruce Hood

Harry Houdini

Nicholas Humphrey

Ray Hyman

Joseph Jastrow

Paul Kurtz

Daniel Loxton

Charles Mackay

David Marks

Joseph McCabe

Albert Moll

Joe Nickell

Steven Novella
Robert Park

Henry Maudsley

Massimo Pigliucci

Massimo Polidoro

George Price

Benjamin Radford

James Randi

Graham Reed

Joseph Rinn

Milton Rothman

Carl Sagan

Theodore Schick

Michael Shermer

John Sladek

Gordon Stein

Victor Stenger

Stuart Sutherland

John Taylor

Ivor Lloyd Tuckett

John Wheeler

Richard Wiseman
Aura (paranormal)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Aura (disambiguation).

See also: Energy (esotericism)

The Human Aura in a healthy woman after a diagram by Walter John Kilner (1847-1920). The picture
depicts Kilner's "inner and outer auras." Colours have been added for illustrative purposes and have
no other significance.

In parapsychology and spiritual practice, an aura is a field of subtle, luminous radiation surrounding a

person or object like the halo or aureola in religious art. The depiction of such an aura often
connotes a person of particular power or holiness. It is said that all objects and all living things
manifest such an aura. Often it is held to be perceptible, whether spontaneously or with practice:
such perception is at times linked with the third eye of Indian spirituality.[1][2]Various writers
associate various personality traits with the colors of different layers of the aura.[3][4][5] It has also
been described as a map of the thoughts and feelings surrounding a person.[6][7]

Skeptics such as Robert Todd Carroll contend that people may perceive auras because of effects
within the brain:synesthesia,[8] epilepsy, migraines, or the influence ofpsychedelic drugs such
as LSD.[9][10] Other causes may include disorders within the visual system provoking optical
effects. Eye fatigue can also produce an aura, sometimes referred to as eye burn.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Spiritual traditions

2 Tests

3 Explanation
4 See also

5 References

6 External links

Spiritual traditions[edit]

An old Iranian Shi'a Muslim impression of Jesus and Mary shows an aura after the style of the farr

In Iran the aura is known as farr or "glory": it is depicted in association with Zoroastrian kings.[11]

Ideas of the aura are well represented in Indian religions. In tantric tradition of Hinduism, aura
represents the subtle body of seven colours.[citation needed] In many Hindu paintings of gods and
goddesses, aura is marked on their backhead. The Buddhist flagrepresents the colours seen around
the enlightened Buddha.[12]In Jainism the concept of Lesya relates colours to mental and emotional
dispositions. To the Indian teacher Meher Baba the aura is of seven colours, associated with
the subtle body and its store of mental and emotional impressions. Spiritual practice gradually
transforms this aura into a spiritual halo.[13] Hindu andBuddhist sources often link these colours
to Kundalini energy and the chakras.[14]

Statue depicting Shiva as Nataraja with auras.

In the classical western mysticism of neoplatonism and Kabbalahthe aura is associated with the

lustre of the astral body, a subtle body identified with the planetary heavens, which were in turn
associated with various mental faculties in an elaborate system of correspondences with colours,
shapes, sounds, perfumes etc.[15]

A 1531 depiction of Our Lady of Guadalupe, often said to represent an aura

The symbolism of light found in the Bible is at times associated with the idea of the aura or "body of
light":[16] similar interpretations are found in Islamic traditions.[17]

According to the literature of Theosophy,Anthroposophy, and Archeosophy also, each colour of the

aura has a meaning, indicating a precise emotional state. A complete description of the aura and its
colours was provided by Charles Leadbeater, a theosophist of the 19th century.[18] The works of
Leadbeater were later developed by Palamidessi[19] and others.

The British occultist W.E. Butler connected auras withclairvoyance and etheric, mental and

emotional emanations. He classified the aura into two main types: etheric and spiritual. Auras are
thought to serve as a visual measure of the state of the health of the physical body.[20] Robert
Bruce classifies auras into three types: etheric, main, and spiritual.[21] According to Bruce auras are
not actual light but a translation of other unknown sensory readings that is added to our visual
processing. They are not seen in complete darkness and cannot be seen unless some portion of the
person or object emitting the aura can also be seen.[22] The British Healer, clairvoyant and author
Paul Lambillion in his book "Auras and Colours" writes of three visible bodies or layers in the auric
field that can be observed whether or not in the physical presence of the individual subject since the
aura is not a three dimensional phenomenon and limited to such parameters. (see also Sunday
Times May 2011 and Transformations Channel 4 TV 1990)

Glenn Morris, grandmaster of the Hoshin Roshi Ryu lineage, included perception of the aura in his

training of advanced martial artists. His experience was that it consisted of multiple layers. He
described the most easily visible of these as being "light and denser than the air in which the body is
immersed", typically half to quarter of an inch thick and correlating with the etheric bodyof an
individual. Around this he described a yard thick egg-shaped layer reflecting hormonal state that he
linked to the emotional body, and outside this, other barely perceptible layers corresponding to
the mental body and beyond.[23] Recalling the aura of another sōke, he wrote, "The first time I
saw Hatsumi, he was running continuous bright, lime, neon green a foot wide and was so easy to see
he would flash in bright sunlight".[24]

For holistic healers, aura reading is the art of investigating the human energy field, or the energy
fields of other sentient beings. It is a basis for using techniques of holistic healing, and includes such
practices as bioenergetics, energy medicine, energy spirituality, and energy psychology.

Tests[edit]

Tests of psychic abilities to observe alleged aura emanations have repeatedly met with failure.[25]

One test involved placing people in a dark room and asking the psychic to state how many auras she
could observe. Only chance results were obtained.[26]

Recognition of auras has occasionally been tested on television. One test involved an aura
reader standing on one side of a room with an opaque partition separating her from a number of
slots which might contain either actual people or mannequins. The aura reader failed to identify the
slots containing people, incorrectly stating that all contained people.[27]

In another televised test another aura reader was placed before a partition where five people were
standing. He claimed that he could see their auras from behind the partition. As each person moved
out, the reader was asked to identify where that person was standing behind the slot. He identified
only 2 out of 5 correctly.[28]

Explanation[edit]

Bridgette Perez in a review for the Skeptical Inquirer has written "perceptual distortions, illusions,
and hallucinations might promote belief in auras... Psychological factors, including absorption,
fantasy proneness, vividness of visual imagery, and after-images, might also be responsible for the
phenomena of the aura."[29]

Another explanation for the belief in auras, given that there is no scientific evidence for their reality,
could be cases of synesthesia.[29] However, a 2012 study discovered no link concluding "the
discrepancies found suggest that both phenomena are phenomenologically and behaviourally
dissimilar."[30] Clinical neurologist Steven Novella has written "Given the weight of the evidence it
seems that the connection between auras and synaesthesia is speculative and based on superficial
similarities that are likely coincidental."[31]

See also[edit]

Afterimage

Astral body

Astral plane

Aura (symptom)

Aureola

Chakra

Clairvoyance

Classical element
Energy (spirituality)

Etheric Body

Halo (religious iconography)

Kirlian photography

Mental body

Odic force

Parapsychology

Qi

Radiesthesia

Subtle body

Walter Kilner

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

References[edit]

Jump up^ Jack, Alex The New Age Dictionary First Edition: Kanthaka Press:1976; Second Edition
Japan Publications, Inc. Tokyo and New York:1990 (Page locations taken from Second Edition)--See
definition of "Aura" page 14; Definition of "Third Eye" Page 200

Jump up^ http://parapsych.org/glossary_a_d.htmlParapsychological Association website, Glossary of

Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved January 24, 2006

Jump up^ Oslie, Pamala: Life Colors, What the Colors in Your Aura Reveal, New World Library, 2000.

Jump up^ Bowers, Barbara, Ph.D: What Color Is Your Aura? Personality Spectrums for Understanding
and Growth, Pocket Books, 1989.

Jump up^ Swami Panchadasi The Human Aura: Astral Colors and Thought Forms Des Plaines, Illinois,
USA:1912--Yogi Publications Society. Available: here(accessed 4 March 2010)

Jump up^ Painter, Sally. "Aura Colors and Their Meaning".

Jump up^ Brennan, Barbara Ann (1 May 1988).Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the
Human Energy Field. Bantam Books. pp. 109–110. ISBN 0553345397. Retrieved22 June 2014.

Jump up^ http://www.skepdic.com/auras.html The Skeptic's Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll,

entry on auras, Retrieved Oct 13, 2007

Jump up^ Deprez, L. et al. "Familial occipitotemporal lobe epilepsy and migraine with visual aura
<Internet>". Retrieved 16 July 2007.

Jump up^ Hill, Donna L. et al. "Most Cases Labeled as "Retinal Migraine" Are Not Migraine
<Internet>". Retrieved 16 July 2007.

Jump up^ Soudavar, Abolala (2003). The Aura of Kings: Legitimacy and Divine Sanction in Iranian
Kingship. Costa Mesa (Calif.): Mazda Publ. ISBN 978-1-56859-109-4.
Jump up^ http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/pbs2_unit07a.htm

Jump up^ Meher Baba, The Path of Love, pub. Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust,
2000 pp. 71-76.http://www.avatarmeherbaba.org/erics/aurahalo.html

Jump up^ C Breaux, Journey Into Consciousness: The Chakras, Tantra and Jungian Psychology,
Motilal Banarsidass, 1998

Jump up^ Bloom, Harold (1994) The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin: 1910-1940. The Free

Library. 1994 Artforum International Magazine, Inc. Retrieved: 30 Jul.
2014http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Correspondence+of+Walter+Benjamin%3A+1910-1940.-
a016456254

Jump up^ J Damon, The Mystical Shroud the Images and The Resurrection an Ecumenical
Perspective, 2002http://www.shroud.it/DAMON.PDF

Jump up^ Henri Corbin, The man of light in Iranian Sufism, Shambhala Publications, 1978

Jump up^ LeadBeater, Charles: Man: Visible and Invisible, 1902.

Jump up^ Palamidessi, Tommaso: The Occult Constitution of Man and Woman, 1968.

Jump up^ Butler, W.E.: How to Read the Aura, pp 181-183. Destiny Books, 1978.

Jump up^ Lindgren, C.E. (2000). Capturing the Aura: Integrating Science, Technology, and
Metaphysics (1st ed. ed.). Nevada City, CA: Blue Dolphin Pub. pp. 301–303. ISBN 0-9652490-6-9.

Jump up^ Lindgren, C.E. (2000). Capturing the Aura: Integrating Science, Technology, and
metaphysics (1st ed. ed.). Nevada City, CA: Blue Dolphin Pub. pp. 293–296. ISBN 0-9652490-6-9.

Jump up^ Morris, Glenn J. (1993). Path Notes of an American Ninja Master. Berkeley, Calif.: North
Atlantic Books. pp. 111–112. ISBN 1-55643-157-0.

Jump up^ Morris, Glenn J. (1993). Path Notes of an American Ninja Master. Berkeley, Calif.: North
Atlantic Books. p. 118. ISBN 1-55643-157-0.

Jump up^ Nickell, Joe. (2000). "Aura Photography: A Candid Shot". Csicop.org. Retrieved 2014-07-12.

Jump up^ Loftin, Robert W. (1990). Auras: Searching for the Light. Skeptical Inquirer 14: 403-409.

Jump up^ "Auras". The Skeptic's Dictionary.Archived from the original on 5 December 2006.

Retrieved 2006-12-15.

Jump up^ "James Randi tests an aura reader". Retrieved 2008-01-14.

^ Jump up to:a b Perez, Bridgette. (2011). "The Aura: A Brief Review". Csicop.org. Retrieved 2014-07-
12.

Jump up^ Delgado-Pastor, L. C., Salazar, E. y González-Hernández, A. (2012). Auras in Mysticism and

Synaesthesia: A Comparison. Consciousness and Cognition 21: 258-268.

Jump up^ Novella, Steven. (2012). "Is Aura Reading Synaesthesia? Probably Not".SkepticBlog.

Retrieved 2014-07-12.

External links[edit]

Auras in the "Skeptic's dictionary"

The Aura: A Brief Review

[show]

Parapsychology

Categories: 

Consciousness–matter dualism

Esotericism

Hindu philosophical concepts

New Age

Paranormal terminology

Pseudoscience

Theosophical philosophical concepts

Vitalism
Clairvoyance

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Clairvoyant" redirects here. For other uses, see Clairvoyant (disambiguation).

Clairvoyance

Terminology

An experiment in sensory deprivation aiming to stimulate

clairvoyance

Definition The ability to gain information about an

object, person, location or physical event
through means other than the known senses.

See also Telepathy

ESP
Remote viewing
Psychometry

[show]Part of a series of articles on theparanormal

The term clairvoyance (from French clairmeaning "clear" and voyance meaning "vision") is used to

refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through
means other than the known senses,[1][2]i.e., a form of extrasensory perception. A person said to
have the ability of clairvoyance is referred to as a clairvoyant ("one who sees clearly").

Claims for the existence of paranormal andpsychic abilities such as clairvoyance have not been
supported by scientific evidence published in high impact factor peer reviewed journals.
[3]Parapsychology explores this possibility, but the existence of the paranormal is not accepted by
thescientific community.[4] Parapsychology, including the study of clairvoyance, is an example
ofpseudoscience.[5][6][7][8]

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Usage

2 Parapsychology
2.1 Early research

2.2 Remote viewing

3 Scientific reception

4 Other related terms

4.1 Clairsentience (feeling/touching)

4.2 Clairaudience (hearing/listening)

4.3 Clairalience (smelling)

4.4 Claircognizance (knowing)

4.5 Clairgustance (tasting)

5 See also

6 References

7 Further reading

8 External links

Usage[edit]

Pertaining to the ability of clear-sightedness, clairvoyance refers to the supposed paranormalability

to see persons and events that are distant in time or space. It can be divided into roughly three
classes: precognition, the ability to perceive or predict future events, retrocognition, the ability to
see past events, and remote viewing, the perception of contemporary events happening outside of
the range of normal perception.[9]

Parapsychology[edit]

Early research[edit]

The earliest record of somnambulistic clairvoyance is credited to the Marquis de Puységur, a

follower of Franz Mesmer, who in 1784 was treating a local dull-witted peasant named Victor Race.
During treatment, Race reportedly would go into trance and undergo a personality change,
becoming fluent and articulate, and giving diagnosis and prescription for his own disease as well as
those of others.[10] Clairvoyance was a reported ability of some mediums during
the spiritualist period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and psychics of many descriptions
have claimed clairvoyant ability up to the present day.[11]

Character reader and clairvoyant in a British travelling show of the 1940s, collected by Arthur James
Fenwick (1878–1957)
Early researchers of clairvoyance included William Gregory, Gustav Pagenstecher, and Rudolf
Tischner.[12]Clairvoyance experiments were reported in 1884 byCharles Richet. Playing cards were
enclosed in envelopes and a subject put under hypnosis attempted to identify them. The subject was
reported to have been successful in a series of 133 trials but the results dropped to chance level
when performed before a group of scientists in Cambridge. J. M. Peirce and E. C. Pickering reported
a similar experiment in which they tested 36 subjects over 23, 384 trials which did not obtain above
chance scores.[13]

Ivor Lloyd Tuckett (1911) and Joseph McCabe (1920) analyzed early cases of clairvoyance and came
to the conclusion they were best explained by coincidence or fraud.[14][15]

A significant development in clairvoyance research came when J. B. Rhine, a parapsychologist

at Duke University, introduced a standard methodology, with a standard statistical approach to
analyzing data, as part of his research into extrasensory perception. A number of psychological
departments attempted to repeat Rhine's experiments with failure. W. S. Cox (1936) fromPrinceton
University with 132 subjects produced 25, 064 trials in a playing card ESP experiment. Cox concluded
"There is no evidence of extrasensory perception either in the 'average man' or of the group
investigated or in any particular individual of that group. The discrepancy between these results and
those obtained by Rhine is due either to uncontrollable factors in experimental procedure or to the
difference in the subjects."[16] Four other psychological departments failed to replicate Rhine's
results.[17][18] It was revealed that Rhine's experiments contained methodological flaws and
procedural errors.[19][20][21]

Eileen Garrett was tested by Rhine at Duke University in 1933 with Zener cards. Certain symbols that
were placed on the cards and sealed in an envelope, and she was asked to guess their contents. She
performed poorly and later criticized the tests by claiming the cards lacked apsychic energy called
"energy stimulus" and that she could not perform clairvoyance to order.[22]The
parapsychologist Samuel Soal and his colleagues tested Garrett in May, 1937. Most of the
experiments were carried out in the Psychological Laboratory at the University College London. A
total of over 12,000 guesses were recorded but Garrett failed to produce above chance level.[23] In
his report Soal wrote "In the case of Mrs. Eileen Garrett we fail to find the slightest confirmation of
Dr. J. B. Rhine's remarkable claims relating to her alleged powers of extra-sensory perception. Not
only did she fail when I took charge of the experiments, but she failed equally when four other
carefully trained experimenters took my place."[24]

Remote viewing[edit]

Remote viewing also known as remote sensing, remote perception, telesthesia and travelling
clairvoyance is the alleged paranormal ability to perceive a remote or hidden target without support
of the senses.[25]

A well known study of remote viewing in recent times has been the US government-funded project
at the Stanford Research Institute during the 1970s through the mid-1990s. In 1972,Harold
Puthoff and Russell Targ initiated a series of human subject studies to determine whether
participants (the viewers or percipients) could reliably identify and accurately describe salient
features of remote locations or targets. In the early studies, a human sender was typically present at
the remote location, as part of the experiment protocol. A three-step process was used, the first
step being to randomly select the target conditions to be experienced by the senders. Secondly, in
the viewing step, participants were asked to verbally express or sketch their impressions of the
remote scene. Thirdly, in the judging step, these descriptions were matched by separate judges, as
closely as possible, with the intended targets. The term remote viewing was coined to describe this
overall process. The first paper by Puthoff and Targ on remote viewing was published in Nature in
March 1974; in it, the team reported some degree of remote viewing success.[26] After the
publication of these findings, other attempts to replicate the experiments were carried out.[27]
[28] and remotely linked groups using computer conferencing.[29]

The psychologists David Marks and Richard Kammann attempted to replicate Targ and Puthoff’s
remote viewing experiments that were carried out in the 1970s at the Stanford Research Institute. In
a series of 35 studies, they were unable to replicate the results so investigated the procedure of the
original experiments. Marks and Kammann discovered that the notes given to the judges in Targ and
Puthoff's experiments contained clues as to which order they were carried out, such as referring to
yesterday's two targets, or they had the date of the session written at the top of the page. They
concluded that these clues were the reason for the experiment's high hit rates.[30][31] Marks was
able to achieve 100 per cent accuracy without visiting any of the sites himself but by using cues.
[32] James Randi has written controlled tests by several other researchers, eliminating several
sources of cuing and extraneous evidence present in the original tests, produced negative results.
Students were also able to solve Puthoff and Targ's locations from the clues that had inadvertently
been included in the transcripts.[33]

In 1980, Charles Tart claimed that a rejudging of the transcripts from one of Targ and Puthoff’s
experiments revealed an above-chance result.[34] Targ and Puthoff again refused to provide copies
of the transcripts and it was not until July 1985 that they were made available for study when it was
discovered they still contained sensory cues.[35] Marks and Christopher Scott (1986) wrote
"considering the importance for the remote viewing hypothesis of adequate cue removal, Tart’s
failure to perform this basic task seems beyond comprehension. As previously concluded, remote
viewing has not been demonstrated in the experiments conducted by Puthoff and Targ, only the
repeated failure of the investigators to remove sensory cues."[36]

In 1982 Robert Jahn, then Dean of the School of Engineering at Princeton University wrote a
comprehensive review of psychic phenomena from an engineering perspective. His paper included
numerous references to remote viewing studies at the time.[37] Statistical flaws in his work have
been proposed by others in the parapsychological community and within the general scientific
community.[38][39]

Scientific reception[edit]

According to scientific research, clairvoyance is generally explained as the result of confirmation

bias, expectancy bias, fraud, hallucination, self-delusion, sensory leakage, subjective
validation,wishful thinking or failures to appreciate the base rate of chance occurrences and not as a
paranormal power.[3][40][41][42] Parapsychology is regarded by the scientific community as
apseudoscience.[43][44] In 1988, the US National Research Council concluded "The committee finds
no scientific justification from research conducted over a period of 130 years, for the existence of
parapsychological phenomena."[45]

Skeptics say that if clairvoyance were a reality it would have become abundantly clear. They also
contend that those who believe in paranormal phenomena do so for merely psychological reasons.
[46] According to David G. Myers (Psychology, 8th ed.):

The search for a valid and reliable test of clairvoyance has resulted in thousands of experiments. One
controlled procedure has invited 'senders' to telepathically transmit one of four visual images to
'receivers' deprived of sensation in a nearby chamber (Bem & Honorton, 1994). The result? A
reported 32 percent accurate response rate, surpassing the chance rate of 25 percent. But follow-up
studies have (depending on who was summarizing the results) failed to replicate the phenomenon or
produced mixed results (Bem & others, 2001; Milton & Wiseman, 2002; Storm, 2000, 2003).

One skeptic, magician James Randi, has a longstanding offer—now U.S. $1 million—“to anyone who
proves a genuine psychic power under proper observing conditions” (Randi, 1999). French,
Australian, and Indian groups have parallel offers of up to 200,000 euros to anyone with
demonstrable paranormal abilities (CFI, 2003). Large as these sums are, the scientific seal of
approval would be worth far more to anyone whose claims could be authenticated. To refute those
who say there is no ESP, one need only produce a single person who can demonstrate a single,
reproducible ESP phenomenon. So far, no such person has emerged. Randi’s offer has been
publicized for three decades and dozens of people have been tested, sometimes under the scrutiny
of an independent panel of judges. Still, nothing. "People's desire to believe in the paranormal is
stronger than all the evidence that it does not exist." Susan Blackmore, "Blackmore's first law", 2004.
[47]

Other related terms[edit]

The words "clairvoyance" and "psychic" are often used to refer to many different kinds of
paranormal sensory experiences, but there are more specific names:

Clairsentience (feeling/touching)[edit]

In the field of parapsychology, clairsentience is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person

acquires psychic knowledge primarily by feeling.[48] The word “clair” is French for "clear", and
“sentience” is derived from the Latin sentire, “to feel”. Psychometry is related to clairsentience. The
word stems from psyche and metric, which means "soul-measuring".[49]

Clairaudience (hearing/listening)[edit]

In the field of parapsychology, clairaudience [from late 17th century French clair (clear) and

audience (hearing)] is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires information
by paranormal auditory means. It is often considered to be a form of clairvoyance.[50]Clairaudience
is essentially the ability to hear in a paranormal manner, as opposed to paranormal seeing
(clairvoyance) and feeling (clairsentience).

Clairalience (smelling)[edit]

Also known as clairescence. In the field of parapsychology, clairalience (or

alternatively,clairolfactance) [presumably from late 17th century French clair (clear) and alience
(smelling)] is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person accesses psychic knowledge
through the physical sense of smell.[51]

Claircognizance (knowing)[edit]

In the field of parapsychology, claircognizance [presumably from late 17th century French clair(clear)

and cognizance (< ME cognisaunce < OFr conoissance, knowledge)] is a form of extra-sensory
perception wherein a person acquires psychic knowledge primarily by means of intrinsic knowledge.
It is the ability to know something without a physical explanation why you know it, like the concept
of mediums.

Clairgustance (tasting)[edit]
In the field of parapsychology, clairgustance is defined as a form of extra-sensory perceptionthat
allegedly allows one to taste a substance without putting anything in one's mouth. It is claimed that
those who possess this ability are able to perceive the essence of a substance from the spiritual or
ethereal realms through taste.[citation needed]

See also[edit]

Astral projection

Aura

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

Out-of-body experience

Postdiction (retroactive clairvoyance)

Precognition

Remote viewing

Second sight

References[edit]

Jump up^ "Merriam-Webster Online dictionary, Retrieved 2007-10-05 "1: the power or faculty of
discerning objects not present to the senses 2: ability to perceive matters beyond the range of
ordinary perception: penetration"". Mw1.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved November 17, 2011.

Jump up^ Britannica Online Encyclopedia, Retrieved 2007-10-07. The ESP entry includes clairvoyance

^ Jump up to:a b Carroll, Robert Todd. (2003)."Clairvoyance". Retrieved 2014-04-30.

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Bunge, Mario. (1983). Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Volume 6: Epistemology & Methodology II:
Understanding the World. Springer. p. 226. ISBN 90-277-1635-8"Despite being several thousand
years old, and having attracted a large number of researchers over the past hundred years, we owe
no single firm finding to parapsychology: no hard data on telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, or
psychokinesis."

Stenger, Victor. (1990). Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses. Prometheus
Books. p. 166. ISBN 0-87975-575-X "The bottom line is simple: science is based on consensus, and at
present a scientific consensus that psychic phenomena exist is still not established."

Zechmeister, Eugene; Johnson, James. (1992). Critical Thinking: A Functional Approach. Brooks/Cole

Pub. Co. p. 115.ISBN 0534165966 "There exists no good scientific evidence for the existence of
paranormal phenomena such as ESP. To be acceptable to the scientific community, evidence must
be both valid and reliable."

Hines, Terence. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p. 144. ISBN 1-

57392-979-4 "It is important to realize that, in one hundred years of parapsychological
investigations, there has never been a single adequate demonstration of the reality of any psi
phenomenon."
Jump up^ "Dictionary.com "Pseudoscience"". Dictionary.reference.com. RetrievedSeptember
22, 2012.

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September 3, 2008. Retrieved September 22, 2012.

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Philosophers". Quackwatch.com. July 17, 1998. RetrievedSeptember 22, 2012.

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Retrieved September 22, 2012.

Jump up^ Melton, John. (2001). The Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology. p. 297. Gale
Group, Detroit. ISBN 978-0810385702.

Jump up^ Taves, Ann. (1999). Fits, Trances, and Visions: Experiencing Religion and Explaining
Experience from Wesley to James. Princeton University Press. p. 126.ISBN 0-691-01024-2

Jump up^ Hyman, Ray. (1985). A Critical Historical Overview of Parapsychology. In Kurtz, Paul.A
Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 3-96. ISBN 0-87975-300-5

Jump up^ Roeckelein, Jon. (2006). Elsevier's Dictionary of Psychological Theories. Elsevier Science. p.

450. ISBN 0-444-51750-2

Jump up^ Hansel, C. E. M. The Search for a Demonstration of ESP. In Paul Kurtz. (1985).A Skeptic's
Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 97-127. ISBN 0-87975-300-5

Jump up^ McCabe, Joseph. (1920). Is Spiritualism Based On Fraud? The Evidence Given By Sir A. C.
Doyle and Others Drastically Examined. Chapter The Subtle Art of Clairvoyance. London: Watts & Co.
pp. 93-108

Jump up^ Tuckett, Ivor Lloyd. (1911). The Evidence for the Supernatural: A Critical Study Made with
"Uncommon Sense". Chapter Telepathy and Clairvoyance. K. Paul, Trench, Trübner. pp. 107-142

Jump up^ Cox, W. S. (1936). "An experiment in ESP". Journal of Experimental Psychology12: 437.

Jump up^ Jastrow, Joseph. (1938). ESP, House of Cards. The American Scholar. Vol. 8, No. 1. pp. 13-
22. "Rhine’s results fail to be confirmed. At Colgate University (40, 000 tests, 7 subjects), at Chicago
(extensive series on 315 students), at Southern Methodist College (75, 000 tests), at Glasgow,
Scotland (6, 650 tests), at London University (105, 000 tests), not a single individual was found who
under rigidly conducted experiments could score above chance. At Stanford University it has been
convincingly shown that the conditions favorable to the intrusion of subtle errors produce above-
chance records which come down to chance when sources of error are eliminated."

Jump up^ Hansel, C. E. M. The Search for a Demonstration of ESP. In Paul Kurtz. (1985).A Skeptic's
Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 105-127. ISBN 0-87975-300-5

Adam, E. T. (1938). A summary of some negative experiments. Journal of Parapsychology 2: 232-236.

Crumbaugh, J. C. (1938). An experimental study of extra-sensory perception. Masters thesis.

Southern Methodist University.

Heinlein, C. P; Heinlein, J. H. (1938).Critique of the premises of statistical methodology of

parapsychology. Journal of Parapsychology 5: 135-148.
Willoughby, R. R. (1938). Further card-guessing experiments. Journal of Psychology 18: 3-13.

Jump up^ Gulliksen, Harold. (1938). Extra-Sensory Perception: What Is It?. American Journal of

Sociology. Vol. 43, No. 4. pp. 623-634. "Investigating Rhine's methods, we find that his mathematical
methods are wrong and that the effect of this error would in some cases be negligible and in others
very marked. We find that many of his experiments were set up in a manner which would tend to
increase, instead of to diminish, the possibility of systematic clerical errors; and lastly, that the ESP
cards can be read from the back."

Jump up^ Wynn, Charles; Wiggins, Arthur. (2001).Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction: Where
Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins. Joseph Henry Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-309-07309-
7 "In 1940, Rhine coauthored a book, Extrasensory Perception After Sixty Years in which he
suggested that something more than mere guess work was involved in his experiments. He was
right! It is now known that the experiments conducted in his laboratory contained serious
methodological flaws. Tests often took place with minimal or no screening between the subject and
the person administering the test. Subjects could see the backs of cards that were later discovered
to be so cheaply printed that a faint outline of the symbol could be seen. Furthermore, in face-to-
face tests, subjects could see card faces reflected in the tester’s eyeglasses or cornea. They were
even able to (consciously or unconsciously) pick up clues from the tester’s facial expression and
voice inflection. In addition, an observant subject could identify the cards by certain irregularities like
warped edges, spots on the backs, or design imperfections."

Jump up^ Hines, Terence. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.

122. ISBN 978-1573929790 "The procedural errors in the Rhine experiments have been extremely
damaging to his claims to have demonstrated the existence of ESP. Equally damaging has been the
fact that the results have not replicated when the experiments have been conducted in other
laboratories."

Jump up^ Hazelgrove, Jenny. (2000). Spiritualism and British Society Between the Wars. Manchester
University Press. p. 204. ISBN 978-0719055591

Jump up^ Russell, A. S; Benn, John Andrews. (1938). Discovery the Popular Journal of Knowledge.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 305-306

Jump up^ Soal, Samuel. A Repetition of Dr. Rhine's work with Mrs. Eileen Garrett. Proc. S.P.R. Vol.
XLII. pp. 84-85. Also quoted in Antony Flew. (1955). A New Approach To Psychical Research. Watts &
Co. pp. 90-92.

Jump up^ Blom, Jan. (2009). A Dictionary of Hallucinations. Springer. p. 451. ISBN 978-1441912220

Jump up^ Targ, Russel; Puthoff, Harold (1974). "Information transmission under conditions of
sensory shielding". Nature 251 (5476): 602–607. doi:10.1038/251602a0.PMID 4423858.

Jump up^ Hastings, A.C.; Hurt, D.B. (October 1976). "A confirmatory remote viewing experiment in a
group setting". Proceedings of the IEEE64 (10): 1544–1545.doi:10.1109/PROC.1976.10369.

Jump up^ Whitson, T.W.; Bogart, D.N.; Palmer, J.; Tart, C.T. (October 1976). "Preliminary
experiments in group 'Remote viewing'".Proceedings of the IEEE 64 (10): 1550–
1551. doi:10.1109/PROC.1976.10371.

Jump up^ Vallee, J.; Hastings, A.C.; Askevold, G. (October 1976). "Remote viewing experiments
through computer conferencing". Proceedings of the IEEE 64(10): 1551–
1552.doi:10.1109/PROC.1976.10372.
Jump up^ Marks, David; Kammann, Richard (1978). "Information transmission in remote viewing
experiments". Nature 274 (5672): 680–681.doi:10.1038/274680a0.

Jump up^ Marks, David (1981). "Sensory cues invalidate remote viewing

experiments".Nature 292 (5819): 177.doi:10.1038/292177a0.

Jump up^ Bridgstock, Martin. (2009). Beyond Belief: Skepticism, Science and the Paranormal.
Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0521758932 "The explanation used by Marks and
Kammann clearly involves the use of Occam's razor. Marks and Kammann argued that the 'cues' -
clues to the order in which sites had been visited—provided sufficient information for the results,
without any recourse to extrasensory perception. Indeed Marks himself was able to achieve 100
percent accuracy in allocating some transcripts to sites without visiting any of the sites himself,
purely on the ground basis of the cues. From Occam's razor, it follows that if a straightforward
natural explanation exists, there is no need for the spectacular paranormal explanation: Targ and
Puthoff's claims are not justified".

Jump up^ "James Randi Educational Foundation — An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of
the Occult and Supernatural". Randi.org. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

Jump up^ Tart, Charles; Puthoff, Harold; Targ, Russell (1980). "Information Transmission in Remote

Viewing Experiments". Nature 284(5752): 191. doi:10.1038/284191a0.PMID 7360248.

Jump up^ Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.

136. ISBN 978-1573929790

Jump up^ Marks, David; Scott, Christopher (1986). "Remote Viewing Exposed". Nature 319(6053):

444. doi:10.1038/319444a0.PMID 3945330.

Jump up^ Jahn, R.G. (February 1982). "The persistent paradox of psychic phenomena: An
engineering perspective". Proceedings of the IEEE 70 (2): 136–170.doi:10.1109/PROC.1982.12260.

Jump up^ Stanley Jeffers (May–June 2006). "The PEAR proposition: Fact or fallacy?".Skeptical

Inquirer (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) 30.3. Retrieved 2014-01-24.

Jump up^ George P. Hansen. "Princeton [PEAR] Remote-Viewing Experiments - A Critique".

Tricksterbook.com. Retrieved2014-04-06.

Jump up^ Rawcliffe, Donovan. (1988). Occult and Supernatural Phenomena. Dover Publications. pp.
367-463. ISBN 0-486-20503-7

Jump up^ Reed, Graham. (1988). The Psychology of Anomalous Experience: A Cognitive Approach.

Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-435-4

Jump up^ Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren. (1989).Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical

Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp. 152-168. ISBN 0-8058-0508-7

Jump up^ Friedlander, Michael W. (1998). At the Fringes of Science. Westview Press. p. 119.ISBN 0-
8133-2200-6 "Parapsychology has failed to gain general scientific acceptance even for its improved
methods and claimed successes, and it is still treated with a lopsided ambivalence among the
scientific community. Most scientists write it off as pseudoscience unworthy of their time."

Jump up^ Pigliucci, Massimo; Boudry, Maarten. (2013). Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering

the Demarcation Problem. University Of Chicago Press p. 158. ISBN 978-0-226-05196-3 "Many
observers refer to the field as a "pseudoscience". When mainstream scientists say that the field of
parapsychology is not scientific, they mean that no satisfying naturalistic cause-and-effect
explanation for these supposed effects has yet been proposed and that the field's experiments
cannot be consistently replicated."

Jump up^ Gilovich, Thomas. (1993). How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in
Everyday Life. Free Press. p. 160.ISBN 978-0-02-911706-4

Jump up^ French, Chis; Wilson, Krissy. (2007).Cognitive Factors Underlying Paranormal Beliefs and
Experiences. In Sala, Sergio. Tall Tales About the Mind and Brain: Separating Fact From Fiction.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 3-22. ISBN 978-0198568773

Jump up^ Myers, David. (2006). Psychology. Worth Publishers; 8th edition. ISBN 978-0716764281

Jump up^ Parapsychological Association historical terms glossary, retrieved 2006-12-17

Jump up^ Joseph Rodes Buchanan, Manual of Psychometry : the Dawn of a New Civilization  Boston,
Frank H. Hodges (4th edition), 1893 p.3

Jump up^ Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in

Parapsychology, Retrieved 2006-01-24

Jump up^ "Supernatural Glossary". Ghostvillage.com. Retrieved November 17,2011.

Further reading[edit]

James Alcock (1981). Parapsychology: Science or Magic? A Psychological Perspective. Pergamon

Press. ISBN 0-08-025772-0.

Willis Dutcher (1922). On the Other Side of the Footlights: An Expose of Routines, Apparatus and
Deceptions Resorted to by Mediums, Clairvoyants, Fortune Tellers and Crystal Gazers in Deluding the
Public. Berlin, WI: Heaney Magic.

Thomas Gilovich (1993). How We Know What Isn't So: Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life.
Free Press. ISBN 978-0-02-911706-4.

Henry Gordon. (1988). Extrasensory Deception: ESP, Psychics, Shirley MacLaine, Ghosts, UFOs.
Macmillan of Canada. ISBN 0-7715-9539-5.

Donald Hebb (1980). Extrasensory Perception: A Problem. In Essays on Mind. Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates. ISBN 978-0-898-59017-3.

C. E. M. Hansel (1989). The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited. Prometheus
Books. ISBN 0-87975-516-4.

Terence Hines (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-979-4.

David Marks. (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic (2nd Edition). Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-
798-8.

Joseph McCabe (1920). Is Spiritualism Based On Fraud? The Evidence Given By Sir A. C. Doyle and
Others Drastically Examined. Chapter "The Subtle Art of Clairvoyance". London: Watts & Co. pp. 93–
108.

External links[edit]
 Look
up clairvoyance orclairvoya
nt in Wiktionary, the free
dictionary.

Wikisource has the text of

the 1911 Encyclopædia
Britannica articleclairvoya
nce.

Springer Psychic: A Study in ‘Clairvoyance’ - Joe Nickell

Debunking the Sixth Sense - Science Daily

Clairvoyance - The Skeptic's Dictionary

[show]

Parapsychology

Categories: 

New Age practices

Paranormal terminology

Parapsychology

Pseudoscience

Psychic powers

Telepathy
Clever Hans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For Grimm's tale, see Clever Hans (fairy tale).

Clever Hans performs

Clever Hans (in German, der Kluge Hans) was an Orlov Trotterhorse that was claimed to have been
able to perform arithmeticand other intellectual tasks.

After a formal investigation in 1907, psychologist Oskar Pfungstdemonstrated that the horse was not
actually performing these mental tasks, but was watching the reaction of his human observers.
Pfungst discovered this artifact in the research methodology, wherein the horse was responding
directly to involuntary cues in the body language of the human trainer, who had the faculties to
solve each problem. The trainer was entirely unaware that he was providing such cues.[1] In honour
of Pfungst's study, the anomalous artifact has since been referred to as the Clever Hans effect and
has continued to be important knowledge in theobserver-expectancy effect and later studies
in animal cognition. Hans was studied by the famous German philosopher and psychologist Carl
Stumpf in the early 20th century. Stumpf was observing the sensational phenomena of the horse,
which also added to his impact onphenomenology.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Spectacle

2 Investigation

3 The Clever Hans effect

4 See also

5 References

6 Sources

7 External links

Spectacle[edit]
During the early twentieth century, the public was especially interested in animal intelligence due in
a large part to Charles Darwin's then-recent publications.

Hans was a horse owned by Wilhelm von Osten, who was a gymnasium mathematics teacher, an
amateur horse trainer, phrenologist, and something of a mystic.[1] Hans was said to have been
taught to add, subtract, multiply, divide, work with fractions, tell time, keep track of the calendar,
differentiate musical tones, and read, spell, and understand German. Von Osten would ask Hans, "If
the eighth day of the month comes on a Tuesday, what is the date of the following Friday?” Hans
would answer by tapping his hoof. Questions could be asked both orally, and in written form. Von
Osten exhibited Hans throughout Germany, and never charged admission. Hans's abilities were
reported in The New York Times in 1904.[2] After von Osten died in 1909, Hans was acquired by
several owners. After 1916, there is no record of him and his fate remains unknown.

Investigation[edit]

As a result of the large amount of public interest in Clever Hans, the German board of education
appointed a commission to investigate von Osten's scientific
claims. Philosopher andpsychologist Carl Stumpf formed a panel of 13 people, known as the Hans
Commission. This commission consisted of a veterinarian, a circus manager, a Cavalry officer, a
number of school teachers, and the director of the Berlin zoological gardens. This commission
concluded in September 1904 that no tricks were involved in Hans’s performance.[2]

The commission passed off the evaluation to Pfungst, who tested the basis for these claimed abilities
by:

Isolating horse and questioner from spectators, so no cues could come from them

Using questioners other than the horse's master

By means of blinders, varying whether the horse could see the questioner

Varying whether the questioner knew the answer to the question in advance.

Using a substantial number of trials, Pfungst found that the horse could get the correct answer even
if von Osten himself did not ask the questions, ruling out the possibility of fraud. However, the horse
got the right answer only when the questioner knew what the answer was, and the horse could see
the questioner. He observed that when von Osten knew the answers to the questions, Hans got 89
percent of the answers correct, but when von Osten did not know the answers to the questions,
Hans only answered six percent of the questions correctly.

Pfungst then proceeded to examine the behaviour of the questioner in detail, and showed that as
the horse's taps approached the right answer, the questioner's posture and facial expression
changed in ways that were consistent with an increase in tension, which was released when the
horse made the final, correct tap. This provided a cue that the horse could use to tell it to stop
tapping. The social communication systems of horses may depend on the detection of small postural
changes, and this would explain why Hans so easily picked up on the cues given by von Osten, even if
these cues were unconscious.

Pfungst carried out laboratory tests with human subjects, in which he played the part of the horse.
Pfungst asked subjects to stand on his right and think "with a high degree of concentration" about a
particular number, or a simple mathematical problem. Pfungst would then tap out the answer with
his right hand. He frequently observed "a sudden slight upward jerk of the head" when reaching the
final tap, and noted that this corresponded to the subject resuming the position they had adopted
before thinking of the question.[3]

Both von Osten and Pfungst were notoriously bad-tempered and prone to rage when the horse did
not perform well. Pfungst suffered more than one horse bite during his investigation.[2]

Even after this official debunking, von Osten, who was never persuaded by Pfungst's findings,
continued to show Hans around Germany, attracting large and enthusiastic crowds.[3]

The Clever Hans effect[edit]

After Pfungst had become adept at giving Hans performances himself, and was fully aware of the
subtle cues which made them possible, he discovered that he would produce these cues
involuntarily regardless of whether he wished to exhibit or suppress them. Recognition of this
phenomenon has had a large effect on experimental design and methodology for all experiments
whatsoever involving sentient subjects, including humans.

The risk of Clever Hans effects is one reason why comparative psychologists normally test animals in
isolated apparatus, without interaction with them. However this creates problems of its own,
because many of the most interesting phenomena in animal cognition are only likely to be
demonstrated in a social context, and in order to train and demonstrate them, it is necessary to
build up a social relationship between trainer and animal. This point of view has been strongly
argued by Irene Pepperberg in relation to her studies of parrots (Alex), and by Allen and Beatrix
Gardner in their study of the chimpanzee Washoe. If the results of such studies are to gain universal
acceptance, it is necessary to find some way of testing the animals' achievements which eliminates
the risk of Clever Hans effects. However, simply removing the trainer from the scene may not be an
appropriate strategy, because where the social relationship between trainer and subject is strong,
the removal of the trainer may produce emotional responses preventing the subject from
performing. It is therefore necessary to devise procedures where none of those present knows what
the animal's likely response may be.

The Clever Hans Effect has also been observed in drug sniffing dogs. A study at University of
California Davis revealed that cues can be telegraphed by the handler to the dogs, resulting in false
positives.[4] A 2004 study of Rico, a border collie reported by his owners as having a vocabulary of
over 200 words, avoided the Clever Hans effect by having the owner ask the dog to fetch items from
an adjacent room, so that the owner could not provide real time feedback while the dog was
selecting an object.

As Pfungst's final experiment makes clear, Clever Hans effects are quite as likely to occur in
experiments with humans as in experiments with animals. For this reason, care is often taken in
fields such as perception, cognitive psychology, and social psychology to make experimentsdouble-
blind, meaning that neither the experimenter nor the subject knows what condition the subject is in,
and thus what his or her responses are predicted to be. Another way in which Clever Hans effects
are avoided is by replacing the experimenter with a computer, which can deliver standardized
instructions and record responses without giving clues.

See also[edit]

Cholla the painting horse

Harass II, a dog used in criminal investigations

Ideomotor Effect
Lady Wonder a horse with purported telepathic abilities.

Beautiful Jim Key

Pygmalion effect

Nazi talking dogs

Rom Houben

Jim the Wonder Dog

References[edit]

Jump up^ "Clever Hans phenomenon". skepdic. Retrieved 2008-12-11.

^ Jump up to:a b "BERLIN'S WONDERFUL HORSE; He Can Do Almost Everything but Talk—How He

Was Taught" (PDF). The New York Times. 1904-09-04. Retrieved 2008-02-26.

Jump up^ "The Project Gutenberg eBook of Clever Hans (The Horse of Mr. von Osten), by Oskar
Pfungst". Gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2013-10-21.

Jump up^ "Clever Hounds" (URL). The Economist. 2011-02-15. Retrieved 2011-05-14.

Sources[edit]

^ Hothersall, David. History of Psychology. McGraw-Hill. 2004.

Pfungst, O. (1911). Clever Hans (The horse of Mr. von Osten): A contribution to experimental animal
and human psychology (Trans. C. L. Rahn). New York: Henry Holt. (Originally published in German,
1907).

The London Standard (1904-10-02). ""CLEVER HANS" AGAIN.; Expert Commission Decides That the
Horse Actually Reasons." (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved2008-01-02.

External links[edit]

Clever Hans the Math Horse

Clever Hans (The Horse of Mr. Von Osten): A Contribution to Experimental Animal and Human
Psychology by Oskar Pfungst, 1911—Project Gutenberg e-text and HTML with graphs and photos.

Categories: 

Trick horses

Animal intelligence

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International Zetetic Challenge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The International Zetetic Challenge (from Greek ζητεῖν zēteîn, "to search") was an attempt to prove

or disprove the existence of, or demonstrate events related to, the paranormal. It ran from 1987
until 2002 and offered a €200,000 prize to "any person who could prove any paranormal
phenomenon."

The challenge was overseen by two scientists, Henri Broch and Jacques Theodor; as well as a

professional illusionist, Gérard Majax. Investigations and tests were carried out in
the zeteticslaboratory at France's University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis.

After fifteen years and a number of investigations the challenge was ended, the prize was
unawarded, as no verifiable paranormal incident had been witnessed by the challengers. The
zetetics laboratory at the university still conducts research in fields related to the paranormal,
however.

See also[edit]

List of prizes for the evidence of the paranormal

James Randi's $1 Million Challenge

Prabir Ghosh's $50,000 challenge against miracles and astrologers.

Intuition (mind)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from Intuition (knowledge))

A phrenological mapping[1] of the brain – phrenology was among the first attempts to correlate

mental functions with specific parts of the brain

Intuition, a phenomenon of the mind, describes the ability to acquire knowledge

without inference or the use ofreason.[2] The word intuition comes from Latin verb intueritranslated
as consider or from late middle English word intuit to contemplate.[3] Intuition is often interpreted
with varied meaning from intuition being glimpses of greater knowledge[4] to only a function
of mind; however, processes by which and why they happen typically remain mostly unknown to the
thinker, as opposed to the view ofrational thinking.

Intuition has been subject of discussion from ancient philosophy to modern psychology, also a topic
of interest in various religions and esoteric domains, as well as a common subject of writings.[5] and
is often misunderstood & misinterpreted with instinct, truth, belief, meaning and other subjects.
The right brain is popularly associated with intuitive processes such as aesthetic or generally creative
abilities.[6][7][8] Some scientists have contended that intuition is associated with innovation in
scientific discovery.[9]

Intuition Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named in appreciation

of the role of scientific intuition for the advancement of human knowledge.[10]

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Intuition in Philosophy

1.1 Intuition in Eastern Philosophy

1.1.1 Hinduism

1.1.2 Buddhism

1.1.3 Islam

1.2 Intuition in Western Philosophy

2 Intuition in psychology

3 Colloquial usage

4 See also

5 Notes and references

6 Further reading

7 External links

Intuition in Philosophy[edit]

Philosophy of the mind is one of the main branches in philosophy which deals with the concept of
intuition, Intuition has been dealt with both Eastern & Western philosophers in great details,
understanding and definitions have been varying in nature and often confusingly mistreated with
words like truth, belief, meaning and others with intuition.[11]

Intuition in Eastern Philosophy[edit]

In the East Intuition is mostly intertwined with religion and spirituality, and various meanings exist
from different religious texts.[12]

Hinduism[edit]

In Hinduism various philosophers have tried to decipher the Vedic and other esoteric texts & have
brought about various interpretation.
Sri Aurobindo finds humans are evolutionary beings who currently are not fully developed and are
only in transitional period, Intuition currently in human beings are just outer rims and only glimpses
of wider & higher self knowing knowledge beyond human intelligence, a knowledge where there is
no division between the knowledge and the know er and where understanding ofreality is in its
entirety, currently he finds the mind often twists and always diminishes the quality of knowledge
from intuition. He finds that with time intuition will be the main function of human mind, thought
and thinking would become a secondary activity of the mind. He also goes on to suggest the possible
ways that one can try to achieve this state.[4]

Osho finds consciousness of human beings to be in increasing order from basic animal instinctsto

intelligence and intuition, and humans being constantly living in that conscious state often moving
between this states depending on there affinity and he also suggests living in the state of intuition is
one of the ultimate aim of humanity.[13]

Advaitha vedanta (a school of thought) finds intuition is kind of experience through which one can
come in contact and experience Brahman [14]

Buddhism[edit]

Buddhism finds intuition being a faculty in the mind of immediate knowledge & puts the term
intuition beyond mental process of thinking, as it finds the intellect would never know about itself
and cannot go beyond its function. Various excercises and ways have also been mentioned to
develop ones Intuition ability called kó-an which would lead to states of satori. In parts of Zen
Buddhism it is termed as a mental state between Universal mind and individual discriminating mind.
[15][16]

Islam[edit]

In Islam there are various scholars with varied interpretation of intuition (often termed as hads,
hitting correctly on a mark), sometimes relating the ability of having intuitive knowledge
toprophet hood. Siháb al Din-al suhrawadi in his book philosophy of illumination (ishráq) finds
intuition is a knowledge got through illumination and is of mystical in nature and also suggests
mystical contemplation(mushãhada) on this to bring about correct judgements.[17] while Ibn Sīnā
finds the ability of having intuition as a "prophetic capacity" terms it as a knowledge obtained
without intentionally acquiring it. He finds regular knowledge is based on imitation while intuitive
knowledge as based on intellectual certitude.[18]

Intuition in Western Philosophy[edit]

Papirus Oxyrhynchus, with fragment of Plato'sRepublic

In the West, intuition does not appear as a separate field of study, and early mention and definition
can be traced back to Plato, in his bookRepublic he tries to define intuition as a fundamental
capacity of humanreason to comprehend the true nature of reality.[19] In his discussion
with Meno & Phaedo describes it as a Pre-existing knowledge residing in soul of eternity, and a
phenomenon by which one becomes conscious of pre-existing knowledge and he provides an
example of mathematical truths to describe that they are not arrived at by reasoning but a
knowledge already present or in a dormant form and accessible to our intuitive capacity, This
concept by Plato is also sometimes referred to asanamnesis. The study was later continued by
his followers.[20]

In his book Meditations on first philosophy, Descartes refers to a intuition as a preexisting

knowledge gained through rational reasoning or discovering truth of a thing through thinking about
it, this definition is commonly referred to as rational intuition.[21] While later philosphers, such
as Hume, whose interpretation of Intuition has been termed as ambiguous as he claims intuition to
be a recognition of relations (relation of time and place and causation) while he states that "the
resemblance" (recognition of relations) "will strike the eye" (which would not require further
examination but goes on to state) "or rather in mind" attributing intuition to power of mind which
goes against the theory of empiricism.[22][23]

Immanuel Kant finds intuition is thought of as basic sensory information provided by

thecognitive faculty of sensibility (equivalent to what might loosely be called perception). Kant held
that our mind casts all of our external intuitions in the form of space, and all of our internal
intuitions (memory, thought) in the form of time.,[24] Intuitionism is a position advanced byLuitzen
Egbertus Jan Brouwer in philosophy of mathematics derived from Kant's claim that allmathematical
knowledge is knowledge of the pure forms of the intuition - that is, intuition that is not
empirical. Intuitionistic logic was devised by Arend Heyting to accommodate this position (and has
been adopted by other forms of constructivism in general). It is characterized by rejecting the law of
excluded middle: as a consequence it does not in general accept rules such as double negation
elimination and the use of reductio ad absurdum to prove the existence of something.

Intuitions are customarily appealed to independently of any particular theory of how intuitions
provide evidence for claims, and there are divergent accounts of what sort of mental state intuitions
are, ranging from mere spontaneous judgment to a special presentation of a necessary truth.
[25] However, in recent years a number of philosophers, especially George Bealer have tried to
defend appeals to intuition against Quinean doubts about conceptual analysis.[26] A different
challenge to appeals to intuition has recently come from experimental philosophers, who argue that
appeals to intuition must be informed by the methods of social science.

The metaphilosophical assumption that philosophy depends on intuitions has recently been

challenged by some philosophers. Timothy Williamson has argued that intuition plays no special role
in philosophy practice, and that skepticism about intuition cannot be meaningfully separated from a
general skepticism about judgment. On this view, there are no qualitative differences between the
methods of philosophy and common sense, the sciences or mathematics.[27]

Intuition in psychology[edit]
Girl with a Book by José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior

Sigmund Freud finds knowledge could only be attained through intellectual manipulation of carefully

observations and rejects any other means of acquiring knowledge such as intuition, and his findings
could have been analytic turn of his mind towards the subject.[28] InCarl Jung's theory of the ego,
described in 1916 inPsychological Types, intuition was an "irrational function", opposed most
directly by sensation, and opposed less strongly by the "rational functions" of thinking and feeling.
Jung defined intuition as "perception via the unconscious": using sense-perception only as a starting
point, to bring forth ideas, images, possibilities, ways out of a blocked situation, by a process that is
mostly unconscious.

Jung said that a person in whom intuition was dominant, an "intuitive type", acted not on the basis
of rational judgment but on sheer intensity of perception. An extroverted intuitive type, "the natural
champion of all minorities with a future", orients to new and promising but unproven possibilities,
often leaving to chase after a new possibility before old ventures have borne fruit, oblivious to his or
her own welfare in the constant pursuit of change. An introverted intuitive type orients by images
from the unconscious, ever exploring the psychic world of the archetypes, seeking to perceive the
meaning of events, but often having no interest in playing a role in those events and not seeing any
connection between the contents of the psychic world and him or herself. Jung thought that
extroverted intuitive types were likely entrepreneurs, speculators, cultural revolutionaries, often
undone by a desire to escape every situation before it becomes settled and constraining repeatedly
leaving lovers for the sake of new romantic possibilities. His introverted intuitive types were likely
mystics, prophets, or cranks, struggling with a tension between protecting their visions from
influence by others and making their ideas comprehensible and reasonably persuasive to others—a
necessity for those visions to bear real fruit.[29]

In more-recent psychology, intuition can encompass the ability to know valid solutions to problems
and decision making. For example, the recognition primed decision (RPD) model explains how
people can make relatively fast decisions without having to compare options. Gary Klein found that
under time pressure, high stakes, and changing parameters, experts used their base of experience to
identify similar situations and intuitively choose feasible solutions. Thus, model is a blend of intuition
and analysis. The intuition is the pattern-matching process that quickly suggests feasible courses of
action. The analysis is the mental simulation, a conscious and deliberate review of the courses of
action.[30]

According to the renowned neuropsychologist and neurobiologist Roger Wolcott Sperry though,

intuition is a right-brain activity while factual and mathematical analysis is a left-brain activity.[31]

A lot of time instinct is misinterpreted as intuition and it's reliability considered to be dependent on

past knowledge and occurrences in a specific area. For example, someone who has had more
experiences with children will tend to have a better instinct about what they should do in certain
situations with them. This is not to say that one with a great amount of experience is always going to
have an accurate intuition.[32]

Intuitive abilities were quantitatively tested at Yale University in the 1970s. While studyingnonverbal
communication, researchers noted that some subjects were able to read nonverbal facial cues
before reinforcement occurred.[33] In employing a similar design, they noted that highly intuitive
subjects made decisions quickly but could not identify their rationale. Their level of accuracy,
however, did not differ from that of non intuitive subjects.[34]

Colloquial usage[edit]

Intuition, as a gut feeling based on experience, has been found to be useful for business leaders for
making judgement about people, culture and strategy.[35] Law enforcement officers often claim to
observe suspects and immediately "know" that they possess a weapon or illicit narcotic substances,
which could also be action of instincts. Often unable to articulate why they reacted or what
prompted them at the time of the event, they sometimes retrospectively can plot their actions
based upon what had been clear and present danger signals. Such examples liken intuition to "gut
feelings" and when viable illustrate preconscious activity.[36]

See also[edit]

Thinking portal

Artistic inspiration

Brainstorming

Common sense

Cognition

Cryptesthesia

Déjà vu

Eastern epistemology#Faith and Intuition

Extra-sensory perception

Focusing

Inner Relationship Focusing

Grok

Insight

Instinct

Intuition (philosophy)

Intuition pump

Intuitionism

Intelligence analysis#Trained intuition

List of thought processes

Medical intuitive

Morphic resonance

Nous

Precognition

Preconscious

Rapport

Religious experience

Remote viewing

Serendipity

Social intuitionism

Subconscious

Synchronicity

Tacit knowledge

Truthiness

Unconscious mind

Notes and references[edit]

Jump up^ Oliver Elbs, Neuro-Esthetics: Mapological foundations and applications (Map 2003),

(Munich 2005)

Jump up^ "intuition". Retrieved 22 December 2014.

Jump up^ "intuition". Retrieved 22 December 2014.

^ Jump up to:a b Aurobindo, Sri. The synthesis of yoga. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo ashram trust.
pp. 799–800. ISBN 978-0-9415-2465-0. Retrieved 26 December 2014.

Jump up^ Peter Steinfels Beliefs The New York Times, July 13, 1996.

Jump up^ Converting Words into Pictures--Reading Comprehension Guide--Academic Support.

Jump up^ "Left/Right Processing". Frank.mtsu.edu. Retrieved 2013-06-16.

Jump up^ "Right-Brain Hemisphere". Psychology.jrank.org. Retrieved 2013-06-16.

Jump up^ Gerald Holton, Yehuda Elkana. Albert Einstein: Historical and Cultural Perspectives, Dover
Publications, July 1997, p. 97. ISBN 0-486-29879-5 "The workings of intuition transcend those of the
intellect, and as is well known, innovation is often a triumph of intuition over logic."

Jump up^ Intuition Peak. SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica.

Jump up^ Raymond DePaul, Michael; M. Ramsey, William. "one prevelant misuse of
Intuition".Rethinking Intuition: The Psychology of Intuition and Its Role in Philosophical Inquiry.
England: Rowman & littlefield publisher Inc. p. 84. Retrieved 22 December2014.

Jump up^ Leaman, Oliver (2000). Eastern Philosophy: Key Readings. London: Routledge. pp. 5–
40. ISBN 0-415-17357-4. Retrieved 23 December 2014.

Jump up^ osho, Bhagwan. Intuition: Knowing Beyond Logic. New York: osho international
foundation. pp. 10–20. ISBN 0-312-27567-6. Retrieved 24 December 2014.

Jump up^ M. Indich, William. Consciousness in Advaita Vedanta. varanasi: Motilal banarisdas. pp. 8–
10. ISBN 81-208-1251-4. Retrieved 24 December 2014.

Jump up^ Humphreys, Christmas. A Popular Dictionary of Buddhism. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-203-

98616-4. Retrieved23 December 2014.

Jump up^ Conners, Shawn. Zen Buddhism - The Path to Enlightenment. Texas: El paso trust.
p. 81. ISBN 1-934255-97-1. Retrieved23 December 2014.

Jump up^ Lawson, Todd. Reason and Inspiration in Islam: Theology, Philosophy and Mysticism in
Muslim Thought. London: I.B touris co ltd. pp. 210–225. ISBN 1-85043-470-0. Retrieved 26
December 2014.

Jump up^ Kalin, Ibrahim. Knowledge in Later Islamic Philosophy: Mulla Sadra on Existence, Intellect,
and Intuition. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 155–160. Retrieved26 December 2014.

Jump up^ "Plato: Education and the Value of Justice". Retrieved 22 December 2014.

Jump up^ Klein, Jacob. A Commentary on Plato's Meno. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
pp. 103–127. ISBN 0-226-43959-3. Retrieved 22 December 2014.

Jump up^ L. Mursell, James. "The Function of Intuition in Descartes' Philosophy of Science". The
Philosophical Review. 4 28. USA: Duke University Press. pp. 391–401.

Jump up^ Hume, David. A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to introduce the
experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects. The Floating Press.
p. 105. ISBN 9781775410676. Retrieved23 December 2014.

Jump up^ A. Johnson, Oliver. The Mind of David Hume: A Companion to Book I of A Treatise of
Human Nature. The Floating Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-252-02156-8. Retrieved23 December 2014.

Jump up^ Immanuel Kant (1787) "Critique of Pure Reason", p35 et

seq.http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=5144&pageno=35

Jump up^ M. Lynch "Trusting Intuitions", in P. Greenough and M. Lynch (ed) Truth and Realism, pp.
227-38.

Jump up^ G. Bealer "Intuition and The Autonomy of Philosophy" in M. Depaul and W. Ramsey
(eds) Rethinking Intuition: The Psychology of Intuition and Its Role In Philosophical Inquiry1998, pp.
201-239.

Jump up^ Williamson, Timothy (2008) "The Philosophy of Philosophy"

Jump up^ Walker Punerr, Helen. Sigmund Freud: His Life and Mind. Transaction Publishers. pp. 197–
200. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
Jump up^ C.G. Jung. Psychological Types. Bollingen Series XX, Volume 6, Princeton University Press,
1971.

Jump up^ Klein, Gary. Intuition At Work. Random House, NY, NY. January, 2003.

Jump up^ "Allen Chuck Ross, "Brain Hemispheric Functions and the Native American," ''Journal of
American Indian Education'', August 1989". Jaie.asu.edu. 1982-04-09. Retrieved 2013-06-16.

Jump up^ Eugene Sadler-Smith. Inside Intuition. 2008.

Jump up^ AJ Giannini, J Daood,MC Giannini, R Boniface, PG Rhodes. Intellect versus intuition--
dichotomy in the reception of nonverbal communication.Journal of General Psychology. 99:19-
24,1978.

Jump up^ AJ Giannini, ME Barringer, MC Giannini, RH Loiselle. Lack of relationship between

handedness and intuitive and intellectual (rationalistic) modes of information processing. Journal of
General Psychology. 111:31-37 1984.

Jump up^http://epubs.scu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=gcm_pubs

Jump up^ Anthony J. Pinizzotto, PhD, Edward F. Davis, MA, and Charles E. Miller
IIIEmotional/rational decision making in law enforcement (Federal Bureau of Investigation), Free
Online Library, 2004.

Further reading[edit]

Chauran, Alexandra (2012). So You Want To Be a Psychic Intuitive. Llewellyn Worldwide.ISBN 0-

7387-3065-3.

Chopra, Deepak, and Judith Orloff. The Power of Intuition. Hay House, 2005. (Audio) ISBN 978-1-
4019-0622-1

Davis, Elizabeth. Women's Intuition. Celestial Arts, 1989. ISBN 978-0-89087-572-8

Fradet, Pierre-Alexandre, Derrida-Bergson. Sur l'immédiateté, Hermann, Paris, coll. "Hermann

Philosophie", 2014. ISBN 9782705688318

Mayer, Elizabeth Lloyd. Extraordinary Knowing: Science, Skepticism, and the Inexplicable Powers of
the Human Mind. Bantam, 2008. ISBN 978-0-553-38223-5

McTaggart, Lynn. The Intention Experiment. Free Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7432-7696-2

Schulz, Mona Lisa, and Christriane Northrup. Awakening Intuition. Three Rivers Press, 1999.ISBN
978-0-609-80424-7

Wilde, Stuart Intuition. Hay House, 1996. (Audio) ISBN 978-1-4019-0674-0

Wilde, Stuart. The Sixth Sense: Including the Secrets of the Etheric Subtle Body. Hay House,
2000. ISBN 978-1-56170-501-6

Levin, Michal. Spiritual Intelligence: Awakening the Power of Your Spirituality and Intuition. Hodder
& Stoughton, 2000. ISBN 978-0-340-73394-3

Doc Childre and Howard Martin. The HEARTMATH Solution. HarperSanFrancisco, 1999.ISBN 978-0-
06-251606-0
Hoeflich, Christine. What Everyone Believed: A Memoir of Intuition and Awakening. Between Worlds
Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-0-9796589-0-7

Ezechiel Saad Hasard et Intuition, French, preface by zen master Jacques Brosse. Ed. Dervy, París,
1991. ISBN 2-85076-438-8

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has
quotations related
to: Intuition (mind)

Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman on Intuition

A scientific research group on intuition

Ask Philosophers: Question on Intuition and Rationality

Mediumship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Séance conducted by John Beattie, Bristol, England, 1872

Mediumship is the practice of certain people—known as mediums—to purportedly mediate

communication betweenspirits of the dead and living human beings.[1][2]

Attempts to contact the dead date back to early human history, with mediumship gaining in
popularity during the 19th century. Investigations during this period revealed widespread fraud—
with some practitioners employing techniques used by stage magicians—and the practice started to
lose credibility.[3][4] The practice still continues as of 2014, with high-profile fraud uncovered as
recently as the 2000s.[5]

Scientific researchers have attempted to ascertain the validity of claims of mediumship. An

experiment undertaken by the British Psychological Society led to the conclusion that the test
subjects demonstrated no mediumistic ability.[6]

Several different variants of mediumship exist; arguably the best-known forms involve a spirit
allegedly taking control of a medium's voice and using it to relay a message, or where the medium
simply "hears" the message and passes it on. Other forms involve materializations of the spirit or the
presence of a voice, and telekinetic activity.

The practice is associated with several religious-belief systems such

as Vodoun, Spiritualism,Spiritism, Candomblé, Voodoo, Umbanda and some New Age groups.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Concept

2 History

3 Terminology
3.1 Spirit guide

3.2 Spirit operator

3.3 Demonstrations of mediumship

3.4 Mental mediumship

3.5 Trance mediumship

3.6 Physical mediumship

3.7 Direct voice

3.8 Channeling

4 Psychic senses

5 Explanations

5.1 Paranormal belief

5.2 Scientific skepticism

6 Fraud

6.1 1800s

6.2 1900s

6.3 Recent

7 See also

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links

Concept[edit]

In Spiritism and Spiritualism the medium has the role of an intermediary between the world of the
living and the world of spirit. Mediums claim that they can listen to and relay messages from spirits,
or that they can allow a spirit to control their body and speak through it directly or by
using automatic writing or drawing.

Spiritualists classify types of mediumship into two main categories: "mental" and "physical":

Mental mediums allegedly "tune in" to the spirit world by listening, sensing, or seeing spirits or
symbols.

Physical mediums are believed to produce materialization of spirits, apports of objects, and other
effects such as knocking, rapping, bell-ringing, etc. by using "ectoplasm" created from the cells of
their bodies and those of seance attendees.

During seances, mediums are said to go into trances, varying from light to deep, that permit spirits
to control their minds.[7]
Channeling can be seen as the modern form of the old mediumship, where the "channel" (or
channeller) allegedly receives messages from "teaching-spirit", an "Ascended Master", fromGod, or
from an angelic entity, but essentially through the filter of his own waking consciousness(or "Higher
Self").[8][9]

History[edit]

Main article: Spiritualism

Attempts to communicate with the dead and other living human beings, aka spirits, have been
documented back to early human history. The story of the Witch of Endor (In the most recent
edition of the NIV witch is rendered medium in the passage) tells of one who raised the spirit of the
deceased prophet Samuel to allow the Hebrew king Saul to question his former mentor about an
upcoming battle, as related in the First book of Samuel in the Jewish Tanakh (the Old Testament).

Mediumship became quite popular in the 19th-century United States and the United Kingdomafter
the rise of Spiritualism as a religious movement. Modern Spiritualism is said to date from practices
and lectures of the Fox sisters in New York State in 1848. The trance mediumsPaschal Beverly
Randolph and Emma Hardinge Britten were among the most celebrated lecturers and authors on the
subject in the mid-19th century. Allan Kardec coined the termSpiritism around 1860.[10] Kardec
claimed that conversations with spirits by selected mediums were the basis of his The Spirits'
Book and later, his five-book collection, Spiritist Codification.

After the exposure of the fraudulent use of stage magic tricks by physical mediums such as
theDavenport Brothers and the Bangs Sisters, mediumship fell into disrepute. The practice continued
among people who believed that the dead can be contacted and tried to do so. From the 1930s
through the 1990s, as psychical mediumship became less practiced in Spiritualist churches, the
technique of "channelling" gained in popularity. Books by channellers who claimed to relate the
wisdom of non-corporeal and non-terrestrial teacher-spirits became best-sellers amongst believers.

Terminology[edit]

Spirit guide[edit]

Main article: Spirit guide

In 1958, the English-born Spiritualist C. Dorreen Phillips wrote of her experiences with a medium
at Camp Chesterfield, Indiana: "In Rev. James Laughton's séances there are many Indians. They are
very noisy and appear to have great power. [...] The little guides, or doorkeepers, are usually Indian
boys and girls [who act] as messengers who help to locate the spirit friends who wish to speak with
you."[11]

Spirit operator[edit]

A spirit who uses a medium to manipulate psychic "energy" or "energy systems."

Demonstrations of mediumship[edit]
Colin Evans who claimed spirits lifted him into the air was exposed as a fraud.

In old-line Spiritualism, a portion of the services, generally toward the end, is given over to
demonstrations of mediumship through contact with the spirits of the dead. A typical example of
this way of describing a mediumistic church service is found in the 1958 autobiography of C. Dorreen
Phillips. She writes of the worship services at the Spiritualist Camp Chesterfield in Chesterfield,
Indiana: "Services are held each afternoon, consisting of hymns, a lecture on philosophy, and
demonstrations of mediumship."[11]

Today "demonstration of mediumship" is part of the church service at all churches affiliated with
the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC). Demonstration links to NSAC's Declaration
of Principal #9. "We affirm that the precepts of Prophecy and Healing are Divine attributes proven
through Mediumship."

Mental mediumship[edit]

Main article: Séance

"Mental mediumship" is communication of spirits with a medium by telepathy. The medium

mentally "hears" (clairaudience), "sees" (clairvoyance), and/or feels (clairsentience) messages from
spirits. Directly or with the help of a spirit guide, the medium passes the information on to the
message's recipient(s). When a medium is doing a "reading" for a particular person, that person is
known as the "sitter."

Trance mediumship[edit]

"Trance mediumship" is often seen as a form of mental mediumship.

Most trance mediums remain conscious during a communication period, wherein a spirit uses the
medium's mind to communicate. The spirit or spirits using the medium's mind influences the mind
with the thoughts being conveyed. The medium allows the ego to step aside for the message to be
delivered. At the same time, one has awareness of the thoughts coming through and may even
influence the message with one's own bias. Such a trance is not to be confused with sleepwalking, as
the patterns are entirely different. Castillo (1995) states,
Trance phenomena result from the behavior of intense focusing of attention, which is the key
psychological mechanism of trance induction. Adaptive responses, including institutionalized forms
of trance, are 'tuned' into neural networks in the brain.[12]

In the 1860s and 1870s, trance mediums were very popular. Spiritualism generally attracted female
adherents, many who had strong interests in social justice. Many trance mediums delivered
passionate speeches on abolitionism, temperance, and women's suffrage.[13] Scholars have
described Leonora Piper as one of the most famous trance mediums in the history of Spiritualism.[3]
[14][15]

In the typical deep trance, the medium may not have clear recall of all the messages conveyed while
in an altered state; such people generally work with an assistant. That person selectively wrote down
or otherwise recorded the medium's words. Rarely did the assistant record the responding words of
the sitter and other attendants. An example of this kind of relationship can be found in the early
20th century collaboration between the trance medium Mrs. Cecil M. Cook of the William T.
Stead Memorial Center in Chicago (a religious body incorporated under the statutes of the State of
Illinois) and the journalist Lloyd Kenyon Jones. The latter was a non-medium Spiritualist who
transcribed Cook's messages in shorthand. He edited them for publication in book and pamphlet
form.[16]

Physical mediumship[edit]

Main article: Séance

A photograph of the medium Linda Gazzera with a doll as fake ectoplasm.

Physical mediumship is defined as manipulation of energies and energy systems by spirits. This type
of mediumship is claimed to involve perceptible manifestations, such as loud raps and noises, voices,
materialized objects, apports, materialized spirit bodies, or body parts such as hands, legs and feet.
The medium is used as a source of power for such spirit manifestations. By some accounts, this was
achieved by using the energy or ectoplasm released by a medium, see Spirit photography.[17]
[18] The last physical medium to be tested by a committee from Scientific American was Mina
Crandon in 1924.

Most physical mediumship is presented in a darkened or dimly lit room. Most physical mediums
make use of a traditional array of tools and appurtenances, including spirit trumpets, spirit cabinets,
and levitation tables.

Direct voice[edit]

Direct voice communication is the claim that spirits speak independently of the medium, who
facilitates the phenomenon rather than produces it. The role of the medium is to make the
connection between the physical and spirit worlds. Trumpets are often utilised to amplify the signal,
and directed voice mediums are sometimes known as "trumpet mediums". This form of mediumship
also permits the medium to participate in the discourse during séances, since the medium's voice is
not required by the spirit to communicate. Leslie Flint, was one of the best known exponents of this
form of mediumship.[19]

Channeling[edit]

In the later half of the 20th century, Western mediumship developed in two different ways. One
type involves psychics or sensitives who speak to spirits and then relay what they hear to their
clients.[20]

The other incarnation of non-physical mediumship is a form of channeling in which the channeler
goes into a trance, or "leaves their body". He or she allows the entity to borrow his/her body, who
then talks through them.[21] When in a trance  the medium seems to come under the control of
another personality, purportedly the spirit of a departed soul, and a genuine medium undoubtedly
believes the 'control' to be a spirit entity.  While in the old deep trance state the medium often
enters a cataleptic state marked by extreme rigidity,[22] this seems not the case for most of modern
channelers. Some of them open the eyes when channeling, smile and utilize any sort of glances and
facial expressions. They can also walk and behave normally. The rhythm and the intonation of the
voice may also change completely. A widely known channeler of this variety is J. Z. Knight, who
channels the spirit of Ramtha, a 30 thousand-year-old man. Others claim to channel spirits from
"future dimensions", ascended masters,[23] or, in the case of the trance mediums of the Brahma
Kumaris, God.[24] Other notable channels are Jane Robertsfor Seth, Esther Hicks for Abraham,
[25] Darryl Anka for Bashar, Steve Rother, Lee Carroll for Kryon, and Geoffrey Hoppe for Adamus
Saint-Germain.

Psychic senses[edit]

In spiritualism, psychic senses used by mental mediums are sometimes defined differently from in
other paranormal fields. A medium is said to have psychic abilities but not all psychics function as
mediums. [26] The term clairvoyance, for instance, may be used by Spiritualists to include seeing
spirits and visions instilled by spirits. The Parapsychological Association defines "clairvoyance" as
information derived directly from an external physical source.[27]

Clairvoyance or "clear seeing", is the ability to see anything that is not physically present, such as
objects, animals or people. This sight occurs "in the mind's eye". Some mediums say that this is their
normal vision state. Others say that they must train their minds with such practices as meditation in
order to achieve this ability, and that assistance from spiritual helpers is often necessary. Some
clairvoyant mediums can see a spirit as though the spirit has a physical body. They see the bodily
form as if it were physically present. Other mediums see the spirit in their mind's eye, or it appears
as a movie or a television programme or a still picture like a photograph in their mind.

Clairaudience or "clear hearing", is usually defined as the ability to hear the voices or thoughts of
spirits. Some mediums hear as though they are listening to a person talking to them on the outside
of their head, as though the Spirit is next to or near to the medium, and other mediums hear the
voices in their minds as a verbal thought.

Clairsentience or "clear sensing", is the ability to have an impression of what a spirit wants to
communicate, or to feel sensations instilled by a spirit.

Clairsentinence or "clear feeling" is a condition in which the medium takes on the ailments of a
spirit, feeling the same physical problem which the spirit person had before death.
Clairalience or "clear smelling" is the ability to smell a spirit. For example, a medium may smell the
pipe tobacco of a person who smoked during life.

Clairgustance or "clear tasting" is the ability to receive taste impressions from a spirit.

Claircognizance or "clear knowing", is the ability to know something without receiving it through
normal or psychic senses. It is a feeling of "just knowing". Often, a medium will claim to have the
feeling that a message or situation is "right" or "wrong."

Explanations[edit]

Paranormal belief[edit]

Spiritualists believe that phenomena produced by mediums (both mental and physical mediumship)
are the result of external spirit agencies.[28]

Thomson Jay Hudson in The Law of Psychic Phenomena (1892) and Théodore Flournoy in his

book Spiritism and Psychology (1911) wrote that all kinds of mediumship could be explained
bysuggestion and telepathy from the medium and that there was no evidence for the spirit
hypothesis. The idea of mediumship being explained by telepathy was later merged into the "super-
ESP" hypothesis of mediumship which is currently advocated by someparapsychologists.[29]

Scientific skepticism[edit]

Scientists who study anomalistic psychology consider mediumship to be the result of fraud and

psychological factors. Research from psychology for over a hundred years has revealed that where
there is not fraud, mediumship and Spiritualist practices can be explained by hypnotism,magical
thinking and suggestion.[30][31] Trance mediumship which is claimed by the Spiritualists to be
caused by discarnate spirits speaking through the medium have been proven in cases to be alternate
personalities from the medium's subconscious mind.[32]

Magicians such as Joseph Rinn have staged fake séances in which the sitters have claimed to have
observed genuine supernatural phenomena.[33] Albert Moll studied the psychology ofséance sitters.
According to (Wolffram, 2012) "[Moll] argued that the hypnotic atmosphere of the
darkened séance room and the suggestive effect of the experimenters’ social and scientific prestige
could be used to explain why seemingly rational people vouchsafed occult
phenomena."[34] The psychologists Leonard Zusne and Warren Jones in their book Anomalistic
Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking (1989) wrote that spirits controls are the "products of the
medium's own psychological dynamics."[35]

The medium may obtain information about their sitters by secretly eavesdropping on sitter's
conversations or searching telephone directories, the internet and newspapers before the sittings.
[36] Mediums are known for employing a technique called cold reading and obtain information from
the sitter's behavior, clothing, posture, and jewellery.[37][38]

The psychologist Richard Wiseman has written:

Cold reading also explains why psychics have consistently failed scientific tests of their powers. By
isolating them from their clients, psychics are unable to pick up information from the way those
clients dress or behave. By presenting all of the volunteers involved in the test with all of the
readings, they are prevented from attributing meaning to their own reading, and therefore can’t
identify it from readings made for others. As a result, the type of highly successful hit rate that
psychics enjoy on a daily basis comes crashing down and the truth emerges – their success depends
on a fascinating application of psychology and not the existence of paranormal abilities.[39]

In a series of fake séance experiments (Wiseman et al. 2003) paranormal believers and disbelievers

were suggested by an actor that a table was levitating when, in fact, it remained stationary. After the
seance, approximately one third of the participants incorrectly reported that the table had moved.
The results showed a greater percentage of believers reporting that the table had moved. In another
experiment the believers had also reported that a handbell had moved when it had remained
stationary and expressed their belief that the fake séances contained genuine paranormal
phenomena. The experiments strongly supported the notion that in the séance room, believers are
more suggestible than disbelievers for suggestions that areconsistent with their belief in paranormal
phenomena.[40]

Fraud[edit]

Helen Duncan in a séance with dolls.

There have been many instances of fraud and trickery in mediumship practices from its earliest
beginnings to contemporary times.[41] Séances take place in darkness so the poor lighting
conditions can become an easy opportunity for fraud. Physical mediumship that has been
investigated by scientists has been discovered to be the result of deception and trickery.
[42] Ectoplasm a supposed paranormal substance was revealed to be made from cheesecloth,
butter, muslin and cloth. Mediums would also stick cut-out faces from magazinesand newspapers
onto cloth or on other props and use plastic dolls in their séances to pretend to their
audiences spirits were contacting them.[43] Lewis Spence in his book An Encyclopaedia of
Occultism (1960) wrote:

A very large part is played by fraud in spiritualistic practices, both in the physical and psychical, or
automatic, phenomena, but especially in the former. The frequency with which mediums have been
convicted of fraud has, indeed, induced many people to abandon the study of psychical research,
judging the whole bulk of the phenomena to be fraudulently produced.[44]
Henry Slade

In Britain, the Society for Psychical Research has investigated mediumship phenomena. Critical SPR
investigations into purported mediums and the exposure of fake mediums has led to a number of
resignations by Spiritualist members.[45][46] On the subject of fraud in mediumship Paul
Kurtz wrote:

No doubt a great importance in the paranormal field is the problem of fraud. The field of psychic
research and spiritualism has been so notoriously full of charlatans, such as the Fox
sisters and Eusapia Palladino–individuals who claim to have special power and gifts but who are
actually conjurers who have hoodwinked scientists and the public as well–that we have to be
especially cautious about claims made on their behalf.[47]

Magicians have a long history of exposing the fraudulent methods of mediumship. Early debunkers
included Chung Ling Soo, Henry Evans and Julien Proskauer.[48] Later magicians to reveal fraud
were Joseph Dunninger, Harry Houdini and Joseph Rinn.[49]

1800s[edit]

Many 19th century mediums were discovered to be engaged in fraud.[50] While advocates of

mediumship claim that their experiences are genuine, the Encyclopædia Britannica article on
spiritualism notes in reference to a case in the 19th century that "...one by one,
the Spiritualistmediums were discovered to be engaged in fraud, sometimes employing the
techniques of stage magicians in their attempts to convince people of their clairvoyant powers." The
article also notes that "the exposure of widespread fraud within the spiritualist movement severely
damaged its reputation and pushed it to the fringes of society in the United States."[51]

At a séance in the house of the solicitor John Snaith Rymer in Ealing on July 1855, a sitter Frederick
Merrifield observed that a "spirit-hand" was a false limb attached on the end of the medium Daniel
Dunglas Home's arm. Merrifield also claimed to have observed Home use his foot in the séance
room.[52]

The poet Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth attended a séance on 23, July 1855 in Ealing with
the Rymers.[53] During the séance a spirit face materialized which Home claimed was the son of
Browning who had died in infancy. Browning seized the "materialization" and discovered it to be the
bare foot of Home. To make the deception worse, Browning had never lost a son in infancy.
Browning's son Robert in a letter to The Times, December 5, 1902 referred to the incident "Home
was detected in a vulgar fraud."[54][55] The researchers Joseph McCabe andTrevor H. Hall exposed
the "levitation" of Home as nothing more than him moving across a connecting ledge between two
iron balconies.[56]
The psychologist and psychical researcher Stanley LeFevre Krebs had exposed the Bangs Sisters as
frauds. During a séance he employed a hidden mirror and caught them tampering with a letter in an
envelope and writing a reply in it under the table which they would pretend a spirit had written.
[57] The British materialization medium Rosina Mary Showers was caught in many fraudulent
séances throughout her career.[58] In 1874 during a séance with Edward William Cox a sitter looked
into the cabinet and seized the spirit, the headdress fell off and was revealed to be Showers.[59]

In a series of experiments in London at the house of William Crookes in February 1875, the
medium Anna Eva Fay managed to fool Crookes into believing she had genuine psychic powers. Fay
later confessed to her fraud and revealed the tricks she had used.[60] Frank Herne a British medium
who formed a partnership with the medium Charles Williams was repeatedly exposed in
fraudulent materialization séances.[61] In 1875 he was caught pretending to be a spirit during a
séance in Liverpool and was found "clothed in about two yards of stiffened muslin, wound round his
head and hanging down as far as his thigh."[62] Florence Cook had been "trained in the arts of the
séance" by Herne and was repeatedly exposed as a fraudulent medium.[63]

The medium Henry Slade was caught in fraud many times throughout his career. In a séance in 1876
in London Ray Lankester and Bryan Donkin snatched his slate before the "spirit" message was
supposed to be written, and found the writing already there.[64] Slade also played anaccordion with
one hand under the table and claimed spirits would play it. The magician Chung Ling Soo revealed
how Slade had performed the trick.[65]

Eva Carrière with cardboard cut out figure King Ferdinand of Bulgaria.

The British medium Francis Ward Monck was investigated by psychical researchers and discovered
to be a fraud. On November 3, 1876 during the séance a sitter demanded that Monck be searched.
Monck ran from the room, locked himself in another room and escaped out of a window. A pair of
stuffed gloves was found in his room, as well as cheesecloth, reaching rods and other fraudulent
devices in his luggage.[66] After a trial Monck was convicted for his fraudulent mediumship and was
sentenced to three months in prison.[67]

In 1876, William Eglinton was exposed as a fraud when thepsychical researcher Thomas Colley seized

a "spirit" materialization in his séance and cut off a portion of its cloak. It was discovered that the cut
piece matched a cloth found in Eglinton's suitcase.[68] Colley also pulled the beard off the
materialization and it was revealed to be a fake, the same as another one found in the suitcase of
Eglinton.[69] In 1880 in aséance a spirit named "Yohlande" materialized, a sitter grabbed it and was
revealed to be the medium Mme. d'Esperance herself.[70]

In September 1878 the British medium Charles Williams and his fellow-medium at the time, A. Rita,
were detected in trickery at Amsterdam. During the séance a materialized spirit was seized and
found to be Rita and a bottle of phosphorus oil, muslin and a false beard were found amongst the
two mediums.[71] In 1882 C. E. Wood was exposed in a séance in Peterborough. Her Indian spirit
control "Pocka" was found to be the medium on her knees, covered in muslin.[72]

In 1880 the American stage mentalist Washington Irving Bishop published a book revealing how
mediums would use secret codes as the trick for their clairvoyant readings.[73] The Seybert
Commission was a group of faculty at the University of Pennsylvania who in 1884-1887 exposed
fraudulent mediums such as Pierre L. O. A. Keeler and Henry Slade.[74] The Fox sistersconfessed to
fraud in 1888. Margaret Fox revealed that she and her sister had produced the "spirit" rappings by
cracking their toe joints.[75]

In 1891 at a public séance with twenty sitters the medium Cecil Husk was caught leaning over a table
pretending to be a spirit by covering his face with phosphor material.[76] The magician Will
Goldston also exposed the fraud mediumship of Husk. In a séance Goldston attended a pale face
materialization appeared in the room. Goldston wrote "I saw at once that it was a gauze mask, and
that the moustache attached to it was loose at one side through lack of gum. I pulled at the mask. It
came away, revealing the face of Husk."[77] The British materialization medium Annie Fairlamb
Mellon was exposed as a fraud on October 12, 1894. During the séance a sitter seized the
materialized spirit, and found it to be the Mellon on her knees with white muslin on her head and
shoulders.[78]

The magician Samri Baldwin exposed the tricks of the Davenport brothers in his book The Secrets of
Mahatma Land Explained (1895).[79] The medium Swami Laura Horos was convicted of fraud several
times and was tried for rape and fraud in London in 1901. She was described by the magician Harry
Houdini as "one of the most extraordinary fake mediums and mystery swindlers the world has ever
known".[80]

In the late 19th century the fraudulent methods of spirit photographers such as David
Duguidand Edward Wyllie were revealed by psychical researchers.[81] Hereward
Carringtondocumented various methods (with diagrams) how the medium would manipulate
the platesbefore, during, and after the séance to produce spirit forms.
[82] The ectoplasm materializations of the French medium Eva Carrière were exposed as fraudulent.
The fake ectoplasm of Carrière was made of cut-out paper faces from newspapers and magazines on
which fold marks could sometimes be seen from the photographs.[83] Cut out faces that she used
included Woodrow Wilson, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, French president Raymond Poincaré and the
actress Mona Delza.[84]

The séance trick of the Eddy Brothers was revealed by the magician Chung Ling Soo in 1898. The
brothers utilized a fake hand made of lead, and with their hands free from control would play
musical instruments and move objects in the séance room.[85] The physiologist Ivor Lloyd
Tuckett examined a case of spirit photography that W. T. Stead had claimed was genuine. Stead
visited a photographer who had produced a photograph of him with deceased soldier known as "Piet
Botha". Stead claimed that the photographer could not have come across any information about Piet
Botha, however, Tuckett discovered that an article in 1899 had been published on Pietrus Botha in a
weekly magazine with a portrait and personal details.[86]
The trance medium Leonora Piper was investigated by psychical researchers and psychologistsin the
late 19th and early 20th century. In an experiment to test if Piper's "spirit" controls were purely
fictitious the psychologist G. Stanley Hall invented a niece called Bessie Beals and asked Piper's
'control' to get in touch with it. Bessie appeared, answered questions and accepted Dr. Hall as her
uncle.[87] The psychologist Joseph Jastrow wrote that Piper pretended to be controlled by spirits
and fell into simple and logical traps from her comments.[88] Science writerMartin
Gardner concluded Piper was a cold reader that would "fish" for information from her séance sitters.
[89] The physiologist Ivor Lloyd Tuckett who examined Piper's mediumship in detail wrote it could be
explained by "muscle-reading, fishing, guessing, hints obtained in the sitting, knowledge
surreptitiously obtained, knowledge acquired in the interval between sittings and lastly, facts already
within Mrs. Piper's knowledge."[90]

1900s[edit]

In March 1902 in Berlin, police officers interrupted a séance of the German apport medium Frau
Anna Rothe. Her hands were grabbed and she was wrestled to the ground. A female police assistant
physically examined Rothe and discovered 157 flowers as well as oranges and lemons hidden in her
petticoat. She was arrested and charged with fraud.[91] Another apport medium Hilda Lewis known
as the "flower medium" confessed to fraud.[92]

The psychical researchers W. W. Baggally and Everard Feilding exposed the

Britishmaterialization medium Christopher Chambers as a fraud in 1905. A false moustache was
discovered in the séance room which he used to fabricate the spirit materializations.[93] The British
medium Charles Eldred was exposed as a fraud in 1906. Eldred would sit in a chair in a curtained off
area in the room known as a "séance cabinet". Various spirit figures would emerge from the cabinet
and move around the séance room, however, it was discovered that the chair had a secret
compartment that contained beards, cloths, masks, and wigs that Eldred would dress up in to fake
the spirits.[94]

The spirit photographer William Hope tricked William Crookes with a fake spirit photograph of his

wife in 1906. Oliver Lodge revealed there had been obvious signs of double exposure, the picture of
Lady Crookes had been copied from a wedding anniversary photograph, however, Crookes was a
convinced spiritualist and claimed it was genuine evidence for spirit photography.[95]

In 1907, Hereward Carrington exposed the tricks of fraudulent mediums such as those used in slate-
writing, table-turning, trumpet mediumship, materializations, sealed-letter reading and spirit
photography.[96] Between 1908-1914 the Italian medium Francesco Carancini was investigated by
psychical researchers and they discovered that he used phosphorus matches to produce "spirit
lights" and with a freed hand would move objects in the séance room.[97]

In 1908 at a hotel in Naples, the psychical researcher Everard Feilding attended a series of séances
with Eusapia Palladino. In a report Feilding claimed genuine supernatural activity had occurred in the
séances, this report became known as the Feilding report.[98] In 1910, Feilding returned to Naples,
but this time accompanied with the magician William S. Marriott. Unlike the 1908 sittings, Feilding
and Marriott detected her cheating, just as she had done in America. Her deceptions were obvious.
Palladino evaded control and was caught moving objects with her foot, shaking the curtain with her
hands, moving the cabinet table with her elbow and touching the séance sitters. Milbourne
Christopher wrote regarding the exposure "when one knows how a feat can be done and what to
look for, only the most skillful performer can maintain the illusion in the face of such informed
scrutiny."[99]
Stanisława Tomczyk (left) and the magician William Marriott (right) who duplicated by natural means
her levitation trick of a glass beaker.

In 1910 at a séance in Grenoble, France theapport medium Charles Bailey produced two live birds in

the séance room. Bailey was unaware that the dealer he had bought the birds from was present in
the séance and he was exposed as a fraud.[100] The psychical researcher Eric Dingwallobserved the
medium Bert Reese in New York and claimed to have discovered his billet readingtricks.[101] The
most detailed account at exposing his tricks (with diagrams) was by the magicianTheodore
Annemann.[102]

The Polish medium Stanisława Tomczyk's levitation of a glass beaker was exposed and replicated in
1910 by the magician William Marriott by means of a hidden thread.[103] The Italian medium Lucia
Sordi was exposed in 1911, she was bound to a chair by psychical researchers but would free herself
during her séances. The tricks of another Italian medium Linda Gazzera were revealed in the same
year, she would release her hands and feet from control in her séances and use them. Gazzera
would not permit anyone to search her before a séance sitting, as she concealed muslin and other
objects in her hair.[104]

In 1917, Edward Clodd analyzed the mediumship of the trance medium Gladys Osborne Leonard and

came to the conclusion that Leonard had known her séance sitters before she had held the séances,
and could have easily obtained such information by natural means.[105] The British
psychiatrist Charles Arthur Mercier wrote in his book Spiritualism and Sir Oliver Lodge(1917)
that Oliver Lodge had been duped into believing mediumship by trickery and his spiritualist views
were based on assumptions and not scientific evidence.[106]

In 1918, Joseph Jastrow wrote about the tricks of Eusapia Palladino who was an expert at freeing her
hands and feet from the control in the séance room.[107] In the séance room Palladino would move
curtains from a distance by releasing a jet of air from a rubber bulb that she had in her hand.
[108] According to the psychical researcher Harry Price "Her tricks were usually childish: long hairs
attached to small objects in order to produce 'telekinetic movements'; the gradual substitution of
one hand for two when being controlled by sitters; the production of 'phenomena' with a foot which
had been surreptitiously removed from its shoe and so on."[109]

In the 1920s the British medium Charles Albert Beare duped the Spiritualist organization the Temple
of Light into believing he had genuine mediumship powers. In 1931 Beare published a confession in
the newspaper Daily Express. In the confession he stated "I have deceived hundreds of people…. I
have been guilty of fraud and deception in spiritualistic practices by pretending that I was controlled
by a spirit guide…. I am frankly and whole-heartedly sorry that I have allowed myself to deceive
people."[110] Due to the exposure of William Hope and other fraudulent spiritualists, Arthur Conan
Doyle in the 1920s led a mass resignation of eighty-four members of the Society for Psychical
Research, as they believed the Society was opposed to spiritualism.[111]

Between 8 November and 31 December 1920 Gustav Geley of the Institute Metapsychique

International attended fourteen séances with the medium Franek Kluski in Paris. A bowl of hot
paraffin was placed in the room and according to Kluski spirits dipped their limbs into
the paraffinand then into a bath of water to materialize. Three other series of séances were held in
Warsaw in Kluski's own apartment, these took place over a period of three years. Kluski was not
searched in any of the séances. Photographs of the molds were obtained during the four series of
experiments and were published by Geley in 1924.[112][113] Harry Houdini replicated the Kluski
materialization moulds by using his hands and a bowl of hot paraffin.[114]

The British direct-voice medium Frederick Tansley Munnings was exposed as a fraud when one of his
séance sitters turned the lights on which revealed him to be holding a trumpet by means of a
telescopic extension piece and using an angle piece to change the auditory effect of his voice.
[115] Richard Hodgson held six sittings with the medium Rosina Thompson and came to the
conclusion she was a fraud as he discovered Thompson had access to documents and information
about her séance sitters.[116]

On 4 February 1922, Harry Price with James Seymour, Eric Dingwall and William Marriott had proven
the spirit photographer William Hope was a fraud during tests at the British College of Psychic
Science. Price wrote in his SPR report "William Hope has been found guilty of deliberately
substituting his own plates for those of a sitter... It implies that the medium brings to the sitting a
duplicate slide and faked plates for fraudulent purposes."[117] The medium Kathleen Goligher was
investigated by the physicist Edmund Fournier d'Albe. On July 22, 1921 in a séance he observed
Goligher holding the table up with her foot. He also discovered that herectoplasm was made of
muslin. During a séance d'Albe observed white muslin between Goligher's feet.[118]

The Danish medium Einer Nielsen was investigated by a committee from the Kristiania University in

Norway, 1922 and discovered in a séance that his ectoplasm was fake.[119] In 1923 the Polish
medium Jan Guzyk was exposed as a fraud in a series of séances in Sorbonne inParis. Guzyk would
use his elbows and legs to move objects around the room and touch the sitters. According to Max
Dessoir the trick of Guzyk was to use his "foot for psychic touches and sounds".[120]

The psychical researchers Eric Dingwall and Harry Price re-published an anonymous work written by

a former medium entitled Revelations of a Spirit Medium (1922) which exposed the tricks of
mediumship and the fraudulent methods of producing "spirit hands".[121] Originally all the copies of
the book were bought up by spiritualists and deliberately destroyed.[122] In 1923, the
magician Carlos María de Heredia revealed how fake spirit hands could be made by using a rubber
glove, paraffin and a jar of cold water.[123] In 1922, Harry Price, James Seymour, Eric Dingwall and
William Marriott exposed the fraud of the spirit photographer William Hope. Price wrote in his
report "William Hope has been found guilty of deliberately substituting his own plates for those of a
sitter... It implies that the medium brings to the sitting a duplicate slide and faked plates for
fraudulent purposes."[117]

The Hungarian medium Ladislas Lasslo confessed that all of his spirit materializations were

fraudulent in 1924. A séance sitter was also found to be working as a confederate for Lasslo.[124]
[125]
Mina Crandon with her "spirit hand" which was discovered to be a made from a piece of
carved animal liver.

The Austrian medium Rudi Schneider was investigated in 1924 by the physicists Stefan Meyer and

Karl Przibram. They caught Rudi freeing his arm in a series of séances.[126] Rudi claimed he
could levitate objects but according Harry Price a photograph taken on April 28, 1932 showed that
Rudi had managed to free his arm to move a handkerchief from the table.[127]According to Warren
Jay Vinton, Schneider was an expert at freeing himself from control in the séance room.[128] Oliver
Gatty and Theodore Besterman who examined the mediumship of Schneider concluded there is "no
good evidence that Rudi Schneider possesses supernormal powers."[129]

The spiritualists Arthur Conan Doyle and W. T. Steadwere duped into believing Julius and Agnes
Zancig had genuine psychic powers. Both Doyle and Stead wrote that the Zancigs
performed telepathy. In 1924 Julius and Agnes Zancig confessed that that their mind reading act was
a trick and published the secret code and all the details of the trick method they had used under the
title of Our Secrets!! in a London Newspaper.[130]

In 1925, Samuel Soal claimed to have taken part in a series of séances with the medium Blanche
Cooper who contacted the spirit of a soldier Gordon Davis and revealed the house that he had lived
in. Researchers later discovered fraud as the séances had taken place in 1922, not 1925. The
magician and paranormal investigator Bob Couttie revealed that Davis was alive, Soal lived close to
him and had altered the records of the sittings after checking out the house. Soal's co-workers knew
that he had fiddled the results but were kept quiet with threats of libel suits.[131]

Mina Crandon claimed to materialize a "spirit hand", but when examined by biologists the hand was
discovered to be made from a piece of carved animal liver.[132] The
German apport mediumHeinrich Melzer was discovered to be a fraud in 1926. In a séance psychical
researchers found that Melzer had small stones attached to the back of his ears by flesh coloured
tape.[133]Psychical researchers who investigated the mediumship of Maria Silbert revealed that she
used her feet and toes to move objects in the séance room.[134]

In 1930 the Polish medium Stanislawa P. was tested at the Institut Metapsychique in Paris. Eugene
Osty suspected in the séance that Stanislawa had freed her hand from control. Secret flashlight
photographs that were taken revealed that her hand was free and she had moved objects on the
séance table.[135] It was claimed by spiritualists that during a series of séances in 1930 the
medium Eileen J. Garrett channeled secret information from the spirit of the LieutenantHerbert
Carmichael Irwin who had died in the R101 crash a few days before the séance. Researcher Melvin
Harris who studied the case wrote that the information described in Garrett's séances were "either
commonplace, easily absorbed bits and pieces, or plain gobblede- gook. The so-called secret
information just doesn't exist."[136]

Helen Duncan with fake ectoplasm, analysed by Harry Price to be made of cheesecloth and a rubber
glove.

In the 1930s Harry Price (director of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research) had investigated

the medium Helen Duncan and had her perform a number of test séances. She was suspected of
swallowing cheesecloth which was then regurgitated as "ectoplasm".[137] Price had proven through
analysis of a sample of ectoplasm produced by Duncan, that it was made of cheesecloth.[138] Helen
Duncan would also use a doll made of a painted papier-mâché mask draped in an old sheet which
she pretended to her sitters was a spirit.[139] The photographs taken by Thomas Glendenning
Hamilton in the 1930s of ectoplasm reveal the substance to be made of tissue paper and magazine
cut-outs of people. The famous photograph taken by Hamilton of the medium Mary Ann Marshall
depicts tissue paper with a cut out ofArthur Conan Doyle's head from a newspaper. Skeptics have
suspected that Hamilton may have been behind thehoax.[140]

Psychologists and researchers who studied Pearl Curran'sautomatic writings in the 1930s came to
the conclusionPatience Worth was a fictitious creation of Curran.[141][142] In 1931 George
Valiantine was exposed as a fraud in the séance room as it was discovered that he produced
fraudulent "spirit" fingerprints in wax. The "spirit" thumbprint that Valiantine claimed belonged
to Arthur Conan Doyle was revealed to be the print of his big toe on his right foot. It was also
revealed that Valiantine made some of the prints with his elbow.[143]

The medium Frank Decker was exposed as a fraud in 1932. A magician and séance sitter who called
himself M. Taylor presented a mail bag and Decker agreed to lock himself inside it. During the
séance objects were moved around the room and it was claimed spirits had released Decker from
the bag. It was later discovered to have been a trick as Martin Sunshine, a magic dealer admitted
that he sold Decker a trick mail bag, such as stage escapologists use, and had acted as the medium’s
confederate by pretending to be M. Taylor, a magician.[144] The British mediumEstelle
Roberts claimed to materialize an Indian spirit guide called "Red Cloud". Researcher Melvin Harris
who examined some photographs of Red Cloud wrote the face was the same as Roberts and she had
dressed up in a feathered war-bonnet.[145]
In 1936 the psychical researcher Nandor Fodor tested the Hungarian apport medium Lajos Pap
in London and during the séance a dead snake appeared. Pap was searched and was found to be
wearing a device under his robe, where he had hidden the snake.[146] A photograph taken at a
séance in 1937 in London shows the medium Colin Evans "levitating" in mid air. He claimed that
spirits had lifted him. Evans was later discovered to be a fraud as a cord leading from a device in his
hand has indicated that it was himself who triggered the flash-photograph and that all he had done
was jump from his chair into the air and pretend he had levitated.[147]

According to the magician John Booth the stage mentalist David Devant managed to fool a number

of people into believing he had genuine psychic ability who did not realize that his feats were magic
tricks. At St. George's Hall, London he performed a fake "clairvoyant" act where he would read a
message sealed inside an envelope. The spiritualist Oliver Lodge who was present in the audience
was duped by the trick and claimed that Devant had used psychic powers. In 1936 Devant in his
book Secrets of My Magic revealed the trick method he had used.[148]

The physicist Kristian Birkeland exposed the fraud of the direct voice medium Etta Wriedt. Birkeland
turned on the lights during a séance, snatched her trumpets and discovered that the "spirit" noises
were caused by chemical explosions induced by potassium and water and in other cases
by lycopodium powder.[149] The British medium Isa Northage claimed to materialize the spirit of
a surgeon known as Dr. Reynolds. When photographs taken of Reynolds were analyzed by
researchers they discovered that Northage looked like Reynolds with a glued stage beard.[150]

The magician Julien Proskauer revealed that the levitating trumpet of Jack Webber was a trick. Close
examination of photographs reveal Webber to be holding a telescopic reaching rod attached to the
trumpet, and sitters in his séances only believed it to have levitated because the room was so dark
they could not see the rod. Webber would cover the rod with crepe paper to disguise its real
construction.[151]

Kathleen Goligher with fakeectoplasm made of muslin.

In 1954, the psychical researcher Rudolf Lambert published a report revealing details about a case of
fraud that was covered up by many early members of the Institute Metapsychique International
(IMI).[152] Lambert who had studied Gustav Geley's files on the medium Eva Carrière discovered
photographs depicting fraudulent ectoplasm taken by her companion Juliette Bisson.[152] Various
"materializations" were artificially attached to Eva's hair by wires. The discovery was never published
by Geley. Eugene Osty (the director of the institute) and members Jean Meyer, Albert von Schrenck-
Notzing and Charles Richet all knew about the fraudulent photographs but were firm believers in
mediumship phenomena so demanded the scandal be kept secret.[152]

The fraudulent medium Ronald Edwin confessed he had duped his séance sitters and revealed the
fraudulent methods he had used in his book Clock Without Hands (1955).[153] The psychical
researcher Tony Cornellinvestigated the mediumship of Alec Harris in 1955. During the séance
"spirit" materializations emerged from a cabinet and walked around the room. Cornell wrote that a
stomach rumble, nicotine smelling breath and a pulse gave it away that all the spirit figures were in
fact Harris and that he had dressed up as each one behind the cabinet.[154]

The British medium William Roy earned over £50,000 from his séance sitters. He confessed to fraud
in 1958 revealing the microphone and trick-apparatus that he had used.[155] The automatic
writings of the Irish medium Geraldine Cummins were analyzed by psychical researchers in 1960s
and they revealed that she worked as a cataloguer at the National Library of Ireland and took
information from various books that would appear in her automatic writings about ancient history.
[156]

In 1960, psychic investigator Andrija Puharich and Tom O'Neill, publisher of the Spiritualist

magazine Psychic Observer, arranged to film two seances at Camp Chesterfield, Indiana using
infrared film, intending to procure scientific proof of spirit materializations. The medium was shown
the camera beforehand, and was aware that she was being filmed. However, the film revealed
obvious fraud on the part of the medium and her cabinet assistant. The expose was published in the
10 July 1960 issue of the Psychic Observer.[157]:96–97

In 1966 the son of Bishop Pike committed suicide. After his death, Pike contacted the British
medium Ena Twigg for a series of séances and she claimed to have communicated with his son.
Although Twigg denied formerly knowing anything about Pike and his son, the magician John
Booth discovered that Twigg had already known information about the Pike family before the
séances. Twigg had belonged to the same denomination of Bishop Pike, he had preached at
acathedral in Kent and she had known information about him and his deceased son from
newspapers.[158]

In 1970 two psychical researchers investigated the direct-voice medium Leslie Flint and found that
all the "spirit" voices in his séance sounded exactly like himself and attributed his mediumship to
"second-rate ventriloquism".[159] The medium Arthur Ford died leaving specific instructions that all
of his files should be burned. In 1971 after his death, psychical researchers discovered his files but
instead of burning them they were examined and discovered to be filled with
obituaries, newspaper articles and other information, which enabled Ford to research his séance
sitters backgrounds.[160]

Ronald Pearsall in his book Table-rappers: The Victorians and the Occult (1972) documented how
every Victorian medium investigated had been exposed as using trickery, in the book he revealed
how mediums would even use acrobatic techniques during séances to convince audiences of spirit
presences.[161]

In 1976, M. Lamar Keene, a medium in Florida and at the Spiritualist Camp Chesterfield inIndiana,

confessed to defrauding the public in his book The Psychic Mafia. Keene detailed a multitude of
common stage magic techniques utilized by mediums which are supposed to give an appearance of
paranormal powers or supernatural involvement.[162]
After her death in the 1980s the medium Doris Stokes was accused of fraud, by author and
investigator Ian Wilson. Wilson stated that Mrs Stokes planted specific people in her audience and
did prior research into her sitters.[163] Rita Goold a physical medium during the 1980s was accused
of fraud, by the psychical researcher Tony Cornell. He claimed she would dress up as the spirits in
her séances and would play music during them which provided cover for her to change clothes.[164]

The spirit guide Silver Belle was made from cardboard. Both Ethel Post-Parrish and the lady standing
outside of the curtain were in on the hoax.

The British journalist Ruth Brandon published the bookThe Spiritualists (1983) which exposed the
fraud of the Victorian mediums.[3] The book received positive reviews and has been influential to
skeptics of spiritualism.[165] The British apport medium Paul McElhoney was exposed as a fraud
during a séance in Osset, Yorkshire in 1983. The tape recorder that McElhoney took to his séances
was investigated and a black tape was discovered bound around the battery compartment and
inside carnation flowers were found as well as a key-ring torch and other objects.[166]

In 1988, the magician Bob Couttie criticized the paranormal author Brian Inglis for deliberately
ignoring evidence of fraud in mediumship. Couttie wrote Inglis had not familiarized himself with
magician techniques.[167] In 1990 the researcherGordon Stein discovered that
the levitation photograph of the medium Carmine Mirabelli was fraudulent. The photograph was a
trick as there were signs of chemical retouching under Mirabelli's feet. The retouching showed that
Mirabelli was not levitating but was standing on a ladder which was erased from the photograph.
[168]

In 1991, Wendy Grossman in the New Scientist criticized the parapsychologist Stephen E. Braude for

ignoring evidence of fraud in mediumship. According to Grossman "[Braude] accuses sceptics of
ignoring the evidence he believes is solid, but himself ignores evidence that does not suit him. If a
medium was caught cheating on some occasions, he says, the rest of that medium's phenomena
were still genuine." Grossman came to the conclusion that Braude did not do proper research on the
subject and should study "the art of conjuring."[169]

In 1992, Richard Wiseman analyzed the Feilding report of Eusapia Palladino and argued that she
employed a secret accomplice that could enter the room by a fake door panel positioned near the
séance cabinet. Wiseman discovered this trick was already mentioned in a book from 1851, he also
visited a carpenter and skilled magician who constructed a door within an hour with a false panel.
The accomplice was suspected to be her second husband, who insisted on bringing Palladino to the
hotel where the séances took place.[170] Massimo Polidoro and Gian Marco Rinaldi also analyzed
the Feilding report but came to the conclusion no secret accomplice was needed as Palladino during
the 1908 Naples séances could have produced the phenomena by using her foot.[171]

Colin Fry was exposed in 1992 when during a séance the lights were unexpectedly turned on and he
was seen holding a spirit trumpet in the air, which the audience had been led to believe was being
levitated by spiritual energy.[172] In 1997, Massimo Polidoro and Luigi Garlaschelli produced wax-
moulds directly from one's hand which were exactly the same copies as Gustav Geley obtained
from Franek Kluski, which are kept at the Institute Metapsychique International.[173]

A series of mediumistic séances known as the Scole Experiment took place between 1993–98 in the
presence of the researchers David Fontana, Arthur Ellison and Montague Keen. This has produced
photographs, audio recordings and physical objects which appeared in the dark séance room (known
as apports).[174] A criticism of the experiment was that it was flawed because it did not rule out the
possibility of fraud. The skeptical investigator Brian Dunning wrote the Scole experiments fail in
many ways. The séances were held in the basement of two of the mediums, only total darkness was
allowed with no night vision apparatus as it might "frighten the spirits away". The box containing the
film was not examined and could easily have been accessible to fraud. And finally, even though many
years have passed, there has been no follow-up, no further research by any credible agency or
published accounts.[174]

Recent[edit]

Joe Nickell a notable skeptic of mediumship. According to Nickell modern mediums use mentalist
techniques such as cold reading.

The VERITAS Research Program of the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health in the
Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona, run by the parapsychologist Gary Schwartz,
was created primarily to test the hypothesis that the consciousness (or identity) of a person survives
physical death.[175] Schwartz claimed his experiments were indicative of survival, but do not yet
provide conclusive proof.[176][177] The experiments described by Schwartz have received criticism
from the scientific community for being inadequately designed and using poor controls.[178][179]

Ray Hyman discovered many methodological errors with Schwartz's research including;

"Inappropriate control comparisons", "Failure to use double-blind procedures", "Creating non-
falsifiable outcomes by reinterpreting failures as successes" and "Failure to independently check on
facts the sitters endorsed as true". Hyman wrote "Even if the research program were not
compromised by these defects, the claims being made would require replication by independent
investigators." Hyman criticizes Schwartz's decision to publish his results without gathering
"evidence for their hypothesis that would meet generally accepted scientific criteria... they have lost
credibility."[180]

In 2003, skeptic investigator Massimo Polidoro in his book Secrets of the Psychics documented the

history of fraud in mediumship and spiritualistic practices as well as the psychology of psychic
deception.[41] Terence Hines in his book Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (2003) has written:
Modern spiritualists and psychics keep detailed files on their victims. As might be expected, these
files can be very valuable and are often passed on from one medium or psychic to another when one
retires or dies. Even if a psychic doesn’t use a private detective or have immediate access to driver’s
license records and such, there is still a very powerful technique that will allow the psychic to
convince people that the psychic knows all about them, their problems, and their deep personal
secrets, fears, and desires. The technique is called cold reading and is probably as old as
charlatanism itself... If John Edward (or any of the other self-proclaimed speakers with the dead)
really could communicate with the dead, it would be a trivial matter to prove it. All that would be
necessary would be for him to contact any of the thousands of missing persons who are presumed
dead—famous (e.g., Jimmy Hoffa, Judge Crater) or otherwise—and correctly report where the body
is. Of course, this is never done. All we get, instead, are platitudes to the effect that Aunt Millie, who
liked green plates, is happy on the other side.[181]

An experiment conducted by the British Psychological Society in 2005 suggests that under the
controlled condition of the experiment, people who claimed to be professional mediums do not
demonstrate the mediumistic ability. In the experiment, mediums were assigned to work the
participants chosen to be “sitters.” The mediums claimed to contact the deceased who were related
to the sitters. The research gather the numbers of the statements made and have the sitters rate the
accuracy of the statements. The readings that were considered to be somewhat accurate by the
sitters were very generalized, and the ones that were considered inaccurate were the ones that
were very specific.[182]

On Fox News on the Geraldo at Large show, October 6, 2007, Geraldo Rivera and other investigators

accused Schwartz as a fraud as he had overstepped his position as a university researcher by
requesting over three million dollars from a bereaved father who had lost his son.Schwartz claimed
to have contacted the spirit of a 25-year-old man in the bathroom of his parents house and it is
alleged he attempted to charge the family 3.5 million dollars for his mediumship services. Schwartz
responded saying that the allegations were set up to destroy his science credibility.[183][184]

In 2013 Rose Marks and members of her family were convicted of fraud for a series of crimes
spanning 20 years entailing between $20 and $45 million. They told vulnerable clients that to solve
their problems they had to give the purported psychics money and valuables. Marks and family
promised to return the cash and goods after "cleansing" them. Prosecutors established they had no
intent to return the property.[185][186][187]

The exposures of fraudulent activity led to a rapid decline in ectoplasm and materializationséances.

[188] Investigator Joe Nickell has written that modern self-proclaimed mediums like John
Edward, Sylvia Browne, Rosemary Altea and James Van Praagh are avoiding the Victorian tradition of
dark rooms, spirit handwriting and flying tambourines as these methods risk exposure. They instead
use “mental mediumship” tactics like cold reading or gleaning information from sitters before hand
(hot reading). Group readings also improve hits by making general statements with conviction, which
will fit at least one person in the audience. Shows are carefully edited before airing to show only
what appears to be hits and removing anything that does not reflect well on the medium.[189]

Michael Shermer criticized mediums in Scientific American, saying, "mediums are unethical and
dangerous: they prey on the emotions of the grieving. As grief counselors know, death is best faced
head-on as a part of life." Shermer wrote that the human urge to seek connections between events
that may form patterns meaningful for survival is a function of natural evolution, and called the
alleged ability of mediums to talk to the dead "a well-known illusion of a meaningful pattern."[190]
According to James Randi, a skeptic who has debunked many claims of psychic ability and uncovered
fraudulent practices,[191] mediums who do cold readings "fish, suggest possibilities, make educated
guesses and give options." Randi has a standing offer of $1 million US dollarsfor anyone who can
demonstrate psychic ability under controlled conditions. Most prominent psychics and mediums
have not taken up his offer.[192]

See also[edit]

Faith healing

List of modern channelled texts

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

The Book on Mediums

The Spirits Book

Theatrical seances

References[edit]

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^ Jump up to:a b c Ruth Brandon. (1983). The Spiritualists: The Passion for the Occult in the
Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Alfred E. Knopf. ISBN 978-0394527406

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Jump up^ "Spiritism is not a religion but a science", as the famous French astronomer Camille
Flammarion said in Allan Kardec's Eulogy on April 2, 1869, in Death and Its Mystery - After Death.
Manifestations and Apparitions of the Dead; The Soul After Death Translated by Latrobe Carroll
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87980-081-X. When in a trance ... the medium seems to come under the control of another
personality, purportedly the spirit of a departed soul, and a genuine medium undoubtedly believes
the 'control' to be a spirit entity ... In the trance, the medium often enters a cataleptic state marked
by extreme rigidity. The control then takes over, the voice may change completely ... and the
supposed spirit answers the questions of the sitter, telling of things 'on the other plane' and gives
messages from those who have 'passed over.'

Jump up^ Brown, Michael F. (1999). The Channeling Zone: American Spirituality in an Anxious Age.
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Age of Realism. University of Toronto Press. p. 25

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Jump up^ David Marks. (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-
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(2012).Anomalistic Psychology (Palgrave Insights in Psychology). Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-
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Phenomena and Beliefs in Terms of Modern Knowledge. Kennelly Press. ISBN 978-1446056516

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Thinking. Psychology Press. p. 221. ISBN 978-0805805086 "The spirits, controls, and guides of a
medium are the products of the medium's own psychological dynamics. On the one hand, they
personify the medium's hidden impulses and wish life. On the other, they are also shaped by the
expectations of the medium's sitters, the medium's experience, the cultural background, and the
spirit of the times."

Jump up^ Ian Rowland. (1998). The full facts book of cold reading. London, England: Ian Roland.ISBN
978-0955847608

Jump up^ Brad Clark (2002). Spiritualism. pp. 220-226. In Michael Shermer. The Skeptic Encyclopedia
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Critical Thinker's Toolkit. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 141-241. ISBN 978-1405181228

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^ Jump up to:a b Massimo Polidoro. (2003). Secrets of the Psychics: Investigating Paranormal Claims.

Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1591020868

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Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. ABC-CLIO. pp. 220-226.ISBN 978-1576076538

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Jump up^ The Problem of Fraud by Paul Kurtz

Jump up^ Chung Ling Soo. (1898). Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena. Munn &
Company. Henry Evans. (1897). Hours With the Ghosts Or Nineteenth Century Witchcraft. Kessinger
Publishing. Julien Proskauer. (1932). Spook crooks! Exposing the secrets of the prophet-eers who
conduct our wickedest industry. New York, A. L. Burt.

Jump up^ Joseph Dunninger. (1935). Inside the Medium's Cabinet. New York, D. Kemp and
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Jump up^ Spiritualism (religion) :: History - Britannica Online Encyclopedia

Jump up^ Joseph McCabe. (1920). Spiritualism: A Popular History from 1847. Dodd, Mead and
Company. pp. 110-112. A Mr. Merrifield was present at one of the sittings. Home's usual phenomena
were messages, the moving of objects (presumably at a distance), and the playing of an accordion
which he held with one hand under the shadow of the table. But from an early date in America he
had been accustomed occasionally to "materialise" hands (as it was afterwards called). The sitters
would, in the darkness, faintly see a ghostly hand and arm, or they might feel the touch of an icy
limb. Mr. Merrifield and the other sitters saw a "spirit-hand" stretch across the faintly lit space of the
window. But Mr. Merrifield says that Home sat, or crouched, low in a low chair, and that the "spirit-
hand" was a false limb on the end of Home's arm. At other times, he says, he saw that Home was
using his foot."

Jump up^ Donald Serrell Thomas. (1989). Robert Browning: A Life Within Life. Weidenfeld and
Nicolson. pp. 157-158. ISBN 978-0297796398

Jump up^ Harry Houdini. (2011 reprint edition). Originally published in 1924. A Magician Among the
Spirits. Cambridge University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-1108027489

Jump up^ John Casey. (2009). After Lives: A Guide to Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. Oxford. p.
373. ISBN 978-0199975037 "The poet attended one of Home's seances where a face was
materialized, which, Home's spirit guide announced, was that of Browning's dead son. Browning
seized the supposed materialized head, and it turned out to be the bare foot of Home. The
deception was not helped by the fact that Browning never had lost a son in infancy."

Jump up^ Joseph McCabe. (1920). Is Spiritualism based on Fraud?: The Evidence Given by Sir A.C.
Doyle and Others Drastically Examined. London: Watts & Co. pp. 48-50. Also see the review of The
Enigma of Daniel Home: Medium or Fraud? by Trevor H. Hall in F. B. Smith. (1986). Victorian Studies.
Volume. 29, No. 4. pp. 613-614.

Jump up^ Joe Nickell. (2001). Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal. The University Press of
Kentucky. pp. 267-268. ISBN 978-0813122106

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in the Victorian Age. State University of New York Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-1438427980

Jump up^ Alex Owen. (2004). The Darkened Room: Women, Power, and Spiritualism in Late
Victorian England. University Of Chicago Press. pp. 70-71. ISBN 978-0226642055
Jump up^ Massimo Polidoro. (2000). Anna Eva Fay: The Mentalist Who Baffled Sir William Crookes.
Skeptical Inquirer 24: 36-38.

Jump up^ Georgess McHargue. (1972). Facts, Frauds, and Phantasms: A Survey of the Spiritualist
Movement. Doubleday. p. 113.ISBN 978-0385053051

Jump up^ Janet Oppenheim. (1985). The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in
England, 1850-1914. Cambridge University Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0521265058

Jump up^ Paul Kurtz. (1985). A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. p.

29. ISBN 978-0879753009 "Florence Cook was caught cheating not only before her séances with
Crookes but also afterward. Furthermore, she learned her trade from the mediums Frank Herne and
Charles Williams, who were notorious for their cheating." Also see M. Lamar Keene. (1997). The
Psychic Mafia. Prometheus Books. p. 64. ISBN 978-1573921619 "The most famous of materialization
mediums, Florence Cook-- though she managed to convince a scientist, Sir William Crookes, that she
was genuine-- was repeatedly exposed in fraud. Florence had been trained in the arts of the séance
by Frank Herne, a well-known physical medium whose materializations were grabbed on more than
one occasion and found to be the medium himself."

Jump up^ Joseph McCabe. (1920). Spiritualism: A Popular History from 1847. Dodd, Mead and
Company. pp. 160-161

Jump up^ Chung Ling Soo. (1898). Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena. Munn & Company.
pp. 105-106

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Company. p. 1106

Jump up^ Adin Ballou. (2001). The Rise of Victorian Spiritualism. Routledge. p. 16

Jump up^ Joseph McCabe. (1920). Is Spiritualism based on Fraud?: The Evidence Given by Sir A.C.
Doyle and Others Drastically Examined. London: Watts & Co. p. 115

Jump up^ Roy Stemman. (1976). The Supernatural. Danbury Press. p. 62

Jump up^ Joseph McCabe. (1920). Spiritualism: A Popular History From 1847. T. F. Unwin Ltd. p. 167

Jump up^ Trevor H. Hall. (1963). The Spiritualists: The Story of Florence Cook and William Crookes.
Helix Press. p. 10

Jump up^ Trevor H. Hall. (1980). The Strange Case of Edmund Gurney. Duckworth. p. 47

Jump up^ Washington Irving Bishop. (1880). Second Sight Explained: A Complete Exposition of

Clairvoyance or Second Sight. Edinburgh: John Menzies.

Jump up^ Preliminary report of the Commission appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to

investigate modern spiritualism, in accordance with the request of the late Henry Seybert (1887).

Jump up^ Paul Boyer. The Oxford Companion to United States History. Oxford University Press. p.
738. ISBN 978-0195082098

Jump up^ Rodger Anderson. (2006). Psychics, Sensitives and Somnambules. McFarland & Company.
p. 90. ISBN 978-0786427703

Jump up^ Will Goldston. (1942). Tricks Of The Masters. G. Routledge & Sons, Ltd. p. 4
Jump up^ Melvin Harris. (2003). Investigating the Unexplained: Psychic Detectives, the Amityville
Horror-mongers, Jack the Ripper, and Other Mysteries of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.
21. ISBN 978-1591021087

Jump up^ Samri Baldwin. (1895). The Secrets of Mahatma Land Explained Brooklyn, N.Y., Press of T.
J. Dyson & Son.

Jump up^ Harry Houdini. (2011). A Magician Among the Spirits. Cambridge University Press. p.
66. ISBN 978-1108027489

Jump up^ Joe Nickell. (2001). Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal. The University Press of
Kentucky. pp. 260-261. Also seeJoe Nickell. (2005). Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic
Investigation. The University Press of Kentucky. p. 151

Jump up^ Hereward Carrington. (1907). The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism. Herbert B. Turner

& Co. pp. 206-223

Jump up^ Donald West. (1954). Psychical Research Today. Chapter Séance-Room Phenomena.

Duckworth. p. 49

Jump up^ Gordon Stein. (1996). The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.

520.ISBN 978-1573920216

Jump up^ Chung Ling Soo. (1898). Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena. Munn & Company.
pp. 101-104

Jump up^ Ivor Lloyd Tuckett. (1911). The Evidence for the Supernatural: A Critical Study Made with
"Uncommon Sense". Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Company. pp. 52-53

Jump up^ Julian Franklyn. (1935). A Survey of the Occult. Kessinger Publishing. p. 248

Jump up^ Joseph Jastrow. (1911). Studies in Spiritism by Amy E. Tanner. The American Journal of
Psychology. Vol. 22, No. 1. pp. 122-124.

Jump up^ Martin Gardner. Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries? "How Mrs. Piper Bamboozled
William James". W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 252–62.

Jump up^ Ivor Lloyd Tuckett. (1911). The Evidence for the Supernatural: A Critical Study Made with
"Uncommon Sense". K. Paul, Trench, Trübner. pp. 321-395

Jump up^ Corinna Treitel. (2004). A Science for the Soul: Occultism and the Genesis of the German
Modern. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0801878121

Jump up^ Harry Price. (1939). Fifty Years of Psychical Research. Kessinger Publishing.ISBN 978-
0766142428

Jump up^ Richard Wiseman. (1997). Deception & Self-Deception: Investigating Psychics. Prometheus

Books. p. 23

Jump up^ Richard Wiseman. (1997). Deception & Self-Deception: Investigating Psychics. Prometheus

Books. p. 12

Jump up^ William Hodson Brock. (2008). William Crookes (1832-1919) and the Commercialization of
Science. Ashgate. p. 474. ISBN 978-0754663225
Jump up^ Hereward Carrington. (1907). The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism. Herbert B. Turner
& Co.

Jump up^ Rodger Anderson. (2006). Psychics, Sensitives And Somnambules. McFarland & Company.
p. 26. ISBN 978-0786427703

Jump up^ The New Paranatural Paradigm: Claims of Communicating with the Dead by Paul Kurtz

Jump up^ Milbourne Christopher. (1971). ESP, Seers & Psychics. Crowell. pp. 188-204. ISBN 978-
0690268157

Everard Feilding, William Marriott. (1910).Report on Further Series of Sittings with Eusapia Palladino
at Naples.Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research. Volume 15. pp. 20–32.

Jump up^ J. Gordon Melton. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena. Visible Ink Press. p.
12. ISBN 978-1578592098

Jump up^ Eric Dingwall. (1927). How to Go to a Medium. K. Paul, Trench, Trübner. pp. 31-32.

Jump up^ Theodore Annemann. (1983). Practical Mental Magic. Dover Publications. pp. 7-11

Jump up^ Pearson's Magazine. June 1910. C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. p. 615

Jump up^ Joseph McCabe. (1920). Is Spiritualism Based On Fraud? The Evidence Given By Sir A. C.
Doyle and Others Drastically Examined. London Watts & Co. pp. 33-34

Jump up^ Edward Clodd. (1917). The Question: A Brief History and Examination of Modern
Spiritualism. Chapter Mrs. Leonard and Others. pp. 215-241

Jump up^ Charles Arthur Mercier. (1917).Spiritualism and Sir Oliver Lodge. London: Mental Culture
Enterprise.

Jump up^ Joseph Jastrow (1918). The Psychology of Conviction. Houghton Mifflin Company. pp. 101-
127

Jump up^ Fakebusters II: Scientific Detection of Fakery in Art and Philately

Jump up^ Harry Price, Fifty Years of Psychical Research, chapter XI: The Mechanics of Spiritualism,
F&W Media International, Ltd, 2012.

Jump up^ Harry Price. (1939). Chapter The Mechanics of Spiritualism in Fifty Years of Psychical

Research. Kessinger Publishing.ISBN 978-0766142428

Jump up^ G. K. Nelson. (2013). Spiritualism and Society. Routledge. p. 159. ISBN 978-0415714624

Jump up^ Clément Chéroux. (2005). The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult. Yale
University Press. p. 268. ISBN 978-0300111361

Jump up^ D. Scott Rogo. (1978). Mind and Motion: The Riddle of Psychokinesis. Taplinger Publishing.
pp. 245-246. ISBN 978-0800824556

Jump up^ Massimo Polidoro. (2001). Final Séance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and
Conan Doyle. Prometheus Books. pp. 71-73. ISBN 978-1573928960

Jump up^ Julian Franklyn. (2003). A Survey of the Occult. pp. 238-239. Kessinger Publishing.ISBN
978-0766130074
Jump up^ Joseph McCabe. (1920). Spiritualism: A Popular History from 1847. Dodd, Mead and
Company. p. 192

^ Jump up to:a b Photos of Ghosts: The Burden of Believing the Unbelievable by Massimo Polidoro

Jump up^ Edmund Edward Fournier d'Albe. (1922).The Goligher Circle. J. M. Watkins. p. 37

Jump up^ Universitetskomiteen, Mediet Einer Nielsen, kontrolundersøkelser av

universitetskomiteen i Kristiania. (Kristiania 1922). ”Rapport fra den av Norsk Selskab for Psykisk
Forskning nedsatte Kontrolkomité”, Norsk Tidsskrift for Psykisk Forskning 1 (1921-22).

Jump up^ Lewis Spence. (2003). Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology. Kessinger publishing.

p. 399. ISBN 978-0766128156

Jump up^ Eric Dingwall, Harry Price. (1922).Revelations of a Spirit Medium. Kegan Paul, Trench,
Trübner & Co.

Jump up^ Georgess McHargue. (1972). Facts, Frauds, and Phantasms: A Survey of the Spiritualist
Movement. Doubleday. p. 158.ISBN 978-0385053051

Jump up^ Carlos María de Heredia. (1923). Spirit Hands, "ectoplasm," and Rubber Gloves.Popular
Mechanics. pp. 14-15

Jump up^ Paul Tabori. (1961). The Art of Folly. Prentice-Hall International, Inc. pp. 178-179

Jump up^ "Fraudulent Mediums". Lyceum Library.

Jump up^ Julian Franklyn. (2003). Dictionary of the Occult. Kessinger Publishing. p. 228

Jump up^ Harry Price. (1936). Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter. Putnam. p. 232

Jump up^ Warren Jay Vinton. The Famous Schneider Mediumship: A Critical Study of Alleged
Supernormal Events. No. 4 April 1927 in C. K. Ogden Psyche: An Annual General and Linguistic
Psychology. 1920-1952 Routledge/Thoemmes Press, 1995.

Jump up^ Further Tests of the Medium Rudi Schneider. (1934). Nature 134, 965-966.

Jump up^ John Booth. (1986). Psychic Paradoxes. Prometheus Books. p. 8. ISBN 978-0879753580

Jump up^ Bob Couttie. (1988). Forbidden Knowledge: The Paranormal Paradox. Lutterworth Press.
pp. 104-105

Jump up^ Brian Righi. (2008). Ghosts, Apparitions and Poltergeists: An Exploration of the

Supernatural through History. Llewellyn Publications. Llewellyn Publications. p. 52.ISBN 978-
0738713632 "One medium of the 1920s, Mina Crandon, became famous for producing ectoplasm
during her sittings. At the height of the séance, she was even able to produce a tiny ectoplasmic
hand from her navel, which waved about in the darkness. Her career ended when Harvard biologists
were able to examine the tiny hand and found it to be nothing more than a carved piece of animal
liver."

Jump up^ E. Clephan Palmer. (2003). The Riddle of Spiritualism. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 35-39. ISBN
978-0766179318

Jump up^ Lewis Spence. (1991). Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology. Gale Research
Company. p. 1522. Massimo Polidoro. (2001). Final Seance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini
and Conan Doyle. Prometheus Books. p. 103. ISBN 978-1573928960
Jump up^ Lewis Spence. (2003). Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology. Kessinger Publishing.
p. 880

Jump up^ Melvin Harris. (2003). Investigating the Unexplained: Psychic Detectives, the Amityville
Horror-mongers, Jack the Ripper, and Other Mysteries of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.
176. ISBN 978-1591021087

Jump up^ Harry Price. (1931). Regurgitation and the Duncan Mediumship. (Bulletin I of the National
Laboratory of Psychical Research, 120pp with 44 illustrations.)

Jump up^ Marina Warner. (2008). Phantasmagoria: Spirit Visions, Metaphors, and Media into the
Twenty-first Century. Oxford University Press. p. 299

Jump up^ Jason Karl. (2007). An Illustrated History of the Haunted World. New Holland Publishers. p.
79

Jump up^ Touching the Dead: Spooky Winnipeg by Tom Jokinen

Jump up^ Joseph Jastrow. (1935). Patience Worth: An Alter Ego in Wish and Wisdom: Episodes in the
Vagaries of Belief. D. Appleton-Century Company. pp. 78-92. Lyon Sprague de Camp. (1966). Spirits,
Stars, and Spells. New York: Canaveral. p. 247. Robert Goldenson. (1973). Mysteries of the Mind: The
Drama of Human Behavior. Doubleday. pp. 44-53. Milbourne Christopher. (1970).ESP, Seers and
Psychics. New York: Crowell. pp. 128-129

Jump up^ Patience Worth by Robert Todd Carroll

Jump up^ Julian Franklyn. (2003). A Survey of the Occult. pp. 263-395. Kessinger Publishing.ISBN
978-0766130074

Jump up^ M. Lamar Keene. (1997). The Psychic Mafia. Prometheus Books. p. 123. ISBN 978-
1573921619

Jump up^ Melvin Harris. (2003). Investigating the Unexplained: Psychic Detectives, the Amityville
Horror-mongers, Jack the Ripper, and Other Mysteries of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.
21. ISBN 978-0879753580

Jump up^ Nandor Fodor. (1960). The Haunted Mind: A Psychoanalyst Looks at the Supernatural.
Helix Press.

Jump up^ Joe Nickell. (2005). Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation. The
University Press of Kentucky. pp. 177-178. ISBN 978-0813191249

Jump up^ John Booth. (1986). Psychic Paradoxes. Prometheus Books. pp. 15-16. ISBN 978-
0879753580

Jump up^ Joseph McCabe. (1920). Is Spiritualism based on Fraud?: The Evidence Given by Sir A.C.
Doyle and Others Drastically Examined. London: Watts & CO. p. 126

Jump up^ Melvin Harris. (2003). Investigating the Unexplained: Psychic Detectives, the Amityville
Horror-mongers, Jack the Ripper, and Other Mysteries of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.
22. ISBN 978-1591021087

Jump up^ Julien Proskauer. (1946). The Dead Do Not Talk. Harper & Brothers. p. 94
^ Jump up to:a b c Sofie Lachapelle. (2011). Investigating the Supernatural: From Spiritism and
Occultism to Psychical Research and Metapsychics in France, 1853-1931. Johns Hopkins University
Press. pp. 144-145. ISBN 978-1421400136

Jump up^ Ronald Edwin. (1955). Clock Without Hands. Sidgwick.

Jump up^ Tony Cornell. (2002). Investigating the Paranormal. Helix Press New York. pp. 327-
338. ISBN 978-0912328980

Jump up^ Georgess McHargue. (1972). Facts, Frauds, and Phantasms: A Survey of the Spiritualist
Movement. Doubleday. p. 250.ISBN 978-0385053051

Jump up^ Eric Robertson Dodds. (2000). Missing Persons: An Autobiography. Oxford University

Press. pp. 105-106. ISBN 978-0198120865

Jump up^ Allen Spraggett, The Unexplained, (New York: New American Library, 1967).

Jump up^ John Booth. (1986). Psychic Paradoxes. Prometheus Books. p. 148. ISBN 978-0879753580

Jump up^ M. Lamar Keene. (1997). The Psychic Mafia. Prometheus Books. p 122. ISBN 978-
1573921619 "A medium still riding high in England is Leslie Flint, famed as an exponent of direct
voice. William Rauscher and Allen Spraggett, who attended a sitting Flint held in 1970 in New York,
said that it was the most abysmal flop of any seance they had endured. All the spirit voices sounded
exactly like the medium and displayed an incredible ignorance of nearly everything pertaining to the
sitters. The "mediumship " was second-rate ventriloquism."

Jump up^ Tim Madigan, David Goicoechea, Paul Kurtz. Promethean Love: Paul Kurtz and the
Humanistic Perspective on Love. Cambridge Scholars Press. p. 293

Jump up^ Ronald Pearsall. Table-rappers: The Victorians and the Occult The History Press Ltd; New
Ed edition, 2004 ISBN 0-7509-3684-3

Jump up^ Keene, Lamar (1997). The Psychic Mafia. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-161-

0(Republication of 1976 edition by St. Martin's Press.)

Jump up^ Ian Wilson. (1989). The After Death Experience. William Morrow and Company.ISBN 978-
0688080006

Jump up^ Tony Cornell. (2002). Investigating the Paranormal. Helix Press New York. pp. 347-
352. ISBN 978-0912328980

Jump up^ Martin Gardner. (1988). The New Age: Notes of a Fringe Watcher. Prometheus Books. p.
175. ISBN 978-0879754327

Jump up^ Melvin Harris. (2003). Investigating the Unexplained: Psychic Detectives, the Amityville
Horror-mongers, Jack the Ripper, and Other Mysteries of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. pp.
22-23. ISBN 978-1591021087

Jump up^ Bob Couttie. (1988). Forbidden Knowledge: The Paranormal Paradox. Lutterworth Press. p.
24. ISBN 978-0718826864

Jump up^ Joe Nickell. (2005). Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation. The
University Press of Kentucky. p. 178.ISBN 978-0813191249
Jump up^ Grossman, Wendy. (1991). Dismissal is not disproof. New Scientist. Vol. 130. Issue 1768, p.
53.

Jump up^ Richard Wiseman. (1997). Chapter 3 The Feilding Report: A Reconsideration. InDeception
and Self-Deception: Investigating Psychics. Prometheus Press. ISBN 1-57392-121-1

Jump up^ Massimo Polidoro. (2003). Secrets of the Psychics: Investigating Paranormal Claims.

Prometheus Books. pp. 65-95. ISBN 978-1591020868

Jump up^ Colin Fry an Evaluation

Jump up^ Massimo Polidoro. (2003). Secrets of the Psychics: Investigating Paranormal Claims.

Prometheus Books. pp. 168-176. ISBN 978-1591020868

^ Jump up to:a b "The Scole Experiment: Said to be the best evidence yet for the afterlife -- but how
good is that evidence?". Skeptoid. 2009-11-10. Retrieved 2011-10-30.

Jump up^ The VERITAS Research Program of the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and
Health in the Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona

Jump up^ newsnet5.com

Jump up^ The Truth about Medium by Gary E. Schwartz, Ph. D., with William L. Simon, Hampton
Books, 2005, page 119

Jump up^ Book Review by Robert T. Carroll

Jump up^ Gary Schwartz's Subjective Evaluation of Mediums: Veritas or Wishful Thinking by Robert
Todd Carroll

Jump up^ Hyman, Ray (Jan–Feb 2003). "How Not to Test Mediums: Critiquing the Afterlife
Experiments". Skeptical Inquirer Magazine. Retrieved 2012-05-21.

Jump up^ Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. pp. 56-
64. ISBN 978-1573929790

Jump up^ O'Keeffe, Ciaran (May 2005). "Testing Alleged Mediumship: Methods and Results". British
Journal of Psychology.doi:10.1348/000712605X36361.ISSN 0007-1269.

Jump up^ Aykroyd, Peter. and Nart, Angela. (2009).A History of Ghosts: the True Story of Seances,
Mediums, Ghosts, and Ghostbusters. Rodale. p. 216. ISBN 978-1605298757

Jump up^ Geraldo at Large show, October 6, 2007

Jump up^ "Jury Convicts Defendant in $25 Million Fraud Scheme" (Press release). Southern District
of Florida, US Attorney's Office, US Department of Justice. 2013-09-26. Retrieved 2013-10-10.

Jump up^ Musgrave, Jane (2013-09-27). "Psychic convicted on all fraud counts". The Palm Beach
Post 105 (171) (First ed.). p. 1.

Jump up^ Vasquez, Michael (2011-08-16). "Psychic scam a $40 million Fort Lauderdale - family affair,
feds allege - A Fort Lauderdale family spent the last 20 years raking in millions as fake psychics,
prosecutors allege in a newly unsealed indictment". The Miami Herald. – via NewsBank (subscription
required).
Jump up^ J. Gordon Melton. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena. Visible Ink Press. p.
96. ISBN 978-1578592098

Jump up^ "Investigative Files: John Edward: Hustling the Bereaved". CSI. Nov–Dec 2001.
Retrieved 2011-05-12.

Jump up^ Shermer, Michael. "Deconstructing the Dead, "Crossing over" to expose the tricks of
popular spirit mediums". August 2001. Scientific American. Retrieved 24 December2011.

Jump up^ "James Randi's Swift - April 21, 2006". Randi.org. Retrieved 2012-01-03.

Jump up^ Woliver, Robbie (July 16, 2000). "An Encounter With a Television Psychic". The New York
Times. Retrieved 24 December2011.

Further reading[edit]

Ruth Brandon. (1983). The Spiritualists: The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries. Alfred E. Knopf. ISBN 978-0394527406

Edward Clodd. (1917). The Question: A Brief History and Examination of Modern Spiritualism. Grant
Richards, London.

Stuart Cumberland. (1919). Spiritualism: The Inside Truth. London: Odhams.

Joseph Dunninger. (1935). Inside the Medium's Cabinet. New York, D. Kemp and Company.

Willis Dutcher. (1922). On the Other Side of the Footlights: An Expose of Routines, Apparatus and
Deceptions Resorted to by Mediums, Clairvoyants, Fortune Tellers and Crystal Gazers in Deluding the
Public. Berlin, WI: Heaney Magic.

Walter Mann. (1919). The Follies and Frauds of Spiritualism. Rationalist Association. London: Watts &
Co.

Joseph McCabe. (1920). Scientific Men and Spiritualism: A Skeptic's Analysis. The Living Age. June 12.
pp. 652–657. A skeptical look at SPR members who had supported Spiritualism, concludes they were
duped by fraudulent mediums.

Joseph McCabe. (1920). Is Spiritualism Based On Fraud? The Evidence Given By Sir A. C. Doyle and
Others Drastically Examined. London: Watts & Co.

Georgess McHargue. (1972). Facts, Frauds, and Phantasms: A Survey of the Spiritualist Movement.
Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385053051

Alex Owen. (2004). The Darkened Room: Women, Power, and Spiritualism in Late Victorian England.
University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226642055

Frank Podmore. (1911). The Newer Spiritualism. Henry Holt and Company.

Massimo Polidoro. (2003). Secrets of the Psychics: Investigating Paranormal Claims. Prometheus

Books. ISBN 978-1591020868

Harry Price and Eric Dingwall. (1975). Revelations of a Spirit Medium. Arno Press. Reprint of 1891
edition by Charles F. Pidgeon. This rare, overlooked, and forgotten, book gives the "insider's
knowledge" of 19th century deceptions.
Joseph Rinn. (1950). Sixty Years Of Psychical Research: Houdini And I Among The Spiritualists. Truth
Seeker.

Chung Ling Soo. (1898). Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena. Munn & Company.

Richard Wiseman. (1997). Deception & Self-Deception: Investigating Psychics. Prometheus

Books. ISBN 978-1573921213
Out-of-body experience

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from Out-of-body experiences)

Artist's depiction of the separation stage of an out-of-body experience, which often precedes free
movement

An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is an experience that typically involves a

sensation of floating outside one's body and, in some cases, perceiving one's physical body from a
place outside one's body (autoscopy).

The term out-of-body experience was introduced in 1943 by George N. M. Tyrrell in his

book Apparitions,[1] and was adopted by researchers such as Celia Green[2] andRobert
Monroe[3] as an alternative to belief-centric labels such as "astral projection", "soul travel", or
"spirit walking". OBEs can be induced by brain traumas, sensory deprivation, near-death
experiences,dissociative and psychedelic drugs, dehydration, sleep, and electrical stimulation of the
brain,[4]among others. It can also be deliberately induced by some.[5] One in ten people have an
OBE once, or more commonly, several times in their life.[6][7]

Scientists generally regard OBEs as dissociative experiences arising from differentpsychological and

neurological factors.[8][9][10][11][5][12][13][14]

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Spontaneous

1.1 During/near sleep

1.2 Near-death experiences

1.3 Resulting from extreme physical effort

2 Induced

2.1 Chemical

2.1.1 Mental induction

2.1.2 Mechanical induction

3 Theories of OBEs
3.1 Psychological

3.2 Paranormal

4 Studies of OBEs

4.1 Miss Z study

4.2 Neurology and OBE-like experiences

4.2.1 Olaf Blanke studies

4.2.2 Ehrsson study

4.2.3 AWARE study

4.2.4 Smith & Messier

4.3 OBE training and research facilities

5 Astral projection

6 See also

7 Notes

8 Further reading

9 External links

Spontaneous[edit]

During/near sleep[edit]

Main article: Sleep paralysis

Those experiencing OBEs sometimes report (among other types of immediate and spontaneous
experience) a preceding and initiating lucid-dream state. In many cases, people who claim to have
had an OBE report being on the verge of sleep, or being already asleep shortly before the
experience. A large percentage of these cases refer to situations where the sleep was not
particularly deep (due to illness, noises in other rooms, emotional stress, exhaustion from
overworking, frequent re-awakening, etc.). In most of these cases subjects perceive themselves as
being awake; about half of them note a feeling of sleep paralysis.[15]

Near-death experiences[edit]

Main article: Near-death experience

Another form of spontaneous OBE is the near-death experience (NDE). Some subjects report having
had an OBE at times of severe physical trauma such as near-drownings or major surgery. Near-death
experiences may include subjective impressions of being outside the physical body, visions of
deceased relatives and religious figures, and transcendence of ego and spatiotemporal boundaries.
[16] Typically the experience includes such factors as: a sense of being dead; a feeling of peace and
painlessness; hearing of various non-physical sounds, an out-of-body experience; a tunnel
experience (the sense of moving up or through a narrow passageway); encountering "people of
light" and a God-like figure or similar entities; being given a "life review", and a reluctance to return
to life.[17]
Resulting from extreme physical effort[edit]

Along the same lines as an NDE, extreme physical effort during activities such as high-altitude
climbing and marathon running can induce OBEs. A sense of bilocation may be experienced, with
both ground and air-based perspectives being experienced simultaneously.[18]

Induced[edit]

Chemical[edit]

OBEs can be induced by hallucinogens such as ketamine, DMT, MDA, and LSD.[19][20]

Mental induction[edit]

Falling asleep physically without losing awareness. The "Mind Awake, Body Asleep" state is widely
suggested as a cause of OBEs, voluntary and otherwise.[21] Thomas Edison used this state to tackle
problems while working on his inventions. He would rest a silver dollar on his head while sitting with
a metal bucket in a chair. As he drifted off, the coin would noisily fall into the bucket, restoring some
of his alertness.[22] OBE pioneer Sylvan Muldoon more simply used a forearm held perpendicular in
bed as the falling object.[23] Salvador Dalí was said to use a similar "paranoiac-critical" method to
gain odd visions which inspired his paintings. Deliberately teetering between awake and asleep
states is known to cause spontaneous trance episodes at the onset of sleep which are ultimately
helpful when attempting to induce an OBE.[24][25][26] By moving deeper and deeper into
relaxation, one eventually encounters a "slipping" feeling if the mind is still alert. This slipping is
reported to feel like leaving the physical body. Some consider progressive relaxation a passive form
ofsensory deprivation.

Waking up mentally but not physically. This related technique is typically achieved through the
practice of lucid dreaming. Once inside a lucid dream, the dreamer either shifts the subject matter of
the dream in an OBE direction or banishes the dream imagery completely, in doing so gaining access
to the underlying state of sleep paralysis ideal for visualization of separation from the body.

Deep trance, meditation and visualization. The types of visualizations vary; some common analogies

include climbing a rope to "pull out" of one's body, floating out of one's body, getting shot out of a
cannon, and other similar approaches. This technique is considered hard to use for people who
cannot properly relax. One example of such a technique is the popular Golden Dawn "Body of Light"
Technique.[27]

Mechanical induction[edit]

Brainwave synchronization via audio/visual stimulation. Binaural beats can be used to induce

specific brainwave frequencies,[28] notably those predominant in various mind awake/body asleep
states. Binaural induction of a "body asleep" 4 Hertz brainwave frequency was observed as effective
by the Monroe Institute,[29] and some authors consider binaural beats to be significantly supportive
of OBE initiation when used in conjunction with other techniques.[30][31] Simultaneous introduction
of "mind awake" beta frequencies (detectable in the brains of normal, relaxed awakened individuals)
was also observed as constructive. Another popular technology uses sinusoidal wave pulses to
achieve similar results, and the drumming accompanying native American religious ceremonies is
also believed to have heightened receptivity to "other worlds" through brainwave entrainment
mechanisms.[32]

Magnetic stimulation of the brain, as with the God helmet developed by Michael Persinger.[33]

Direct stimulation of the vestibular cortex.[34]

Electrical stimulation of the brain, particularly the temporoparietal junction (see Blanke study

below).

Sensory deprivation. This approach aims to encourage intense disorientation by removal of space
and time references. Flotation tanks or pink noise played through headphones are often employed
for this purpose.[35]

Sensory overload, the opposite of sensory deprivation. The subject can for instance be rocked for a
long time in a specially designed cradle, or submitted to light forms of torture, to cause the brain to
shut itself off from all sensory input. Both conditions tend to cause confusion and this disorientation
often permits the subject to experience vivid, ethereal out-of-body experiences.[36]

Strong g-forces that causes blood to drain from parts of the brain, as experienced for example in
high-performance aircraft or high-G training for pilots and astronauts.[37]

An apparatus that uses a head-mounted display and a touch that confuses the sense
ofprioproception (and which can also create the sensation of additional limbs).[38]

Theories of OBEs[edit]

Psychological[edit]

In the fields of cognitive science and psychology OBEs are considered dissociative experiences arising

from different psychological and neurological factors.[5][8][9][10][12][13][14] Scientists consider the
OBE to be an experience from a mental state, like a dream or an altered state of
consciousness without recourse to the paranormal.[39]

Charles Richet (1887) held that OBEs are created by the subject's memory and imaginationprocesses

and are no different from dreams.[40][41] James Hyslop (1912) wrote that OBEs occur when the
activity of the subconscious mind dramatizes certain images to give the impression the subject is in a
different physical location.[42] Eugèn Osty (1930) considered OBEs to be nothing more than the
product of imagination.[43] Other early researchers (such as Schmeing, 1938)
supported psychophysiological theories.[44] G. N. M. Tyrrell interpreted OBEs as hallucinatory
constructs relating to subconscious levels of personality.[45]

Donovan Rawcliffe (1959) connected the OBE experience with psychosis and hysteria.[46] Other

researchers have discussed the phenomena of the OBE in terms of a distortion of the body image
(Horowitz, 1970) and depersonalization (Whitlock, 1978).[47][48] The psychologists Nandor
Fodor (1959) and Jan Ehrenwald (1974) proposed that an OBE is a defense mechanism designed to
deal with the threat of death.[49][50] According to (Irin and Watt, 2007) Jan Ehrenwald had
described the out-of-body experience (OBE) "as an imaginal confirmation of the question for
immortality, a delusory attempt to assure ourselves that we possess a soul that exists independently
of the physical body.[51] The psychologists Donald Hebb (1960) and Cyril Burt (1968) wrote on the
psychological interpretation of the OBE involving body image and visual imagery.[52][53] Graham
Reed (1974) suggested that the OBE is a stress reaction to a painful situation, such as the loss of
love.[54] John Palmer (1978) wrote that the OBE is a response to a body image change causing a
threat to personal identity.[55]

Carl Sagan (1977) and Barbara Honegger (1983) wrote that the OBE experience may be based on a
rebirth fantasy or reliving of the birth process based on reports of tunnel-like passageways and
a cord-like connection by some OBErs which they compared to an umbilical cord.[56][57]Susan
Blackmore (1978) came to the conclusion that the OBE is a hallucinatory fantasy as it has
characteristics based around imaginary perceptions, perceptual distortions and fantasy-like
perceptions of the self (such as having no body).[58][59] Ronald Siegel (1980) also wrote that OBEs
are hallucinatory fantasies.[60]

Harvey Irwin (1985) presented a theory of the OBE involving attentional cognitive processes
andsomatic sensory activity. His theory involved a cognitive personality construct known
aspsychological absorption and gave instances of the classification of an OBE as examples
ofautoscopy, depersonalization and mental dissociation.[36] The psychophysiologist Stephen
Laberge (1985) has written that the explanation for OBEs can be found in lucid dreaming.[61]David
Hufford (1989) linked the OBE experience with a phenomenon he described as anightmare waking
experience, a type of sleep paralysis.[62] Other scientists have also linked OBEs to cases
of hypnagogia and sleep paralysis (cataplexy).[63][64]

In case studies fantasy proneness has been shown to be higher among OBErs than those who have
not had an OBE.[65] The data has shown a link between the OBE experience in some cases to fantasy
prone personality (FPP).[66] In a case study involving 167 participants the findings revealed that
those who claimed to have experienced the OBE were "more fantasy prone, higher in their belief in
the paranormal and displayed greater somatoform dissociation."[67] Research from studies has also
suggested that OBEs are related to cognitive-perceptual schizotypy.[68]

Terence Hines (2003) has written that spontaneous out-of-body experiences can be generated by
artificial stimulation of the brain and this strongly suggests that the OBE experience is caused from
"temporary, minor brain malfunctions, not by the person’s spirit (or whatever) actually leaving the
body."[69] In a study review of neurological and neurocognitive data (Bünning and Blanke, 2005)
wrote that OBEs are due to "functional disintegration of lower-level multisensory processing and
abnormal higher-level self-processing at the temporoparietal junction."[70] Some scientists suspect
that OBEs are the result of a mismatch between visual and tactile signals.[71][72]

Richard Wiseman (2011) has noted that OBE research has focused on finding a psychological
explanation and "out-of-body experiences are not paranormal and do not provide evidence for the
soul. Instead, they reveal something far more remarkable about the everyday workings of your brain
and body."[73] A study conducted by Jason Braithwaite and colleagues (2011) linked the OBE to
"neural instabilities in the brain's temporal lobes and to errors in the body's sense of itself".[74]
[75] Braithwaite et al. (2013) reported that the "current and dominant view is that the OBE occurs
due to a temporary disruption in multi-sensory integration processes."[76]

Paranormal[edit]

Writers within the fields of parapsychology and occultism have written that OBEs are not
psychological and that a soul, spirit or subtle body can detach itself out of the body and visit distant
locations. Out-of-the-body experiences were known during the Victorian period
inspiritualist literature as "travelling clairvoyance". The psychical researcher Frederic Myersreferred
to the OBE as a "psychical excursion".[77] An early study which described alleged cases of OBEs was
the two volume Phantasms of the Living, published in 1886 by the psychical researchers Edmund
Gurney, Myers and Frank Podmore. The book was largely criticized by the scientific community as
the anecdotal reports lacked evidential substantiation in nearly every case.[78][79]

The Theosophist Arthur Powell (1927) was an early author to advocate the subtle body theory of
OBEs.[80] Sylvan Muldoon (1936) embraced the concept of an etheric body to explain the OBE
experience.[81] The psychical researcher Ernesto Bozzano (1938) had also supported a similar view
describing the phenomena of the OBE experience in terms of bilocation in which an "etheric body"
can release itself from the physical body in rare circumstances.[82] The subtle body theory was also
supported by occult writers such as Ralph Shirley (1938), Benjamin Walker (1977) and Douglas
Baker (1979).[83] James Baker (1954) wrote that a mental bodyenters an "intercosmic region"
during the OBE.[84] Robert Crookall in many publications supported the subtle body theory of OBEs.
[85][86]

The paranormal interpretation of OBEs has not been supported by all researchers within the study of
parapsychology. Gardner Murphy (1961) wrote that OBEs are "not very far from the known terrain
of general psychology, which we are beginning to understand more and more without recourse to
the paranormal".[87]

In April 1977 a patient from Harborview Medical Center known as Maria claimed to have

experienced an out-of-body experience. During her OBE she claimed to have floated outside her
body and outside of the hospital. Maria would later tell her social worker Kimberly Clark that during
the OBE she had observed a tennis shoe on the third floor window ledge to the north side of the
building. Clark would go to the north wing of the building and by looking out of the window could
see a tennis shoe on one of the ledges. Clark published the account in 1985. The story has since been
used in many paranormal books as evidence a spirit can leave the body.[88]

In 1996, Hayden Ebbern, Sean Mulligan and Barry Beyerstein visited the Medical Center to
investigate the story. They placed a tennis shoe on the same ledge and discovered that the shoe was
visible from within the building and could have easily been observed by a patient lying in bed. They
also discovered the shoe was easily observable from outside the building and suggested that Maria
may have overheard a comment about it during her three days in the hospital and incorporated it
into her OBE. They concluded "Maria's story merely reveals the naiveté and the power of wishful
thinking" from OBE researchers seeking a paranormal explanation.[89] Clark did not publish the
description of the case until seven years after it happened, casting doubt on the story. Richard
Wiseman has said that although the story is not evidence for anything paranormal it has been
"endlessly repeated by writers who either couldn’t be bothered to check the facts, or were unwilling
to present their readers with the more skeptical side of the story."[88]

Studies of OBEs[edit]

Early collections of OBE cases had been made by Ernesto Bozzano (Italy) and Robert Crookall (UK).
Crookall approached the subject from a spiritualistic position, and collected his cases predominantly
from spiritualist newspapers such as the Psychic News, which appears to have biased his results in
various ways. For example, the majority of his subjects reported seeing acord connecting the
physical body and its observing counterpart; whereas Green found that less than 4% of her subjects
noticed anything of this sort, and some 80% reported feeling they were a "disembodied
consciousness", with no external body at all.

The first extensive scientific study of OBEs was made by Celia Green (1968).[90] She collected
written, first-hand accounts from a total of 400 subjects, recruited by means of appeals in the
mainstream media, and followed up by questionnaires. Her purpose was to provide a taxonomyof
the different types of OBE, viewed simply as an anomalous perceptual experience orhallucination,
while leaving open the question of whether some of the cases might incorporate information
derived by extrasensory perception.

In 1999, at the 1st International Forum of Consciousness Research in Barcelona, International

Academy of Consciousness research-practitioners Wagner Alegretti and Nanci Trivellato presented
preliminary findings of an online survey on the out-of-body experience answered by internet users
interested in the subject; therefore, not a sample representative of the general population.[91]

1,007 (85%) of the first 1,185 respondents reported having had an OBE. 37% claimed to have had
between two and ten OBEs. 5.5% claimed more than 100 such experiences. 45% of those who
reported an OBE said they successfully induced at least one OBE by using a specific technique. 62%
of participants claiming to have had an OBE also reported having enjoyed nonphysical flight; 40%
reported experiencing the phenomenon of self-bilocation (i.e. seeing one's own physical body whilst
outside the body); and 38% claimed having experienced self-permeability (passing through physical
objects such as walls). The most commonly reported sensations experienced in connection with the
OBE were falling, floating, repercussions e.g. myoclonia (the jerking of limbs, jerking awake), sinking,
torpidity (numbness), intracranial sounds, tingling, clairvoyance, oscillation and serenity.

Another reported common sensation related to OBE was temporary or projective catalepsy, a more
common feature of sleep paralysis. The sleep paralysis and OBE correlation was later corroborated
by the Out-of-Body Experience and Arousal study published in Neurology by Kevin Nelson and his
colleagues from the University of Kentucky in 2007.[92] The study discovered that people who have
out-of-body experiences are more likely to suffer from sleep paralysis.[93]

Also noteworthy, is the Waterloo Unusual Sleep Experiences Questionnaire [94] that further

illustrates the correlation. William Buhlman, an author on the subject, has conducted an informal
but informative online survey.[95]

In surveys, as many as 85% of respondents tell of hearing loud noises, known as "exploding head
syndrome" (EHS), during the onset of OBEs.[96][97]

Miss Z study[edit]

In 1968, Charles Tart conducted an OBE experiment with a subject known as Miss Z for four nights in
his sleep laboratory. The subject was attached to an EEG machine and a five-digit code was placed
on a shelf above her bed. She did not claim to see the number on the first three nights but on fourth
gave the number correctly.[98][99] The psychologist James Alcock criticized the experiment for
inadequate controls and questioned why the subject was not visually monitored by a video camera.
[100] Martin Gardner has written the experiment was not evidence for an OBE and suggested that
whilst Tart was "snoring behind the window, Miss Z simply stood up in bed, without detaching the
electrodes, and peeked."[101] Susan Blackmore wrote "If Miss Z had tried to climb up, the brain-
wave record would have showed a pattern of interference. And that was exactly what it did
show."[102] However, upon closer inspection of Tart's actual report, "There was only enough slack
to allow the subject to sit up. Had she tried to stand, the electrodes would have been disconnected."
She was also in a position that did not give her visual access to Tart's physical proximity. So even if
he had dozed, the subject would have no way of determining this. Therefore, the odds that she
cheated at exactly the right time to be able to perform such an action when Tart was "dozing," are,
in themselves, stretching the boundaries of credulity.[103]

Neurology and OBE-like experiences[edit]

There are several possible physiological explanations for parts of the OBE. OBE-like experiences have
been induced by stimulation of the brain. OBE-like experience has also been induced through
stimulation of the posterior part of the right superior temporal gyrus in a patient.[104] Positron-
emission tomography was also used in this study to identify brain regions affected by this
stimulation. The term OBE-like is used above because the experiences described in these
experiments either lacked some of the clarity or details of normal OBEs, or were described by
subjects who had never experienced an OBE before. Such subjects were therefore not qualified to
make claims about the authenticity of the experimentally-induced OBE.

English psychologist Susan Blackmore and others suggest that an OBE begins when a person loses
contact with sensory input from the body while remaining conscious.[105] The person retains the
illusion of having a body, but that perception is no longer derived from the senses. The perceived
world may resemble the world he or she generally inhabits while awake, but this perception does
not come from the senses either. The vivid body and world is made by our brain's ability to create
fully convincing realms, even in the absence of sensory information. This process is witnessed by
each of us every night in our dreams, though OBEs are claimed to be far more vivid than even a lucid
dream.

Irwin[106] pointed out that OBEs appear to occur under conditions of either very high or very
lowarousal. For example, Green[107] found that three quarters of a group of 176 subjects reporting
a single OBE were lying down at the time of the experience, and of these 12% considered they had
been asleep when it started. By contrast, a substantial minority of her cases occurred under
conditions of maximum arousal, such as a rock-climbing fall, a traffic accident, or childbirth.
McCreery[108][109] has suggested that this paradox may be explained by reference to the fact that
sleep can supervene as a reaction to extreme stress or hyper-arousal.[110] He proposes that OBEs
under both conditions, relaxation and hyper-arousal, represent a form of "waking dream", or the
intrusion of Stage 1 sleep processes into waking consciousness.

Olaf Blanke studies[edit]

Research by Olaf Blanke in Switzerland found that it is possible to reliably elicit experiences
somewhat similar to the OBE by stimulating regions of the brain called the right temporal-parietal
junction (TPJ; a region where the temporal lobe and parietal lobe of the brain come together).
Blanke and his collaborators in Switzerland have explored the neural basis of OBEs by showing that
they are reliably associated with lesions in the right TPJ region[111] and that they can be reliably
elicited with electrical stimulation of this region in a patient with epilepsy.[112] These elicited
experiences may include perceptions of transformations of the patient's arms and legs (complex
somatosensory responses) and whole-body displacements (vestibular responses).[113][114]

In neurologically normal subjects, Blanke and colleagues then showed that the conscious experience
of the self and body being in the same location depends on multisensory integrationin the TPJ.
Using event-related potentials, Blanke and colleagues showed the selective activation of the TPJ
330–400 ms after stimulus onset when healthy volunteers imagined themselves in the position and
visual perspective that generally are reported by people experiencing spontaneous
OBEs. Transcranial magnetic stimulation in the same subjects impaired mental transformation of the
participant's own body. No such effects were found with stimulation of another site or for imagined
spatial transformations of external objects, suggesting the selective implication of the TPJ in mental
imagery of one's own body.[115]

In a follow up study, Arzy et al. showed that the location and timing of brain activation depended on
whether mental imagery is performed with mentally embodied or disembodied self location. When
subjects performed mental imagery with an embodied location, there was increased activation of a
region called the "extrastriate body area" (EBA), but when subjects performed mental imagery with
a disembodied location, as reported in OBEs, there was increased activation in the region of the TPJ.
This leads Arzy et al. to argue that "these data show that distributed brain activity at the EBA and TPJ
as well as their timing are crucial for the coding of the self as embodied and as spatially situated
within the human body."[116]

Blanke and colleagues thus propose that the right temporal-parietal junction is important for the
sense of spatial location of the self, and that when these normal processes go awry, an OBE arises.
[117]

In August 2007 Blanke's lab published research in Science demonstrating that conflicting visual-
somatosensory input in virtual reality could disrupt the spatial unity between the self and the body.
During multisensory conflict, participants felt as if a virtual body seen in front of them was their own
body and mislocalized themselves toward the virtual body, to a position outside their bodily borders.
This indicates that spatial unity and bodily self-consciousness can be studied experimentally and is
based on multisensory and cognitive processing of bodily information.[118]

Ehrsson study[edit]

In August 2007, Henrik Ehrsson, then at the Institute of Neurology at University College of

London (now at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden), published research in Sciencedemonstrating the
first experimental method that, according to the scientist's claims in the publication, induced an out-
of-body experience in healthy participants.[119] The experiment was conducted in the following
way:

The study participant sits in a chair wearing a pair of head-mounted video displays. These have two
small screens over each eye, which show a live film recorded by two video cameras placed beside
each other two metres behind the participant's head. The image from the left video camera is
presented on the left-eye display and the image from the right camera on the right-eye display. The
participant sees these as one "stereoscopic" (3D) image, so they see their own back displayed from
the perspective of someone sitting behind them.

The researcher then stands just beside the participant (in their view) and uses two plastic rods to
simultaneously touch the participant's actual chest out-of-view and the chest of the illusory body,
moving this second rod towards where the illusory chest would be located, just below the camera's
view.

The participants confirmed that they had experienced sitting behind their physical body and looking
at it from that location.[71][120]

Both critics and the experimenter himself note that the study fell short of replicating "full-blown"
OBEs. As with previous experiments which induced sensations of floating outside of the body,
Ehrsson's work does not explain how a brain malfunction might cause an OBE. Essentially, Ehrsson
created an illusion that fits a definition of an OBE in which "a person who is awake sees his or her
body from a location outside the physical body."[121]

AWARE study[edit]

In 2001, Sam Parnia and colleagues investigated out of body claims by placing figures on suspended
boards facing the ceiling, not visible from the floor. Parnia wrote "anybody who claimed to have left
their body and be near the ceiling during resuscitation attempts would be expected to identify those
targets. If, however, such perceptions are psychological, then one would obviously not expect the
targets to be identified."[122] The philosopher Keith Augustine, who examined Parnia's study, has
written that all target identification experiments have produced negative results.
[123] Psychologist Chris French wrote regarding the study "unfortunately, and somewhat atypically,
none of the survivors in this sample experienced an OBE."[124]

In the autumn of 2008, 25 UK and US hospitals began participation in a study, coordinated by Sam
Parnia and Southampton University known as the AWARE study (AWAreness during REsuscitation).
Following on from the work of Pim van Lommel in the Netherlands, the study aims to examine near-
death experiences in 1,500 cardiac arrest survivors and so determine whether people without a
heartbeat or brain activity can have documentable out-of-body experiences.[125] As part of the
study Parnia and colleagues have investigated out of body claims by using hidden targets placed on
shelves that could only be seen from above.[125]Parnia has written "if no one sees the pictures, it
shows these experiences are illusions or false memories".[125]

In 2014 Parnia issued a statement indicating that the first phase of the project has been completed
and the results are undergoing peer review for publication in a medical journal.[126]No subjects saw
the images mounted out of sight according to Parnia's early report of the results of the study at
an American Heart Association meeting in November 2013. Only two out of the 152 patients
reported any visual experiences, and one of them described events that could be verified.[127]

On October 6, 2014 the results of the study were published in the journal Resuscitation. Among
those who reported a perception of awareness and completed further interviews, 46 per cent
experienced a broad range of mental recollections in relation to death that were not compatible
with the commonly used term of NDEs. These included fearful and persecutory experiences. Only 9
per cent had experiences compatible with NDEs and 2 per cent exhibited full awareness compatible
with OBEs with explicit recall of 'seeing' and 'hearing' events. One case was validated and timed
using auditory stimuli during cardiac arrest.[128] According to Dr. Caroline Watt "The one ‘verifiable
period of conscious awareness’ that Parnia was able to report did not relate to this objective test.
Rather, it was a patient giving a supposedly accurate report of events during his resuscitation. He
didn’t identify the pictures, he described the defibrillator machine noise. But that’s not very
impressive since many people know what goes on in an emergency room setting from seeing
recreations on television."[129][130]

Smith & Messier[edit]

A recent functional imaging study reported the case of a woman who could experience out of body
experience at will. She reported developing the ability as a child and associated it with difficulties in
falling sleep. Her OBEs continued into adulthood but became less frequent. She was able to see
herself rotating in the air above her body, lying flat, and rolling in the horizontal plane. She reported
sometimes watching herself move from above but remained aware of her unmoving “real” body.
The participant reported no particular emotions linked to the experience. "[T]he brain functional
changes associated with the reported extra-corporeal experience (ECE) were different than those
observed in motor imagery. Activations were mainly left-sided and involved the left supplementary
motor area and supramarginal and posterior superior temporal gyri, the last two overlapping with
the temporal parietal junction that has been associated with out-of-body experiences. The
cerebellum also showed activation that is consistent with the participant’s report of the impression
of movement during the ECE. There was also left middle and superior orbital frontal gyri activity,
regions often associated with action monitoring."[131]

OBE training and research facilities[edit]

The Monroe Institute's Nancy Penn Center is a facility specializing in out-of-body experience
induction. The Center for Higher Studies of the Consciousness in Brazil is another large OBE training
facility. The International Academy of Consciousness in southern Portugal features the Projectarium,
a spherical structure dedicated exclusively for practice and research on out-of-body experience.
[132] Olaf Blanke's Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience has become a well-known laboratory for
OBE research.[133]

Astral projection[edit]

Main article: Astral projection

Astral projection is a paranormal interpretation of out-of-body experiences that assumes the

existence of one or more non-physical planes of existence and an associated body beyond the
physical. Commonly such planes are called astral, etheric, or spiritual. Astral projection is often
experienced as the spirit or astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the spirit world orastral
plane.[134]

See also[edit]

Alice in Wonderland syndrome

Autoscopy

Depersonalization disorder

Hallucinations in the sane

Macropsia

Schizotypy

Notes[edit]

Jump up^ G. N. M. Tyrrell, Apparitions, Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd, London, 1943, pp. 149. ISBN
978-1169831537

Jump up^ C.E. Green, Out-of-the-body Experiences, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1968. ISBN 978-

0345248435

Jump up^ Robert Monroe Journeys Out of the Body, 1971. ISBN 0-385-00861-9

Jump up^ Aspell, Jane; Blanke, Olaf. (2009).Understanding the out-of-body experience from a
neuroscientific perspective inPsychological Scientific Perspectives on Out of Body and Near Death
ExperiencesPsychology Research Progress. New York: Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 978-
1607417057

^ Jump up to:a b c Brent, S. B. ( 1979). Deliberatelyinduced, premortem, out-of-body experiences:

An experimental and theoretical approach. In B. Kastenbaum (Ed.), Between life and death (pp. 89-
123). New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0826125408

Jump up^ Susan Blackmore. (1984). "A Postal Survey of OBEs and Other Experiences".

Jump up^ "(Aug. 24, 2007) First Out-of-body Experience Induced In Laboratory Setting".
ScienceDaily. 2007-08-24. Retrieved 2011-10-06.

^ Jump up to:a b Gabbard, G. O., & Twemlow, A. W. (1984). With the eyes of the mind: An empirical
analysis of out-of-body states. New York: Praeger Scientific. ISBN 978-0030689260
^ Jump up to:a b Leonard Zusne, Warren H. Jones (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical
Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0-8058-0508-7

^ Jump up to:a b Blanke O, Landis T, Seeck M (2004). "Out-of-body experience and autoscopy of

neurological origin". Brain 127: 243–258.doi:10.1093/brain/awh040.

Jump up^ Blanke O, Mohr C (2005). "Out-of-body experience, heautoscopy, and autoscopic

hallucination of neurological origin. Implications for mechanisms of corporeal awareness and self
consciousness". Brain Research Reviews 50: 184–199.doi:10.1016/j.brainresrev.2005.05.008.

^ Jump up to:a b Meyerson, Joseph and Gelkopf, Marc (2004). "Therapeutic Utilization of

Spontaneous Out-of-Body Experiences in Hypnotherapy". American Journal of Psychotherapy 58 (1).

^ Jump up to:a b Cheyne, James Allan (Fall 2008)."When Is an OBE Not an OBE? A New Look at Out-
of-Body Experiences". Skeptic.

^ Jump up to:a b Blanke, Olaf (December 2004). "Out Of Body Experiences And Their Neural Basis:
They Are Linked To Multisensory And Cognitive Processing In The Brain". British Medical
Journal 329 (7480): 1414–1415.doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7480.1414.JSTOR 25469629. The reviewed
evidence from neurological patients experiencing this striking dissociation between self and body
shows that out of body experiences are culturally invariant phenomena that can be investigated
scientifically.

Jump up^ "SOBEs". Oberf.org. Retrieved2011-10-06.

Jump up^ Greyson, Bruce. (2003). Near-Death Experiences in a Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic

Population. Psychiatr Serv 54: 1649–1651.

Jump up^ Mauro, James. (1992). Bright lights, big Mystery. Psychology Today.

Jump up^ Metzinger (citing Alvarado), "Out-of-Body Experiences as the Origin of the Concept of a
'Soul'", Mind & Matter Vol. 3(1), 2005, p. 65.

Jump up^ Siegel Ronald (1980). "The Psychology of Life after Death". American Psychologist 35: 911–
931. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.35.10.911.

Jump up^ Shermer, Michael. (1997). Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition,
and Other Confusions of Our Time. Henry Holt and Company . p. 80. ISBN 0-8050-7089-3

Jump up^ Focus 10: Mind Awake/Body Asleep.Frederick Aardema (2012). Retrieved June 18, 2012

Jump up^ Pre-Grams of Tomorrow dreams as pathway to a New World Perspective: Forrer, Kurt

Jump up^ Hereward Carrington, Sylvan Muldoon. (1981). The Projection Of The Astral Body. Weiser
Books. ISBN 978-0-87728-069-9

Jump up^ "Journeys out of the Body", 1972, Robert Monroe, p. 207-210, ISBN 0-285-62753-8

Jump up^ "Astral Dynamics: The Complete Book of Out-of-Body Experiences", 2009, Robert Bruce, p.
208-9, ISBN 978-1-57174-616-0

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Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1576076538

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psychologie (2nd ed.). Paris: Felix Alcan.

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experiences have the following characteristics that can be expected of hallucinatory fantasies: (1)
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things); (4) instantaneous traveling to distant locations; and (5) fantasy like perceptions of self such
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light. She concluded from the data that out-of-the-body experiences should be viewed as
hallucinatory fantasies."

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Wakefulness and Sleep. Thyrsos Press. ISBN 978-0955305214

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106. ISBN 1-57392-979-4

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correlates. Progress in Brain Research, vol. 150, p. 331-50, 2005

^ Jump up to:a b "Out-of-body experience recreated".BBC News. August 24, 2007. RetrievedMay

20, 2010.

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Nytimes.com. Retrieved2011-10-06.

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60. ISBN 978-0-230-75298-6

Jump up^ Braithwaite Jason J., Samson Dana, Apperly Ian, Broglia Emma, Hulleman Johan (2011).
"Cognitive correlates of the spontaneous out-of-body experience (OBE) in the psychologically normal
population: Evidence for an increased role of temporal-lobe instability, body-distortion processing,
and impairments in own-body transformations". Cortex 47: 839–
853.doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2010.05.002.

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representation". Science Daily.

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(2013). Fractionating the unitary notion of dissociation: Disembodied but not embodied dissociative
experiences are associated with exocentric perspective-taking. Frontiers in Neuroscience 7: 719.

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0750936842

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Phantasms. Nineteenth Century 22: 174-194.

Jump up^ Charles Sanders Peirce. (1958). Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Volume 4.
Harvard University Press. p. 360

Jump up^ Powell, Arthur. (1927). Astral Body and Other Astral Phenomena. Kessinger
Publishing. ISBN 978-1162570952

Jump up^ Muldoon, S. (1936). The Case for Astral Projection. Chicago: Ariel Press. ISBN 978-
1162738680

Jump up^ Bozzano, E. (1938). Discarnate Influences in Human Life. London: John M. Watkins.

Jump up^ Shirley, Ralph. (1938). The Mystery of the Human Double: The Case for Astral Projection.
Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-0548056035 Walker. Benjamin. (1977).Beyond the Body: Human
Double and the Astral Planes. Routledge. ISBN 978-0710085818. Baker, Douglas. (1979).Practical
Techniques of Astral Projection. Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 978-0850301410

Jump up^ Baker, James. (1954). The exteriorization of the mental body : a scientific interpretation of
the out-of-the-body experience known as pneumakinesis. William-Frederick Press.Online
Jump up^ Crookall, R. (1961). The Study and Practice of Astral Projection. London: Aquarian Press.

Jump up^ Crookall, R. (1965). Intimations of Immortality. Cambridge: James Clarke.

Jump up^ Murphy, G., with Dale, L. (1961).Challenge of Psychical Research. New York: Harper &
Row.

^ Jump up to:a b Wiseman, Richard. (2011).Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There.

Macmillan. pp 44-45. ISBN 978-0-230-75298-6

Jump up^ Ebbern, Hayden; Mulligan, Sean; Beyerstein, Barry. (1996). Maria's Near-Death

Experience: Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop. Skeptical Inquirer 20: 27-33.

Jump up^ Green, C.E. (1968). Out-of-the-Body Experiences. London: Hamish Hamilton.

Jump up^ "preliminary findings". Out-of-body-experience.org. Retrieved 2011-10-06.

Jump up^ "Out-of-body experience and arousal". Neurology.org. 2007-03-06. Retrieved2011-10-06.

Jump up^ Highfield, Roger. (2007). What really happens in out of body experiences. The Telegraph.

Jump up^ "Waterloo Unusual Sleep Experiences Questionnaire". Watarts.uwaterloo.ca. 1940-06-25.

Retrieved 2011-10-06.

Jump up^ "online survey". Astralinfo.org. Retrieved2011-10-06.

Jump up^ Buhlman, William. "Results of OBE Survey". The Out of Body Experience. Retrieved 2011-

03-18.

Jump up^ Twemlow SW, Gabbard GO, Jones FC, April (1982). "The out-of-body experience: a
phenomenological typology based on questionnaire responses". American Journal of
Psychiatry 139 (4): 450–455.PMID 7039367.

Jump up^ Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren. (1989).Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical

Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 126. ISBN 0-8058-0508-7

Jump up^ Robert Todd Carroll. (2003). The Skeptic's Dictionary. Wiley. p. 110. ISBN 0-471-27242-6

Jump up^ Alcock, James. (1981). Parapsychology-Science Or Magic?: A Psychological Perspective.

Pergamon Press. pp. 130-131.ISBN 978-0080257730

Jump up^ Gardner, Martin. (1989). How Not To Test A Psychic: 10 Years of Remarkable Experiments
with Renowned Clairvoyant Pavel Stepanek. Prometheus Books. p. 246.ISBN 0-87975-512-1

Jump up^ Blackmore, Susan. (1986). The Adventures of a Parapsychologist. Prometheus Books. p.

176. ISBN 0-87975-360-9

Jump up^ "Dr. Charles Tart's Study of Verified Perception in Out-of-Body Experiences | OOBEs |
OBEs | Sleep | Dreams". Near-Death. Retrieved 2015-01-19.

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body experience in the brain. N Engl J Med. 2007 Nov 1;357(18):1829–33.

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Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers.
Jump up^ Irwin, H.J. (1985). Flight of Mind: a psychological study of the out-of-body
experience. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press.

Jump up^ Green C.E. (1968). Out-of-the-Body Experiences. London: Hamish Hamilton.

Jump up^ McCreery, C. (1997). Hallucinations and arousability: pointers to a theory of psychosis. In

Claridge, G. (ed.): Schizotypy, Implications for Illness and Health. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Paper No. 2008–1. Oxford: Oxford Forum. Online PDF

Jump up^ Oswald, I. (1962). Sleeping and Waking: Physiology and Psychology. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Jump up^ Blanke O., Landis T., Spinelli L., Seeck M. (2004). "Out-of-body experience and autoscopy
of neurological origin". Brain 127(2): 243–258. doi:10.1093/brain/awh040.

Jump up^ Blanke, O.; Ortigue, S.; Landis, T.; Seeck, M. (2002). "Stimulating illusory own-body
perceptions". Nature 419 (6904): 269–270. doi:10.1038/419269a.PMID 12239558.

Jump up^ Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience at Ecole Polytechnique Federeale de

Lausanne: http://lnco.epfl.ch/

Jump up^ Out-of-Body Experiences: All in the Brain? By Jan Holden, EdD, Jeff Long, MD, and Jason
MacLurg, MD Vital Signs Volume 21, Number 3

Jump up^ Blanke, O., Mohr, C., Michel, C. M., Pascual-Leone, A., Brugger, P., Seeck, M., et al. (2005).
Linking out-of-body experience and self processing to mental own-body imagery at the
temporoparietal junction.Journal of Neuroscience, 25(3);doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2612-04.2005.[2]

Jump up^ Arzy, S.; Thut, G.; Mohr, C.; Michel, C.M.; Blanke, O. (2006). "Neural basis of embodiment:
Distinct contributions of temporoparietal junction and extrastriate body area". Journal of
Neuroscience 26 (31): 8074–8081. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0745-06.2006. PMID 16885221.

Jump up^ Blanke, O.; Arzy, S. (2005). "The out-of-body experience: Disturbed self-processing at the
temporo-parietal junction".Neuroscientist 11 (1): 16–
24.doi:10.1177/1073858404270885.PMID 15632275.

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Consciousness". Science 317: 1096–1099.doi:10.1126/science.1143439.

Jump up^ Ehrsson H.H. (2007). "The Experimental Induction of Out-of-Body

Experiences".Science 317: 1048.doi:10.1126/science.1142175.

Jump up^ First out-of-body experience induced in laboratory setting, August 23, 2007, EurekAlert!

Jump up^ ""Out of Body. Be Back Soon.", EnlightenmentNext, Feb–April 2008". Enlightennext.org.

Retrieved 2011-10-06.

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the Incidence, Features and Aetiology of Near-Death Experiences in Cardiac Arrest
Survivors". Resuscitation 48: 149–156. doi:10.1016/s0300-9572(00)00328-2.

Jump up^ Keith Augustine. (2008). "Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences". Internet Infidels.

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Brain Research 150: 351-367.

^ Jump up to:a b c Jane Dreaper. (2008). "Study into near-death experiences". BBC News. Retrieved
2014-06-03.

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dies; edge closer to new understanding". WEWS-TV. Scripps Howard News Service. Retrieved2014-
05-24.

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study". Resuscitation.

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Neuropathology, Volume 150 (Progress in Brain Research). Elsevier Science. ISBN 978-0444518514

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Association, retrieved August 26, 2007". Parapsych.org. Retrieved 2011-10-06.

Further reading[edit]

Blackmore Susan (1984). "A psychological theory of the out-of-body experience" (PDF).Journal of

Parapsychology 48: 201–218.

Blackmore, Susan. (1982). Beyond the Body: An Investigation of Out-of-the-Body Experiences.

London: Heinemann. ISBN 978-0897333443

Blanke O, Ortigue S, Landis T, Seeck M (2002). "Stimulating illusory own-body

peceptions". Nature 419: 269–270. doi:10.1038/419269a.

Blanke O, Landis T, Seeck M (2004). "Out-of-body experience and autoscopy of neurological

origin". Brain 127: 243–258. doi:10.1093/brain/awh040.

Blanke O, Mohr C (2005). "Out-of-body experience, heautoscopy, and autoscopic hallucination of

neurological origin. Implications for mechanisms of corporeal awareness and self
consciousness" (PDF). Brain Research Reviews 50: 184–199.doi:10.1016/j.brainresrev.2005.05.008.

Blanke O, Arzy S (2005). "The out-of-body experience: Disturbed self-processing at the temporal-
parietal junction". Neuroscientist 11 (1): 16–24. doi:10.1177/1073858404270885.PMID 15632275.

Bunning, S; Blanke, O. (2005). The out-of-body experience: precipitating factors and neural

correlates. In Laureys, S. The boundaries of consciousness: Neurobiology and
neuropathology. Progress in Brain Research, The Netherlands: Elsevier. 150: 331-350. ISBN 978-
0444528766
Brugger P, Regard M, Landis T (1997). "Illusory reduplication of one's own body: phenomenology and
classification of autoscopic phenomena". Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 2: 19–
38. doi:10.1080/135468097396397.

Brugger P (2002). "Reflective mirrors: Perspective-taking in autoscopic phenomena".Cognitive

Neuropsychiatry 7: 179–194. doi:10.1080/13546800244000076.

Cheyne J. A, Girard T. A. (2009). "The body unbound: vestibular-motor hallucination and out of body
experiences". Cortex 45 (2): 201–215. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2007.05.002.PMID 18621363.

Gabbard, G. O; Twemlow, A. W. (1984). With the eyes of the mind: An empirical analysis of out-of-
body states. New York: Praeger Scientific. ISBN 978-0030689260

Irwin, Harvey. (1985). Flight of Mind: A Psychological Study of the Out-Of-Body Experience.

Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810817371

Metzinger, Thomas. (2003). The pre-scientific concept of a 'soul': A neurophenomenological

hypothesis about its origin.

Reed, Graham. (1988). The Psychology of Anomalous Experience: A Cognitive Approach. Prometheus

Books. ISBN 978-0879754358

Schwabe L., Blanke O. (2008). "The Vestibular Component in Out-Of-Body Experiences: A

Computational Approach". Frontiers in human neuroscience 2:
17.doi:10.3389/neuro.09.017.2008. PMC 2610253.

Terhune D. B. (2009). "The incidence and determinants of visual phenomenology during out-of-body
experiences". Cortex 45: 236–242. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2007.06.007.

External links[edit]

Visualized Heartbeat Can Trigger ‘Out-of-Body Experience’. Association for Psychological Science.

Out-of-body experience recreated. BBC News.

Out of body experiences and their neural basis. Olaf Blanke.

Electrodes trigger out-of-body experience. Nature.

Out-of-body experience: Master of illusion. Nature.

Out-of-body experiences are 'all in the mind'. New Scientist.

Out-of-body experience. The Skeptic's Dictionary.

Out-of-Body Experience? Your Brain Is to Blame. The New York Times.

Parapsychology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American psychologist and philosopher William James (1842–1910) was an early psychical

researcher.

[show]Part of a series of articles on theparanormal

Parapsychology is a field of study concerned with the investigation of paranormal and psychic

phenomena. Parapsychologists study telepathy, precognition,clairvoyance, psychokinesis, near-
death experiences,reincarnation, apparitional experiences, and other paranormal claims.

Parapsychology research is largely conducted by private institutions in several different countries

and funded through private donations,[1][2][3][4] and the subject rarely appears in mainstream
science journals. Most papers about parapsychology are published in a small number of niche
journals.[5] Most scientists regard parapsychology as pseudoscience.[6] Parapsychology has been
criticised for continuing investigation despite being unable to provide convincing evidence for the
existence of any psychic phenomena after more than a century of research.[7][8][9][10][11][12]

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Terminology

2 History

2.1 Early psychical research

2.2 Rhine era

2.3 Establishment of the Parapsychological Association

2.4 MKULTRA and The Stargate Project

2.5 The 1970s and 1980s

2.6 Modern Era

3 Research

3.1 Scope

3.2 Methodology

3.3 Experimental research

3.3.1 Ganzfeld

3.3.2 Remote viewing

3.3.3 Psychokinesis on random number generators

3.3.4 Direct mental interactions with living systems

3.4 Dream telepathy

3.5 Near death experiences

3.6 Reincarnation research

4 Scientific reception

4.1 Evaluation

4.2 Physics

4.3 Pseudoscience

4.4 Fraud

4.5 Criticism of experimental results

4.6 Selection bias and meta-analysis

4.7 Anomalistic psychology

4.8 Skeptics organizations

5 See also

6 References

7 Further reading

8 External links

Terminology[edit]

Para is from Greek, and means "beside, closely related to, beyond..." The term parapsychologywas
coined in or around 1889 by the philosopher 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.[13] The term originates from
theGreek: παρά para meaning "alongside", and psychology.

In parapsychology, psi is the unknown factor in extrasensory

perception and psychokinesisexperiences that is not explained by known physical or biological
mechanisms.[14][15] The term is derived from the Greek ψ psi, 23rd letter of the Greek
alphabet and the initial letter of the Greek ψυχή psyche, "mind, soul".[16][17] The term was coined
by biologist Berthold P. Wiesner, and first used by psychologist Robert Thouless in a 1942 article
published in the British Journal of Psychology.[18]

The Parapsychological Association divides psi into two main categories: psi-gamma for extrasensory
perception and psi-kappa for psychokinesis.[17] In popular culture, "psi" has become more and more
synonymous with special psychic, mental, and "psionic" abilities and powers.

History[edit]

Henry Sidgwick was anEnglish utilitarian philosopher. He was one of the founders and first president
of theSociety for Psychical Research and a member of the Metaphysical Society.

Early psychical research[edit]

The Society for Psychical Research was founded in London in 1882. Its formation was the first
systematic effort to organize scientists and scholars to investigate paranormal phenomena. Early
membership included philosophers, scholars, scientists, educators and politicians, such as Henry
Sidgwick, Arthur Balfour, William Crookes, Rufus Osgood Mason and Nobel Laureate Charles Richet.
[19] Presidents of the Society included, in addition to Richet, Eleanor Sidgwick and William James,
and subsequently Nobel Laureates Henri Bergson and Lord Rayleigh, and philosopher C. D. Broad.
[20]

Areas of study included telepathy, hypnotism, Reichenbach's phenomena, apparitions, hauntings,

and the physical aspects ofSpiritualism such as table-tilting, materialization andapportation. The
Society for Psychical Research published aCensus 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.

Early clairvoyance experiments were reported in 1884 by Charles Richet. Playing cards were

enclosed in envelopes and a subject put under hypnosis attempted to identify them. The subject was
reported to have been successful in a series of 133 trials but the results dropped to chance level
when performed before a group of scientists in Cambridge. J. M. Peirce and E. C. Pickeringreported a
similar experiment in which they tested 36 subjects over 23,384 trials which did not obtain above
chance scores.[21]

Largely due to the support of psychologist William James, the American Society for Psychical
Research (ASPR) opened its doors in Boston in 1885, moving to New York City in 1905 under the
leadership of James H. Hyslop.[22] The SPR and ASPR continue research in parapsychology.[23]

Rhine era[edit]

Thomson Jay Hudson was Chief Examiner of the US Patent Office and Psychical researcher, known
for his three laws of psychic phenomena, which were first published in 1893.

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, and was supported by funds donated by Thomas Welton
Stanford, brother of the university's founder. In 1930, Duke Universitybecame 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 psychologistsKarl 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 soughtqualitative 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.[22]

George Estabrooks conducted an ESP experiment using cards in 1927. Harvard students were used
as the subjects. Estabrooks acted as the sender with the guesser in an adjoining room. In total 2, 300
trials were conducted. When the subjects were sent to a distant room with insulation the scores
dropped to chance level. Attempts to repeat the experiment also failed.[21]

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.[22]

Rhine, along with associate Karl Zener, had developed a statistical system of testing for ESP that
involved subjects guessing what symbol, out of five possible symbols, would appear when going
through a special deck of cards designed for this purpose. A percentage of correct guesses (or hits)
significantly above 20% was perceived as higher than chance and indicative of psychic ability. Rhine
stated in his first book, ExtraSensory Perception (1934), that after 90,000 trials, he felt ESP is "an
actual and demonstrable occurrence".[24]

Irish medium and parapsychologist, Eileen Garrett, was tested by Rhine at Duke University in 1933
with Zener cards. Certain symbols that were placed on the cards and sealed in an envelope, and she
was asked to guess their contents. She performed poorly and later criticized the tests by claiming the
cards lacked a psychic energy called "energy stimulus" and that she could not perform clairvoyance
to order.[25] The parapsychologist Samuel Soal and his colleagues tested Garrett in May, 1937. Most
of the experiments were carried out in the Psychological Laboratory at the University College
London. A total of over 12,000 guesses were recorded but Garrett failed to produce above chance
level.[26] In his report Soal wrote "In the case of Mrs. Eileen Garrett we fail to find the slightest
confirmation of Dr. J. B. Rhine's remarkable claims relating to her alleged powers of extra-sensory
perception. Not only did she fail when I took charge of the experiments, but she failed equally when
four other carefully trained experimenters took my place."[27]

The parapsychology experiments at Duke evoked much criticism from academics and others who
challenged the concepts and evidence of ESP. A number of psychological departments attempted to
repeat Rhine's experiments with failure. W. S. Cox (1936) from Princeton Universitywith 132 subjects
produced 25, 064 trials in a playing card ESP experiment. Cox concluded "There is no evidence of
extrasensory perception either in the 'average man' or of the group investigated or in any particular
individual of that group. The discrepancy between these results and those obtained by Rhine is due
either to uncontrollable factors in experimental procedure or to the difference in the
subjects."[28] Four other psychological departments failed to replicate Rhine's results.[29]

In 1938, the psychologist Joseph Jastrow wrote much of the evidence for extrasensory perception
collected by Rhine and other parapsychologists was anecdotal, biased, dubious and the result of
"faulty observation and familiar human frailties".[30] Rhine's experiments were discredited due to
the discovery that sensory leakage or cheating could account for all his results such as the subject
being able to read the symbols from the back of the cards and being able to see and hear the
experimenter to note subtle clues.[31][32][33][34]

Early parapsychological research employed the use of Zener cards in experiments designed to test
for the existence of telepathic communication.

Illusionist Milbourne Christopher wrote years later that he felt "there are at least a dozen ways a
subject who wished to cheat under the conditions Rhine described could deceive the investigator".
When Rhine took precautions in response to criticisms of his methods, he was unable to find any
high-scoring subjects.[35]Another criticism, made by chemist Irving Langmuir, among others, was
one of selective reporting. Langmuir stated that Rhine did not report scores of subjects that he
suspected were intentionally guessing wrong, and that this, he felt, biased the statistical results
higher than they should have been.[36]

Rhine and his colleagues attempted to address these criticisms through new experiments described
in the book Extrasensory Perception After Sixty Years (1940).[37] Rhine described three experiments
the Pearce-Pratt experiment, the Pratt-Woodruff experiment and the Ownbey-Zirkle series which he
believed demonstrated ESP. However, C. E. M. Hansel wrote "it is now known that each experiment
contained serious flaws that escaped notice in the examination made by the authors of Extra-
Sensory Perception After Sixty Years".[21] Joseph Gaither Prattwas the co-experimenter in the
Pearce-Pratt and Pratt-Woodruff experiments at the Duke campus. Hansel visited the campus where
the experiments took place and discovered the results could have originated through the use of a
trick so could not regarded as supplying evidence for ESP.[38]

In 1957, Rhine and Joseph Gaither Pratt wrote Parapsychology: Frontier Science of the Mind.

Because of the methodological problems, parapsychologists no longer utilize card-guessing studies.
[39] Rhine's experiments into psychokinesis (PK) were also criticized. John Sladek wrote:

His research used dice, with subjects 'willing' them to fall a certain way. Not only can dice be drilled,
shaved, falsely numbered and manipulated, but even straight dice often show bias in the long run.
Casinos for this reason retire dice often, but at Duke, subjects continued to try for the same effect on
the same dice over long experimental runs. Not surprisingly, PK appeared at Duke and nowhere else.
[40]

The Ownbey-Zirkle ESP experiment at Duke was criticized by parapsychologists and skeptics.
[41] Ownbey would attempt to send ESP symbols to Zirkle who would guess what they were. The
pair were placed in adjacent rooms unable to see each other and an electric fan was used to prevent
the pair communicating by sensory cues. Ownbey tapped a telegraph key to Zirkle to inform him
when she was trying to send him a symbol. The door separating the two rooms was open during the
experiment, and after each guess Zirkle would call out his guess to Ownbey who recorded his choice.
Critics pointed out the experiment was flawed as Ownbey acted as both the sender and the
experimenter, nobody was controlling the experiment so Ownbey could have cheated by
communicating with Zirkle or made recording mistakes.[41][42]

The Turner-Ownbey long distance telepathy experiment was discovered to contain flaws. May

Frances Turner positioned herself in the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory whilst Sara Ownbey
claimed to receive transmissions 250 miles away. For the experiment Turner would think of a symbol
and write it down whilst Ownbey would write her guesses.[40] The scores were highly successful and
both records were supposed to be sent to J. B. Rhine, however, Ownbey sent them to Turner. Critics
pointed out this invalidated the results as she could have simply written her own record to agree
with the other. When the experiment was repeated and the records were sent to Rhine the scores
dropped to average.[40][43][44]

A famous ESP experiment at the Duke University was performed by Lucien Warner and Mildred
Raible. The subject was locked in a room with a switch controlling a signal light elsewhere, which he
could signal to guess the card. Ten runs with ESP packs of cards were used and he achieved 93 hits
(43 more than chance). Weaknesses with the experiment were later discovered. The duration of the
light signal could be varied so that the subject could call for specific symbols and certain symbols in
the experiment came up far more often than others which indicated either poor shuffling or card
manipulation. The experiment was not repeated.[40][45]
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.[22] 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".[46]

Establishment of the Parapsychological Association[edit]

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".[47]

In 1969, under the direction of anthropologist Margaret Mead, the Parapsychological Association

became affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the largest
general scientific society in the world.[48] In 1979, physicist John A. Wheeler said that
parapsychology is pseudoscientific, and that the affiliation of the PA to the AAAS needed to be
reconsidered.[49][50]

His challenge to parapsychology's AAAS affiliation was unsuccessful.[50] Today, the PA consists of

about three hundred full, associate, and affiliated members worldwide.[51]

MKULTRA and The Stargate Project[edit]

Beginning in the early 1950s, the CIA started extensive research into behavioral engineering. Various
experiments were undertaken in the process of this research, including some using
various hallucinogenic substances. The findings from these experiments led to the formation of
the Stargate Project, which handled ESP research for the U.S. federal government.

The Stargate Project was terminated in 1995 with the conclusion that it was never useful in any
intelligence operation. The information was vague and included a lot of irrelevant and erroneous
data. There was also reason to suspect that the research managers had adjusted their project
reports to fit the known background cues.[52]

The 1970s and 1980s[edit]

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 related
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.[13]

The scope of parapsychology expanded during these years. Psychiatrist Ian Stevensonconducted

much of his research into reincarnation during the 1970s, and the second edition of his Twenty
Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation was published in 1974. 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 experiences. PhysicistRussell Targ coined the term remote viewing for
use in some of his work at SRI in 1974.[13]

The surge in paranormal research continued into the 1980s: the Parapsychological Association
reported members working in more than 30 countries. For example, research was carried out and
regular conferences held in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union[13] although the word
parapsychology was discarded in favour of the term psychotronics.[53] The promoter of
psychotronics was Czech scientist Zdeněk Rejdák. Rejdák kept enforcing the psychotronics as
aphysical science on the world-wide scale and for many years, he organized conferences on research
in psychotronics. The psychotronics of this era is being understood as a new science in the terms of
human bionics. The main objectives of psychotronics were to verify and study distant interactions
human organism and its information and energy expressions and subsequently
the phenomena of telepathy, clairvoyance and psychokinesis, to discover new principles of nature.
[54][55]

In 1985 a Chair of Parapsychology was established within the Department of Psychology at

theUniversity of Edinburgh. Robert Morris, a respected experimental parapsychologist from the
United States took up the position, and with his research associates and PhD students pursued a
comprehensive research programme.[56] Since Professor Morris' death in 2004 the Chair of
Parapsychology has remained vacant.[57][citation needed]

Modern Era[edit]

Since the 1980s, contemporary parapsychological research has waned considerably in the United
States.[58] Early research was considered inconclusive, and parapsychologists were faced with
strong opposition from their academic colleagues.[13] Some effects thought to be paranormal, for
example the effects of Kirlian photography (thought by some to represent a human aura),
disappeared under more stringent controls, leaving those avenues of research at dead-ends.
[13] Many university laboratories in the United States have closed, citing a lack of acceptance by
mainstream science as the reason;[58] the bulk of parapsychology research in the US is now
confined to private institutions funded by private sources.[13] After 28 years of research, Princeton
Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory (PEAR), which studiedpsychokinesis, closed in 2007.[58]

Two universities in the United States currently 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, near-death
experiences, and out-of-body experiences.[59] The University of Arizona's Veritas
Laboratoryconducts laboratory investigations of mediums. Several private institutions, including the
Institute of Noetic Sciences, conduct and promote parapsychological research.[58]

Over the last two decades some new sources of funding for parapsychology in Europe have seen a
"substantial increase in European parapsychological research so that the center of gravity for the
field has swung from the United States to Europe".[1] Of all nations the United Kingdom has the
largest number of active parapsychologists.[1] In the UK, researchers work in conventional
psychology departments, and also do studies in mainstream psychology to "boost their credibility
and show that their methods are sound".[58] It is thought that this approach could account for the
relative strength of parapsychology in Britain.[58]
As of 2007, parapsychology research is represented in some 30 different countries[1] and a number
of universities worldwide continue academic parapsychology programs. Among these are
the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at the University of Edinburgh;[60] the Parapsychology Research
Group at Liverpool Hope University (this closed in April 2011);[61][62] the SOPHIA Project at
the University of Arizona;[63] the Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology Research Unit
of Liverpool John Moores University;[64] the Center for the Study of Anomalous Psychological
Processes at the University of Northampton;[65] and the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit
at Goldsmiths, University of London.[66]

Research and professional organizations include the Parapsychological Association;[67] theSociety

for Psychical Research, publisher of the Journal of Society for Psychical Research;[68]the American
Society for Psychical Research, publisher of the Journal of the American Society for Psychical
Research (last published in 2004);[69] the Rhine Research Center and Institute for Parapsychology,
publisher of the Journal of Parapsychology;[70] the Parapsychology Foundation, which published
the International Journal of Parapsychology (between 1959 to 1968 and 2000–2001)[71] and the
Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research, publisher of theAustralian Journal of
Parapsychology.[72] The European Journal of Parapsychology ceased publishing in 2010.[73]

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.[58][74]

Research[edit]

Scope[edit]

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.

Near-death experiences: An experience reported by a person who nearly died, or who

experienced clinical death and then revived.

Reincarnation: The rebirth of a soul or other non-physical aspect of human consciousnessin a new

physical body after death.

Apparitional experiences: 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.
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.[75]

Journals dealing with parapsychology include the Journal of Parapsychology, Journal of Near-Death

Studies, Journal of Consciousness Studies, Journal of the Society for Psychical Researchand Journal of
Scientific Exploration.

Methodology[edit]

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.

Experimental research[edit]

Ganzfeld[edit]

Main article: Ganzfeld experiment

The Ganzfeld (German for "whole field") is a technique used to test individuals for telepathy. The
technique—a form of moderate sensory deprivation—was developed to quickly quiet mental "noise"
by providing mild, unpatterned stimuli to the visual and auditory senses. The visual sense is usually
isolated 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.[76]

In the typical Ganzfeld experiment, a "sender" and a "receiver" are isolated.[77] The receiver is put
into the Ganzfeld state[76] or Ganzfeld effect 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 state 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.

Participant of a Ganzfeld experiment, which proponents say shows evidence of telepathy.

The ganzfeld experiment studies that were examined by Ray Hyman and Charles Honorton had
methodological problems that were well documented. Honorton reported only 36% of the studies
used duplicate target sets of pictures to avoid handling cues.[78] Hyman discovered flaws in all of
the 42 ganzfeld experiments and to assess each experiment, he devised a set of 12 categories of
flaws. Six of these concerned statistical defects, the other six covered procedural flaws such as
inadequatedocumentation, randomization and security as well as possibilities of sensory leakage.
[79] Over half of the studies failed to safeguard against sensory leakage and all of the studies
contained at least one of the 12 flaws. Because of the flaws, Honorton agreed with Hyman the 42
ganzfeld studies could not support the claim for the existence of psi.[79]

Possibilities of sensory leakage in the ganzfeld experiments included the receivers hearing what was
going on in the sender's room next door as the rooms were not soundproof and the sender's
fingerprints to be visible on the target object for the receiver to see.[80][81] Hyman reviewed the
autoganzfeld experiments and discovered a pattern in the data that implied a visual cue may have
taken place. Hyman wrote the autoganzfeld experiments were flawed because they did not preclude
the possibility of sensory leakage.[79]

In 2010, Lance Storm, Patrizio Tressoldi, and Lorenzo Di Risio analyzed 29 ganzfeld studies from 1997
to 2008. Of the 1,498 trials, 483 produced hits, corresponding to a hit rate of 32.2%. This hit rate
is statistically significant with p < .001. Participants selected for personality traits and personal
characteristics thought to be psi-conducive were found to perform significantly better than
unselected participants in the ganzfeld condition.[82] Hyman (2010) published a rebuttal to Storm et
al. According to Hyman "reliance on meta-analysis as the sole basis for justifying the claim that an
anomaly exists and that the evidence for it is consistent and replicable is fallacious. It distorts what
scientists mean by confirmatory evidence." Hyman wrote the ganzfeld studies have not been
independently replicated and have failed to produce evidence for psi.[83] Storm et al. published a
response to Hyman claiming the ganzfeld experimental design has proved to be consistent and
reliable but parapsychology is a struggling discipline that has not received much attention so further
research on the subject is necessary.[84] Rouder et al. 2013 wrote that critical evaluation of Storm et
al.'s meta-analysis reveals no evidence for psi, no plausible mechanism and omitted replication
failures.[85]

Remote viewing[edit]

Main article: Remote viewing

Remote viewing is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target using
subjective means, in particular, extrasensory perception. Typically a remote viewer is expected to
give information about an object, event, person or location that is hidden from physical view and
separated at some distance.[86] Several hundred such trials have been conducted by investigators
over the past 25 years, including those by the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research
Laboratory (PEAR) and by scientists at SRI International and Science Applications International
Corporation.[87][88] Many of these were under contract by the U.S. government as part of the
espionage program Stargate Project, which terminated in 1995 having failed, in the government's
eyes, to document any practical intelligence value.[89]

The psychologists David Marks and Richard Kammann attempted to replicate Russell Targ andHarold

Puthoff’s remote viewing experiments that were carried out in the 1970s at the Stanford Research
Institute. In a series of 35 studies, they were unable to replicate the results so investigated the
procedure of the original experiments. Marks and Kammann discovered that the notes given to the
judges in Targ and Puthoff's experiments contained clues as to which order they were carried out,
such as referring to yesterday's two targets, or they had the date of the session written at the top of
the page. They concluded that these clues were the reason for the experiment's high hit rates.[90]
[91] Marks was able to achieve 100 per cent accuracy without visiting any of the sites himself but by
using cues.[92] James Randi has written controlled tests by several other researchers, eliminating
several sources of cuing and extraneous evidence present in the original tests, produced negative
results. Students were also able to solve Puthoff and Targ's locations from the clues that had
inadvertently been included in the transcripts.[93]

In 1980, Charles Tart claimed that a rejudging of the transcripts from one of Targ and Puthoff’s
experiments revealed an above-chance result.[94] Targ and Puthoff again refused to provide copies
of the transcripts and it was not until July 1985 that they were made available for study when it was
discovered they still contained sensory cues.[95] Marks and Christopher Scott (1986) wrote
"considering the importance for the remote viewing hypothesis of adequate cue removal, Tart’s
failure to perform this basic task seems beyond comprehension. As previously concluded, remote
viewing has not been demonstrated in the experiments conducted by Puthoff and Targ, only the
repeated failure of the investigators to remove sensory cues."[96]

PEAR closed its doors at the end of February 2007. Its founder, Robert G. Jahn, said of it that, "For 28
years, we’ve done what we wanted to do, and there’s no reason to stay and generate more of the
same data."[97] Statistical flaws in his work have been proposed by others in the parapsychological
community and within the general scientific community.[98][99] The physicistRobert L. Park said of
PEAR, "It’s been an embarrassment to science, and I think an embarrassment for Princeton".[97]

Psychokinesis on random number generators[edit]

Main article: Psychokinesis

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 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.[100]

Major meta-analyses of the RNG database have been published every few years since appearing in
the journal Foundations of Physics in 1986.[100] PEAR founder Robert G. Jahn and his colleague
Brenda Dunne say that the experiments produced "a very small effect" not large enough to be
observed over a brief experiment but over a large number of trials was able to produce a tiny
statistical deviation from chance.[101] According to Massimo Pigliucci the results from PEAR can be
explained without invoking the paranormal because of two problems with the experiment "the
difficulty of designing machines capable of generating truly random events and the fact that
statistical "significance" is not at all a good measure of the importance or genuineness of a
phenomenon."[102] Pigluicci has written the statistical analysis used by the Jahn and the PEAR group
relied on a quantity called a "p-value" but a problem with p-values is that if the sample size (number
of trials) is very large like PEAR then one is guaranteed to find artificially low p-values indicating a
statistical "significant" result even though nothing was occurring other than small biases in the
experimental apparatus.[102]

Two German independent scientific groups have failed to replicate the PEAR results.[102]Pigliucci
has written this was "yet another indication that the simplest hypothesis is likely to be true: there
was nothing to replicate."[102] The most recent meta-analysis on psychokinesis was published
in Psychological Bulletin, along with several critical commentaries. It analyzed the results of 380
studies; the authors reported an overall positive effect size that was statistically significant but very
small relative to the sample size and could, in principle, be explained bypublication bias.[103][104]
[105]

Direct mental interactions with living systems[edit]

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.[106] 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.[106]

Dream telepathy[edit]

Main article: Dream telepathy

Parapsychological studies into dream telepathy were carried out at the Maimonides Medical
Center in Brooklyn, New York led by Stanley Krippner and Montague Ullman. They concluded the
results from some of their experiments supported dream telepathy.[107] However, the results have
not been independently replicated.[108][109][110][111]

The picture target experiments that were conducted by Krippner and Ullman were criticized byC. E.
M. Hansel. According to Hansel there were weaknesses in the design of the experiments in the way
in which the agent became aware of their target picture. Only the agent should have known the
target and no other person until the judging of targets had been completed, however, an
experimenter was with the agent when the target envelope was opened. Hansel also wrote there
had been poor controls in the experiment as the main experimenter could communicate with the
subject.[112] In 2002, Krippner denied Hansel's accusations claiming the agent did not communicate
with the experimenter.[113]

An attempt to replicate the experiments that used picture targets was carried out by Edward
Belvedere and David Foulkes. The finding was that neither the subject nor the judges matched the
targets with dreams above chance level.[114] Results from other experiments by Belvedere and
Foulkes were also negative.[115]

In 2003, Simon Sherwood and Chris Roe wrote a review that claimed support for dream telepathy at
Maimonides.[116] However, James Alcock noted that their review was based on "extreme
messiness" of data. Alcock concluded the dream telepathy experiments at Maimonides have failed
to provide evidence for telepathy and "lack of replication is rampant."[117]

Near death experiences[edit]

Main article: Near-death experience

Ascent of the Blessed byHieronymus Bosch (after 1490) depicts a tunnel of light and spiritual figures
similar to those reported by near-death experiencers.[118][119]

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.[120]

Interest in the NDE was originally spurred by the research of psychiatrists Elisabeth Kübler-
Ross, George G. Ritchie, andRaymond Moody. In 1975, Moody wrote the best-selling bookLife After
Life and in 1977 he wrote a second book, Reflections on Life After Life.[121] 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, psychologistKenneth Ring, and cardiologist Michael Sabom, introduced
the study of near-death experiences to the academic setting.[120]

Reincarnation research[edit]

Main article: Reincarnation research

Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson, from the University of Virginia, conducted more than 2,500 case studies
over a period of 40 years and published twelve books. He found that childhood memories ostensibly
related to reincarnation normally occurred between the ages of three and seven years then fade
shortly afterwards. He compared the memories with reports of people known to the deceased,
attempting to do so before any contact between the child and the deceased's family had occurred,
[122] and searched for disconfirming evidence that could provide alternative explanations for the
reports aside from reincarnation.[123]

Some 35 per cent of the subjects examined by Stevenson had birthmarks or birth defects. Stevenson
believed that the existence of birth marks and deformities on children, when they occurred at the
location of fatal wounds in the deceased, provided the best evidence for reincarnation.
[124] However, Stevenson has never claimed that he had proved the existence of reincarnation, and
cautiously referred to his cases as being "of the reincarnation type" or "suggestive of reincarnation".
[125] Researchers who believe in the evidence for reincarnation have been unsuccessful in getting
the scientific community to consider it a serious possibility.[126]

Ian Wilson argued that a large number of Stevenson’s cases consisted of poor children remembering
wealthy lives or belonging to a higher caste. He speculated that such cases may represent a scheme
to obtain money from the family of the alleged former incarnation.[127] The philosopher Keith
Augustine has written "the vast majority of Stevenson's cases come from countries where a religious
belief in reincarnation is strong, and rarely elsewhere, seems to indicate that cultural conditioning
(rather than reincarnation) generates claims of spontaneous past-life memories."[128] According to
the research of Robert Baker many of the alleged past-life experiences investigated by Stevenson
and other parapsychologists can be explained in terms of known psychological factors. Baker has
written the recalling of past lives is a mixture ofcryptomnesia and confabulation.[129] The
philosopher Paul Edwards noted that reincarnation invokes assumptions and is inconsistent with
modern science.[130]

Stevenson retired in 2002, and psychiatrist Jim B. Tucker took over his work. Tucker, an Associate
Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia, presented an
overview of Stevenson's research into reincarnation in Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of
Children’s Memories of Previous Lives.

Scientific reception[edit]

James Alcock is a notable critic of parapsychology.

Evaluation[edit]

The scientific consensus does not view psi as a real phenomenon.[131][132][133][134][135][136]

[137][138]
Scientists critical of parapsychology state that its extraordinary claims demand extraordinary
evidence if they are to be taken seriously.[139] Scientists who have evaluated parapsychology have
written the entire body of evidence is of poor quality and not adequately controlled.[140] In support
of this view, critics cite instances of fraud, flawed studies, and cognitive biases (such asclustering
illusion, availability error, confirmation bias, illusion of control, magical thinking, and the bias blind
spot) as ways to explain parapsychological results.[141][142] Research has also shown that people's
desire to believe in paranormal phenomena causes them to discount strong evidence that it does
not exist.[143]

The psychologists Donovan Rawcliffe (1952), C. E. M. Hansel (1980), Ray Hyman (1989) and Andrew

Neher (2011) have studied the history of psi experiments from the late 19th century up until the
1980s. In every experiment investigated, flaws and weaknesses were discovered so the possibility
of sensory leakage and trickery were not ruled out. The data from the Creery sister and the Soal-
Goldney experiments were proven to be fraudulent, one of the subjects from theSmith-
Blackburn experiments confessed to fraud, the Brugmans experiment, the experiments by John E.
Coover and those conducted by Joseph Gaither Pratt and Helmut Schmidt had flaws in the design of
the experiments, did not rule out the possibility of sensory cues or trickery and have not been
replicated.[144][145][146][147]

According to critics, psi is negatively defined as any effect that cannot be currently explained in
terms of chance or normal causes and this is a fallacy as it encourages parapsychologists into using
any peculiarity in the data as a characteristic of psi.[79][148] Parapsychologists have admitted it is
impossible to eliminate the possibility of non-paranormal causes in their experiments. There is no
independent method to indicate the presence or absence of psi.[79]Persi Diaconis has written that
the controls in parapsychological experiments are often loose with possibilities of subject cheating
and unconscious sensory cues.[149]

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."[150] No accepted theory of parapsychology currently exists, and many competing and
often conflicting models have been advocated by different parapsychologists in an attempt to
explain reported paranormal phenomena.[151] Terence Hinesin his book Pseudoscience and the
Paranormal (2003) wrote "Many theories have been proposed by parapsychologists to explain how
psi takes place. To skeptics, such theory building seems premature, as the phenomena to be
explained by the theories have yet to be demonstrated convincingly."[152] Skeptics such as Antony
Flew have cited the lack of such a theory as their reason for rejecting parapsychology.[153]

In 1998, physics professor Michael Friedlander noted that parapsychology has "failed to produce any
clear evidence for the existence of anomalous effects that require us to go beyond the known region
of science."[154] The philosopher and skeptic Robert Todd Carroll has written research in
parapsychology has been characterized by "deception, fraud, and incompetence in setting up
properly controlled experiments and evaluating statistical data."[155] The psychologistRay
Hyman has pointed out that some parapsychologists such as Dick Bierman, Walter Lucadou, J. E.
Kennedy, and Robert Jahn have admitted the evidence for psi is "inconsistent, irreproducible, and
fails to meet acceptable scientific standards."[156] Richard Wiseman has criticized the
parapsychological community for widespread errors in research methods including cherry-picking
new procedures which may produce preferred results, explaining away unsuccessful attempted
replications with claims of an "experimenter effect", data mining, andretrospective data selection.
[157]

In a review of parapsychological reports Hyman wrote "randomization is often inadequate, multiple

statistical testing without adjustment for significance levels is prevalent, possibilities forsensory
leakage are not uniformly prevented, errors in use of statistical tests are much too common,
and documentation is typically inadequate".[158] Parapsychology has been criticized for making no
precise predictions.[159]

Ray Hyman at the 1983 CSICOP Conference in Buffalo, NY. With Lee Ross,Daryl Bem and Victor
Benassi.

In 2003, James Alcock Professor of Psychology atYork University published Give the Null Hypothesis

a Chance: Reasons to Remain Doubtful about the Existence of Psi, where he claimed that
parapsychologists never seem to take seriously the possibility that psi does not exist. Because of
that, they interpret null results as indicating only that they were unable to observe psi in a particular
experiment, rather than taking it as support for the possibility that there is no psi. The failure to take
the null hypothesis as a serious alternative to their psi hypotheses leads them to rely upon a number
of arbitrary "effects" to excuse failures to find predicted effects, excuse the lack of consistency in
outcomes, and to excuse failures to replicate.[148]

Basic endemic problems in parapsychological research include amongst others: insufficient definition
of the subject matter, total reliance on negative definitions of their phenomena (E.g.- psi is said to
occur only when all known normal influences are ruled out); failure to produce a single phenomenon
that can be independently replicated by neutral researchers; the invention of "effects" such as the
psi-experimenter effect to explain away inconsistencies in the data and failures to achieve predicted
outcomes; unfalsifiability of claims; unpredictability of effects; lack of progress in over a century of
formal research; methodological weaknesses; reliance on statistical procedures to determine when
psi has supposedly occurred, even though statistical analysis does not in itself justify a claim that psi
has occurred; and failure to jibe with other areas of science. Overall, he argues that there is nothing
in parapsychological research that would ever lead parapsychologists to conclude that psi does not
exist, and so, even if it does not, the search is likely to continue for a long time to come. "I continue
to believe that parapsychology is, at bottom, motivated by belief in search of data, rather than data
in search of explanation."[148]

Richard Land has written that from what is known about human biology it is highly unlikely that
evolution has provided humans with ESP as research has shown the recognized five senses are
adequate for the evolution and survival of the species.[160] Michael Shermer in an article Psychic
Drift: Why most scientists do not believe in ESP and psi phenomena for the Scientific Americanwrote
"the reason for skepticism is that we need replicable data and a viable theory, both of which are
missing in psi research."[161]

In January 2008 the results of a study using neuroimaging were published. To provide what are
purported to be the most favorable experimental conditions, the study included appropriate
emotional stimuli and had participants who are biologically or emotionally related, such as twins.
The experiment was designed to produce positive results
if telepathy, clairvoyance orprecognition occurred, but despite this no distinguishable neuronal
responses were found between psychic stimuli and non-psychic stimuli, while variations in the same
stimuli showed anticipated effects on patterns of brain activation. The researchers concluded that
"These findings are the strongest evidence yet obtained against the existence of paranormal mental
phenomena."[162] Other studies have attempted to test the psi hypothesis by using functional
neuroimaging. A neuroscience review of the studies (Acunzo et al. 2013) discovered methodological
weaknesses that could account for the reported psi effects.[163]

A 2014 study discovered that schizophrenic patients have more belief in psi than healthy adults.
[164]

Some researchers have become skeptical of parapsychology such as Susan Blackmore andJohn

Taylor after years of study and no progress in demonstrating the existence of psi by the scientific
method.[165][166]

Physics[edit]

The ideas of psi (precognition, psychokinesis and telepathy) violate well-established laws of physics.

[167] Psychokinesis violates the inverse-square law, the second law of thermodynamics, and
the conservation of momentum.[168][169] There is no known mechanism for psi.[170]

On the subject of psychokinesis the physicist Sean M. Carroll has written that both human brains and
the spoons they try to bend are made, like all matter, of quarks and leptons; everything else they do
is emergent properties of the behavior of quarks and leptons. And the quarks and leptons interact
through the four forces: strong, weak, electromagnetic and gravitational. Thus either it's one of the
four known forces or it's a new force, and any new force with range over 1 millimetre must be at
most a billionth the strength of gravity or it will have been captured in experiments already done.
This leaves no physical force that could possibly account for psychokinesis.[171] Physicist John
Taylor who has investigated parapsychological claims has written an unknown fifth force causing
psychokinesis would have to transmit a great deal of energy. The energy would have to overcome
the electromagnetic forces binding the atoms together. The atoms would need to respond more
strongly to the fifth force while it is operative than to electric forces. Such an additional force
between atoms should therefore exist all the time and not during only alleged paranormal
occurrences. Taylor wrote there is no scientific trace of such a force in physics, down to many orders
of magnitude; thus if a scientific viewpoint is to be preserved the idea of any fifth force must be
discarded. Taylor concluded there is no possible physical mechanism for psychokinesis and it is in
complete contradiction to established science.[172]

Felix Planer a Professor of electrical engineering has written that if psychokinesis was real then it
would be easy to demonstrate by getting subjects to depress a scale on a sensitive balance, raise the
temperature of a waterbath which could be measured with an accuracy of a hundredth of a
degree centigrade or affect an element in an electrical circuit such as a resistor which could be
monitored to better than a millionth of an ampere.[173] Planer writes that such experiments are
extremely sensitive and easy to monitor but are not utilized by parapsychologists as they "do not
hold out the remotest hope of demonstrating even a minute trace of PK" because the alleged
phenomenon is non-existent. Planer has written parapsychologists have to fall back on studies that
involve only statistics that are unrepeatable, owing their results to poor experimental methods,
recording mistakes and faulty statistical mathematics.[173]

According to Planer "All research in medicine and other sciences would become illusionary, if the
existence of PK had to be taken seriously; for no experiment could be relied upon to furnish
objective results, since all measurements would become falsified to a greater or lesser degree,
according to his PK ability, by the experimenter's wishes." Planer concluded the concept of
psychokinesis is absurd and has no scientific basis.[174]

Philosopher and physicist Mario Bunge has written that "psychokinesis, or PK, violates the principle
that mind cannot act directly on matter. (If it did, no experimenter could trust his readings of
measuring instruments.) It also violates the principles of conservation of energy and momentum.
The claim that quantum mechanics allows for the possibility of mental power influencing
randomizers — an alleged case of micro-PK — is ludicrous since that theory respects the said
conservation principles, and it deals exclusively with physical things."[175]

The physicist Robert L. Park questioned if mind really could influence matter then it would be easy
for parapsychologists to measure such a phenomenon by using the alleged psychokinetic power to
deflect a microbalance which would not require any dubious statistics but "the reason, of course, is
that the microbalance stubbornly refuses to budge."[101] Park has suggested the reason statistical
studies are so popular in parapsychology is because they introduce opportunities for uncertainty and
error which are used to support the biases of the experimenter. Park wrote "No proof of psychic
phenomena is ever found. In spite of all the tests devised by parapsychologists like Jahn and Radin,
and huge amounts of data collected over a period of many years, the results are no more convincing
today than when they began their experiments."[101]

Pseudoscience[edit]
Mario Bunge has described parapsychology as a "pseudoscienceparagon".[176]

Parapsychological theories are viewed as pseudoscientific by the scientific community as they are
incompatible with well established laws of science. As there is no repeatable evidence for psi, the
scientific community consider it a pseudoscience.[177][178] The philosopher Raimo
Tuomela summarized why much of parapsychology is considered a pseudoscience in his essay
"Science, Protoscience, and Pseudoscience".[179]

Parapsychology relies on an ill-defined ontology and typically shuns exact thinking.

The hypotheses and theories of parapsychology have not been proven and are in bad shape.

Extremely little progress has taken place in parapsychology on the whole and parapsychology
conflicts with established science.

Parapsychology has poor research problems, being concerned with establishing the existence of its
subject matter and having practically no theories to create proper research problems.

While in parts of parapsychology there are attempts to use the methods of science there are also
unscientific areas; and in any case parapsychological research can at best qualify as prescientific
because of its poor theoretical foundations.

Parapsychology is a largely isolated research area.

The methods of parapsychologists are regarded by critics, including those who wrote the science
standards for the California State Board of Education,[180] to be pseudoscientific.[181]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.[182] James Alcock has stated 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,[183] and as a whole is not justified in being
labeled "scientific".[184] Alcock has written "Parapsychology is indistinguishable from pseudo-
science, and its ideas are essentially those of magic... There is noevidence that would lead the
cautious observer to believe that parapsychologists and paraphysicists are on the track of a real
phenomenon, a real energy or power that has so far escaped the attention of those people engaged
in "normal" science."[185]

The scientific community considers 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.[9] A panel commissioned by the United States National
Research Council to study paranormal claims concluded that "despite a 130-year record of scientific
research on such matters, our committee could find no scientific justification for the existence of
phenomena such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy or ‘mind over matter’ exercises...
Evaluation of a large body of the best available evidence simply does not support the contention
that these phenomena exist."[186]

There is also an issue of non-falsifiability associated with psi, on this subject Terence Hines has
written:

The most common rationale offered by parapsychologists to explain the lack of a repeatable
demonstration of ESP or other psi phenomena is to say that ESP in particular and psi phenomena in
general are elusive or jealous phenomena. This means the phenomena go away when a skeptic is
present or when skeptical “vibrations” are present. This argument seems nicely to explain away
some of the major problems facing parapsychology until it is realized that it is nothing more than a
classic nonfalsifiable hypothesis... The use of the nonfalsifiable hypothesis is permitted in
parapsychology to a degree unheard of in any scientific discipline. To the extent that investigators
accept this type of hypothesis, they will be immune to having their belief in psi disproved. No matter
how many experiments fail to provide evidence for psi and no matter how good those experiments
are, the nonfalsifiable hypothesis will always protect the belief.[187]

Mario Bunge has written that research in parapsychology for over a hundred years has produced no
single firm finding and no testable predictions. All parapsychologists can do is claim alleged data is
anomalous and lying beyond the reach of ordinary science. The aim of parapsychologists "is not that
of finding laws and systematizing them into theories in order to understand and forecast" but to
"buttress ancient spiritualist myths or to serve as a surrogate for lost religions."[176] The
psychologist David Marks has written that parapsychologists have failed to produce a single
repeatable demonstration of the paranormal and described psychical research as a pseudoscience
an "incoherent collection of belief systems steeped in fantasy, illusion and error."[188]

Fraud[edit]

Stage magician and skeptic James Randi has demonstrated that magic tricks can simulate or

duplicate some supposedly psychic phenomena.

There have been instances of fraud in the history of parapsychology research.[189] In the late 19th
century the Creery Sisters (Mary, Alice, Maud, Kathleen, and Emily) were tested by the Society for
Psychical Research and believed them to have genuine psychic ability however, during a later
experiment they were caught utilizing signal codes and they confessed to fraud.[190][191] George
Albert Smith and Douglas Blackburn were claimed to be genuine psychics by the Society for Psychical
Research but Blackburn confessed to fraud:

“ For nearly thirty years the telepathic experiments conducted by Mr. G. A. Smith and
myself have been accepted and cited as the basic evidence of the truth of thought
transference...

...the whole of those alleged experiments were bogus, and originated in the honest
desire of two youths to show how easily men of scientific mind and training could be
deceived when seeking for evidence in support of a theory they were wishful to
establish.[192] ”

The Soal–Goldney experiments of 1941–1943 (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.[183][193][194]

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.[195] 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.[196] 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.[197][198]

In 1974 Rhine published the paper Security versus Deception in Parapsychology in the Journal of

Parapsychology which documented 12 cases of fraud that he had detected from 1940 to 1950 but
refused to give the names of the participants in the studies.[199] Massimo Pigliucci has written:

Most damning of all, Rhine admitted publicly that he had uncovered at least twelve instances of
dishonesty among his researchers in a single decade, from 1940 to 1950. However, he flaunted
standard academic protocol by refusing to divulge the names of the fraudsters, which means that
there is unknown number of published papers in the literature that claim paranormal effects while in
fact they were the result of conscious deception.[200]

Martin Gardner claimed to have inside information that files in Rhine's laboratory contain material
suggesting fraud on the part of Hubert Pearce.[201] Pearce was never able to obtain above-chance
results when persons other than the experimenter were present during an experiment making it
more likely that he was cheating in some way. Rhine's other subjects were only able to obtain non-
chance levels when they were able to shuffle the cards which has suggested they used tricks to
arrange the order of the Zener cards before the experiments started.[202] Rhine's assistant James D.
MacFarland was also accused of fraud. Louisa Rhine wrote "Jim [James D. MacFarland] had actually
consistently falsified his records... To produce extra hits Jim had to resort to erasures and
transpositions in his records of his call series."[203]

Some instances of fraud amongst spiritualist mediums were exposed by early psychical researchers

such as Richard Hodgson[204] and Harry Price.[205] In the 1920s, magician and escapologist Harry
Houdini said that researchers and observers had not created experimental procedures which
absolutely preclude fraud.[206]

Criticism of experimental results[edit]

Critical analysts, including some parapsychologists, are not satisfied with experimental
parapsychology studies.[182][207] Some reviewers, such as 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 rather than to genuine psi effects.[208][209]
[210][211] Within parapsychology there are disagreements over the results and methodology as
well. For example, the experiments at the PEAR laboratory were criticized in a paper published by
the Journal of Parapsychology in which parapsychologists independent from the PEAR laboratory
concluded that these experiments "depart[ed] from criteria usually expected in formal scientific
experimentation" due to "[p]roblems with regard to randomization, statistical baselines, application
of statistical models, agent coding of descriptor lists, feedback to percipients, sensory cues, and
precautions against cheating." They felt that the originally stated significance values were
"meaningless".[98]

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.[212] 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...[in other words] 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.[213]

In 1979, magician and debunker James Randi engineered a hoax, now referred to as Project Alpha to

encourage a tightening of standards within the parapsychology community. Randi recruited two
young magicians and sent them undercover to Washington University's McDonnell Laboratory
where they " fooled researchers ... into believing they had paranormal powers." The aim was to
expose poor experimental methods and the credulity thought to be common in parapsychology.
[214] 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
lightweight paper rotor perched atop a needle to turn inside a bell jar, bending metal spoons sealed
in a glass bottle, etc.[215] The hoax by Randi raised ethical concerns in the scientific and
parapsychology communities, eliciting criticism even among skeptical communities such as the
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), which he helped
found, but also positive responses from the President of the Parapsychological Association Stanley
Krippner. Psychologist Ray Hyman, a CSICOP member, called the results "counterproductive".[214]

Selection bias and meta-analysis[edit]

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.[104] 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,[103] 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.[58]

The popularity of meta-analysis in parapsychology has been criticized by numerous researchers,

[216] and is often seen as troublesome even within parapsychology itself.[216] 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.
[217] Physicist Robert Park states that parapsychology's reported positive results are problematic
because most such findings are invariably at the margin of statistical significance and that might be
explained by a number of confounding effects; Park states that such marginal results are a typical
symptom of pathological science as described by Irving Langmuir.[101]
Researcher J. E. Kennedy has said 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.[218]

Anomalistic psychology[edit]

Main article: Anomalistic psychology

In anomalistic psychology, paranormal phenomena have naturalistic explanations resulting

frompsychological and physical factors which have sometimes given the impression of paranormal
activity to some people, in fact, where there have been none.[74][219] According to the
psychologist Chris French:

“ The difference between anomalistic psychology and parapsychology is in terms of the

aims of what each discipline is about. Parapsychologists typically are actually searching
for evidence to prove the reality of paranormal forces, to prove they really do exist. So
the starting assumption is that paranormal things do happen, whereas anomalistic
psychologists tend to start from the position that paranormal forces probably don't exist
and that therefore we should be looking for other kinds of explanations, in particular the
psychological explanations for those experiences that people typically label as
paranormal.[220] ”

Whilst parapsychology has been said to be in decline, anomalistic psychology has been reported to
be on the rise. It is now offered as an option on many psychology degree programmes and is also an
option on the A2 psychology syllabus in the UK.[221]

Skeptics organizations[edit]

Organizations that encourage a critical examination of parapsychology and parapsychological

research include the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, publisher of the Skeptical Inquirer;
[222] theJames Randi Educational Foundation, founded by illusionist and skeptic James Randi,
[223] and the Occult Investigative Committee of the Society of American Magicians[224] a society for
professional magicians that seeks "the promotion of harmony among magicians, and the opposition
of the unnecessary public exposure of magical effects."[225]

See also[edit]

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

References[edit]

^ Jump up to:a b c d Harvey J. Irwin and Caroline Watt. An introduction to

parapsychology McFarland, 2007, pp. 248-249.

Jump up^ "Koestler Parapsychology Unit". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2009-03-09.

Jump up^ Odling-Smee, Lucy (2007-03-01). "The lab that asked the wrong

questions". Nature 446 (7131): 10–
11. Bibcode:2007Natur.446...10O. doi:10.1038/446010a. PMID 17330012. Retrieved2007-06-
29. [Outside the US] the field is livelier. Britain is a lead player, with privately funded labs at the
universities of Edinburgh, Northampton and Liverpool Hope, among others.

Jump up^ (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."

Jump up^

(Pigliucci, Boudry 2013) "Parapsychological research almost never appears in mainstream science
journals."

(Odling-Smee 2007) "But parapsychologists are still limited to publishing in a small number of niche
journals."

Jump up^

Daisie Radner, Michael Radner. (1982). Science and Unreason. Wadsworth. pp. 38-66. ISBN 0-534-
01153-5

Paul Kurtz. Is Parapsychology a Science?. In Kendrick Frazier. (1981). Paranormal Borderlands of

Science. Prometheus Books. pp. 5-23. ISBN 0-87975-148-7 "If parapsychologists can convince the
skeptics, then they will have satisfied an essential criterion of a genuine science: the ability to
replicate hypotheses in any and all laboratories and under standard experimental conditions. Until
they can do that, their claims will continue to be held suspect by a large body of scientists."

Mario Bunge. (1987). Why Parapsychology Cannot Become a Science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences
10: 576-577.

Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. pp. 113-150.ISBN 1-
57392-979-4

Michael W. Friedlander. (1998). At the Fringes of Science. Westview Press. p. 119. ISBN 0-8133-2200-
6 "Parapsychology has failed to gain general scientific acceptance even for its improved methods and
claimed successes, and it is still treated with a lopsided ambivalence among the scientific
community. Most scientists write it off as pseudoscience unworthy of their time."

Massimo Pigliucci, Maarten Boudry. (2013). Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the

Demarcation Problem. University Of Chicago Press p. 158. ISBN 978-0-226-05196-3 "Many observers
refer to the field as a "pseudoscience". When mainstream scientists say that the field of
parapsychology is not scientific, they mean that no satisfying naturalistic cause-and-effect
explanation for these supposed effects has yet been proposed and that the field's experiments
cannot be consistently replicated."

Jump up^ Hyman, R.. "Parapsychological research: A tutorial review and critical appraisal".

Retrieved20 September 2008.

Jump up^ Flew, Antony (1982). Grim, Patrick, ed. "Philosophy of Science and the Occult". |
chapter=ignored (help)

^ Jump up to:a b 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.

Jump up^ Bunge, Mario (1991). "A skeptic's beliefs and disbeliefs". New Ideas in Psychology 9 (2):
131–149. doi:10.1016/0732-118X(91)90017-G.

Jump up^ Blitz, David (1991). "The line of demarcation between science and nonscience: The case of
psychoanalysis and parapsychology". New Ideas in Psychology 9 (2): 163–170. doi:10.1016/0732-
118X(91)90020-M.

Jump up^ Gordon Stein. (1996). The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.

249. ISBN 1-57392-021-5 "Mainstream science is on the whole very dubious about ESP, and the only
way that most scientists will be persuaded is by a demonstration that can be generally reproduced
by neutral or even skeptical scientists. This is something that parapsychology has never succeeded in
producing."

^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g Melton, J. G. (1996). Parapsychology. In Encyclopedia of Occultism &

Parapsychology.Thomson Gale. ISBN 978-0-8103-9487-2.

Jump up^ Harvey J. Irwin, Caroline A. Watt. (2007). An Introduction to Parapsychology. McFarland. p.

6

Jump up^ Charles M. Wynn, Arthur W. Wiggins. (2001). Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction:
Where Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins. Joseph Henry Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-
0309073097

Jump up^ "Parapsychology FAQ Page 1". Parapsych.org. 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

^ Jump up to:a b "Glossary of Psi (Parapsychological) Terms (L-R)". Parapsych.org. Retrieved 2014-

04-11.

Jump up^ Thouless, R. H. (1942). "Experiments on paranormal guessing". British Journal of

Psychology, 33, 15-27.

Jump up^ Beloff, John (1977). Handbook of parapsychology. Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 0-442-

29576-6.

Jump up^ "Past Presidents". Society for Psychical Research. Retrieved 21 August 2014.

^ Jump up to:a b c C. E. M. Hansel. The Search for a Demonstration of ESP in Paul Kurtz. (1985). A

Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 97-127. ISBN 0-87975-300-5

^ Jump up to:a b c d Berger, Arthur S.; Berger, Joyce (1991). The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and
Psychical Research. Paragon House Publishers. ISBN 1-55778-043-9.

Jump up^ Wooffitt, Robin (2006). The Language of Mediums and Psychics: The Social Organization of
Everyday Miracles. Ashgate. ISBN 0-7546-4202-X.

Jump up^ J. B. Rhine (1934). Extra-Sensory Perception. (4th ed.) Branden Publishing Company
1997. ISBN 0-8283-1464-0
Jump up^ Jenny Hazelgrove. (2000). Spiritualism and British Society Between the Wars. Manchester
University Press. p. 204. ISBN 978-0719055591

Jump up^ A. S. Russell, John Andrews Benn. (1938). Discovery the Popular Journal of Knowledge.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 305-306

Jump up^ Samuel Soal. A Repetition of Dr. Rhine's work with Mrs. Eileen Garrett. Proc. S.P.R. Vol.
XLII. pp. 84-85. Also quoted in Antony Flew. (1955). A New Approach To Psychical Research. Watts &
Co. pp. 90-92.

Jump up^ Cox, W. S. (1936). An experiment in ESP. Journal of Experimental Psychology 12: 437.

Jump up^ Cited in C. E. M. Hansel The Search for a Demonstration of ESP in Paul Kurtz. (1985). A
Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 105-127. ISBN 0-87975-300-5

Adam, E. T. (1938). A summary of some negative experiments. Journal of Parapsychology 2: 232-236.

Crumbaugh, J. C. (1938). An experimental study of extra-sensory perception. Masters thesis.

Southern Methodist University.

Heinlein, C. P; Heinlein, J. H. (1938). Critique of the premises of statistical methodology of

parapsychology. Journal of Parapsychology 5: 135-148.

Willoughby, R. R. (1938). Further card-guessing experiments. Journal of Psychology 18: 3-13.

Jump up^ Joseph Jastrow. (1938). ESP, House of Cards. The American Scholar 8: 13-22.

Jump up^ Harold Gulliksen. (1938). Extra-Sensory Perception: What Is It?. American Journal of

Sociology. Vol. 43, No. 4. pp. 623-634. "Investigating Rhine's methods, we find that his mathematical
methods are wrong and that the effect of this error would in some cases be negligible and in others
very marked. We find that many of his experiments were set up in a manner which would tend to
increase, instead of to diminish, the possibility of systematic clerical errors; and lastly, that the ESP
cards can be read from the back."

Jump up^ Charles M. Wynn, Arthur W. Wiggins. (2001). Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction:
Where Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins. Joseph Henry Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-309-
07309-7"In 1940, Rhine coauthored a book, Extrasensory Perception After Sixty Years in which he
suggested that something more than mere guess work was involved in his experiments. He was
right! It is now known that the experiments conducted in his laboratory contained serious
methodological flaws. Tests often took place with minimal or no screening between the subject and
the person administering the test. Subjects could see the backs of cards that were later discovered
to be so cheaply printed that a faint outline of the symbol could be seen. Furthermore, in face-to-
face tests, subjects could see card faces reflected in the tester’s eyeglasses or cornea. They were
even able to (consciously or unconsciously) pick up clues from the tester’s facial expression and
voice inflection. In addition, an observant subject could identify the cards by certain irregularities like
warped edges, spots on the backs, or design imperfections."

Jump up^ Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.

122. ISBN 1-57392-979-4 "The procedural errors in the Rhine experiments have been extremely
damaging to his claims to have demonstrated the existence of ESP. Equally damaging has been the
fact that the results have not replicated when the experiments have been conducted in other
laboratories."
Jump up^ Jonathan C. Smith. (2009). Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A
Critical Thinker's Toolkit. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405181228. "Today, researchers discount the
first decade of Rhine's work with Zener cards. Stimulus leakage or cheating could account for all his
findings. Slight indentations on the backs of cards revealed the symbols embossed on card faces.
Subjects could see and hear the experimenter, and note subtle but revealing facial expressions or
changes in breathing."

Jump up^ Milbourne Christopher. (1970). ESP, Seers & Psychics. Thomas Y. Crowell Co. pp. 24-28

Jump up^ Robert L. Park. (2000). Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud. Oxford
University Press. pp. 40-43. ISBN 0-19-860443-2

Jump up^ Rhine, J.B. (1966). Foreword. In Pratt, J.G., Rhine, J.B., Smith, B.M., Stuart, C.E., &
Greenwood, J.A. (eds.). Extrasensory Perception After Sixty Years. 2nd ed. Boston, US: Humphries.

Jump up^ C. E. M. Hansel. (1980). ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Re-Evaluation. Prometheus

Books. pp. 125-140

Jump up^ Back from the Future: Parapsychology and the Bem Affair. Skeptical Inquirer. "Despite
Rhine’s confidence that he had established the reality of extrasensory perception, he had not done
so. Methodological problems with his experiments eventually came to light, and as a result
parapsychologists no longer run card-guessing studies and rarely even refer to Rhine’s work."

^ Jump up to:a b c d John Sladek. (1974). The New Apocrypha: A Guide to Strange Sciences and
Occult Beliefs. Panther. pp. 172-174

^ Jump up to:a b Peter Lamont. (2013). Extraordinary Beliefs: A Historical Approach to a

Psychological Problem. Cambridge University Press. pp. 206-208. ISBN 978-1-107-01933-1

Jump up^ C. E. M. Hansel. (1989). The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited.
Prometheus Books. p. 46. ISBN 0-87975-516-4

Jump up^ Bergen Evans. (1954). The Spoor of Spooks: And Other Nonsense. Knopf. p. 24

Jump up^ C. E. M. Hansel. (1989). The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited.
Prometheus Books. pp. 56-58. ISBN 0-87975-516-4

Jump up^ C. E. M. Hansel. (1989). The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited.
Prometheus Books. p. 53. ISBN 0-87975-516-4 "First, the recording was not completely independent,
since the flash of light in the experimenters' room could be varied in duration by the subject and
thus provide a possible cue. Second, there were five different symbols in the target series, but the
experimental record showed that two of these arose more frequently than the other three."

Jump up^ "The History of the Rhine Research Center". Rhine Research Center. Archived from the
original on 2007-05-29. Retrieved 2007-06-29.

Jump up^ "History of the Parapsychological Association". The Parapsychological Association.

Retrieved2007-06-29.

Jump up^ Melton, J. G. (1996). Parapsychological Association. In Encyclopedia of Occultism &

Parapsychology. Thomson Gale. ISBN 978-0-8103-9487-2.

Jump up^ Wheeler, John Archibald (January 8, 1979). New York Review of Books (May 17, 1980).|
chapter= ignored (help)
^ Jump up to:a b Wheeler, John Archibald (1998). Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam: A Life in
Physics.W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-04642-7.

Jump up^ Irwin, Harvey J. (2007). An Introduction to Parapsychology, Fourth Edition. McFarland &
Company. ISBN 0-7864-1833-8. Retrieved 2007-07-31.

Jump up^ An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications by Mumford, Rose and
Goslin "remote viewings have never provided an adequate basis for ‘actionable’ intelligence
operations-that is, information sufficiently valuable or compelling so that action was taken as a
result (...) a large amount of irrelevant, erroneous information is provided and little agreement is
observed among viewers' reports. (...) remote viewers and project managers reported that remote
viewing reports were changed to make them consistent with known background cues (...) Also, it
raises some doubts about some well-publicized cases of dramatic hits, which, if taken at face value,
could not easily be attributed to background cues. In at least some of these cases, there is reason to
suspect, based on both subsequent investigations and the viewers' statement that reports had been
"changed" by previous program managers, that substantially more background information was
available than one might at first assume."

Jump up^ Beloff, John (1993). Parapsychology: A Concise History. St Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-

17376-0.

Jump up^ Sborník I. Konference o výzkumu v psychotronice (symposium, 1st Conference on

Psychotronics Research), Prague, 1973

Jump up^ Sborník V. Mezinárodní konference o výzkumu v psychotronice (symposium, 5.

International Conference of Psychotronics Research), Bratislava 1983

Jump up^ Parapsychology: A Concise History - John Beloff - Google Books. Books.google.com.au.

1997-06-15. ISBN 9780312173760. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

Jump up^ "Playing unfair with Parapsychologists". Newsvoice.se. 2014-03-17. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h (Odling-Smee 2007)

Jump up^ "The Division of Perceptual Studies — School of Medicine at the University of Virginia".
Medicine.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

Jump up^ "Koestler Parapsychology Unit". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2008-04-10.

Jump up^ "Parapsychology Research Group". Liverpool Hope University. Retrieved 2009-08-18.

Jump up^ "Studying Parapsychology". Liverpool Hope University. Retrieved 2009-08-18.

Jump up^ "The VERITAS Research Program". University of Arizona. Retrieved 2007-11-14.

Jump up^ "Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology". Research Unit of Liverpool John Moores
University. 2007-09-17. Retrieved 2007-11-14.

Jump up^ "Center for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes". University of Northampton.
Retrieved 2007-11-14.

Jump up^ "Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit". Goldsmiths, University of London.

Retrieved2007-11-14.

Jump up^ "Parapsychological Association". parapsych.org. Retrieved 2007-11-14.

Jump up^ "Society for Psychical Research". spr.ac.uk. Retrieved 2007-11-14.

Jump up^ "American Society for Psychical Research". aspr.com. Retrieved 2007-11-14.

Jump up^ "Rhine Research Center and Institute for Parapsychology". Rhine.org. Retrieved 2007-11-
14.

Jump up^ "Parapsychology Foundation". parapsychology.org. Retrieved 2007-11-14.

Jump up^ "Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research". aiprinc.org. Retrieved 2007-11-14.

Jump up^ Stevens, Paul; Ian Baker (eds). "European Journal of Parapsychology". Bournemouth

University, BH12 5BB, UK: Poole House ISSN 0168-7263. Retrieved 2007-11-14.

^ Jump up to:a b Leonard Zusne, Warren H. Jones (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical

Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0-8058-0508-7

Jump up^ "Parapsychological Association FAQ". Parapsychological Association. 1995. Retrieved2007-

07-02.

^ Jump up to:a b Dean I. Radin (1997). The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic
Phenomena. HarperOne. ISBN 0-06-251502-0.

Jump up^ Hyman, Ray (1985). "The Ganzfeld Psi Experiments: A Critical Appraisal". Journal of

Parapsychology 49.

Jump up^ Julie Milton, Richard Wiseman. (2002). A Response to Storm and Ertel (2002). The Journal
of Parapsychology. Volume 66: 183-186.

^ Jump up to:a b c d e Ray Hyman. Evaluating Parapsychological Claims in Robert J. Sternberg, Henry

L. Roediger, Diane F. Halpern. (2007). Critical Thinking in Psychology. Cambridge University Press. pp.
216-231. ISBN 978-0521608343

Jump up^ Richard Wiseman, Matthew Smith, Diana Kornbrot. (1996). Assessing possible sender-to-
experimenter acoustic leakage in the PRL autoganzfeld. Journal of Parapsychology. Volume 60: 97-
128.

Jump up^ "ganzfeld - The Skeptic's Dictionary". Skepdic.com. 2011-12-27. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

Jump up^ Storm, Tressoldi, Di Risio; Tressoldi; Di Risio (July 2010). "Meta-Analysis of Free-Response

Studies, 1992–2008: Assessing the Noise Reduction Model in Parapsychology". Psychological
Bulletin 138 (4): 471–85. doi:10.1037/a0019457. PMID 20565164. Retrieved 2010-08-18.

Jump up^ Hyman, R. (2010). Meta-analysis that conceals more than it reveals: Comment on Storm et
al. (2010). Psychological Bulletin 136: 486-490.

Jump up^ Storm, L., Tressoldi, P. E., & Di Risio, L. (2010). A meta-analysis with nothing to hide: Reply
to Hyman (2010). Psychological Bulletin 136: 491-494.

Jump up^ Rouder, J. N., Morey, R. D., & Province, J. M. (2013): A Bayes factor meta-analysis of recent
extrasensory perception experiments: Comment on Storm, Tressoldi, and Di Risio (2010).
Psychological Bulletin 139: 241–247.

Jump up^ Leonard Zusne, Warren H. Jones (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical

Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 167. ISBN 0-8058-0508-7
Jump up^ Druckman, Daniel; Swets, John A., eds. (1988). Enhancing Human Performance: Issues,
Theories, and Techniques. National Academy Press. p. 176.

Jump up^ Dossey, Larry (1999). Reinventing Medicine. HarperCollins. p. 105. ISBN 0-06-251622-1.

Jump up^ Waller, Douglas (1995-12-11). "The Vision Thing". TIME. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

Jump up^ David Marks, Richard Kammann. (1978). "Information transmission in remote viewing
experiments", Nature 274: 680–81.

Jump up^ David Marks. (1981). "Sensory cues invalidate remote viewing experiments", Nature 292:
177.

Jump up^ Martin Bridgstock. (2009). Beyond Belief: Skepticism, Science and the Paranormal.
Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0521758932 "The explanation used by Marks and
Kammann clearly involves the use of Occam's razor. Marks and Kammann argued that the 'cues' -
clues to the order in which sites had been visited—provided sufficient information for the results,
without any recourse to extrasensory perception. Indeed Marks himself was able to achieve 100
percent accuracy in allocating some transcripts to sites without visiting any of the sites himself,
purely on the ground basis of the cues. From Occam's razor, it follows that if a straightforward
natural explanation exists, there is no need for the spectacular paranormal explanation: Targ and
Puthoff's claims are not justified".

Jump up^ "James Randi Educational Foundation — An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of
the Occult and Supernatural". Randi.org. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

Jump up^ Charles Tart, Harold Puthoff, Russell Targ. (1980). Information Transmission in Remote

Viewing Experiments. Nature 284: 191.

Jump up^ Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.

136. ISBN 1-57392-979-4

Jump up^ David Marks, Christopher Scott. (1986). Remote Viewing Exposed. Nature 319: 444.

^ Jump up to:a b Carey, Benedict (2007-02-06). "A Princeton Lab on ESP Plans to Close Its Doors".
New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-03.

^ Jump up to:a b George P. Hansen. "Princeton [PEAR] Remote-Viewing Experiments - A Critique".

Tricksterbook.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.

Jump up^ Stanley Jeffers (May–June 2006). "The PEAR proposition: Fact or fallacy?". Skeptical

Inquirer(Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) 30.3. Retrieved 2014-01-24.

^ Jump up to:a b Dunne, Brenda J.; Jahn, Robert G. (1985). "On the quantum mechanics of
consciousness, with application to anomalous phenomena". Foundations of Physics 16 (8): 721–
772.Bibcode:1986FoPh...16..721J. doi:10.1007/BF00735378. Retrieved 2007-07-31.

^ Jump up to:a b c d Robert L. Park. (2000). Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud.
Oxford University Press. pp. 198-200. ISBN 0-19-860443-2

^ Jump up to:a b c d Massimo Pigliucci. (2010). Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk.
University of Chicago Press. pp. 77-80. ISBN 978-0-226-66786-7

^ Jump up to:a b Bösch H, Steinkamp F, Boller E; Steinkamp; Boller (2006). "Examining psychokinesis:

the interaction of human intention with random number generators—a meta-
analysis". Psychological Bulletin 132 (4): 497–523. doi:10.1037/0033-
2909.132.4.497. PMID 16822162. The study effect sizes were strongly and inversely related to
sample size and were extremely heterogeneous. A Monte Carlo simulation showed that the very
small effect size relative to the large, heterogenous sample size could in principle be a result of
publication bias.

^ Jump up to:a b Radin, D.; Nelson, R.; Dobyns, Y.; Houtkooper, J. (2006). "Reexamining
psychokinesis: comment on Bösch, Steinkamp, and Boller". Psychological Bulletin 132 (4): 529–32;
discussion 533–37. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.4.529. PMID 16822164.

Jump up^ Wilson, David B.; Shadish, William R. (2006). On blowing trumpets to the tulips: To prove
or not to prove the null hypothesis--Comment on Bösch, Steinkamp, and Boller (2006). Psychological
Bulletin 132: 524-528.

^ Jump up to:a b Schmidt, S.; Schneider, R.; Utts, J.; Walach, H. (2004). "Distant intentionality and the
feeling of being stared at: two meta-analyses". British journal of psychology (London, England :
1953) 95 (Pt 2): 235–47. doi:10.1348/000712604773952449. PMID 15142304.

Jump up^ Ullman, Montague (2003). "Dream telepathy: experimental and clinical findings". In

Totton, Nick.Psychoanalysis and the paranormal: lands of darkness. Reference, Information and
Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Karnac Books. pp. 14–46. ISBN 978-1-85575-985-5.

Jump up^ Parker, Adrian. (1975). States of Mind: ESP and Altered States of Consciousness. Taplinger.
p. 90. ISBN 0-8008-7374-2

Jump up^ Clemmer, E. J. (1986). Not so anomalous observations question ESP in dreams. American

Psychologist 41: 1173-1174.

Jump up^ Hyman, Ray. (1986). Maimonides dream-telepathy experiments. Skeptical Inquirer 11: 91-
92.

Jump up^ Neher, Andrew. (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological

Examination. Dover Publications. p. 145. ISBN 0-486-26167-0

Jump up^ Hansel, C. E. M. The Search for a Demonstration of ESP. In Kurtz, Paul. (1985). A Skeptic's
Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 97-127. ISBN 0-87975-300-5

Jump up^ Ramakrishna Rao, K, Gowri Rammohan, V. (2002). New Frontiers of Human Science: A

Festschrift for K. Ramakrishna Rao. McFarland. p. 135. ISBN 0-7864-1453-7

Jump up^ Belvedere, E., Foulkes, D. (1971). Telepathy and Dreams: A Failure to Replicate. Perceptual
and Motor Skills 33: 783–789.

Jump up^ Hansel, C. E. M. (1989). The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited.
Prometheus Books. pp. 141-152. ISBN 0-87975-516-4

Jump up^ Sherwood, S. J; Roe, C. A. (2003). A Review of Dream ESP Studies Conducted Since the
Maimonides Dream ESP Programme. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 10: 85-109.

Jump up^ Alcock, James. (2003). Give the Null Hypothesis a Chance: Reasons to Remain Doubtful
about the Existence of Psi. Journal of Consciousness Studies 10: 29-50. "In their article, Sherwood
and Roe examine attempts to replicate the well-known Maimonides dream studies that began in the
1960s. They provide a good review of these studies of dream telepathy and clairvoyance, but if one
thing emerges for me from their review, it is the extreme messiness of the data adduced. Lack of
replication is rampant. While one would normally expect that continuing scientific scrutiny of a
phenomenon should lead to stronger effect sizes as one learns more about the subject matter and
refines the methodology, this is apparently not the case with this research."

Jump up^ Pim van Lommel (2010). Consciousness Beyond Life: The science of the near-death
experience. HarperOne. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-06-177725-7.

Jump up^ Evelyn Elsaesser Valarino (1997). On the Other Side of Life: Exploring the phenomenon of
the near-death experience. Perseus Publishing. p. 203. ISBN 0-7382-0625-3.

^ Jump up to:a b Mauro, James (1992). "Bright lights, big mystery". Psychology Today.

Retrieved 2007-07-31.

Jump up^ Lee Worth Bailey and Jenny L. Yates (1996). The near-death experience: a
reader Routledge, p. 26.

Jump up^ Tucker, Jim (2005). Life before life: a scientific investigation of children's memories of
previous lives. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-32137-6.

Jump up^ Shroder, T (2007-02-11). "Ian Stevenson; Sought To Document Memories Of Past Lives in

Children". The Washington Post.

Jump up^ Cadoret, R (2005). "Book Forum: Ethics, Values, and Religion - European Cases of the
Reincarnation Type". The American Journal of Psychiatry 162 (4): 823–
4.doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.162.4.823.

Jump up^ Harvey J. Irwin (2004). An Introduction to Parapsychology. McFarland, p. 218.

Jump up^ "Ian Stevenson; Sought To Document Memories Of Past Lives in Children".

Washingtonpost.com. 2007-02-11. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

Jump up^ Ian Wilson. (1981). Mind Out of Time: Reincarnation Investigated. Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-
02968-4

Jump up^ "The Case Against Immortality". Infidels.org. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

Jump up^ Robert Baker. (1996). Hidden Memories: Voices and Visions from Within. Prometheus
Books.ISBN 0-87975-576-8

Jump up^ Robert Cogan. (1998). Critical Thinking: Step by Step. University Press of America. pp. 202-
203.ISBN 0-7618-1067-6 "Edwards catalogs common sense objections which have been made
against reincarnation. 1) How does a soul exist between bodies? 2) Tertullian's objection: If there is
reincarnation, why are not babies born with the mental abilities of adults? 3) Reincarnation claims
an infinite series of prior incarnations. Evolution teaches that there was a time when humans did not
yet exist. So reincarnation is inconsistent with modern science. 4) If there is reincarnation, then what
is happening when the population increases? 5) If there is reincarnation, then why do so few, if any
people, remember past lives?... To answer these objections believers in reincarnation must accept
additional assumptions... Acceptance of these silly assumptions, Edwards says, amounts to a
crucifixion of one's intellect."

Paul Edwards. (1996, reprinted in 2001). Reincarnation: A Critical Examination. Prometheus

books. ISBN 1-57392-921-2
Jump up^ Simon Hoggart, Mike Hutchinson. (1995). Bizarre Beliefs. Richard Cohen Books. p.
145. ISBN 978-1573921565 "The trouble is that the history of research into psi is littered with failed
experiments, ambiguous experiments, and experiments which are claimed as great successes but are
quickly rejected by conventional scientists. There has also been some spectacular cheating."

Jump up^ Robert Cogan. (1998). Critical Thinking: Step by Step. University Press of America. p.
227. ISBN 978-0761810674 "When an experiment can't be repeated and get the same result, this
tends to show that the result was due to some error in experimental procedure, rather than some
real causal process. ESP experiments simply have not turned up any repeatable paranormal
phenomena."

Jump up^ Charles M. Wynn, Arthur W. Wiggins. (2001). Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction:
Where Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins. Joseph Henry Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-
0309073097"Extrasensory perception and psychokinesis fail to fulfill the requirements of the
scientific method. They therefore must remain pseudoscientific concepts until methodological flaws
in their study are eliminated, and repeatable data supporting their existence are obtained."

Jump up^ Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.

144. ISBN 1-57392-979-4 "It is important to realize that, in one hundred years of parapsychological
investigations, there has never been a single adequate demonstration of the reality of any psi
phenomenon."

Jump up^ Jan Dalkvist (1994). Telepathic Group Communication of Emotions as a Function of Belief

in Telepathy. Dept. of Psychology, Stockholm University. Within the scientific community however,
the claim that psi anomalies exist or may exist is in general regarded with skepticism. One reason for
this difference between the scientist and the non scientist is that the former relies on his own
experiences and anecdotal reports of psi phenomena, whereas the scientist at least officially
requires replicable results from well controlled experiments to believe in such phenomena - results
which according to the prevailing view among scientists, do not exist.

Jump up^ Willem B. Drees (28 November 1998). Religion, Science and Naturalism. Cambridge
University Press. pp. 242–. ISBN 978-0-521-64562-1. Retrieved 5 October 2011. Let me take the
example of claims in parapsychology regarding telepathy across spatial or temporal distances,
apparently without a mediating physical process. Such claims are at odds with the scientific
consensus.

Jump up^ Victor Stenger. (1990). Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses.
Prometheus Books. p. 166. ISBN 0-87975-575-X "The bottom line is simple: science is based on
consensus, and at present a scientific consensus that psychic phenomena exist is still not
established."

Jump up^ Eugene B. Zechmeister, James E. Johnson. (1992). Critical Thinking: A Functional Approach.

Brooks/Cole Pub. Co. p. 115. ISBN 0534165966 "There exists no good scientific evidence for the
existence of paranormal phenomena such as ESP. To be acceptable to the scientific community,
evidence must be both valid and reliable."

Jump up^ Gracely, Ph.D., Ed J. (1998). "Why Extraordinary Claims Demand Extraordinary

Proof". PhACT. Retrieved 2007-07-31.

Jump up^

Joseph Jastrow. (1938). ESP, House of Cards. The American Scholar 8: 13-22.

George Price. (1955). Science and the Supernatural. Science 122: 359–367.

Edward Girden. (1962). A Review of Psychokinesis (PK). Psychological Bulletin 59: 353-388.

James Crumbaugh. (1966). A Scientific Critique of Parapsychology. International Journal of

Neuropsychiatry 5: 521-29.

Samuel Moss, Donald Butler. (1978). The Scientific Credibility Of ESP. Perceptual and Motor Skills:
Volume 46: 1063-1079.

Michael Shermer. (2003). Psychic drift. Why most scientists do not believe in ESP and psi
phenomena. Scientific American 288: 2.

Jump up^ Graham Reed. (1988). The Psychology of Anomalous Experience: A Cognitive Approach.

Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-435-4 Leonard Zusne, Warren H. Jones (1989). Anomalistic
Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0-8058-0508-7

Jump up^ Willard AK, Norenzayan A. (2013). Cognitive biases explain religious belief, paranormal
belief, and belief in life's purpose. Cognition 129: 379-91.

Jump up^ Myers, David G; Blackmore, Susan. "Putting ESP to the Experimental Test". Hope College.
Archived from the original on 2008-10-05. Retrieved 2007-07-31.

Jump up^ Donovan Rawcliffe. (1952). The Psychology of the Occult. Derricke Ridgway, London.

Jump up^ C. E. M. Hansel. (1980). ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Reevaluation. Prometheus

Books.

Jump up^ Ray Hyman. (1989). The Elusive Quarry: A Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research.
Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-504-0

Jump up^ Andrew Neher. (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological

Examination. Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-26167-0

^ Jump up to:a b c James Alcock. (2003). Give the Null Hypothesis a Chance: Reasons to Remain
Doubtful about the Existence of Psi. Journal of Consciousness Studies 10: 29–50. "Parapsychology is
the only realm of objective inquiry in which the phenomena are all negatively defined, defined in
terms of ruling out normal explanations. Of course, ruling out all normal explanations is not an easy
task. We may not be aware of all possible normal explanations, or we may be deceived by our
subjects, or we may deceive ourselves. If all normal explanations actually could be ruled out, just
what is it that is at play? What is psi? Unfortunately, it is just a label. It has no substantive definition
that goes beyond saying that all normal explanations have apparently been eliminated. Of course,
parapsychologists generally presume that it has something to do with some ability of the mind to
transcend the laws of nature as we know them, but all that is so vague as to be unhelpful in any
scientific exploration."

Jump up^ Persi Diaconis. (1978). Statistical Problems in ESP Research. Science New Series, Vol. 201,
No. 4351. pp. 131-136.

Jump up^ 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.

Jump up^ James Alcock, Jean Burns, Anthony Freeman. (2003). Psi Wars: Getting to Grips with the
Paranormal. Imprint Academic. p. 25. ISBN 978-0907845485
Jump up^ Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.
146. ISBN 1-57392-979-4

Jump up^ Antony Flew. (1989). The problem of evidencing the improbable and the impossible. In G.
K. Zollschan, J. F. Schumaker & G. F. Walsh (Eds.), Exploring the paranormal. pp. 313–327. Dorset,
England: Prism Press.

Jump up^ Michael W. Friedlander. (1998). At the Fringes of Science. Westview Press. p. 122. ISBN 0-
8133-2200-6

Jump up^ "parapsychology - The Skeptic's Dictionary". Skepdic.com. 2013-12-22. Retrieved 2014-04-

11.

Jump up^ Ray Hyman. (2008). "Anomalous Cognition? A Second Perspective". Skeptical Inquirer.

Volume 32. Retrieved May 22, 2014.

Jump up^ Wiseman, Richard (2009). "Heads I Win, Tails You Lose". Skeptical Inquirer 34 (1): 36–40.

Jump up^ Hyman, R. (1988). Psi experiments: Do the best parapsychological experiments justify the
claims for psi?. Experientia, 44, 315-322.

Jump up^ Mario Bunge. (1983). Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Volume 6: Epistemology &
Methodology II: Understanding the World. Springer. p. 56. ISBN 978-9027716347

Jump up^ Richard I. Land. (1976). Comments on Hypothetical Extrasensory Perception

(ESP). Leonardo. Vol. 9, No. 4. pp. 306-307

Jump up^ Michael Shermer. (2003). Psychic drift. Why most scientists do not believe in ESP and psi
phenomena. Scientific American 288: 2.

Jump up^ Moulton, S. T., & Kosslyn, S. M. (2008). Using Neuroimaging to Resolve the Psi Debate.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 20: 182-192.

Jump up^ Acunzo, D.J., Evrard, R., Rabeyron, T. (2013). Anomalous Experiences, Psi, and Functional
Neuroimaging. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7: 893.

Jump up^ Shiah YJ, Wu YZ, Chen YH, Chiang SK. (2014). Schizophrenia and the paranormal: More psi
belief and superstition, and less déjà vu in medicated schizophrenic patients. Comprehensive
Psychiatry 55: 688-92.

Jump up^ John Taylor. (1980). Science and the Supernatural: An Investigation of Paranormal

Phenomena Including Psychic Healing, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, and Precognition by a Distinguished
Physicist and Mathematician. Temple Smith. ISBN 0-85117-191-5

Jump up^ Susan Blackmore. (2001). Why I Have Given Up in Paul Kurtz. Skeptical Odysseys: Personal
Accounts by the World’s Leading Paranormal Inquirers. Prometheus Books. pp. 85-94. ISBN 1-57392-
884-4

Jump up^ Mario Bunge. (1983). Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Volume 6: Epistemology &

Methodology II: Understanding the World. Springer. pp. 225-226. ISBN 978-9027716347

"Precognition violates the principle of antecedence ("causality"), according to which the effect does
not happen before the cause. Psychokinesis violates the principle of conservation of energy as well
as the postulate that mind cannot act directly on matter. (If it did no experimenter could trust his
own readings of his instruments.) Telepathy and precognition are incompatible with the
epistemological principle according to which the gaining of factual knowledge requires sense
perception at some point."

"Parapsychology makes no use of any knowledge gained in other fields, such as physics and
physiological psychology. Moreover, its hypotheses are inconsistent with some basic assumptions of
factual science. In particular, the very idea of a disembodied mental entity is incompatible with
physiological psychology; and the claim that signals can be transmitted across space without fading
with distance is inconsistent with physics."

Jump up^ Gardner, Martin (September 1981). "Einstein and ESP". In Kendrick Frazier. Paranormal

Borderlands of Science. Prometheus. pp. 60–65. ISBN 978-0-87975-148-7. Gilovich,
Thomas(1993). How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life. Simon
& Schuster. pp. 160, 169, 174, 175. ISBN 978-0-02-911706-4.

Jump up^ Milton A. Rothman. (1988). A Physicist's Guide to Skepticism. Prometheus Books. p.

193. ISBN 978-0-87975-440-2 "Transmission of information through space requires transfer of
energy from one place to another. Telepathy requires transmission of an energy-carrying signal
directly from one mind to another. All descriptions of ESP imply violations of conservation of energy
in one way or another, as well as violations of all the principles of information theory and even of the
principle of causality. Strict application of physical principles requires us to say that ESP is
impossible."

Jump up^ Charles M. Wynn, Arthur W. Wiggins. (2001). Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction:
Where Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins. Joseph Henry Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-
0309073097"One of the reasons scientists have difficulty believing that psi effects are real is that
there is no known mechanism by which they could occur. PK action-at-a-distance would presumably
employ an action-at-a-distance force that is as yet unknown to science... Similarly, there is no known
sense (stimulation and receptor) by which thoughts could travel from one person to another by
which the mind could project itself elsewhere in the present, future, or past."

Jump up^ "Telekinesis and Quantum Field Theory : Cosmic Variance". Blogs.discovermagazine.com.

2008-02-18. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

Jump up^ John Taylor. (1980). Science and the Supernatural: An Investigation of Paranormal

Phenomena Including Psychic Healing, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, and Precognition by a Distinguished
Physicist and Mathematician. Temple Smith. pp. 27-30. ISBN 0-85117-191-5

^ Jump up to:a b Felix Planer. (1980). Superstition. Cassell. p. 242. ISBN 0-304-30691-6

Jump up^ Felix Planer. (1980). Superstition. Cassell. p. 254. ISBN 0-304-30691-6

Jump up^ Bunge, Mario (2001). Philosophy in Crisis :The Need for Reconstruction. Amherst, N.Y.:
Prometheus Books. p. 176. ISBN 1-57392-843-7.

^ Jump up to:a b Mario Bunge. (1983). Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Volume 6: Epistemology &

Methodology II: Understanding the World. Springer. pp. 225-227. ISBN 978-9027716347

Jump up^ Mario Bunge. (1984). What is Pseudoscience?. The Skeptical Inquirer. Volume 9: 36-46.

Jump up^ Arthur Newell Strahler. (1992). Understanding Science: An Introduction to Concepts and

Issues. Prometheus Books. pp. 168-212. ISBN 978-0-87975-724-3
Jump up^ Raimo Tuomela Science, Protoscience, and Pseudoscience in Joseph C. Pitt, Marcello Pera
(1987). Rational Changes in Science: Essays on Scientific Reasoning. Springer. pp. 83-102. ISBN
9401081816

Jump up^ Science Framework for California Public Schools. California State Board of Education. 1990.

Jump up^ Beyerstein, Barry L. (1995). "Distinguishing Science from Pseudoscience" (PDF). Simon

Fraser University. Archived from the original on 2007-07-11. Retrieved 2007-07-31.

^ Jump up to:a b Hyman, Ray (1995). "Evaluation of the program on anomalous mental

phenomena". The Journal of Parapsychology 59 (1). Retrieved 2007-07-30.

^ Jump up to:a b Alcock, J. E. (1981). Parapsychology, Science or Magic?. Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-08-

025772-0.

Jump up^ Alcock, J. E. (1998). "Science, pseudoscience, and anomaly". Behavioral and Brain

Sciences 21(2). doi:10.1017/S0140525X98231189.

Jump up^ James Alcock. (1981). Parapsychology-Science Or Magic?: A Psychological Perspective.

Pergamon Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-0080257730

Jump up^ Thomas Gilovich. (1993). How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in
Everyday Life. Free Press. p. 160

Jump up^ Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. pp. 117-
145.ISBN 1-57392-979-4

Jump up^ David Marks. (1986). Investigating the Paranormal. Nature. Volume 320: 119-124.

Jump up^ Henry Gordon. (1988). Extrasensory Deception: ESP, Psychics, Shirley MacLaine, Ghosts,
UFOs. Macmillan of Canada. p. 13. ISBN 0-7715-9539-5 "The history of parapsychology, of psychic
phenomena, has been studded with fraud and experimental error."

Jump up^ Ray Hyman. (1989). The Elusive Quarry: A Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research.
Prometheus Books. pp. 99-106

Jump up^ Gordon Stein. (1996). The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p. 688

Jump up^ Andrew Neher. (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological

ExaminationDover Publications; First Published Stated edition. p. 220 ISBN 0486261670

Jump up^ Scott, C.; Haskell, P. (1973). ""Normal" Explanation of the Soal-Goldney Experiments in
Extrasensory Perception". Nature 245 (5419): 52–
54. Bibcode:1973Natur.245...52S.doi:10.1038/245052a0.

Jump up^ Betty Markwick. (1985). The establishment of data manipulation in the Soal-Shackleton

experiments. In Paul Kurtz. A Skeptic’s Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 287-
312. ISBN 0-87975-300-5

Jump up^ Bauer, E (1984). "Criticism and Controversy in Parapsychology – An Overview". European

Journal of Parapsychology 5: 146.

Jump up^ "Sheep Goat Affect". Parapsychological Association. Retrieved 2008-08-13.

Jump up^ Rhine, J.B (1974). "A new case of experimenter unreliability". Journal of

Parapsychology 38: 137–153.
Jump up^ Bauer, E (1984). "Criticism and Controversy in Parapsychology – An
Overview" (PDF).European Journal of Parapsychology 5: 141–166. Archived from the original on
2007-07-11. Retrieved 2007-07-31.

Jump up^ Philip John Tyson, Dai Jones, Jonathan Elcock. (2011). Psychology in Social Context: Issues
and Debates. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 199. ISBN 978-1405168236

Jump up^ Massimo Pigliucci. (2010). Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. University
Of Chicago Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0226667867

Jump up^ Kendrick Frazier. (1991). The Hundredth Monkey: And Other Paradigms of the Paranormal.
Prometheus Books. p. 169. ISBN 978-0879756550

Jump up^ Lawrie Reznek. (2010). Delusions and the Madness of the Masses. Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers. p. 54. ISBN 978-1442206052

Jump up^ Louisa Rhine. (1983). Something Hidden. McFarland & Company. p. 226. ISBN 978-
0786467549Also quoted in Kendrick Frazier. (1991). The Hundredth Monkey: And Other Paradigms
of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p. 168. ISBN 978-0879756550

Jump up^ "Hodgson, Richard (1855 - 1905) Biographical Entry". Australian Dictionary of Biography,
Online Edition. Retrieved 2007-08-03.

Jump up^ Mary Roach. (2010). Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. Canongate Books Ltd. pp. 122-
130.ISBN 978-1847670809

Jump up^ Houdini, Harry (1987). A Magician Among the Spirits. Arno Press. ISBN 0-8094-8070-0.

Jump up^ Alcock, James E.; Jahn, Robert G. (2003). "Give the Null Hypothesis a
Chance" (PDF). Journal of Consciousness Studies 10 (6–7): 29–50. Retrieved 2007-07-30.

Jump up^ Akers, C. (1986). "Methodological Criticisms of Parapsychology, Advances in

Parapsychological Research 4". PesquisaPSI. Retrieved 2007-07-30.

Jump up^ Child, I.L. (1987). "Criticism in Experimental Parapsychology, Advances in

Parapsychological Research 5". Pesq uisaPSI. Retrieved 2007-07-30.

Jump up^ Wiseman, Richard; Smith, Matthew, et al. (1996). "Exploring possible sender-to-

experimenter acoustic leakage in the PRL autoganzfeld experiments - Psychophysical Research
Laboratories".The Journal of Parapsychology. Retrieved 2007-07-30.

Jump up^ Lobach, E.; Bierman, D. (2004). "The Invisible Gaze: Three Attempts to Replicate
Sheldrake's Staring Effects" (PDF). Proceedings of the 47th PA Convention. pp. 77–90.
Retrieved2007-07-30.

Jump up^ Hyman, Ray (1996). "The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality". CSICOP.
Archived from the original on 2007-05-19. Retrieved 2007-07-02.

Jump up^ Carroll, Robert Todd (2005). "psi assumption". Skepdic.com. The Skeptics Dictionary.

Retrieved2007-07-30.

^ Jump up to:a b Broad, William J. (1983-02-15). "Magician'S Effort To Debunk Scientists Raises

Ethical Issues". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
Jump up^ Randi, J. (1983) The Project Alpha experiment: Part one: the first two years. Skeptical
Inquirer, Summer issue, Pages 24-33 and Randi, J. (1983)The Project Alpha Experiment: Part two:
Beyond the Laboratory,” Skeptical Inquirer Fall issue, Pages 36-45

^ Jump up to:a b Utts, Jessica (1991). "Replication and Meta-Analysis in Parapsychology". Statistical

Science 6(4): 363–403. doi:10.1214/ss/1177011577.

Jump up^ Stenger, Victor J. (2002). "Meta-Analysis and the Filedrawer Effect". Committee for

Skeptical Inquiry. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2007-07-30.

Jump up^ Kennedy, J.E. (2005). "A Proposal and Challenge for Proponents and Skeptics of
Psi". Journal of Parapsychology 68: 157–167. Retrieved 2007-07-29.

Jump up^ Nicola Holt, Christine Simmonds-Moore, David Luke, Christopher French.

(2012). Anomalistic Psychology (Palgrave Insights in Psychology). Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-
0230301504

Jump up^ Interview with Chris French on Anomalistic psychology

Jump up^ The rise of anomalistic psychology – and the fall of parapsychology?

Jump up^ "Committee for Skeptical Inquiry". csicop.org. Retrieved 2007-11-14.

Jump up^ "James Randi Educational Foundation". randi.org. Retrieved 2007-11-14.

Jump up^ "About the Occult Investigative Committee of The Society of American Magicians".
www.tophatprod.com. Retrieved 2009-08-18.

Jump up^ "The Society Of American Magicians". www.magicsam.com. Retrieved 2009-08-18.

Further reading[edit]

Alcock, James (1981). Parapsychology-Science Or Magic?: A Psychological Perspective. Pergamon

Press.

Bunge, Mario (1987). Why Parapsychology Cannot Become a Science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences
10: 576-577.

Hines, Terence (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-979-4

Irwin, Harvey J.; Watt, Caroline. (2007). An Introduction to Parapsychology. McFarland & Company.
p. 320. ISBN 978-0-7864-3059-8.

Marks, David (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic (2nd Edition). New York: Prometheus Books.
p. 336. ISBN 1-57392-798-8.

Moore, E. Garth (1977). Believe It or Not: Christianity and Psychical Research. London:

Mowbray. ISBN 0-264-66010-2

Neher, Andrew (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological Examination.

Dover Publications.

Randi, James (June 1982). Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions. Prometheus
Books. p. 342. ISBN 0-345-40946-9.

Randi, James; Arthur C. Clarke (1997). An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult
and Supernatural. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 336. ISBN 0-312-15119-5.
Sagan, Carl; Ann Druyan (1997). The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.
Ballantine Books. p. 349. ISBN 0-345-40946-9.

Shepard, Leslie (2000). Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Thomson Gale.

p. 1939.ISBN 978-0-8103-8570-2.

Shermer, Michael (2003). Psychic drift. Why most scientists do not believe in ESP and psi
phenomena. Scientific American 288: 2.

Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline (2005). Parapsychology (International Library of Psychology).

Ashgate Publishing. pp. 501 pages. ISBN 978-0-7546-2450-9.

External links[edit]

Find more about

Parapsychology
at Wikipedia's sister projects

Definitions from Wiktionary

Media from Commons

News stories from
Wikinews

Quotations from Wikiquote

Source texts from
Wikisource

Textbooks from Wikibooks

Learning resources from
Wikiversity

The Division of Perceptual Studies at theUniversity of Virginia School of Medicine.

Institute of Noetic Sciences A nonprofit organization that sponsors research in parapsychology.

Parapsychological Association An organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of

psychic phenomena, affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science in
1969.

Rhine Research Center A historical parapsychological research center featuring the first building ever
made for experimental work in parapsychology. The Rhine Research Center is a hub for research and
education in Parapsychology.
Society for Psychical Research Founded in 1882, the SPR was the first society to conduct organised
scholarly research into parapsychology and other human experiences that challenge contemporary
scientific models. It continues its work today.

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Organization formed in 1976 to promote scientific skepticism and

encourage the critical investigation of paranormal claims and parapsychology.

James Randi Educational Foundation The James Randi Education Foundation(JREF) was founded to
promote critical thinking in the areas of the supernatural and paranormal. The JREF has provided
skeptical views in the area of parapsychology.

FindArticles.com Index Large number of articles about parapsychology, from publications such as

the Journal of Parapsychology and the Skeptical Inquirer.

Parapsychology at DMOZ

[hide]

Parapsychology

Outline

Topics Apparitional experience

Astral projection

Auras

Bilocation

Clairvoyance

Deathbed phenomena

Dermo-optical perception

Dream telepathy

Extrasensory perception

Ganzfeld experiment

Ghosts

Kirlian photography

Materialization

Mediumship

Near-death experience
 Out-of-body experience

Pam Reynolds case

Past life regression

Plant perception (paranormal)

Poltergeist

Precognition

Psychic

Psychic abilities

Psychic detective

Psychic reading

Psychic surgery

Psychokinesis

Psychometry

Pyrokinesis

Reincarnation

Remote viewing

Retrocognition

Second sight

Sensory leakage

Spoon bending

Telepathy

Xenoglossy

Zener cards

Organizations American Society for Psychical Research

College of Psychic Studies

Institute of Noetic Sciences

International Association for Near-Death Studies

Koestler Parapsychology Unit

National Laboratory of Psychical Research

Parapsychological Association
 Parapsychology Foundation

Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory

Rhine Research Center

Society for Psychical Research

Parapsychologists William F. Barrett

Daryl Bem

Hans Bender

Stephen E. Braude

Whately Carington

Hereward Carrington

Tony Cornell

William Crookes

Eric Dingwall

Peter Fenwick

Camille Flammarion

Nandor Fodor

Bruce Greyson

Erlendur Haraldsson

John Hasted

Rosalind Heywood

Richard Hodgson

Hans Holzer

Charles Honorton

James Hyslop

Brian Inglis

Robert G. Jahn

William James

Raynor Johnson

Brian Josephson

Stanley Krippner
Thomas Lethbridge

Oliver Lodge

James McKenzie

Edgar Mitchell

Raymond Moody

Gardner Murphy

Frederic Myers

Karlis Osis

Sam Parnia

Michael Persinger

Guy Lyon Playfair

Frank Podmore

Joseph Gaither Pratt

Harry Price

Walter Franklin Prince

Andrija Puharich

Harold Puthoff

Dean Radin

J. B. Rhine

Charles Richet

D. Scott Rogo

William Roll

Helmut Schmidt

Gary Schwartz

Rupert Sheldrake

Henry Sidgwick

Samuel Soal

Ian Stevenson

Ingo Swann

Russell Targ
 Charles Tart

Montague Ullman

Jessica Utts

Evan Harris Walker

Extrasensory Perception

Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century

Journal of Near-Death Studies

Journal of Parapsychology

Journal of Scientific Exploration

Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon—Survival of Bodily

Death

Publications Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of

Previous Lives

Mental Radio

Old Souls: The Scientific Evidence For Past Lives

Parapsychology: Frontier Science of the Mind

The Roots of Coincidence

Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation

Varieties of Anomalous Experience

Skeptics James Alcock

Robert Baker

Barry Beyerstein

Susan Blackmore

John Booth

Derren Brown

Mario Bunge

William Carpenter

Robert Todd Carroll

Sean Carroll

Milbourne Christopher
Edward Clodd

Brian Dunning

Bergen Evans

Antony Flew

Kendrick Frazier

Chris French

Martin Gardner

Thomas Gilovich

Henry Gordon

G. Stanley Hall

Trevor Hall

C. E. M. Hansel

Daniel Webster Hering

Terence Hines

Bruce Hood

Harry Houdini

Nicholas Humphrey

Ray Hyman

Joseph Jastrow

Paul Kurtz

Daniel Loxton

Charles Mackay

David Marks

Joseph McCabe

Albert Moll

Joe Nickell

Steven Novella

Robert Park

Henry Maudsley

Massimo Pigliucci
 Massimo Polidoro

George Price

Benjamin Radford

James Randi

Graham Reed

Joseph Rinn

Milton Rothman

Carl Sagan

Theodore Schick

Michael Shermer

John Sladek

Gordon Stein

Victor Stenger

Stuart Sutherland

John Taylor

Ivor Lloyd Tuckett

John Wheeler

Richard Wiseman

 Category

 Commons

[show]

Pseudoscience

Categories: 

Parapsychology

Pseudoscience
Outline of parapsychology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from List of basic parapsychology topics)

The following list is provided as an overview of and introduction to parapsychology:

Parapsychology – field of research that studies a number of ostensible paranormalphenomena,

including telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, near-death
experiences, reincarnation and apparitional experiences.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Essence of parapsychology

2 General parapsychology concepts

3 Parapsychology organizations

4 Parapsychologists

5 Parapsychology publications

6 See also

7 External links

Essence of parapsychology[edit]

Main article: Parapsychology

Fringe science

Paranormal

Pseudoscience

Psychology

Psionics

Psychic

General parapsychology concepts[edit]

Abacomancy

Altered state of consciousness

Apparitional experience

Astral body

Aura (paranormal)

Clairaudience

Clairsentience
Clairvoyance

Cold reading

Dowsing

Ectoplasm (paranormal)

Extrasensory perception (ESP)

Exorcist

Ganzfeld experiment

Ghosts

Global Consciousness Project

Haunted house

History of parapsychology

Hot reading

IANDS

Journal of Parapsychology

List of psychic abilities

Materialization (parapsychology)

Medical intuitive

Mediumship

Mediumship

Mental Radio

Metaphysical levitation

Mind-Body Intervention

Morphic field

National Laboratory of Psychical Research

Near-death experience

Near-death studies

Out-of-body experiences

Paranormal

Parapsychological Association

Parapsychology

Pauli effect
Poltergeist

Precognition

Prescience

Project Alpha

Psychic reading

Psychic

Psychokinesis

Psychometry

Pyrokinesis

Radiesthesia

Reincarnation research

Remote Viewing

Research results in parapsychology

Retrocognition

Rhine Research Center

Stargate Project

Telepathy

Therapeutic touch

Transliminality

Transpersonal experience

Unexplained Mysteries

Veridical dream

Zener card

Parapsychology organizations[edit]

American Society for Psychical Research

International Association for Near-Death Studies

National Laboratory of Psychical Research

Parapsychological Association

Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory

Society for Psychical Research

Parapsychologists[edit]
See also: List of parapsychologists

Loyd Auerbach

Daryl Bem

Hans Bender

Stephen E. Braude

Whately Carington

Hereward Carrington

Michael Daniels

Théodore Flournoy

Nandor Fodor

Randall Fontes

Bruce Greyson

Alexander Imich

László Harasztosi

Hans Holzer

Charles Honorton

Thomson Jay Hudson

James H. Hyslop

Lawrence LeShan

Rufus Osgood Mason

James Hewat McKenzie

Michel Moine

Thelma Moss

Gardner Murphy

Ciarán O'Keeffe

Frank Podmore

Joseph Gaither Pratt

Harold E. Puthoff

Konstantin Raudive

Joseph Banks Rhine

Dean Radin
Carl Reichenbach

Kenneth Ring

D. Scott Rogo

William Roll

Henry Sidgwick

Matthew Smith

Ian Stevenson

Charles Tart

Rudolf Tischner

Jim B. Tucker

René Warcollier

Parapsychology publications[edit]

Extrasensory Perception

Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century

Journal of Consciousness Studies

Journal of Near-Death Studies

Journal of Parapsychology

Journal of Scientific Exploration

Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon—Survival of Bodily Death

Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives

Old Souls: The Scientific Evidence For Past Lives

Parapsychology: Frontier Science of the Mind

The Roots of Coincidence

Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation

See also[edit]

List of paranormal subjects

Paranormal

Psychology

External links[edit]

Find more about

Parapsychology
 at Wikipedia's sister projects

Definitions from Wiktionary

Media from Commons

News stories from
Wikinews

Quotations from Wikiquote

Source texts from
Wikisource

Textbooks from Wikibooks

Learning resources from
Wikiversity

Parapsychology FAQ Frequently asked questions, by the Parapsychological Association, one of the

major groups studying parapsychological phenomena.

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 encourage the critical investigation
of paranormal claims and parapsychology.

[hide]

Parapsychology

Outline

Topics Apparitional experience

Astral projection

Auras

Bilocation
Clairvoyance

Deathbed phenomena

Dermo-optical perception

Dream telepathy

Extrasensory perception

Ganzfeld experiment

Ghosts

Kirlian photography

Materialization

Mediumship

Near-death experience

Out-of-body experience

Pam Reynolds case

Past life regression

Plant perception (paranormal)

Poltergeist

Precognition

Psychic

Psychic abilities

Psychic detective

Psychic reading

Psychic surgery

Psychokinesis

Psychometry

Pyrokinesis

Reincarnation

Remote viewing

Retrocognition

Second sight

Sensory leakage
 Spoon bending

Telepathy

Xenoglossy

Zener cards

American Society for Psychical Research

College of Psychic Studies

Institute of Noetic Sciences

International Association for Near-Death Studies

Koestler Parapsychology Unit

Organizations National Laboratory of Psychical Research

Parapsychological Association

Parapsychology Foundation

Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory

Rhine Research Center

Society for Psychical Research

Parapsychologists William F. Barrett

Daryl Bem

Hans Bender

Stephen E. Braude

Whately Carington

Hereward Carrington

Tony Cornell

William Crookes

Eric Dingwall

Peter Fenwick

Camille Flammarion

Nandor Fodor

Bruce Greyson

Erlendur Haraldsson

John Hasted
Rosalind Heywood

Richard Hodgson

Hans Holzer

Charles Honorton

James Hyslop

Brian Inglis

Robert G. Jahn

William James

Raynor Johnson

Brian Josephson

Stanley Krippner

Thomas Lethbridge

Oliver Lodge

James McKenzie

Edgar Mitchell

Raymond Moody

Gardner Murphy

Frederic Myers

Karlis Osis

Sam Parnia

Michael Persinger

Guy Lyon Playfair

Frank Podmore

Joseph Gaither Pratt

Harry Price

Walter Franklin Prince

Andrija Puharich

Harold Puthoff

Dean Radin

J. B. Rhine
 Charles Richet

D. Scott Rogo

William Roll

Helmut Schmidt

Gary Schwartz

Rupert Sheldrake

Henry Sidgwick

Samuel Soal

Ian Stevenson

Ingo Swann

Russell Targ

Charles Tart

Montague Ullman

Jessica Utts

Evan Harris Walker

Extrasensory Perception

Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century

Journal of Near-Death Studies

Journal of Parapsychology

Journal of Scientific Exploration

Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon—Survival of Bodily

Death

Publications Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of

Previous Lives

Mental Radio

Old Souls: The Scientific Evidence For Past Lives

Parapsychology: Frontier Science of the Mind

The Roots of Coincidence

Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation

Varieties of Anomalous Experience

Skeptics James Alcock

Robert Baker

Barry Beyerstein

Susan Blackmore

John Booth

Derren Brown

Mario Bunge

William Carpenter

Robert Todd Carroll

Sean Carroll

Milbourne Christopher

Edward Clodd

Brian Dunning

Bergen Evans

Antony Flew

Kendrick Frazier

Chris French

Martin Gardner

Thomas Gilovich

Henry Gordon

G. Stanley Hall

Trevor Hall

C. E. M. Hansel

Daniel Webster Hering

Terence Hines

Bruce Hood

Harry Houdini

Nicholas Humphrey

Ray Hyman

Joseph Jastrow
Paul Kurtz

Daniel Loxton

Charles Mackay

David Marks

Joseph McCabe

Albert Moll

Joe Nickell

Steven Novella

Robert Park

Henry Maudsley

Massimo Pigliucci

Massimo Polidoro

George Price

Benjamin Radford

James Randi

Graham Reed

Joseph Rinn

Milton Rothman

Carl Sagan

Theodore Schick

Michael Shermer

John Sladek

Gordon Stein

Victor Stenger

Stuart Sutherland

John Taylor

Ivor Lloyd Tuckett

John Wheeler

Richard Wiseman
Precognition

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Premonition" redirects here. For other uses, see Premonition (disambiguation).

[show]Part of a series of articles on theparanormal

In parapsychology, precognition (from the Latinpræ-, "before" and cognitio, "acquiring knowledge"),

also called future sight,[1] andsecond sight,[2][3][4] is a type of extrasensory perception that would
involve the acquisition or effect of future information that cannot be deduced from presently
available and normally acquired sense-based information.[5][6]

The existence of precognition, as with other forms of extrasensory perception, is not accepted by
the mainstream scientific community.[7][8][9][10]

Scientific investigation of extrasensory perception (ESP) is complicated by the definition which

implies that the phenomena go against established principles of science.[11] Specifically,
precognition would violate the principle that an effect cannot occur before its cause.[11] There are
established biases affecting human memory and judgment of probability that create convincing but
false impressions of precognition.[12]

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Belief

2 Experiments

2.1 "Feeling the Future" controversy

3 Scientific reception

3.1 Physics

3.2 Psychological

4 In dreams

5 See also

6 References

7 Further reading

Belief[edit]

Belief in precognition has been related to superstition.[13] A 1978 Gallup poll found that 37% of
Americans surveyed believed in precognition.[14] According to psychologists Tobacyk and Milford,
belief in precognition was greater in college women than in men, and a 2007 Gallup poll found that
women were more prone to superstitious beliefs in general.[13]

Experiments[edit]

In the early 20th century J. W. Dunne, a British aeronautics engineer, recorded each of his dreams as
they occurred to him, identifying any correspondences between his future experiences and his
recorded dreams. In 1927, he reported his findings, in An Experiment with Time. In this work, at least
10% of his dreams appeared to represent some future event, pertaining to some relatively trivial
incident in Dunne's own life, or some major news events appearing in the press a day or so after the
dream. Dunne concluded that precognitive dreams are common occurrences: many people have
them without realizing it, largely because they do not recall the details of the dream.[15] Also
reported in the book was an experiment Dunne conducted with several other people who studiously
recorded their dreams and sought to associate them with subsequent experiences. Dunne felt these
confirmed his claims, but a 1933 independent experiment failed to replicate his findings.[16]

The first such ongoing and organized research program on precognition was instituted by J. B.
Rhine in the 1930s at Duke University's Parapsychology Laboratory. Rhine used a method of forced-
choice matching in which participants recorded their guesses as to the order of a deck of 25 cards,
each five of which bore one of five geometrical symbols. Rhine's experiments were discredited due
to the discovery that sensory leakage or cheating could account for all his results such as the subject
being able to read the symbols from the back of the cards and being able to see and hear the
experimenter to note subtle clues.[17][18][19]

Experiments by Samuel G. Soal ran forced-choice ESP experiments in which someone attempted to

identify which of five animal pictures a subject in another room was looking at. Their performance
on this task was at chance, but when the scores were matched with the card that came after the
target card, three of the thirteen subjects showed a very high hit rate.[20]Rhine described Soal's
work as "a milestone in the field".[20] Research chemist George Price who reviewed Soal and
Bateman's book Modern Experiments in Telepathy for the journalScience in 1955.[21] It was
suggested that the positive results not attributable to error were more likely the result of deliberate
fraud.[21] This prompted several replies that Price's criticism was unfair, resting on the mere
possibility of fraud rather than actual proof.[20] In 1978, the experiments were exposed as
fraudulent. The statistician and paragnost Betty Markwick, while seeking to vindicate Soal,
discovered that he had altered his data to create all the extra hits and give the study its statistical
significance.[21] The untainted experimental results showed no evidence of precognition in the hits
or the ratios.[20][22]

Following these experiments, a more automated technique of experimentation was introduced that
did not rely on hand-scoring of equivalence between targets and guesses, and in which the targets
could be more reliably and readily tested as random. This involved testing for precognition with the
use of high-speed random event generators (REG), as introduced byHelmut Schmidt in 1969 and
further conducted, in particular, at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab (1979–2007).
[23] The psychologist C. E. M. Hansel found flaws in all of Schmidt's experiments into precognition.
Hansel found that necessary precautions were not taken, there was no presence of an observer or
second-experimenter in any of the experiments, no counterchecking of the records and no separate
machines used for high and low score attempts.[24]

"Feeling the Future" controversy[edit]

In 2011, the parapsychologist Daryl Bem published the article "Feeling the Future: Experimental
Evidence for Anomalous Retroactive Influences on Cognition and Affect" in the Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology that offered statistical evidence for precognition.[25] The article's findings
challenged modern scientific conceptions about the unidirectional nature of time. Its presentation by
a respected researcher and its publication by an upper tier journal engendered much controversy. In
addition to criticism of the paper itself,[26] the paper's publication prompted a wider debate on the
validity of peer review process for allowing such a paper to be published.[27] Bem appeared on
MSNBC[28] and The Colbert Report[29] to discuss the experiment.

Jeffrey Rouder and Richard Morey who applied a meta-analytical Bayes factor to Bem's data
concluded "We remain unconvinced of the viability of ESP. There is no plausible mechanism for it,
and it seems contradicted by well-substantiated theories in both physics and biology. Against this
background, a change in odds of 40 is negligible.[30][31]

After evaluating Bem's nine experiments, psychologist James Alcock said that he found metaphorical
"dirty test tubes," or serious methodological flaws, such as changing the procedures partway
through the experiments and combining results of tests with different chances of significance. It is
unknown how many tests were actually performed, nor is there an explanation of how it was
determined that participants had "settled down" after seeing erotic images. Alcock concludes that
almost everything that could go wrong with Bem's experiments did go wrong. Bem's response to
Alcock's critique appeared online at the Skeptical Inquirerwebsite[32] and Alcock replied to these
comments in a third article at the same website.[33]

In 2012, the same journal that published Bem's original experiments, the Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology (Vol. 103, No. 6), published “Correcting the Past: Failures to Replicate Psi” by Jeff
Galek of Carnegie Mellon University, Robyn A. LeBoeuf of the University of Florida, Leif D. Nelson of
the University of California at Berkeley, and Joseph P. Simmons of the University of Pennsylvania.
The paper reported seven experiments testing for precognition that "found no evidence supporting
its existence.”[34][35]

Scientific reception[edit]

Physics[edit]

There is no known mechanism for precognition.[36] Precognition would violate the principle of

antecedence (causality), that an effect does not happen before its cause.[37]

The physicist John Taylor has written "since only positive energies are possible, particles going
backward in time cannot exist. Any claim that they do is purely a fantasy in the mind of the
parapsychologist. There is therefore no direct justification for precognition from physics...
experimental evidence from high energy physics is strongly against it."[38]

Psychological[edit]

Various psychological processes have been offered to explain experiences of apparent precognition.
These include:

Selection bias where people remember the "hits" and forget the "misses", remember coincidences
more often than other non-coincidences, or when they were correct about a future event rather
than instances when they were wrong. Examples include thinking of a specific person before that
person calls on the phone. Human memory, it is argued, has a tendency to record instances when
the guess was correct, and to dismiss instances when the guess was incorrect.

Unconscious perception by which people unconsciously infer, from data they have unconsciously
learned, that a certain event will probably happen in a certain context. As withcryptomnesia, when
the event occurs, the former knowledge appears to have been acquired without the aid of
recognized channels of information.
Self-fulfilling prophecy and Unconscious enactment in which people bring events that they
have precognized to pass, but without their conscious knowledge.

Some psychologists have explained the apparent prevalence of precognitive dreams in terms
ofmemory biases, namely a selective memory for accurate predictions and distorted memory so that
dreams are retrospectively fitted onto subsequent events.[12] In one experiment, subjects were
asked to write down their dreams in a diary. This prevented the selective memory effect, and the
dreams no longer seemed accurate about the future.[39] Another experiment gave subjects a fake
diary of a student with apparently precognitive dreams. This diary described events from the
person's life, as well as some predictive dreams and some non-predictive dreams. When subjects
were asked to recall the dreams they had read, they remembered more of the successful predictions
than unsuccessful ones.[40]

In dreams[edit]

An early inquiry into this phenomenon was done by Aristotle in his On Divination in Sleep. His
criticism of these claims appeals to the fact that "the sender of such dreams should be God", and
"the fact that those to whom he sends them are not the best and wisest, but merely commonplace
persons." Thus: "Most [so-called prophetic] dreams are, however, to be classed as mere
coincidences...", here "coincidence" being defined by Aristotle as that which does not take "place
according to a universal or general rule" and referring to things which are not of themselves by
necessity causally connected. His example being taking a walk during an eclipse, neither the walk nor
the eclipse being apparently causally connected and so only by "coincidence" do they occur
simultaneously.[41]

In 1932 Charles Lindbergh's infant son was kidnapped and murdered. The psychologists Henry
Murray and D. R. Wheeler tested precognitive dreams by inviting the public to report any dreams of
the child. A total of 1, 300 dreams were reported. Only five percent envisioned the child dead and
only 4 of the 1, 300 envisioned the location of the body buried amongst trees. This number was no
better than chance.[42]

David Ryback, a psychologist in Atlanta, used a questionnaire survey approach to investigate

precognitive dreaming in college students. His survey of over 433 participants showed that 290 or
66.9 percent reported some form of paranormal dream. He rejected many of these claims and
reached a conclusion that 8.8 percent of the population was having actual precognitive dreams.[43]

Dreams which appear to be precognitive may in fact be the result of the Law of large numbers.
[44] The psychologist Stuart Sutherland has written:

Suppose that you can remember ten incidents from a night's dreaming, at least when promoted by a
similar incident occurring a day. Now consider how many incidents occur during a day, including
those you read about in the paper, watch on television or hear from your friends. There are a vast
number and it is highly probable that from time to time one of them will, at least to some extent,
resemble one of those from your dreams. When one or more of these coincidences occur, people
are likely to conclude that dreams foretell the future.[45]

Robert Todd Carroll, author of The Skeptic's Dictionary put it this way: "Say the odds are a million to
one that when a person has a dream of an airplane crash, there is an airplane crash the next day.
With 6 billion people having an average of 250 dream themes each per night, there should be about
1.5 million people a day who have dreams that seem clairvoyant."[46]

See also[edit]
Déjà vu

Fortune-telling

Premonition (film)

Premonitions (novel)

Retrocognition

Second sight

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

References[edit]

Jump up^ Beare, Hedley (2001). Creating the future school. Routledge. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-415-

23868-7.

Jump up^ Campbell, J. G. (1974). Witchcraft and second sight in the Highlands and Islands of
Scotland. Originally published 1902.

Jump up^ Cohn, S. A. (1999). Second sight and family history: Pedigree and segregation analyses.
Journal of Scientific Exploration, 13, 351-372.

Jump up^ Insulanus, T. (1763). A treatise on the second sight, dreams and apparition. Edinburgh, UK.

Jump up^ Parapsychological Association (2006).Glossary of key words frequently used in

parapsychology. [1]

Jump up^ Randi, James (1995). An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and
Supernatural. St. Martin's Press.ISBN 0-312-13066-X.

Jump up^ Bunge, Mario. (1983). Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Volume 6: Epistemology &

Methodology II: Understanding the World. Springer. p. 226. "Despite being several thousand years
old, and having attracted a large number of researchers over the past hundred years, we owe no
single firm finding to parapsychology: no hard data on telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, or
psychokinesis."

Jump up^ Stenger, Victor. (1990). Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses.
Prometheus Books. p. 166.ISBN 0-87975-575-X "The bottom line is simple: science is based on
consensus, and at present a scientific consensus that psychic phenomena exist is still not
established."

Jump up^ Zechmeister, Eugene; Johnson, James. (1992). Critical Thinking: A Functional Approach.

Brooks/Cole Pub. Co. p. 115.ISBN 0534165966 "There exists no good scientific evidence for the
existence of paranormal phenomena such as ESP. To be acceptable to the scientific community,
evidence must be both valid and reliable."

Jump up^ Myers, David. (2004). Intuition: Its Powers and Perils. Yale University Press. p. 233.ISBN 0-
300-09531-7 "After thousands of experiments, no reproducible ESP phenomenon has ever been
discovered, nor has any researcher produced any individual who can convincingly demonstrate
psychic ability."
^ Jump up to:a b Hyman, Ray (2007). "Evaluating Parapsychological Claims". In Robert J. Sternberg,
Henry J. Roediger III, Diane F. Halpern. Critical Thinking in Psychology. Cambridge University Press.
p. 217. ISBN 0-521-60834-1.

^ Jump up to:a b Hines, Terence (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books.

pp. 78–81. ISBN 978-1-57392-979-0.

^ Jump up to:a b Stuart A. Vyse (1 September 2013),Believing in Magic: The Psychology of

Superstition - Updated Edition, Oxford University Press, USA, pp. 45–, ISBN 978-0-19-999693-3

Jump up^ American Bar Association (December 1978), ABA Journal, American Bar Association,
pp. 1847–, ISSN 07470088

Jump up^ Dunne, J. W. (1927). An Experiment With Time. Hampton Roads Publishing Co.ISBN 978-1-
57174-234-6.

Jump up^ Flew, Antony. (1976). The Sources of Serialism. In Shivesh Thakur. Philosophy and

Psychical Research. George Allen & Unwin Ltd. pp. 81-96. ISBN 0-04-10041-2

Jump up^ Harold Gulliksen. (1938). Extra-Sensory Perception: What Is It?. American Journal of

Sociology. Vol. 43, No. 4. pp. 623-634. "Investigating Rhine's methods, we find that his mathematical
methods are wrong and that the effect of this error would in some cases be negligible and in others
very marked. We find that many of his experiments were set up in a manner which would tend to
increase, instead of to diminish, the possibility of systematic clerical errors; and lastly, that the ESP
cards can be read from the back."

Jump up^ Charles M. Wynn, Arthur W. Wiggins. (2001). Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction:
Where Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins. Joseph Henry Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-309-
07309-7 "In 1940, Rhine coauthored a book, Extrasensory Perception After Sixty Years in which he
suggested that something more than mere guess work was involved in his experiments. He was
right! It is now known that the experiments conducted in his laboratory contained serious
methodological flaws. Tests often took place with minimal or no screening between the subject and
the person administering the test. Subjects could see the backs of cards that were later discovered
to be so cheaply printed that a faint outline of the symbol could be seen. Furthermore, in face-to-
face tests, subjects could see card faces reflected in the tester’s eyeglasses or cornea. They were
even able to (consciously or unconsciously) pick up clues from the tester’s facial expression and
voice inflection. In addition, an observant subject could identify the cards by certain irregularities like
warped edges, spots on the backs, or design imperfections."

Jump up^ Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.

122. ISBN 1-57392-979-4 "The procedural errors in the Rhine experiments have been extremely
damaging to his claims to have demonstrated the existence of ESP. Equally damaging has been the
fact that the results have not replicated when the experiments have been conducted in other
laboratories."

^ Jump up to:a b c d Colman, Andrew M. (1988). Facts, Fallacies and Frauds in Psychology. Unwin

Hyman. pp. 175–180. ISBN 0-04-445289-6.

^ Jump up to:a b c Hyman, Ray (2007). "Evaluating Parapsychological Claims". In Robert J. Sternberg,

Henry L. Roediger, Diane F. Halpern. Critical Thinking in Psychology. Cambridge University Press.
pp. 219–223.ISBN 0-521-60834-1.
Jump up^ Betty Markwick. (1985). The establishment of data manipulation in the Soal-Shackleton
experiments. In Paul Kurtz. A Skeptic’s Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 287-
312. ISBN 0-87975-300-5

Jump up^ Odling-Smee, Lucy (March 1, 2007). "The lab that asked the wrong
questions".Nature 446 (7131): 10–11.doi:10.1038/446010a. PMID 17330012. Retrieved 2007-06-29.

Jump up^ C. E. M. Hansel. (1980). ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Re-Evaluation. Prometheus

Books. pp. 222-232

Jump up^ Bem, DJ (March 2011). "Feeling the future: experimental evidence for anomalous
retroactive influences on cognition and affect.". Journal of personality and social psychology 100 (3):
407–25.doi:10.1037/a0021524.PMID 21280961.

Jump up^ James Alcock, Back from the Future: Parapsychology and the Bem Affair, March/April
2011 Skeptical Inquirer, January 6, 2011.

Jump up^ "Room for Debate: When Peer Review Falters". The New York Times. January 7, 2011.

Jump up^ "Professor: Strong evidence ESP is real". MSNBC. 2008-01-23. RetrievedJan 30, 2011.

Jump up^ "The Colbert Report: January 27, 2011 - Brian Greene". Comedy Central. 2008-01-23.
Retrieved Jan 30, 2011.

Jump up^ Rouder, J., & Morey, R. (2011). A Bayes factor meta-analysis of Bem’s ESP claim.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 18: 682-689.

Jump up^ "Odds are against ESP: New statistical approach doesn't support claims that extra-sensory
perception exists". Science Daily.

Jump up^ Bem, Daryl (6 January 2011). "Response to Alcock’s "Back from the Future: Comments on
Bem"". Retrieved31 January 2012.

Jump up^ Alcock, James (6 January 2011)."Response to Bem’s Comments". Retrieved 31

January 2012.

Jump up^ Galak, J., LeBoeuf, R. A., Nelson, L. D., & Simmons, J. P. (2012). Correcting the past:
Failures to replicate psi. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 103: 933-948

Jump up^ Frazier, Kendrick (2013). "Failure to Replicate Results of Bem Parapsychology Experiments

Published by Same Journal". csicop.org. Retrieved 7 August 2013.

Jump up^ Wynn, Charles; Wiggins, Arthur. (2001).Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction: Where
Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins. Joseph Henry Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-
0309073097 "One of the reasons scientists have difficulty believing that psi effects are real is that
there is no known mechanism by which they could occur. PK action-at-a-distance would presumably
employ an action-at-a-distance force that is as yet unknown to science... Similarly, there is no known
sense (stimulation and receptor) by which thoughts could travel from one person to another by
which the mind could project itself elsewhere in the present, future, or past."

Jump up^ Bunge, Mario. (1983). Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Volume 6: Epistemology &

Methodology II: Understanding the World. Springer. pp. 225-226. ISBN 978-9027716347
Jump up^ Taylor, John. (1980). Science and the Supernatural: An Investigation of Paranormal
Phenomena Including Psychic Healing, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, and Precognition by a Distinguished
Physicist and Mathematician. Temple Smith. p. 83. ISBN 0-85117-191-5.

Jump up^ Alcock, James E. (1981). Parapsychology: Science or Magic?: a psychological perspective.

Oxford: Pergamon Press.ISBN 0-08-025773-9. via Hines, Terence (2003). Pseudoscience and the
Paranormal. Prometheus Books. pp. 78–81. ISBN 978-1-57392-979-0.

Jump up^ Madey, Scott; Thomas Gilovich (1993). "Effects of Temporal Focus on the Recall of
Expectancy-Consistent and Expectancy-Inconsistent Information". Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology 62 (3): 458–68. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.65.3.458.PMID 8410650. via Kida, Thomas
(2006).Don't Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking. Prometheus
Books. ISBN 978-1-59102-408-8.

Jump up^ Aristotle. On Divination in Sleep

Jump up^ Murray, H. A., & Wheeler, D. R. (1937). A Note on the Possible Clairvoyance of Dreams.
Journal of Psychology 3: 309-313.

Jump up^ Ryback, David, PhD. “Dreams That Came True”. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell
Publishing Group, 1988.

Jump up^ Wiseman, Richard. (2011). Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There. Macmillan. pp.
163-167. ISBN 978-0-230-75298-6

"In short, you have lots of dreams and encounter lots of events. Most of the time the dreams are
unrelated to the events, and so you forget about them. However, once in a while one of the dreams
will correspond to one of the events. Once this happens, it is suddenly easy to remember the dream
and convince yourself that it has magically predicted the future. In reality, it is just the laws of
probability at work."

"The principle is known as the ‘Law of Large Numbers’, and states that unusual events are likely to
happen when there are lots of opportunities for that event. It is exactly the same with any national
lottery. The chances of any one person hitting the jackpot is millions to one, but still it happens as
regular as clockwork each week because such a large number of people buy tickets. For genuine
evidence of premonitions then, the situation is even worse than we have imagined... Given that
people dream about doom and gloom more often than not, the numbers quickly stack up and acts of
apparent prophecy are inevitable."

Jump up^ Sutherland, Stuart. (1994). Irrationality: The Enemy Within. pp. 312-313. Penguin
Books. ISBN 0-14-016726-9

Jump up^ "Law of Truly Large Numbers".

Further reading[edit]

Robert Todd Carroll. (2013). "Precognition and Second Sight". The Skeptic's Dictionary.

Kendrick Frazier. (2013). "Failure to Replicate Results of Bem Parapsychology Experiments Published

by Same Journal". Skeptical Inquirer. Volume 37: 5-6.

Chris French. (2012). "Precognition Studies and the Curse of the Failed Replications". The Guardian.
Nicolas Gauvrit. (2011). "Precognition or Pathological Science? An Analysis of Daryl Bem’s
Controversial Feeling the Future Paper". The Skeptics Society.

Thomas Gilovich. (1993). How We Know What Isn't So: Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life.
Free Press. ISBN 978-0-02-911706-4

Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-979-4

David Marks. (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic (2nd Edition). Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-
798-8

Robert Novella. (2000). "The Power of Coincidence: Some Notes on "Psychic"

Predictions". Quackwatch.

Stephanie Pappas. (2012). "Controversial Psychic Ability Claim Doesn't Hold Up in New

Experiments". LiveScience.

Richard Wiseman. (2011). Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-
75298-6
Psychokinesis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Telekinesis" redirects here. For other uses, see Telekinesis (disambiguation).

This article may require copy editing for grammar, style,

cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it.
(October 2014)

Artist conception of alleged spontaneous psychokinesis from 1911 French magazine La Vie
Mysterieuse.

[show]Part of a series of articles on theparanormal

Psychokinesis (Greek ψυχή κίνησις, "mind movement"),[1][2] or telekinesis[3] (τῆλε κίνησις,

"distance movement"),[4] is an alleged psychic ability allowing a person to influence a physical
system without physical interaction.[5][6][7] Psychokinesis and telekinesis are sometimes
abbreviated as PK and TKrespectively.[8] Examples of psychokinesis could include moving an object
and levitation.[9][10] There is no conclusive evidence that psychokinesis is a real phenomenon.[11]
[12][13][14]

PK experiments have historically been criticized for lack of proper controls and repeatability.[13][15]

[16][17]Furthermore, some experiments have created illusions of PK where none exists, and these
illusions depend, to an extent, on the subject's prior belief in PK.[18][19]

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Etymology

2 Belief

2.1 Subsets of psychokinesis

2.2 Notable claimants of psychokinetic ability

2.3 Psychics

2.4 Metal bending

2.5 In popular culture

3 Reception

3.1 Evaluation

3.2 Physics

3.3 Explanations in terms of bias

3.4 Magic and special effects

3.5 Prize money for proof of psychokinesis

4 See also

5 References

6 Further reading

7 External links

Etymology[edit]

The word psychokinesis, a portmanteau of the Greek language words ψυχή ("psyche") –

meaning mind, soul, spirit, or breath – and κίνησις ("kinesis") – meaning motion, movement[1][2]–
was coined in 1914 by American author Henry Holt in his book On the Cosmic Relations.[20][21]
[22] It was later used by American parapsychologist J. B. Rhine in 1934 in connection with
experiments that were conducted to determine if a person could influence the outcome of falling
dice.[8][23]

The word telekinesis, a portmanteau of the Greek language words τῆλε ("tēle") – meaningdistance –
and κίνησις ("kinesis") – meaning motion[4] – was coined in 1890 by Russian psychical
researcher Alexander N. Aksakof.[24][25]

Psychokinesis is used within parapsychology, fictional universes and New Age beliefs to describe the

mental influence on physical systems and objects,[5][6][7] while telekinesis is used to refer to the
mental movement and levitation of physical objects.[26][27]

Belief[edit]

In September 2006, a survey about belief in various religious and paranormal topics conducted by
phone and mail-in questionnaire polled 1,721 Americans on their belief in telekinesis. Of these
participants, 28% of male participants and 31% of female participants selected "agree" or "strongly
agree" with the statement, "It is possible to influence the world through the mind alone."[28]

In April 2008, British psychologist and skeptic Richard Wiseman published the results of an online
survey he conducted, entitled "Magicians and the Paranormal: A Survey", in which 400 magicians
worldwide participated. For the question, "Do you believe that psychokinesis exists (i.e., that some
people can, by paranormal means, apply a noticeable force to an object or alter its physical
characteristics)?", the results were as follows: No 83.5%, Yes 9%, Uncertain 7.5%.[29]

Subsets of psychokinesis[edit]
Parapsychologists divide psychokinetic phenomena into two categories: Macro-PK, which are large-
scale psychokinetic effects that can be seen with the naked eye, and Micro-PK, which are small-scale
psychokinetic effects that require the use of statistics to detect them.[7] Certain phenomena such as
telekinesis,[26] psychic healing,[7] and retrocausality[30] are considered types of psychokinesis.

Notable claimants of psychokinetic ability[edit]

Eusapia Palladino "levitates" a table while researcher Alexander Aksakof(right) monitors for fraud,
Milan, 1892.

Spirit photography hoaxer Édouard Isidore Buguet[31] (1840-1901) of France fakes telekinesis in this

1875 cabinet card photograph titled Fluidic Effect.

There have been claimants of psychokinetic ability throughout history. Angelique Cottin (ca. 1846)
known as the "Electric Girl" of France was an alleged generator of PK activity. Cottin and her family
claimed that she produced electric emanations that allowed her to move pieces of furniture and
scissors across a room.[32] Frank Podmore wrote there were many observations which were
"suggestive of fraud" such as the contact of the girl's garments to produce any of the alleged
phenomena and the observations from several witnesses that noticed there was a double
movement on the part of Cottin, a movement in the direction of the object thrown and afterwards
away from it, but the movements so rapid they were not usually detected.[32]

Spiritualist mediums have also claimed psychokinetic abilities. Eusapia Palladino, an Italian medium,

could allegedly cause objects to move during séances. However, she was caught levitating a table
with her foot by the magician Joseph Rinn and using tricks to move objects by the psychologist Hugo
Münsterberg.[33][34]

The Polish medium Stanisława Tomczyk active in the early 20th century claimed to be able to
perform various acts of telekinesis, such as levitating objects, by way of an entity she called "Little
Stasia".[35] A photograph of her taken in 1909, which shows a pair of scissors "floating" in between
her hands, is often found in books and other publications as an example of telekinesis.[36]
[37] Scientists suspected Tomczyk performed her feats by the use of a fine threador hair, running
between her hands to lift and suspend the objects in the air. This was confirmed when psychical
researchers who tested Tomczyk occasionally observed the thread.[37][38][39]

Many of India's "godmen" have claimed macro-PK abilities and demonstrated apparently miraculous
phenomena in public, although as more controls are put in place to prevent trickery, fewer
phenomena are produced.[40]

Magician William Marriott reveals the trick of the medium Stanisława Tomczyk's levitation of a glass
tumbler. Pearson's Magazine, June 1910

Annemarie Schaberl, a 19-year old secretary, was said to have telekinetic powers by the
parapsychologist Hans Bender in the Rosenheim Poltergeist case in the 1960s. Magicians and
scientists who investigated the case suspected the phenomena were produced by trickery.[41][42]

Swami Rama, a yogi skilled in controlling his heart functions, was studied at the Menninger
Foundation in the spring and fall of 1970 and was alleged by some observers at the foundation to
have telekinetically moved a knitting needle twice from a distance of five feet.[43] Although Swami
Rama wore a face-mask and gown to prevent allegations that he moved the needle with his breath
or body movements, and air vents in the room had been covered, at least one physician observer
who was present at the time was not convinced and expressed the opinion that air movement was
somehow the cause.[44]

Psychics[edit]
The Russian psychic Nina Kulagina came to wide public attention following the publication of Sheila
Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder's best seller, Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain. The alleged
Soviet psychic of the late 1960s and early 1970s was filmed apparently performing telekinesis while
seated in numerous black-and-white short films.[45] She was also mentioned in the U.S. Defense
Intelligence Agency report from 1978.[46] Magicians and skeptics have argued that Kulagina's feats
could easily be performed by one practiced in sleight of hand, through means such as cleverly
concealed or disguised threads, small pieces of magnetic metal, or mirrors.[47][48][49][50]

James Hydrick, an American martial arts expert and psychic, was famous for his alleged
psychokinetic ability to turn the pages of books and make pencils spin around while placed on the
edge of a desk. It was later revealed by magicians that he achieved his feats by air currents.[51] The
psychologist Richard Wiseman has written Hydrick learnt to move objects by blowing in a "highly
deceptive" and skillful way.[52] Hydrick confessed to Dan Korem that all of his feats were tricks "My
whole idea behind this in the first place was to see how dumb America was. How dumb the world
is."[53] The British psychic Matthew Manning was the subject of laboratory research in the United
States and England involving PK in the late 1970s and today claims healing powers.[45]
[54] Magicians John Booth and Henry Gordon have suspected Manning used trickery to perform his
feats.[55][56]

In 1971, an American psychic named Felicia Parise allegedly moved a pill bottle across a kitchen
counter by psychokinesis. Her feats were endorsed by the parapsychologist Charles Honorton.
Science writer Martin Gardner wrote Parise had "bamboozled" Honorton by moving the bottle by an
invisible thread stretched between her hands.[50][57]

Boris Ermolaev a Russian psychic was known for levitating small objects. His methods were exposed
on the World of Discovery documentary Secrets of the Russian Psychics (1992). Ermolaev would sit
on a chair and allegedly move the objects between his knees but due to the lighting conditions a fine
thread fixed between his knees suspending the objects was observed by the camera crew.[48]

The Russian psychic Alla Vinogradova was said to be able to move objects without touching them on
transparent acrylic plastic or a plexiglass sheet. The parapsychologist Stanley Krippnerhad observed
Vinogradova rub an aluminum tube before moving it allegedly by psychokinesis. Krippner suggested
no psychokinesis was involved; the effect was produced by an electrostatic charge. Vinogradova was
featured in the Nova documentary Secrets of the Psychics (1993) which followed James Randi's
work.[48] Vinogradova demonstrated her alleged psychokinetic abilities on camera for Randi and
other investigators. Before the experiments she was observed combing her hair and rubbing the
surface of the acrylic plastic. Massimo Polidoro has replicated the feats of Vinogradova by using an
acrylic plastic surface and showing how easy it is to move any kind of object on top of it due to the
charges of static electricity. The effect is easily achieved if the surface is electrically charged by
rubbing a towel or a hand on it.[48] The physicist John Taylor has written "It is very likely that
electrostatics is all that is needed to explain Alla Vinogradova's apparently paranormal feats."[58]

Metal bending[edit]

See also: Spoon bending

Uri Geller was famous for his spoon bending demonstrations.

Psychics have also claimed the psychokinetic ability to bend metal. Uri Geller was famous for
his spoon bending demonstrations, allegedly by PK.[45] Geller has been caught many times
using sleight of hand and according to science writer Terence Hines, all his effects have been
recreated using conjuring tricks.[59][60]

The French psychic Jean-Pierre Girard has claimed he can bend metal bars by PK. Girard was tested
in the 1970s but failed to produce any paranormal effects in scientifically controlled conditions.
[61] He was tested on January 19, 1977 during a two-hour experiment in aParis laboratory. The
experiment was directed by the physicist Yves Farge with a magician also present. All of the
experiments were negative as Girard failed to make any of the objects move paranormally. He failed
two tests in Grenoble in June 1977 with the magician James Randi.[61] He was also tested on
September 24, 1977 at a laboratory at the Nuclear Research Centre. Girard failed to bend any bars or
change the structure of the metals. Other experiments into spoon bending were also negative and
witnesses described his feats as fraudulent. Girard later admitted that he would sometimes cheat to
avoid disappointing the public but insisted he still had genuine psychic power.[61] Magicians and
scientists have written that he produced all his alleged psychokinetic feats through fraudulent
means.[59][62]

Stephen North, a British psychic in the late 1970s, was known for his alleged psychokinetic ability to
bend spoons and teleport objects in and out of sealed containers. The British physicistJohn
Hasted tested North in a series of experiments which he claimed had demonstrated psychokinesis,
though his experiments were criticized for lack of scientific controls.[63][64] North was tested in
Grenoble on 19 December 1977 in scientific conditions and the results were negative.[61] According
to James Randi during a test at Birkbeck College North was observed to have bent a metal sample
with his bare hands. Randi wrote "I find it unfortunate that [Hasted] never had an epiphany in which
he was able to recognize just how thoughtless, cruel, and predatory were the acts perpetrated on
him by fakers who took advantage of his naivety and trust."[65]

"PK Parties" were a cultural fad in the 1980s, begun by Jack Houck,[66] where groups of people were
guided through rituals and chants to awaken metal-bending powers. They were encouraged to shout
at the items of cutlery they had brought and to jump and scream to create an atmosphere of
pandemonium (or what scientific investigators called heightenedsuggestibility). Critics were
excluded and participants were told to avoid looking at their hands. Thousands of people attended
these emotionally charged parties, and many became convinced that they had bent silverware by
paranormal means.[67]

PK parties have been described as a campaign from paranormal believers to convince people
through the basis of nonscientific data that psychokinesis exists from personal experience and
testimony. The United States National Academy of Sciences has criticized PK parties as the
conditions are not reliable for obtaining scientific results and "are just those which psychologists and
others have described as creating states of heightened suggestibility."[67]

Ronnie Marcus, an Israeli psychic and claimant of psychokinetic metal bending, was tested in 1994 in
scientifically controlled conditions and failed to produce any paranormal phenomena.[68]According
to magicians, his alleged psychokinetic feats were sleight of hand tricks. Marcus bent a letter opener
by the concealed application of force and a frame-by-frame analysis of video showed that he bent a
spoon from pressure from his thumb by ordinary, physical means.[69][70]

In popular culture[edit]

Psychokinesis and telekinesis have commonly been used as superpowers in movies, television,
computer games, literature, and other forms of popular culture.[71][72][73]

Notable portrayals of psychokinetic and/or telekinetic characters include the Teleks in the 1952
novella Telek,[74] Sissy Spacek as the title character in the 1976 film Carrie,[75] Ellen Burstyn in the
1980 healer-themed film Resurrection,[76] the Jedi and Sith in the Star Wars franchise,[77]the
Scanners in the 1981 film Scanners,[78] and three high school seniors in the 2012 filmChronicle.[79]

Reception[edit]

Evaluation[edit]

There is a broad scientific consensus that PK research, and parapsychology more generally, have not
produced a reliable, repeatable demonstration.[12][16][17][67][80][81]

A panel commissioned by the United States National Research Council to study paranormal claims
concluded that "despite a 130-year record of scientific research on such matters, our committee
could find no scientific justification for the existence of phenomena such as extrasensory perception,
mental telepathy or ‘mind over matter’ exercises... Evaluation of a large body of the best available
evidence simply does not support the contention that these phenomena exist."[80]

In 1984, the United States National Academy of Sciences, at the request of the US Army Research
Institute, formed a scientific panel to assess the best evidence from 130 years of parapsychology.
Part of its purpose was to investigate military applications of PK, for example to remotely jam or
disrupt enemy weaponry. The panel heard from a variety of military staff who believed in PK and
made visits to the PEAR laboratory and two other laboratories that had claimed positive results from
micro-PK experiments. The panel criticized macro-PK experiments for being open to deception by
conjurors, and said that virtually all micro-PK experiments "depart from good scientific practice in a
variety of ways". Their conclusion, published in a 1987 report, was that there was no scientific
evidence for the existence of psychokinesis.[67]
Carl Sagan included telekinesis in a long list of "offerings of pseudoscience and superstition" which
"it would be foolish to accept (...) without solid scientific data".[82] Nobel Prize laureateRichard
Feynman advocated a similar position.[83]

Felix Planer a Professor of electrical engineering has written that if psychokinesis was real then it
would be easy to demonstrate by getting subjects to depress a scale on a sensitive balance, raise the
temperature of a waterbath which could be measured with an accuracy of a hundredth of a
degree centigrade or affect an element in an electrical circuit such as a resistor which could be
monitored to better than a millionth of an ampere.[84] Planer writes that such experiments are
extremely sensitive and easy to monitor but are not utilized by parapsychologists as they "do not
hold out the remotest hope of demonstrating even a minute trace of PK" because the alleged
phenomenon is non-existent. Planer has written parapsychologists have to fall back on studies that
involve only statistics that are unrepeatable, owing their results to poor experimental methods,
recording mistakes and faulty statistical mathematics.[84]

According to Planer "All research in medicine and other sciences would become illusionary, if the
existence of PK had to be taken seriously; for no experiment could be relied upon to furnish
objective results, since all measurements would become falsified to a greater or lesser degree,
according to his PK ability, by the experimenter's wishes." Planer concluded the concept of
psychokinesis is absurd and has no scientific basis.[85]

PK hypotheses have also been considered in a number of contexts outside parapsychological

experiments. C. E. M. Hansel has written a general objection against the claim for the existence of
psychokinesis is that, if it were a real process, its effects would be expected to manifest in situations
in everyday life but no such effects have been observed.[86]

Martin Gardner has written that if psychokinesis existed then one would expect players to be able to
influence the outcome of gambling games.[87] He gives the example of the "26" dice game played in
bars and cabarets in Chicago but year after year the house takings are exactly those predicted by
chance.[88] Casino owners have not noted any decrease in profits.[89]Science writer Terence
Hines and the philosopher Theodore Schick have written if psychokinesis was possible, then surely
one would expect casino incomes to be affected but the earnings are exactly as the laws of chance
predict.[90][91]

Psychologist Nicholas Humphrey argues that many experiments

in psychology, biology orphysics assume that the intentions of the subjects or experimenter do not
physically distort the apparatus. Humphrey counts them as implicit replications of PK experiments in
which PK fails to appear.[17]

Physics[edit]

The ideas of psychokinesis and telekinesis violate several well-established laws of physics, including
the inverse square law, the second law of thermodynamics, and the conservation of momentum;[80]
[92] because of this, scientists have demanded a high standard of evidence for PK, in line
with Marcello Truzzi's dictum "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof".[17][93]When
apparent PK can be produced in ordinary ways — by trickery, special effects or by poor experimental
design — scientists accept that explanation as more parsimonious than to accept that the laws of
physics should be rewritten.[14][16]

Philosopher and physicist Mario Bunge has written that "psychokinesis, or PK, violates the principle
that mind cannot act directly on matter. (If it did, no experimenter could trust his readings of
measuring instruments.) It also violates the principles of conservation of energy and momentum.
The claim that quantum mechanics allows for the possibility of mental power influencing
randomizers — an alleged case of micro-PK — is ludicrous since that theory respects the said
conservation principles, and it deals exclusively with physical things."[94]

Physicist John Taylor who has investigated parapsychological claims has written an unknown fifth
force causing psychokinesis would have to transmit a great deal of energy. The energy would have to
overcome the electromagnetic forces binding the atoms together. The atoms would need to respond
more strongly to the fifth force while it is operative than to electric forces. Such an additional force
between atoms should therefore exist all the time and not during only alleged paranormal
occurrences. Taylor wrote there is no scientific trace of such a force in physics, down to many orders
of magnitude; thus if a scientific viewpoint is to be preserved the idea of any fifth force must be
discarded. Taylor concluded there is no possible physical mechanism for psychokinesis and it is in
complete contradiction to established science.[95]

In 1979, Evan Harris Walker and Richard Mattuck published a parapsychology paper proposing a

quantum explanation for psychokinesis. Physicist Victor J. Stenger wrote that their explanation
contained assumptions, not supported by any scientific evidence. According to Stenger their paper is
"filled with impressive looking equations and calculations that give the appearance of placing
psychokinesis on a firm scientific footing... Yet look what they have done. They have found the value
of one unknown number (wavefunction steps) that gives one measured number (the supposed
speed of PK-induced motion). This is numerology, not science."[96]

Physicist Sean M. Carroll has written that spoons, like all matter, are made up of atoms and that any
movement of a spoon with the mind would involve the manipulation of those atoms through the
four forces of nature: strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, electromagnetic, andgravitational;
which would make psychokinesis either some form of one of the aforementioned four forces or a
new force that has a billionth the strength of gravity, otherwise it would have been captured in
experiments already done, thus leaving no physical force that could possibly account for
psychokinesis.[97]

Physicist Robert L. Park has found it suspicious that a phenomenon should only ever appear at the
limits of detectability of questionable statistical techniques. He cites this feature as one ofIrving
Langmuir's indicators of pathological science.[81] Park questioned if mind really could influence
matter then it would be easy for parapsychologists to measure such a phenomenon by using the
alleged psychokinetic power to deflect a microbalance which would not require any dubious
statistics but "the reason, of course, is that the microbalance stubbornly refuses to budge." Park has
suggested the reason statistical studies are so popular in parapsychology is because they introduce
opportunities for uncertainty and error which are used to support the biases of the experimenter.
[81]

Explanations in terms of bias[edit]

Cognitive bias research has suggested that people are susceptible to illusions of PK. These include
both the illusion that they themselves have the power, and that events they witness are real
demonstrations of PK.[98] For example, Illusion of control is an illusory correlation between
intention and external events, and believers in the paranormal have been shown to be more
susceptible to this illusion than others.[18][99] Psychologist Thomas Gilovich explains this as a biased
interpretation of personal experience. For example, to someone in a dice game willing for a high
score, high numbers can be interpreted as "success" and low numbers as "not enough
concentration."[80] Bias towards belief in PK may be an example of the human tendency to see
patterns where none exist, called the Clustering illusion, which believers are also more susceptible
to.[98]

A 1952 study tested for experimenter's bias with respect to psychokinesis. Richard Kaufman ofYale
University gave subjects the task of trying to influence eight dice and allowed them to record their
own scores. They were secretly filmed, so their records could be checked for errors. Believers in
psychokinesis made errors that favored its existence, while disbelievers made opposite errors. A
similar pattern of errors was found in J. B. Rhine's dice experiments, which at that time were
considered the strongest evidence for PK.[100]

In 1995, Wiseman and Morris showed subjects an unedited videotape of a magician's performance
in which a fork bent and eventually broke. Believers in the paranormal were significantly more likely
to misinterpret the tape as a demonstration of PK, and were more likely to misremember crucial
details of the presentation. This suggests that confirmation bias affects people's interpretation of PK
demonstrations.[19] Psychologist Robert Sternberg cites confirmation bias as an explanation of why
belief in psychic phenomena persists, despite the lack of evidence:

"Some of the worst examples of confirmation bias are in research on parapsychology (...) Arguably,
there is a whole field here with no powerful confirming data at all. But people want to believe, and
so they find ways to believe."[101]

Psychologist Daniel Wegner has argued that an introspection illusion contributes to belief in

psychokinesis.[102] He observes that in everyday experience, intention (such as wanting to turn on a
light) is followed by action (such as flicking a light switch) in a reliable way, but the underlying neural
mechanisms are outside awareness. Hence, though subjects may feel that they directly introspect
their own free will, the experience of control is actually inferred from relations between the thought
and the action. This theory of apparent mental causationacknowledges the influence of David
Hume's view of the mind.[102] This process for detecting when one is responsible for an action is
not totally reliable, and when it goes wrong there can be an illusion of control. This could happen
when an external event follows, and is congruent with, a thought in someone's mind, without an
actual causal link.[102]

As evidence, Wegner cites a series of experiments on magical thinking in which subjects were
induced to think they had influenced external events. In one experiment, subjects watched
abasketball player taking a series of free throws. When they were instructed to visualize him making
his shots, they felt that they had contributed to his success.[103]

A 2006 meta-analysis of 380 studies found a small positive effect that can be explained bypublication
bias.[104]

Magic and special effects[edit]

An advertising poster depicting magician Harry Kellar performing the "Levitation of Princess Karnac"
illusion, 1894, U.S. Library of Congress.

See also: Mentalism

Magicians have successfully simulated some of the specialized abilities of psychokinesis, such as
object movement, spoon bending, levitation and teleportation.[105] According to Robert Todd
Carroll, there are many impressive magic tricks available to amateurs and professionals to simulate
psychokinetic powers.[106] Metal objects such as keys or cutlery can be bent using a number of
different techniques, even if the performer has not had access to the items beforehand.[107]

According to Richard Wiseman there are a number of ways for faking psychokinetic metal bending
(PKMB). These include switching straight objects for pre-bent duplicates, the concealed application
of force, and secretly inducing metallic fractures.[108] Research has also suggested that (PKMB)
effects can be created byverbal suggestion. On this subject the magician Ben Harris wrote:

"If you are doing a really convincing job, then you should be able to put a bent key on the table and
comment, ‘Look, it is still bending’, and have your spectators really believe that it is. This may sound
the height of boldness; however, the effect is astounding – and combined with suggestion, it does
work."[109]

Between 1979 and 1981, the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research at Washington University
reported a series of experiments they named Project Alpha, in which two teenaged male subjects
had demonstrated PK phenomena (including metal-bending and causing images to appear on film)
under less than stringent laboratory conditions. James Randi eventually revealed that the subjects
were two of his associates, amateur conjurers Steve Shaw and Michael Edwards. The pair had
created the effects by standard trickery, but the researchers, being unfamiliar with magic
techniques, interpreted them as proof of PK.[110]

Prize money for proof of psychokinesis[edit]

Main article: List of prizes for evidence of the paranormal

Internationally there are individual skeptics of the paranormal and skeptics' organizations who offer
cash prize money for demonstration of the existence of an extraordinary psychic power, such as
psychokinesis.[111] Prizes have been offered specifically for PK demonstrations, for example
businessman Gerald Fleming's offer of £250,000 to Uri Geller if he can bend a spoon under
controlled conditions.[112] These prizes remain uncollected by people claiming to possess
paranormal abilities.

The James Randi Educational Foundation offers the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge to

anyone who claims to be able to produce a paranormal event in a controlled, mutually agreed upon
experiment.[113] To date no one has been able to demonstrate their claimed abilities under the
testing conditions.[114]

See also[edit]

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

Energy (esotericism)

Global Consciousness Project

List of psychic abilities

Magical thinking

Mind over matter

Psi

Human magnetism

Telepathy

Torsion field

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Wadsworth Cengage Learning. p. 635.ISBN 0840034172.

Jump up^ Schick, Jr, Theodore (2010). How to Think about Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New
Age (6th ed. ed.). Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill. p. 222. ISBN 007353577X.

Jump up^ Gardner, Martin (September 1981). "Einstein and ESP". In Kendrick Frazier.Paranormal

Borderlands of Science. Prometheus. pp. 60–65. ISBN 978-0-87975-148-7.

Jump up^ Sutherland, Stuart (1994). Irrationality: the enemy within. Penguin books. p. 309.ISBN 978-

0-14-016726-9. [T]he movement of objects without the application of physical force would, if
proven, require a complete revision of the laws of physics. (...) [T]he more improbable something is,
the better the evidence needed to accept it

Jump up^ Bunge, Mario (2001). Philosophy in Crisis :The Need for Reconstruction. Amherst, N.Y.:
Prometheus Books. p. 176.ISBN 1-57392-843-7.

Jump up^ Taylor, John (1980). Science and the Supernatural: An Investigation of Paranormal

Phenomena Including Psychic Healing, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, and Precognition by a Distinguished
Physicist and Mathematician. London: T. Smith. pp. 27–30.ISBN 0-85117-191-5.

Jump up^ Stenger, Victor J. (1990). Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses.
Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. pp. 248–250. ISBN 978-0-87975-575-1.

Jump up^ "Telekinesis and Quantum Field Theory : Cosmic Variance". Blogs.discovermagazine.com.

2008-02-18. Retrieved 2014-03-11.

^ Jump up to:a b Blackmore, Susan J. (1992). "Psychic Experiences: Psychic Illusions". Skeptical

Inquirer 16: 367–376.

Jump up^ Blackmore, Susan J.; Tom Trościanko (1985). "Belief in the paranormal Probability
judgements, illusory control, and the "chance baseline shift."". British Journal of Psychology 76 (4):
459–468.doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1985.tb01969.x.

Jump up^ Gardner, Martin (1957). Fads & Fallacies in the Name of Science. Dover. p. 306.ISBN 978-0-
486-20394-2.

Jump up^ Sternberg, Robert J. (2007). "Critical Thinking in Psychology: It really is critical". In Robert J.
Sternberg, Henry L. Roediger, Diane F. Halpern. Critical Thinking in Psychology. Henry L. Roediger,
Diane F. Halpern. Cambridge University Press. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-521-60834-3. Some of the worst
examples of confirmation bias are in research on parapsychology (...) Arguably, there is a whole field
here with no powerful confirming data at all. But people want to believe, and so they find ways to
believe.

^ Jump up to:a b c John Baer; Wegner, Daniel M. (2008). "Self is Magic". In John Baer, James C.
Kaufman, Roy F. Baumeister. Are we free?: psychology and free will. James C. Kaufman, Roy F.
Baumeister. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-518963-6. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
Jump up^ Pronin, Emily (2006). Daniel M. Wegner, Kimberly McCarthy, Sylvia Rodriguez."Everyday
Magical Powers: The Role of Apparent Mental Causation in the Overestimation of Personal
Influence".Journal of Personality and Social Psychology(American Psychological Association) 91 (2):
218–231. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.2.218. ISSN 0022-3514.PMID 16881760. Retrieved 2009-07-03.

Jump up^ Holger Bösch; Fiona Steinkamp; Emil Boller (July 2006). "Examining psychokinesis: The
interaction of human intention with random number generators--A meta-analysis". Psychological
Bulletin 132(4): 497–523. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.4.497. PMID 16822162.

Jump up^ Carruthers, Peter. (2004). The Nature of the Mind: An Introduction. Routledge. 135-136.

Jump up^ Carroll, Robert Todd (2003-07-17). "Psychokinesis". The Skeptic's Dictionary: a collection

of strange beliefs, amusing deceptions, and dangerous delusions. Wiley. p. 316. ISBN 978-0-471-
27242-7.

Jump up^ Hines, Terence (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (2nd ed.). Prometheus.

pp. 127–131. ISBN 978-1-57392-979-0.

Jump up^ Wiseman, R. & Greening, E. (2005). It's still bending': Verbal suggestion and alleged
psychokinetic ability. British Journal of Psychology 96: 115–127.

Jump up^ Harris, Ben (1985). Gellerism Revealed: the Psychology and Methodology Behind the
Geller Effect. Calgary: M. Hades International. pp. 195–196. ISBN 978-0919230927.

Jump up^ Colman, Andrew M. (1987). Facts, Fallacies and Frauds in Psychology. Unwin Hyman.
pp. 195–6. ISBN 978-0-09-173041-3.

Jump up^ "Randi $1,000,000 paranormal challenge - The Skeptic's Dictionary". Skepdic.com.

Retrieved 2014-04-12.

Jump up^ Hutchinson, Mike (1988). "A Thorn in Geller's Side". British and Irish Skeptic(July/August):
2–4.

Jump up^ "JREF’s $1,000,000 Paranormal Challenge Now Easier Than Ever". Randi.org.
Retrieved 2014-04-12.

Jump up^ "Challenge Info". Randi.org. Retrieved2014-04-12.

Further reading[edit]

Thomas Gilovich. (1993). How We Know What Isn't So: Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life.
Free Press. ISBN 978-0-02-911706-4

Henry Gordon. (1988). Extrasensory Deception: ESP, Psychics, Shirley MacLaine, Ghosts, UFOs.
Macmillan of Canada. ISBN 0-7715-9539-5

Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-979-4

David Marks. (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic (2nd Edition). Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-
798-8

James Randi. (1982). Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions. Prometheus
Books. ISBN 0-87975-198-3

Richard Wiseman. (1997). Deception & Self-Deception: Investigating Psychics. Prometheus

Books ISBN 978-1-57392-121-3
External links[edit]

The Global Consciousness Project hosted at Princeton University in the United States.

"The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR)" entry in the online edition of theSkeptic's
Dictionary by philosopher Robert Todd Carroll.

Uri Geller Caught Red-Handed by Massimo Polidoro.

Psychokinesis at DMOZ
Pyrokinesis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.Please

help improve this article by adding citations to reliable
sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (September 2014)

Pyrokinesis is an alleged psychic ability allowing a person to create and control fire with the mind.
The term was coined by horror novelist Stephen King in his 1980 novel, Firestarter, to describe the
ability of protagonist Charlie McGee to create and control fire.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Etymology

2 Explanation

2.1 Fiction

2.2 Science

3 Reports

4 References

5 Further reading

6 See also

Etymology[edit]

The word pyrokinesis comes from the Greek language πῦρ κίνησις, meaning "fire motion".[citation
needed] It was coined by horror novelist Stephen King for protagonist Charlie McGee's ability to
create and control fire in King's 1980 novel, Firestarter.[citation needed] The word is intended to be
parallel to telekinesis, with S.T. Joshi describing it as a "singularly unfortunate coinage."[1] King is the
first person to give the idea a name as neither the term pyrokinesis nor any other term describing
the idea have been found in prior works.[2][3]

Explanation[edit]

Fiction[edit]

Various works of fiction have described pyrokinesis as the ability to generate and control fire using
the power of the mind.[citation needed]

Science[edit]

Without some form of electromechanical device, such as a device to release several of the
compounds that do spontaneously ignite upon contact with the oxygen in air (such as silane,
apyrophoric gas, or rubidium), or some form of triggering device located at the source of the fire,
there is no scientifically known method for the brain to trigger explosions and fires at a distance.[4]

Reports[edit]
A.W. Underwood, a 19th-century African-American, achieved minor celebrity status with the
purported ability to set items ablaze.[citation needed] Scientists suggested concealed pieces
ofphosphorus may have instead been responsible. White phosphorus ignites in air at about 30 °C; as
this is slightly below body temperature, the phosphorus could be readily ignited by breath or
rubbing.[citation needed]

In March 2011, a 3 year-old girl in Antique Province, Philippines gained media attention for the
supposed supernatural power to predict or create fires. The town mayor said he witnessed a pillow
ignite after the girl said "fire... pillow." Others claimed to have witnessed the girl either predicting or
causing fire without physical contact to the objects.[5]

References[edit]

Jump up^ Joshi, S.T. (2001). The Modern Weird Tale. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-
7864-0986-0.

Jump up^ Muir, John Kenneth (2001). An Analytical Guide to Television's One Step Beyond, 1959-
1961. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. pp. 77–78. ISBN 978-0-7864-0969-3.

Jump up^ McCrossan, John A. (2000). Books and Reading in the Lives of Notable Americans: A
Biographical Sourcebook ([Online-Ausg.] ed.). Westport, Conn. [u.a.]: Greenwood Press.
p. 144.ISBN 0-313-30376-2.

Jump up^ Gresh, Lois H.; Weinberg, Robert (2007). The Science of Stephen King: From Carrie to Cell,
The Terrifying Truth Behind the Horror Masters Fiction. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley & Sons. pp. 38–
39.ISBN 978-0-471-78247-6.

Jump up^ "Fire ‘seer’ draws hundreds to Antique village - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for
Filipinos". Newsinfo.inquirer.net. Retrieved 2013-11-07.

Further reading[edit]

Taylor, John. (1980). Science and the Supernatural: An Investigation of Paranormal Phenomena

Including Psychic Healing, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, and Precognition by a Distinguished Physicist and
Mathematician. Temple Smith. ISBN 0-85117-191-5
Religious experience

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Wayne Proudfoot book, see Religious Experience (book).

This article needs additional citations for verification.Please

help improve this article by adding citations to reliable
sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (July 2009)

Part of a series on

Spirituality

Outline

Religion[show]

Traditional[show]

Modern[show]

Practices[hide]

Spiritual practice

Religious experience

Esotericism

Influences

Western[show]

Orientalist[show]

Asian[show]

Psychological[show]

Category

v
 t

A religious experience (sometimes known as aspiritual experience, sacred experience,

ormystical experience) is a subjective experiencewhich is interpreted within a religious framework.
[1]The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense against the growing rationalism of
western society.[2] William James popularised the concept.[2]

Many religious and mystical traditions see religious experiences (particularly that knowledge that
comes with them) as revelations caused by divine agency rather than ordinary natural processes.
They are considered real encounters with God or gods, or real contact with higher-order realities of
which humans are not ordinarily aware.[3]

Skeptics or scientists may hold that religious experience is an evolved feature of the human brain
amenable to normal scientific study.[note 1]The commonalities and differences between religious
experiences across different cultures have enabled scholars to categorize them for academic study.
[4]

Contents

  [hide] 

1 History

1.1 Origins

1.2 Criticism

2 Definitions

2.1 William James' definition

2.2 Norman Habel's definition

2.3 Richard Swinburne's definition

3 Related terms

4 Religious and mystical points of view

4.1 Buddhism

4.2 Christianity

4.2.1 Christian mysticism

4.2.2 Hesychasm

4.3 Hinduism

4.3.1 Meher Baba

4.4 Neoplatonism

4.5 Islam

5 Scientific studies on religious experience

5.1 Psychology

5.1.1 Transpersonal psychology

5.1.2 Psychology of religion

5.1.2.1 Carl Jung

5.2 Neuroscience

5.2.1 Neurotheology

5.2.2 Studies of the brain and religious experience

5.2.3 Studies of the effect of psychedelic drug on spirituality

6 Initiation of religious experiences

7 Other views

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

11 Sources

12 Further reading

13 External links

History[edit]

Origins[edit]

The notion of "religious experience" can be traced back to William James, who used the term
"religious experience" in his book, The Varieties of Religious Experience.[5] The origins of the use of
this term can be dated further back.[2]

In the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, several historical figures put forth very influential views that
religion and its beliefs can be grounded in experience itself. While Kant held that moral
experience justified religious beliefs, John Wesley in addition to stressing individual moral exertion
thought that the religious experiences in the Methodist movement (paralleling theRomantic
Movement) were foundational to religious commitment as a way of life.[6]

Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of "religious experience" to the German
theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834), who argued that religion is based on a feeling of
the infinite. The notion of "religious experience" was used by Schleiermacher and Albert Ritschl to
defend religion against the growing scientific and secular citique, and defend the view that human
(moral and religious) experience justifies religious beliefs.[2]

Such religious empiricism would be later seen as highly problematic and was — during the period in-
between world wars — famously rejected by Karl Barth.[7] In the 20th century, religious as well as
moral experience as justification for religious beliefs still holds sway. Some influential modern
scholars holding this liberal theological view are Charles Raven and the Oxford
physicist/theologian Charles Coulson.[8]
The notion of "religious experience" was adopted by many scholars of religion, of which William
James was the most influential.[9][note 2]

Criticism[edit]

The notion of "experience" has been criticised.[14][15][16] Robert Sharf points out that "experience"
is a typical Western term, which has found its way into Asian religiosity via western influences.[14]
[note 3] The notion of "experience" introduces a false notion of duality between "experiencer" and
"experienced", whereas the essence of kensho is the realisation of the "non-duality" of observer and
observed.[18][19] "Pure experience" does not exist; all experience is mediated by intellectual and
cognitive activity.[20][21] The specific teachings and practices of a specific tradition may even
determine what "experience" someone has, which means that this "experience" is not the proof of
the teaching, but a result of the teaching.[1] A pure consciousness without concepts, reached by
"cleaning the doors of perception",[note 4] would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input
without coherence.[23]

Definitions[edit]

William James' definition[edit]

Psychologist and Philosopher William James described four characteristics of mystical experience

in The Varieties of Religious Experience. According to James, such an experience is:

Transient — the experience is temporary; the individual soon returns to a "normal" frame of mind. It
is outside our normal perception of space and time.

Ineffable — the experience cannot be adequately put into words.

Noetic — the individual feels that he or she has learned something valuable from the experience.
Gives us knowledge that is normally hidden from human understanding.

Passive — the experience happens to the individual, largely without conscious control. Although
there are activities, such as meditation (see below), that can make religious experience more likely,
it is not something that can be turned on and off at will.

Norman Habel's definition[edit]

Habel defines religious experiences as the structured way in which a believer enters into a
relationship with, or gains an awareness of, the sacred within the context of a particular religious
tradition (Habel, O'Donoghue and Maddox: 1993).Religious experiences are by their very
naturepreternatural; that is, out of the ordinary or beyond the natural order of things. They may be
difficult to distinguish observationally from psychopathological states such as psychoses or other
forms of altered awareness (Charlesworth: 1988). Not all preternatural experiences are considered
to be religious experiences. Following Habel's definition, psychopathological states or drug-induced
states of awareness are not considered to be religious experiences because they are mostly not
performed within the context of a particular religious tradition.

Moore and Habel identify two classes of religious experiences: the immediate and the mediated
religious experience (Moore and Habel: 1982).

Mediated — In the mediated experience, the believer experiences the sacred through mediators
such as rituals, special persons, religious groups, totemic objects or the natural world (Habel et al.:
1993).
Immediate — The immediate experience comes to the believer without any intervening agency or
mediator. The deity or divine is experienced directly

Richard Swinburne's definition[edit]

In his book Faith and Reason, the philosopher Richard Swinburne formulated five categories into
which all religious experiences fall:

Public — a believer 'sees God's hand at work', whereas other explanations are possible e.g. looking
at a beautiful sunset

Public — an unusual event that breaches natural law e.g. walking on water

Private — describable using normal language e.g. Jacob's vision of a ladder

Private — indescribable using normal language, usually a mystical experience e.g. "white did not
cease to be white, nor black cease to be black, but black became white and white became black."

Private — a non-specific, general feeling of God working in one's life.

Swinburne also suggested two principles for the assessment of religious experiences:

Principle of Credulity — with the absence of any reason to disbelieve it, one should accept what
appears to be true e.g. if one sees someone walking on water, one should believe that it is occurring.

Principle of Testimony — with the absence of any reason to disbelieve them, one should accept that
eyewitnesses or believers are telling the truth when they testify about religious experiences.

Related terms[edit]

Numinous — The German thinker Rudolf Otto (1869–1937) argues that there is one common factor
to all religious experience, independent of the cultural background. In his book The Idea of the
Holy (1923) he identifies this factor as the numinous. The “numinous” experience has two
aspects: mysterium tremendum, which is the tendency to invoke fear and trembling; andmysterium
fascinans, the tendency to attract, fascinate and compel. The numinous experience also has a
personal quality to it, in that the person feels to be in communion with a holy other. Otto sees the
numinous as the only possible religious experience. He states: "There is no religion in which it [the
numinous] does not live as the real innermost core and without it no religion would be worthy of the
name" (Otto: 1972). Otto does not take any other kind of religious experience such as ecstasy and
enthusiasm seriously and is of the opinion that they belong to the 'vestibule of religion'.

Ecstasy — In ecstasy the believer is understood to have a soul or spirit which can leave the body. In
ecstasy the focus is on the soul leaving the body and to experience transcendental realities. This type
of religious experience is characteristic for the shaman.

Enthusiasm — In enthusiasm — or possession — God is understood to be outside, other than or

beyond the believer. A sacred power, being or will enters the body or mind of an individual and
possesses it. A person capable of being possessed is sometimes called a medium. Thedeity, spirit or
power uses such a person to communicate to the immanent world. Lewis argues that ecstasy and
possession are basically one and the same experience, ecstasy being merely one form which
possession may take. The outward manifestation of the phenomenon is the same in that shamans
appear to be possessed by spirits, act as their mediums, and even though they claim to have mastery
over them, can lose that mastery (Lewis: 1986).
Mystical — Mystical experiences are in many ways the opposite of numinous experiences. In the
mystical experience, all 'otherness' disappear and the believer becomes one with the transcendent.
The believer discovers that he or she is not distinct from the cosmos, the deity or the other reality,
but one with it. Zaehner has identified two distinctively different mystical experiences: natural and
religious mystical experiences (Charlesworth: 1988). Natural mystical experiences are, for example,
experiences of the 'deeper self' or experiences of oneness with nature. Zaehner argues that the
experiences typical of 'natural mysticism' are quite different from the experiences typical of religious
mysticism (Charlesworth: 1988). Natural mystical experiences are not considered to be religious
experiences because they are not linked to a particular tradition, but natural mystical experiences
are spiritual experiences that can have a profound effect on the individual.

Spiritual awakening — A spiritual awakening usually involves a realization or opening to a sacred

dimension of reality and may or may not be a religious experience. Often a spiritual awakening has
lasting effects upon one's life. The term "spiritual awakening" may be used to refer to any of a wide
range of experiences including being born again, near-death experiences, and mystical
experiences such as liberation and enlightenment.

Religious and mystical points of view[edit]

Buddhism[edit]

The Buddha demonstrating control over fire and water. Gandhara, 3rd century CE

Buddhism is a 2500-year-old religion. Religious experiences and their results are described in
Buddhist literature including the earliest strata. Buddhist religious experience is a result of the
threefold training of discipline (śīla), meditative concentration (samādhi), and transcendent wisdom
(prajñā). Supernormal abilities are developed from meditation, and are termed "higher knowledge"
(abhijñā), or "spiritual power" (ṛddhi). One early description found in the Samyutta Nikaya is the
following:[24]

When the four bases of spiritual power have been developed and cultivated in this way,
a bhikkhuwields the various kinds of spiritual power: having been one, he becomes many; having
been many, he becomes one; he appears and vanishes; he goes unhindered through a wall, through
a rampart, through a mountain as though through space; he dives in and out of the earth as though
it were water; he walks on water without sinking as though it were earth; seated cross-legged, he
travels in space like a bird; with his hands he touches and strokes the moon and sun so powerful and
mighty; he exercises mastery with the body as far as the brahmā world.

Different varieties of religious experience are described in detail in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. In its
section on the fifty skandha-maras, each of the five skandhas has ten skandha-maras associated with
it, and each skandha-mara is described in detail as a deviation from correct samādhi. These skandha-
maras are also known as the "fifty skandha demons" in some English-language publications. Ron
Epstein indicates that this framework may be used for interpreting religious experience for both
Buddhists and non-Buddhists:[25]

For each state a description is given of the mental phenomena experienced by the practitioner, the
causes of the phenomena and the difficulties which arise from attachment to the phenomena and
misinterpretation of them. In essence what is presented is both a unique method of cataloguing and
classifying spiritual experience and indication of causal factors involved in the experience of the
phenomena. Although the fifty states presented are by no means exhaustive, the approach taken
has the potential of offering a framework for the classification of all spiritual experience, both
Buddhist and non-Buddhist.

Christianity[edit]

Christian mysticism[edit]

Main article: Christian mysticism

Three early Methodist leaders,Charles Wesley, John Wesley, andFrancis Asbury, portrayed in stained
glass at the Memorial Chapel, Lake Junaluska, North Carolina

Christian doctrine generally maintains that God dwells in all Christians and that they can experience
God directly through belief in Jesus,[26] Christian mysticism aspires to apprehend spiritual truths
inaccessible through intellectual means, typically by emulation of Christ.William Inge divides
this scala perfectionis into three stages: the "purgative" or ascetic stage, the "illuminative" or
contemplative stage, and the third, "unitive" stage, in which God may be beheld "face to face."[27]

The third stage, usually called contemplation in the Western tradition, refers to the experience of
oneself as united with God in some way. The experience of union varies, but it is first and foremost
always associated with a reuniting with Divine love. The underlying theme here is that God, the
perfect goodness,[28] is known or experienced at least as much by the heart as by the intellect since,
in the words of 1 John 4:16: "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him."
Some approaches to classical mysticism would consider the first two phases as preparatory to the
third, explicitly mystical experience; but others state that these three phases overlap and intertwine.

Hesychasm[edit]
Based on Christ's injunction in the Gospel of Matthew to "go into your closet to pray",
[29]hesychasm in tradition has been the process of retiring inward by ceasing to register the senses,
in order to achieve an experiential knowledge of God (see theoria).

The highest goal of the hesychast is the experiential knowledge of God. In the 14th Century, the
possibility of this experiential knowledge of God was challenged by a Calabrian monk, Barlaam, who,
although he was formally a member of the Orthodox Church, had been trained in Western Scholastic
theology. Barlaam asserted that our knowledge of God can only be propositional. The practice of the
hesychasts was defended by St. Gregory Palamas.

In solitude and retirement the hesychast repeats the Jesus Prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God,
have mercy on me, a sinner." He considers bare repetition of the Jesus Prayer as a mere string of
syllables, perhaps with a 'mystical' inner meaning beyond the overt verbal meaning, to be worthless
or even dangerous.

Hinduism[edit]

According to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, "Hinduism is not just a faith. It is the union

of reason andintuition that cannot be defined, but is only to be experienced."[30] This emphasis on
experience as validation of a religious worldview is a modern development, which started in the
19th century, and was introduced to Indian thought by western Unitarian missionaries.[31] It has
been popularized in Neo-Vedanta, which has dominated the popular understanding of Hinduism
since the 19th century.[32][note 5] It emphasizes mysticism,[32] Aryan origins and the unity of
Hinduism[33] have been emphasised.[34][35][36][32]

Meher Baba[edit]

According to the syncretistic Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba, "Spiritual experience involves

more than can be grasped by mere intellect. This is often emphasised by calling it a mystical
experience. Mysticism is often regarded as something anti-intellectual, obscure and confused, or
impractical and unconnected with experience. In fact, true mysticism is none of these. There is
nothing irrational in true mysticism when it is, as it should be, a vision of Reality. It is a form of
perception which is absolutely unclouded, and so practical that it can be lived every moment of life
and expressed in every-day duties. Its connection with experience is so deep that, in one sense, it is
the final understanding of all experience."[37]

Neoplatonism[edit]

Neoplatonism is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape
in the 3rd century AD, founded by Plotinus and based on the teachings of Plato and
earlier Platonists.

Neoplatonism teaches that along the same road by which it descended the soul must retrace its
steps back to the supreme Good. It must first of all return to itself. This is accomplished by the
practice of virtue, which aims at likeness to God, and leads up to God. By means
of asceticobservances the human becomes once more a spiritual and enduring being, free from all
sin. But there is still a higher attainment; it is not enough to be sinless, one must become "God",
(henosis). This is reached through contemplation of the primeval Being, the One — in other words,
through an ecstatic approach to it.

It is only in a state of perfect passivity and repose that the soul can recognize and touch the primeval
Being. Hence the soul must first pass through a spiritual curriculum. Beginning with the
contemplation of corporeal things in their multiplicity and harmony, it then retires upon itself and
withdraws into the depths of its own being, rising thence to the nous, the world of ideas. But even
there it does not find the Highest, the One; it still hears a voice saying, "not we have made
ourselves." The last stage is reached when, in the highest tension and concentration, beholding in
silence and utter forgetfulness of all things, it is able as it were to lose itself. Then it may see God,
the foundation of life, the source of being, the origin of all good, the root of the soul. In that moment
it enjoys the highest indescribable bliss; it is as it were swallowed up of divinity, bathed in the light of
eternity. Porphyry tells us that on four occasions during the six years of their intercourse Plotinus
attained to this ecstatic union with God.

Islam[edit]

While all Muslims believe that they are on the pathway to God and will become close to God in
Paradise — after death and after the "Final Judgment" — Sufis believe that it is possible to become
close to God and to experience this closeness while one is alive.[38] Sufis believe in a tripartite way
to God as explained by a tradition attributed to the Prophet,"The Shariah are my words (aqwal),
the tariqa are my actions (amal), and the haqiqa is my interior states (ahwal)". Shariah, tariqa and
haqiqa are mutually interdependent.

The tariqa, the ‘path’ on which the mystics walk, has been defined as ‘the path which comes out of
the Shariah, for the main road is called shar, the path, tariq.’ No mystical experience can be realized
if the binding injunctions of the Shariah are not followed faithfully first. The path, tariqa, however, is
narrower and more difficult to walk. It leads the adept, called salik (wayfarer), in his suluk
(wandering), through different stations (maqam) until he reaches his goal, the perfect tauhid, the
existential confession that God is One.[39]

Scientific studies on religious experience[edit]

There are many areas of science that explore the religious experience
like Neurotheology,Transpersonal psychology, Psychology of religion, and Parapsychology

Psychology[edit]

Transpersonal psychology[edit]

Transpersonal psychology is a school of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-

transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience. The Journal of Transpersonal
Psychology describes transpersonal psychology as "the study of humanity’s highest potential, and
with the recognition, understanding, and realization of unitive, spiritual, and transcendent states of
consciousness" (Lajoie and Shapiro, 1992:91). Issues considered in transpersonal psychology include
spiritual self-development, peak experiences, mystical experiences, systemic trance and
other metaphysical experiences of living.

U.S. psychologist and philosopher William James (1842–1910) is regarded by most psychologists of

religion as the founder of the field. His Varieties of Religious Experience is considered to be the
classic work in the field, and references to James' ideas are common at professional conferences.

James distinguished between institutional religion and personal religion. Institutional religion refers

to the religious group or organization, and plays an important part in a society's culture. Personal
religion, in which the individual has mystical experience, can be experienced regardless of the
culture.

Psychology of religion[edit]
Psychology of religion is the psychological study of religious experiences, beliefs, and activities.

Carl Jung[edit]

Carl Jung's work on himself and his patients convinced him that life has a spiritual purpose beyond
material goals. Our main task, he believed, is to discover and fulfil our deep innate potential, much
as the acorn contains the potential to become the oak, or the caterpillar to become the butterfly.
Based on his study of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism,Taoism, and other traditions,
Jung perceived that this journey of transformation is at the mystical heart of all religions. It is a
journey to meet the self and at the same time to meet the Divine. Unlike Sigmund Freud, Jung
thought spiritual experience was essential to our well-being.[40]

The notion of the numinous was an important concept in the writings of Carl Jung. Jung regarded
numinous experiences as fundamental to an understanding of the individuation process because of
their association with experiences of synchronicity in which the presence of archetypes is felt.[41]
[42]

Neuroscience[edit]

Neurotheology[edit]

Neurotheology, also known as biotheology or spiritual neuroscience,[43] is the study of correlations

of neural phenomena with subjective experiences of spirituality and hypotheses to explain these
phenomena. Proponents of neurotheology claim that there is a neurological andevolutionary basis
for subjective experiences traditionally categorized as spiritual or religious.[44]

According to the neurotheologist Andrew B. Newberg, neurological processes which are driven by

the repetitive, rhythmic stimulation which is typical of human ritual, and which contribute to the
delivery of transcendental feelings of connection to a universal unity.[clarification needed] They
posit, however, that physical stimulation alone is not sufficient to generate transcendental unitive
experiences. For this to occur they say there must be a blending of the rhythmic stimulation with
ideas. Once this occurs "...ritual turns a meaningful idea into a visceral experience."[45] Moreover
they say that humans are compelled to act out myths by the biological operations of the brain due to
what they call the "inbuilt tendency of the brain to turn thoughts into actions".

Studies of the brain and religious experience[edit]

Early studies in the 1950s and 1960s attempted to use EEGs to study brain wave patterns correlated
with spiritual states. During the 1980s Dr. Michael Persinger stimulated the temporal lobes of human
subjects[46] with a weak magnetic field. His subjects claimed to have a sensation of "an ethereal
presence in the room."[47] Some current studies use neuroimaging to localize brain regions active,
or differentially active, during religious experiences.[48][49][50] These neuroimaging studies have
implicated a number of brain regions, including the limbic system, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex,
superior parietal lobe, and caudate nucleus.[51][52][53] Based on the complex nature of religious
experience, it is likely that they are mediated by an interaction of neural mechanisms that all add a
small piece to the overall experience.[52]

Studies of the effect of psychedelic drug on spirituality[edit]

Dr. RR Griffiths and colleagues at Johns Hopkin University had done a double blind study evaluating
the psychological effects of psilocybin comparing with methylphenidate(Ritalin). 36 hallucinogen-
naive adults were recruited. 22 of the 36 reported mystical experience. The effect persisted even at
2 and 14 months follow-up.[54][55] The group continued to do studies in evaluating the effect with
different dosing[56] and the resulting mystical effect on personality.[57]

Initiation of religious experiences[edit]

Meditation

Sufi whirling

Various religious texts prescribe meditative practices in order to achieve the state of consciousness
which is typical of religious experience. Texts of Yoga and Tantra mention specific physical, nutritive,
ethical, and meditative methods in order to achieve specific kinds of experiences. The traditions of
Mantra Marga (literally, "the way of formulae") in particular stress the importance of saying, either
aloud or to oneself internally, particular Mantras (phrases to be repeated) given by their teacher.
[58] Combined with this is the set of practices related to Yantras (symbols to be meditated on).
Various other ways not specific of any religion include:

Meditation[59]

Praying[60]

Music[61]

Dance, such as:

Sufi whirling[62]
Extended exercise, often running in a large communal circle, which is used in various tribal and neo-
pagan religions.

Extreme pain, such as:

Mortification of the flesh[63]

Profound sexual activity[64]

Use of entheogens, such as:

Ayahuasca (DMT)[65]

Salvia divinorum (salvinorin A)[66]

Peyote (mescaline)[67]

Psilocybin mushrooms (psilocybin)[68]

Amanita muscaria (muscimol)[69]

Psychological or neurophysiological anomalies, such as:

Profound depression[70] or schizophrenia

Temporal lobe epilepsy[71]

Stroke[72]

Near-death experience[73]

Learning[citation needed]

Other views[edit]

A 2012 paper suggested that psychiatric conditions associated with psychotic spectrum symptoms
may be possible explanations for revelatory driven experiences and activities such as those of
Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Saint Paul.[74]

See also[edit]

Altered state of consciousness

Psychedelic experience

Argument from religious experience

Cognitive science of religion

Enlightenment (spiritual)

Entheogens

Higher consciousness

Kundalini

Mysticism

Near death experience

Neurotheology

Nirvana

Numinosum

Psychology of religion

Psychonaut

Religious ecstasy

Religious Experience Research Centre

Religious revival

Revelation

Samadhi

Self-knowledge

Spiritual crisis

The Varieties of Religious Experience

Theta rhythm

Transcendence (religion)

Transpersonal psychology

Turiya

Notes[edit]

Jump up^ Such study may be said to have begun with the American psychologist and
philosopher William James in his 1901/02Gifford Lectures later published as The Varieties of
Religious Experience.

Jump up^ James also gives descriptions of conversion experiences. The Christian model of dramatic
conversions, based on the role-model of Paul's conversion, may also have served as a model for
Western interpretations and expectations regarding "enlightenment", similar to Protestant
influences on Theravada Buddhism, as described by Carrithers: "It rests upon the notion of the
primacy of religious experiences, preferably spectacular ones, as the origin and legitimation of
religious action. But this presupposition has a natural home, not in Buddhism, but in Christian and
especially Protestant Christian movements which prescribe a radical conversion."[10]See Sekida for
an example of this influence of William James and Christian conversion stories, mentioning
Luther[11] and St. Paul.[12] See also McMahan for the influence of Christian thought on Buddhism.
[13]

Jump up^ Robert Sharf: "[T]he role of experience in the history of Buddhism has been greatly
exaggerated in contemporary scholarship. Both historical and ethnographic evidence suggests that
the privileging of experience may well be traced to certain twentieth-century reform movements,
notably those that urge a return to zazen or vipassanameditation, and these reforms were
profoundly influenced by religious developments in the west [...] While some adepts may indeed
experience "altered states" in the course of their training, critical analysis shows that such states do
not constitute the reference point for the elaborate Buddhist discourse pertaining to the "path".[17]

Jump up^ William Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man
as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thru' narrow chinks of his
cavern."[22]

Jump up^ Also called neo-Hinduism[32]

References[edit]

^ Jump up to:a b Samy 1998, p. 80.

^ Jump up to:a b c d Sharf 2000.

Jump up^ The Argument from Religious Experiencehttp://www.philosophyofreligion.info/?

page_id=41

Jump up^ Batson, C. D., Schoenrade, P., & Ventis, W. L. (1993). Religion and the individual: A social
psychological perspective. Oxford University Press.

Jump up^ Hori 1999, p. 47.

Jump up^ Issues in Science and Religion, Ian Barbour, Prentice-Hall, 1966, page 68, 79

Jump up^ Issues in Science and Religion, Ian Barbour, Prentice-Hall, 1966, page 114, 116-119

Jump up^ Issues in Science and Religion, Ian Barbour, Prentice-Hall, 1966, p. 126-127

Jump up^ Sharf 2000, p. 271.

Jump up^ Carrithers 1983, p. 18.

Jump up^ Sekida 1985, p. 196-197.

Jump up^ Sekida 1985, p. 251.

Jump up^ McMahan 2008.

^ Jump up to:a b Sharf 1995a.

Jump up^ Mohr 2000, p. 282-286.

Jump up^ Low 2006, p. 12.

Jump up^ Sharf 1995b, p. 1.

Jump up^ Hori 1994, p. 30.

Jump up^ Samy 1998, p. 82.

Jump up^ Mohr 2000, p. 282.

Jump up^ Samy 1998, p. 80-82.

Jump up^ Quote DB

Jump up^ Mohr 2000, p. 284.

Jump up^ Bhikkhu Bodhi. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. 2000. p. 1727

Jump up^ Ron Epstein. "Fifty Skandha Demon States: Forward".

Jump up^ John 7:16–39

Jump up^ Christian Mysticism (1899 Bampton Lectures)

Jump up^ Theologia Germanica, public domain

Jump up^ Matthew 6:5–6 (King James Version)

Jump up^ Bhagavad Gita, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Jump up^ King 2001.

^ Jump up to:a b c d King 1999.

Jump up^ King 1999, p. 171.

Jump up^ Muesse 2011, p. 3-4.

Jump up^ Doniger 2010, p. 18.

Jump up^ Jouhki 2006, p. 10-11.

Jump up^ Baba, Meher: Discourses, Sufism Reoriented, 1967, p. 20

Jump up^ Sufism, Sufis, and Sufi Orders: Sufism's Many Paths

Jump up^ Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam (1975) pg.99

Jump up^ Crowley, Vivianne (2000). Jung: A Journey of Transformation:Exploring His Life and

Experiencing His Ideas. Wheaton Illinois: Quest Books. ISBN 978-0-8356-0782-7.

Jump up^ Jung, C. G. (1980). C. G. Jung speaking: Interviews and encounters(W. McGuire & R. F. C.
Hull Eds.). London: Pan Books.

Jump up^ Main, R. (2004). The rupture of time: Synchronicity and Jung’s critique of modern western
culture. Hove and New York: Brunner-Routledge.

Jump up^ Biello, David (2007-10-03). "Searching for God in the Brain". Scientific American. Archived
from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-10-07.

Jump up^ Gajilan, A. Chris (2007-04-05). "Are humans hard-wired for faith?". Cable News Network.
Retrieved 2007-04-09.

Jump up^ Newberg, Andrew B.; D'Aquili, Eugene G.; Rause, Vince (2002). Why God Won't Go Away:
Brain Science and the Biology of Belief. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 90.ISBN 0-345-44034-X.

Jump up^ "'God on the Brain?" BBC

Jump up^ "'This Is Your Brain on God" Wired

Jump up^ Azari, N. P.; Nickel, J.; Wunderlich, G.; Niedeggen, M.; Hefter, H.; Tellmann, L.; Herzog, H.;
Stoerig, P.; Birnbacher, D.; Seitz, R. J. (2001). "Neural correlates of religious experience". The
European journal of neuroscience 13 (8): 1649–1652.doi:10.1046/j.0953-
816x.2001.01527.x.PMID 11328359. edit
Jump up^ "' From Brain Imaging Religious Experience to Explaining Religion: A Critique." Ingenta
Connect

Jump up^ "' The new science of neurotheology."Wordpress

Jump up^ Newberg, A., Alavi, A., Baime, M., Pourdehnad, M., Santanna, J. & d’Aquili, E. (2001). The
measurement of regional cerebral blood flow during the complex cognitive task of meditation: A
preliminary SPECT study. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 106, 113-122.

^ Jump up to:a b Azari, N.P., Missimer, J. & Seitz, R.J. (2005). Religious experience and emotion:
Evidence for distinctive cognitive neural patterns. International Journal for the Psychology of
Religion, 15, 263-281.

Jump up^ Beauregard, M. & Paquette, V. (2006). Neural correlates of a mystical experience in

Carmelite nuns. Neuroscience Letters, 405, 186-190.

Jump up^ Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2006 Aug;187(3):268-

83.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16826400

Jump up^ J Psychopharmacol. 2008 August; 22(6): 621–

632.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3050654/

Jump up^ Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2011 Dec;218(4):649-

65.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21674151

Jump up^ J Psychopharmacol. 2011 November; 25(11): 1453–

1461.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3537171/

Jump up^ Daniélou, Alain: Yoga, methods of re-integration

Jump up^ "'Divining the brain" Salon.com (URL accessed on September 20, 2006)

Jump up^ "'Exploring the biology of religious experience" NRC online

Jump up^ "'The Emotional Effects of Music on Religious Experience: A Study of the Pentecostal-
Charismatic Style of Music and Worship " Sage Journals

Jump up^ "'ufis seek ultimate religious experience through mystic trances or altered states of
consciousness, often induced through twirling dances " Sufism: New Age Spirituality Dictionary

Jump up^ "'Self-inflicted Pain in Religious Experience " www.faithfaq.com (URL accessed on July 11,

2006)

Jump up^ *Deida, David. Finding God Through SexISBN 1-59179-273-8

Jump up^ "'Psychedelics and Religious Experience "Alan Watts http://deoxy.org/ (URL accessed on

July 11, 2006)

Jump up^ "'Those who think of the salvia experience in religious, spiritual, or mystical terms may
speak of such things as enlightenment, satori, and "cleansing the doors of perception."
" sagewisdom.org (URL accessed on August 26, 2007)

Jump up^ "'A Note on the Safety of Peyote when Used Religiously. " www.csp.org Council on
Spiritual Practices (URL accessed on July 11, 2006)
Jump up^ "'Drug's Mystical Properties Confirmed "www.washingtonpost.com (URL accessed on July
11, 2006)

Jump up^ "'The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach. " Conuncil on Spiritual Practices (URL

accessed on July 11, 2006)

Jump up^ Katie, Byron. Loving What Is page xi ISBN 1-4000-4537-1

Jump up^ "'God on the Brain "http://news.bbc.co.uk (URL accessed on March 20, 2003)

Jump up^ "My Stroke of

Insight"http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html(U
RL accessed on July 2, 2008)

Jump up^ Moody, Raymond. Life After Life ISBN 0-06-251739-2

Jump up^ Murray, ED.; Cunningham MG, Price BH. (1). "The role of psychotic disorders in religious
history considered". J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neuroscience 24 (4): 410–26.
doi:10.1176/appi.neuropsych.11090214.PMID 23224447

Sources[edit]

Carrithers, Michael (1983), The Forest Monks of Sri Lanka

Charlesworth, Max (1988). Religious experience. Unit A. Study guide 2 (Deakin University).

Deida, David. Finding God Through Sex ISBN 1-59179-273-8

Doniger, Wendy (2010), The Hindus: An Alternative History, Oxford University Press

Habel, Norman, O'Donoghue, Michael and Maddox, Marion (1993). 'Religious experience'. In: Myth,
ritual and the sacred. Introducing the phenomena of religion (Underdale: University of South
Australia).

Hori, Victor Sogen (1994), Teaching and Learning in the Zen Rinzai Monastery. In: Journal of
Japanese Studies, Vol.20, No. 1, (Winter, 1994), 5-35

Jouhki, Jukka (2006), "Orientalism and India", J@RGONIA 8/2006

Katie, Byron. Loving What Is page xi ISBN 1-4000-4537-1

Remote viewing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the use of technology to see a remote scene, see Television.

Remote viewing

Claims The alleged paranormal ability to

perceive a remote or hidden target
without support of thesenses.[1]

Year proposed 1970

Original Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff

proponents

Subsequent Ingo Swann, Joseph

proponents McMoneagle, Courtney Brown

[show]Part of a series of articles on theparanormal

Remote viewing (RV) is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target using
subjective means, in particular, extrasensory perception (ESP) or "sensing with mind". There is no
credible scientific evidence that remote viewing works, and the topic of remote viewing has been
described as pseudoscience.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Typically a remote viewer is expected to give information about an object, event, person or location
that is hidden from physical view and separated at some distance.[8] The term was coined in the
1970s by physicists Russell Targ andHarold Puthoff, parapsychology researchers atStanford Research
Institute (SRI), to distinguish it from clairvoyance.[9][10]

Remote viewing was popularized in the 1990s upon the declassification of certain documents related
to the Stargate Project, a $20 million research program that had started in 1975 and was sponsored
by the U.S. government, in an attempt to determine any potential military application of psychic
phenomena. The program was terminated in 1995 after it failed to produce any useful intelligence
information.[n 1][11]

Contents

  [hide] 

1 History

1.1 Early background

1.2 Decline and termination

1.3 UK government research

1.4 PEAR's Remote Perception program

2 Scientific reception
2.1 Sensory cues

3 Selected RV study participants

4 See also

5 Notes

6 Footnotes

7 Further reading

8 External links

History[edit]

Early background[edit]

In early occult and spiritualist literature, remote viewing was known as telesthesia and travelling
clairvoyance. Rosemary Guiley described it as "seeing remote or hidden objects clairvoyantly with
the inner eye, or in alleged out-of-body travel."[12]

The study of psychic phenomena by major scientists started in the mid-nineteenth century. Early
researchers included Michael Faraday, Alfred Russel Wallace, Rufus Osgood Mason, andWilliam
Crookes. Their work predominantly involved carrying out focused experimental tests on specific
individuals who were thought to be psychically gifted. Reports of apparently successful tests were
met with much skepticism from the scientific community.[13]

In the 1930s J. B. Rhine expanded the study of paranormal performance into larger populations, by
using standard experimental protocols with unselected human subjects. But, as with the earlier
studies, Rhine was reluctant to publicize this work too early because of the fear of criticism from
mainstream scientists.[14]

This continuing skepticism, with its consequences for peer review and research funding, ensured
that paranormal studies remained a fringe area of scientific exploration. However, by the 1960s, the
prevailing counterculture attitudes muted some of the prior hostility. The emergence of New
Age thinking and the popularity of the Human Potential Movement provoked a mini-renaissance
that renewed public interest in consciousness studies and psychic phenomena and helped to make
financial support more available for research into such topics.[15]

In the early 1970s Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ joined the Electronics and Bioengineering
Laboratory at Stanford Research Institute (SRI, now SRI International) where they initiated studies of
the paranormal that were, at first, supported with private funding from theParapsychology
Foundation and the Institute of Noetic Sciences.[16]

In the late 1970s the physicists John Taylor and Eduardo Balanovski tested the psychic Matthew
Manning in remote viewing and the results proved "completely unsuccessful".[17]

One of the early experiments, lauded by proponents as having improved the methodology of remote
viewing testing and as raising future experimental standards, was criticized as leaking information to
the participants by inadvertently leaving clues.[18] Some later experiments had negative results
when these clues were eliminated.[n 2]

The viewers' advice in the "Stargate project" was always so unclear and non-detailed that it has
never been used in any intelligence operation.[9][n 1][11]
Decline and termination[edit]

In the early 1990s the Military Intelligence Board, chaired by DIA chief Soyster, appointed Army
Colonel William Johnson to manage the remote viewing unit and evaluate its objective usefulness.
Funding dissipated in late 1994 and the program went into decline. The project was transferred out
of DIA to the CIA in 1995.

In 1995 the CIA hired the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to perform a retrospective
evaluation of the results generated by the Stargate Project. Reviewers included Ray
Hyman andJessica Utts. Utts maintained that there had been a statistically significant positive effect,
[20] with some subjects scoring 5%–15% above chance.[n 1] Hyman argued that Utts' conclusion
that ESP had been proven to exist, "is premature, to say the least."[21] Hyman said the findings had
yet to be replicated independently, and that more investigation would be necessary to "legitimately
claim the existence of paranormal functioning".[21] Based upon both of their studies, which
recommended a higher level of critical research and tighter controls, the CIA terminated the $20
million project in 1995.[11] Time magazine stated in 1995 that three full-time psychics were still
working on a $500,000-a-year budget out of Fort Meade, Maryland, which would soon be shut
down.[11]

The AIR report concluded that no usable intelligence data was produced in the program.[n 1]David
Goslin, of the American Institute for Research said, "There's no documented evidence it had any
value to the intelligence community".[11]

UK government research[edit]

In 2001–2002 the UK government performed a study on 18 untrained subjects. The experimenters

recorded the E field and H field around each viewer to see if the cerebral activity of successful
viewings caused higher-than-usual fields to be emitted from the brain. However, the experimenters
did not find any evidence that the viewers had accessed the targets in the data collection phase, the
project was abandoned, and the data was never analyzed since no RV activity had happened. Some
"narrow-band" E-fields were detected during the viewings, but they were attributed to external
causes. The experiment was disclosed in 2007 after a UK Freedom of Information request.[22]

PEAR's Remote Perception program[edit]

Following Utts' emphasis on replication and Hyman's challenge on interlaboratory consistency in the
AIR report, the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab conducted several hundred trials to
see if they could replicate the SAIC and SRI experiments. They created an analytical judgment
methodology to replace the human judging process that was criticized in past experiments, and they
released a report in 1996. They felt the results of the experiments were consistent with the SRI
experiments.[23] However, statistical flaws have been proposed by others in the parapsychological
community and within the general scientific community.[24] Hansen, Utts and Markwick concluded
"The PEAR remote-viewing experiments depart from commonly accepted criteria for formal research
in science. In fact, they are undoubtedly some of the poorest quality ESP experiments published in
many years."[25]

Scientific reception[edit]

A variety of scientific studies of remote viewing have been conducted. Early experiments produced
positive results but they had invalidating flaws.[4] None of the more recent experiments have shown
positive results when conducted under properly controlled conditions.[9][n 1][11][n 2][22] This lack
of successful experiments has led the mainstream scientific community to reject remote viewing,
based upon the absence of an evidence base, the lack of a theory which would explain remote
viewing, and the lack of experimental techniques which can provide reliably positive results.[2][3][4]
[5]

Science writers Gary Bennett, Martin Gardner, Michael Shermer and professor of neurologyTerence

Hines describe the topic of remote viewing as pseudoscience.[6][7][26][27]

C. E. M. Hansel who evaluated the remote viewing experiments of parapsychologists such as Puthoff,

Targ, J. B. Bisha and B. J. Dunne noted that there were a lack of controls and precautions were not
taken to rule out the possibility of fraud. He concluded the experimental design was inadequately
reported and "too loosely controlled to serve any useful function."[28]

The psychologist Ray Hyman says that, even if the results from remote viewing experiments were
reproduced under specified conditions, they would still not be a conclusive demonstration of the
existence of psychic functioning. He blames this on the reliance on a negative outcome—the claims
on ESP are based on the results of experiments not being explained by normal means. He says that
the experiments lack a positive theory that guides as to what to control on them and what to ignore,
and that "Parapsychologists have not come close to (having a positive theory) as yet".[n 3]

Hyman also says that the amount and quality of the experiments on RV are way too low to convince
the scientific community to "abandon its fundamental ideas about causality, time, and other
principles", due to its findings still not having been replicated successfully under careful scrutiny.[n
4]

Martin Gardner has written the founding researcher Harold Puthoff was an active Scientologist prior
to his work at Stanford University, and that this influenced his research at SRI. In 1970, theChurch of
Scientology published a notarized letter that had been written by Puthoff while he was conducting
research on remote viewing at Stanford. The letter read, in part: "Although critics viewing the
system Scientology from the outside may form the impression that Scientology is just another of
many quasi-educational quasi-religious 'schemes,' it is in fact a highly sophistical and highly
technological system more characteristic of modern corporate planning and applied technology".
[6] Among some of the ideas that Puthoff supported regarding remote viewing was the claim in the
book Occult Chemistry that two followers of Madame Blavatsky, founder oftheosophy, were able to
remote-view the inner structure of atoms.[6]

Michael Shermer investigated remote viewing experiments and discovered a problem with the
target selection list. According to Shermer with the sketches only a handful of designs are usually
used such as lines and curves which could depict any object and be interpreted as a "hit". Shermer
has also written about confirmation and hindsight biases that have occurred in remote viewing
experiments.[30]

Various skeptic organizations have conducted experiments for remote viewing and other alleged
paranormal abilities, with no positive results under properly controlled conditions.[4]

Sensory cues[edit]

The psychologists David Marks and Richard Kammann attempted to replicate Russell Targ and Harold
Puthoff’s remote viewing experiments that were carried out in the 1970s at the Stanford Research
Institute. In a series of 35 studies, they were unable to replicate the results so investigated the
procedure of the original experiments. Marks and Kammann discovered that the notes given to the
judges in Targ and Puthoff's experiments contained clues as to which order they were carried out,
such as referring to yesterday's two targets, or they had the date of the session written at the top of
the page. They concluded that these clues were the reason for the experiment's high hit rates.[31]
[32] According to Terence Hines:

Examination of the few actual transcripts published by Targ and Puthoff show that just such clues
were present. To find out if the unpublished transcripts contained cues, Marks and Kammann wrote
to Targ and Puthoff requesting copies. It is almost unheard of for a scientist to refuse to provide his
data for independent examination when asked, but Targ and Puthoff consistently refused to allow
Marks and Kammann to see copies of the transcripts. Marks and Kammann were, however, able to
obtain copies of the transcripts from the judge who used them. The transcripts were found to
contain a wealth of cues.[33]

Thomas Gilovich has written:

Most of the material in the transcripts consists of the honest attempts by the percipients to describe
their impressions. However, the transcripts also contained considerable extraneous material that
could aid a judge in matching them to the correct targets. In particular, there were numerous
references to dates, times and sites previously visited that would enable the judge to place the
transcripts in proper sequence... Astonishingly, the judges in the Targ-Puthoff experiments were
given a list of target sites in the exact order in which they were used in the tests![3]

According to Marks, when the cues were eliminated the results fell to a chance level.[4] Marks was
able to achieve 100 per cent accuracy without visiting any of the sites himself but by using cues.[n
5] James Randi has written controlled tests by several other researchers, eliminating several sources
of cuing and extraneous evidence present in the original tests, produced negative results. Students
were also able to solve Puthoff and Targ's locations from the clues that had inadvertently been
included in the transcripts.[19]

Marks and Kamman concluded: "Until remote viewing can be confirmed in conditions which prevent
sensory cueing the conclusions of Targ and Puthoff remain an unsubstantiated hypothesis."[35] In
1980, Charles Tart claimed that a rejudging of the transcripts from one of Targ and Puthoff’s
experiments revealed an above-chance result.[36] Targ and Puthoff again refused to provide copies
of the transcripts and it was not until July 1985 that they were made available for study when it was
discovered they still contained sensory cues.[7] Marks and Christopher Scott (1986) wrote
"considering the importance for the remote viewing hypothesis of adequate cue removal, Tart’s
failure to perform this basic task seems beyond comprehension. As previously concluded, remote
viewing has not been demonstrated in the experiments conducted by Puthoff and Targ, only the
repeated failure of the investigators to remove sensory cues."[37]

The information from the Stargate Project remote viewing sessions was vague and included a lot of
irrelevant and erroneous data, it was never useful in any intelligence operation, and it was suspected
that the project managers in some cases changed the reports so they would fit background cues.[n
1]

Marks in his book The Psychology of the Psychic (2000) discussed the flaws in the Stargate Project in
detail.[39] He wrote that there were six negative design features of the experiments. The possibility
of cues or sensory leakage was not ruled out, no independent replication, some of the experiments
were conducted in secret making peer-review impossible. Marks noted that the judge Edwin May
was also the principle investigator for the project and this was problematic making huge conflict of
interest with collusion, cuing and fraud being possible. Marks concluded the project was nothing
more than a "subjective delusion" and after two decades of research it had failed to provide any
scientific evidence for remote viewing.[39]
Marks has also suggested that the participants of remote viewing experiments are influenced
bysubjective validation, a process through which correspondences are perceived between stimuli
that are in fact associated purely randomly.[4]

Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, and a fellow of

theCommittee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) has pointed out several problems with one of the early
experiments at SAIC, including information leakage. However, he indicated the importance of its
process-oriented approach and of its refining of remote viewing methodology, which meant that
researchers replicating their work could avoid these problems.[5] Wiseman later insisted there were
multiple opportunities for participants on that experiment to be influenced by inadvertent cues and
that these cues can influence the results when they appear.[18]

Selected RV study participants[edit]

Ingo Swann, a prominent research participant in remote viewing, who wrote a book about his
experience[citation needed]

Pat Price, an early remote viewer

Joseph McMoneagle, an early remote viewer[40] See: Stargate Project

Courtney Brown, founder of the Farsight Institute

David Marks, a critic of remote viewing, after finding sensory cues and editing in the original
transcripts generated by Targ and Puthoff at Stanford Research Institute in the 1970s

Uri Geller, the subject of a study by Targ and Puthoff at Stanford Research Institute[41]

See also[edit]

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

Parapsychology research at SRI

Notes[edit]

^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Mumford, Rose and Goslin wrote, in An Evaluation of Remote Viewing:
Research and Applications: "remote viewings have never provided an adequate basis for ‘actionable’
intelligence operations-that is, information sufficiently valuable or compelling so that action was
taken as a result (...) a large amount of irrelevant, erroneous information is provided and little
agreement is observed among viewers' reports. (...) remote viewers and project managers reported
that remote viewing reports were changed to make them consistent with know background cues (...)
Also, it raises some doubts about some well-publicized cases of dramatic hits, which, if taken at face
value, could not easily be attributed to background cues. In at least some of these cases, there is
reason to suspect, based on both subsequent investigations and the viewers' statement that reports
had been "changed" by previous program managers, that substantially more background
information was available than one might at first assume."[38]

^ Jump up to:a b From An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and
Supernatural byJames Randi: "The data of Puthoff and Targ were reexamined by the other
researchers, and it was found that their students were able to solve the locations without use of any
psychic powers, using only the clues that had inadvertently been included in the Puthoff and Targ
transcripts."[19]
Jump up^ Ray Hyman wrote in an article in Skeptical Inquirer: "Because even if Utts and her
colleagues are correct and we were to find that we could reproduce the findings under specified
conditions, this would still be a far cry from concluding that psychic functioning has been
demonstrated. This is because the current claim is based entirely upon a negative outcome—the
sole basis for arguing for ESP is that extra-chance results can be obtained that apparently cannot be
explained by normal means. But an infinite variety of normal possibilities exist and it is not clear than
one can control for all of them in a single experiment. You need a positive theory to guide you as to
what needs to be controlled, and what can be ignored. Parapsychologists have not come close to
this as yet."[29]

Jump up^ Hyman also says in the Skeptical Inquirer article: "What seems clear is that the scientific
community is not going to abandon its fundamental ideas about causality, time, and other principles
on the basis of a handful of experiments whose findings have yet to be shown to be replicable and
lawful."[29]

Jump up^ Martin Bridgstock wrote in Beyond Belief: Skepticism, Science and the Paranormal: "The
explanation used by Marks and Kammann clearly involves the use of Occam's razor. Marks and
Kammann argued that the 'cues' - clues to the order in which sites had been visited—provided
sufficient information for the results, without any recourse to extrasensory perception. Indeed
Marks himself was able to achieve 100 percent accuracy in allocating some transcripts to sites
without visiting any of the sites himself, purely on the ground basis of the cues. From Occam's razor,
it follows that if a straightforward natural explanation exists, there is no need for the spectacular
paranormal explanation: Targ and Puthoff's claims are not justified".[34]

Footnotes[edit]

Jump up^ Blom, Jan. (2009). A Dictionary of Hallucinations. Springer. p. 451. ISBN 978-1441912220

^ Jump up to:a b Alcock, James. (1981).Parapsychology-Science Or Magic?: A Psychological

Perspective. Pergamon Press. pp. 164-179. ISBN 978-0080257730

^ Jump up to:a b c Gilovich, Thomas (1993). How We Know What Isn't So: Fallibility of Human

Reason in Everyday Life. Free Press. pp. 166-173. ISBN 978-0-02-911706-4

^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Marks, David; Kammann, Richard. (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic.

Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-798-8

^ Jump up to:a b c Wiseman, R. & Milton, J. (1999)."Experiment One of the SAIC Remote Viewing
Program: A critical reevaluation"(PDF). Journal of Parapsychology 62 (4): 297–308. Retrieved 2008-
06-26.
* Obtained from listing of research papers on Wiseman's website

^ Jump up to:a b c d Gardner, Martin (2000). Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?: Debunking

Pseudoscience. New York: W.W. Norton. pp. 60–67. ISBN 978-0-393-32238-5.

^ Jump up to:a b c Hines, Terence. (2003).Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.

136. ISBN 1-57392-979-4

Jump up^ Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren (1989).Anomalistic psychology: a study of magical thinking.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 167. ISBN 0-8058-0508-7.

^ Jump up to:a b c Joe Nickell (March 2001), "Remotely Viewed? The Charlie Jordan Case",Skeptical

Inquirer
Jump up^ The Arlington Institute Presents Harold E. Puthoff

^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Time magazine, 11 December 1995, p.45, The Vision Thing by Douglas

Waller, Washington

Jump up^ Guiley, Rosemary. (1991). Harper's Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experience.

Harper San Francisco. p. 507.ISBN 978-0062503664

Jump up^ Hyman, Ray. (1985). A Critical Historical Overview of Parapsychology. In Kurtz, Paul.A
Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 3-96. ISBN 0-87975-300-5

Jump up^ Hyman R., "Parapsychological Research: A Tutorial Review and Critical Appraisal",
Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol 74 No 6, pp. 823–849, June 1986.

Jump up^ Wade N, "Psychical Research: the Incredible in Search of Credibility", Science, 181, July 13,
1973, pp. 138–143.

Jump up^ Kaiser, David (2011). How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the
Quantum Revival. W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 69–71. ISBN 9780393076363.

Jump up^ Taylor, John (1980). Science and the Supernatural: An Investigation of Paranormal

Phenomena Including Psychic Healing, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, and Precognition by a Distinguished
Physicist and Mathematician. Temple Smith. p. 83. ISBN 0-85117-191-5.

^ Jump up to:a b Wiseman, R. & Milton, J. (1999)."Experiment one of the SAIC remote viewing
program: A critical re-evaluation. A reply to May." (PDF). Journal of Parapsychology63 (1): 3–14.
Retrieved 2008-06-26.
* Obtained from listing of research papers on Wiseman's website

^ Jump up to:a b Randi, James. "Remote Viewing". An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of

the Occult and Supernatural (online ed.).James Randi Educational Foundation. Retrieved 2014-04-23.

Jump up^ An assessment of the evidence for psychic functioning Julia Utts

^ Jump up to:a b Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of a Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena".Journal

of Society for Scientific Exploration Volume 10: Number 1: Article 2. Society for Scientific Exploration.
Archived from the original on June 3, 2008. Retrieved2008-06-24.

^ Jump up to:a b "Remote Viewing". UK's Ministry of Defence. 23 February 2007 [June 2002,
disclosed in 2007]. p. 94 (page 50 in second pdf).

Jump up^ R. D. Nelson, B. J. Dunne, Y. H. Dobyns, R. G. Jahn (1996). "Precognitive Remote
Perception: Replication of Remote Viewing" (PDF). Journal of Scientific Exploration (Society for
Scientific Exploration) 10 (1): 109–110. Retrieved2008-06-02.

Jump up^ Stanley Jeffers (May–June 2006). "The PEAR proposition: Fact or fallacy?".Skeptical

Inquirer (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) 30.3. Retrieved 2014-01-24.

Jump up^ George P. Hansen. "Princeton [PEAR] Remote-Viewing Experiments - A Critique".

Tricksterbook.com. Retrieved2014-04-06.

Jump up^ Bennett, Gary L. (1994). Heretical science – Beyond the boundaries of pathological

science. IN:Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, 29th, Monterey, CA, Aug 7–11,
1994, Technical Papers. Pt. 3 (A94-31838 10–44)(Washington, DC: American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics). pp. 1207–1212.
Jump up^ Michael Shermer. Science and Pseudoscience in Pigliucci, Massimo;Boudry, Maarten.
(2013). Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem. University Of Chicago
Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-226-05196-3

Jump up^ Hansel, C. E. M. (1989). The Search for Psychic Power. Prometheus Books. pp. 160-
166. ISBN 0-87975-516-4

^ Jump up to:a b Hyman, Ray (March–April 1996). "The evidence for psychic functioning: Claims vs.
reality". Skeptical Inquirer.

Jump up^ Shermer, Michael. (2001). The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense.
Oxford University Press. pp. 8-10. ISBN 9780198032724.

Jump up^ Marks, David; Kammann, Richard. (1978).Information transmission in remote viewing

experiments. Nature 274: 680–81.

Jump up^ Marks, David. (1981). Sensory cues invalidate remote viewing experiments.Nature 292:

177.

Jump up^ Hines, Terence. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p.

135. ISBN 1-57392-979-4

Jump up^ Bridgstock, Martin (2009). Beyond Belief: Skepticism, Science and the

Paranormal.Cambridge University Press. p. 106.ISBN 9780521758932.

Jump up^ Hansel, C. E. M. (1980). ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Reevaluation. Prometheus

Books. p. 293

Jump up^ Charles Tart, Puthoff, Harold, Targ, Russell. (1980). "Information Transmission in Remote

Viewing Experiments", Nature 284: 191.

Jump up^ Marks, David; Scott, Christopher. (1986).Remote Viewing Exposed. Nature 319: 444.

Jump up^ Mumford, Michael D.; Rose, Andrew M.; Goslin, David A. (29 September 1995). An
Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications. American Institutes for Research.

^ Jump up to:a b Marks, David. (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic (2nd Edition). Prometheus

Books. pp. 71-96. ISBN 1-57392-798-8

Jump up^ Joseph McMoneagle, Mind Trek: Exploring Consciousness, Time, and Space Through
Remote Viewing (Hampton Roads, Publishing Co., 1997)

Jump up^ Targ & Puthoff 1974.

Further reading[edit]

Alcock, James E.; Committee on Techniques for the Enhancement of Human Performance:
Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences Education: National Research Council(NRC) (1988).
"Part VI. Parapsychological Techniques". Enhancing Human Performance: Issues, Theories, and
Techniques, Background Papers (Complete Set). Washington, DC:National Academies Press.

Brown, Courtney. (2005). Remote Viewing: The Science and Theory of Nonphysical Perception.
Farsight Press. ISBN 0-9766762-1-4

Gilovich, Thomas. (1993). How We Know What isn't So: Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life.
Free Press. ISBN 978-0-02-911706-4
Gordon, Henry. (1988). Extrasensory Deception: ESP, Psychics, Shirley MacLaine, Ghosts, UFOs.
Macmillan of Canada. ISBN 0-7715-9539-5

Hines, Terence. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-979-4

Marks, David. (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic (2nd Edition). Prometheus Books.ISBN 1-57392-
798-8

McMoneagle, Joseph. (2002). The Stargate Chronicles: Memoirs of a Psychic Spy. Hampton

Roads. ISBN 1-57174-225-5

Randi, James. (1982). Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions. Prometheus
Books. ISBN 0-87975-198-3
Retrocognition

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Retrocognition (also known as postcognition), from the Latin retro meaning "backward, behind"

and cognition meaning "knowing," describes "knowledge of a past event which could not have been
learned or inferred by normal means."[1] The term was coined by Frederic W. H. Myers.[2]

Retrocognition has long been held by scientific researchers into psychic phenomena to be
untestable, given that, in order to verify that an accurate retrocognitive experience has occurred, it
is necessary to consult existing documents and human knowledge, the existence of which permits
some contemporary basis of the knowledge to be raised.[3] For instance, if you purport
retrocognitive knowledge that "Winston Churchill killed a parrot", the only way of verifying that
knowledge would be to consult extant sources of Churchill's activities. If it is found that he did,
indeed, kill a parrot at one time, it could be said that you "simply" obtained contemporary
knowledge of this fact (by clairvoyance or telepathy, if needs be, of the relevant documents or
someone's knowledge of them), rather than directly perceived – in the manner of retrocognition –
any event in Churchill's past. Given this fundamental logical difficulty, there has been very little
experimental investigation by parapsychologists of retrocognition. The evidence for retrocognition
has, therefore, been limited to naturalistic cases suggestive of the phenomenon.

The most popularly celebrated case of retrocognition concerns the visions in 1901 of Annie Moberly
and Eleanor Jourdain – two scholars and early administrators of British university education for
women – as they tried to find their way to Marie Antoinette's private château, the Petit Trianon.
Becoming lost on their way, they believed that they instead came unto the Queen's presence itself.
They published an account of their experience in 1911 as An Adventure. Moberly and Jourdain
described how they had become convinced, over the following weeks, that persons they saw and
even spoke to on that occasion – given certain details of dress, accent, topography and architecture
– must have been of a presumed recollection by Marie Antoinette, on August 10, 1792, of her last
days at Trianon in 1789. While often considered in popular literature as evidence for retrocognition,
the book was immediately dismissed by Eleanor Sidgwick, a leading member of the British Society
for Psychical Research, in an article published in its Proceedings, as the product of
mutual confabulation.[4][5]

Trivia[edit]

Many fictional characters in television and movies exhibit this ability, examples of such would
be Phoebe Halliwell of Charmed, Allison DuBois from Medium and Emery Waterman fromRose Red.
Literary characters with the ability include the protagonist Sarah Parsons (and several of her
maternal ancestors) in the young adult time travel series Amber House.

The Fox series Fringe added "Retrocognition" to the various parapsychological terms appearing in its

opening credits sequence in Season 3.

See also[edit]

Time slip

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

References[edit]
Jump up^ Dale, L. A., & White, R. A. (1977),or in other words someone gets knowledge about the
past life of someone else without the known or ordinary sources but with some kind of power of the
brain.It is also considered sixth sense by some people.Glossary of terms found in the literature of
psychical research and parapsychology. In B. B. Wolman (Ed.), Handbook of Parapsychology (pp. 921-
936). New York, NY, US: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Jump up^ Parapsychological Association (2007). Glossary of Parapsychological terms - Retrocognition

Jump up^ Rhine, J. B. (1977). History of experimental studies. In B. B. Wolman (Ed.), Handbook of

Parapsychology (pp. 25-47). New York, NY, US: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Jump up^ Sidgwick, E. M. (1911). [Review of An Adventure]. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical
Research, 25.

Jump up^ Iremonger, L. (1957). The ghosts of Versailles: Miss Moberly and Miss Jourdain and their
Adventure: A critical study. London, UK: Faber & Faber.

External links[edit]

Edgar Cayce

Retrocognitions: An investigation into memories of past lives and the periods between livesby
Wagner Alegretti