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64-416: The Institut Métapsychique International (IMI) is a French parapsychological organization that studies paranormal phenomena. It was created in 1919 by Jean Meyer, Gustav Geley and Professor Rocco Santoliquido. Notable past presidents have included Charles Richet (1930-1935) and René Warcollier (1950-1962). Eugéne Osty served as a director (1925-1938). This parapsychology -related article

128-493: 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". Irish medium and parapsychologist Eileen J. Garrett was tested by Rhine at Duke University in 1933 with Zener cards. Rhine placed certain symbols on

192-628: A biologist, died young in a climbing accident. One of the first students at Newnham College in Cambridge, in 1876 she married (and became converted to feminism by) the philosopher Henry Sidgwick . In 1880 she became Vice-Principal of Newnham under the founding Principal Anne Clough , succeeding as principal on Clough's death in 1892. In 1890 Sidgwick was elected to the Ladies Dining Society that had been founded by Louise Creighton and Kathleen Lyttleton . Other members included

256-671: 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. Parapsychologists and skeptics criticized the Ownbey-Zirkle ESP experiment at Duke. 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

320-474: 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 failed to find any high-scoring subjects. 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

384-449: A famous ESP experiment at Duke University. Warner and Raible locked a subject in a room with a switch controlling a signal light elsewhere, which she could signal to guess the card. Ten runs with ESP packs of cards were used, and she 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. Certain symbols in

448-491: 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. In 1881, Eleanor Sidgwick revealed the fraudulent methods that spirit photographers such as Édouard Isidore Buguet , Frederic Hudson , and William H. Mumler had utilized. During the late nineteenth century, many fraudulent mediums were exposed by SPR investigators. Largely due to

512-542: A leading figure in the Society for Psychical Research . Eleanor Mildred Balfour was born in East Lothian , daughter of James Maitland Balfour and Lady Blanche Harriet. She was born into perhaps the most prominent political clan in 19th-century Britain, the 'Hotel Cecil': her brother Arthur would eventually himself become prime minister. Her sister was biologist Alice Blanche Balfour . Another brother, Frank , also

576-565: A series of publications by S. J. Davey, Richard Hodgson and Sidgwick in the Journal for the Society for Psychical Research exposed the slate writing tricks of the medium William Eglinton . Sidgwick regarded Eglinton to be nothing more than a clever conjurer . Due to the critical papers, Stainton Moses and other prominent spiritualist members resigned from the Society for Psychical Research. In 1891, Alfred Russel Wallace requested for

640-680: A successor to the Duke laboratory. In 1995, the centenary of Rhine's birth, the FRNM was renamed the Rhine Research Center . Today, the Rhine Research Center is a parapsychology research unit, stating that it "aims to improve the human condition by creating a scientific understanding of those abilities and sensitivities that appear to transcend the ordinary limits of space and time". The Parapsychological Association (PA)

704-465: A symbol and write it down, while Ownbey would write her guesses. 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. Lucien Warner and Mildred Raible performed

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768-455: A trick, so they could not supply evidence for ESP. 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. Rhine's experiments into psychokinesis (PK) were also criticized. John Sladek wrote: His research used dice, with subjects 'willing' them to fall

832-453: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Parapsychology Parapsychology research rarely appears in mainstream scientific journals ; a few niche journals publish most papers about parapsychology. The term parapsychology was coined in 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir as the German parapsychologie . It was adopted by J. B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for

896-400: 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

960-1105: Is derived from ψ psi, the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet and the initial letter of the Greek: ψυχή psyche , "mind, soul". The term was coined by biologist Bertold Wiesner , and first used by psychologist Robert Thouless in a 1942 article published in the British Journal of Psychology . The Parapsychological Association divides psi into two main categories: psi-gamma for extrasensory perception and psi-kappa for psychokinesis. In popular culture, "psi" has become more and more synonymous with extraordinary psychic , mental , and " psionic " abilities and powers. In 1853, chemist Robert Hare conducted experiments with mediums and reported positive results. Other researchers such as Frank Podmore highlighted flaws in his experiments, such as lack of controls to prevent trickery. Agenor de Gasparin conducted early experiments into table-tipping . For five months in 1853, he declared

1024-431: Is due either to uncontrollable factors in experimental procedure or to the difference in the subjects." Four other psychological departments failed to replicate Rhine's results. After thousands of card runs, James Charles Crumbaugh failed to duplicate the results of Rhine. In 1938, the psychologist Joseph Jastrow wrote that much of the evidence for extrasensory perception collected by Rhine and other parapsychologists

1088-462: 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 ". Joseph Gaither Pratt was 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

1152-753: Is thought that this approach could account for the relative strength of parapsychology in Britain. As of 2007, parapsychology was researched in some 30 countries, and some universities worldwide continue academic parapsychology programs. Among these are the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at the University of Edinburgh ; the Parapsychology Research Group at Liverpool Hope University (this closed in April 2011);

1216-474: Is usually blocked by playing white noise , static, or similar sounds to the recipient. The subject is also seated in a reclined, comfortable position to minimize the sense of touch. In the typical Ganzfeld experiment, a "sender" and a "receiver" are isolated. The receiver is put into the Ganzfeld state, or Ganzfeld effect and the sender is shown a video clip or still picture and asked to send that image to

1280-769: The Institute of Noetic Sciences (1973), the International Kirlian Research Association (1975), and the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory (1979). Parapsychological work was also conducted at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) during this time. The scope of parapsychology expanded during these years. Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson conducted much of his research into reincarnation during

1344-675: The International Journal of Parapsychology (between 1959 and 1968 and 2000–2001) and the Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research, publisher of the Australian Journal of Parapsychology . The European Journal of Parapsychology ceased publishing in 2010. Parapsychological research has also included other sub-disciplines of psychology. These related fields include transpersonal psychology , which studies transcendent or spiritual aspects of

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1408-750: The Society for Psychical Research , publisher of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research and Psi Encyclopedia ; the American Society for Psychical Research , publisher of the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research (last published in 2004); the Rhine Research Center and Institute for Parapsychology, publisher of the Journal of Parapsychology ; the Parapsychology Foundation, which published

1472-425: 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. Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick (née Balfour ; 11 March 1845 – 10 February 1936) was a physics researcher assisting Lord Rayleigh , an activist for the higher education of women, Principal of Newnham College of the University of Cambridge , and

1536-535: The 1880s, the Society investigated apparitional experiences and hallucinations in the sane . Among the first important works was the two-volume publication in 1886, Phantasms of the Living , which was largely criticized by scholars. In 1894, the Census of Hallucinations was published which sampled 17,000 people. Out of these, 1,684 persons admitted to having experienced a hallucination of an apparition. The SPR became

1600-517: The 1970s, and the second edition of his Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation was published in 1974. Psychologist Thelma Moss studied 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. Physicist Russell Targ coined

1664-542: The 1980s, contemporary parapsychological research has waned considerably in the United States. Early research was considered inconclusive, and parapsychologists faced strong skepticism from their academic colleagues. 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. Most parapsychology research in

1728-411: The 42 Ganzfeld experiments, and to assess each experiment, he devised a set of 12 categories of flaws. Six of these concerned statistical defects, and the other six covered procedural flaws such as inadequate documentation , randomization, security, and possibilities of sensory leakage. Over half of the studies failed to safeguard against sensory leakage , and all of the studies contained at least one of

1792-647: 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,

1856-589: The Parapsychological Association, parapsychologists do not study all paranormal phenomena, nor are they concerned with astrology , UFOs , cryptozoology , paganism , vampires , alchemy , or witchcraft . Journals dealing with parapsychology include the Journal of Parapsychology , Journal of Near-Death Studies , Journal of Consciousness Studies , Journal of the Society for Psychical Research , and Journal of Scientific Exploration . The Ganzfeld ( German for "whole field")

1920-831: The SOPHIA Project at the University of Arizona ; the Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology Research Unit of Liverpool John Moores University ; the Center for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes at the University of Northampton ; and the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London . Research and professional organizations include the Parapsychological Association ;

1984-404: 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 . Areas of study included telepathy , hypnotism , Reichenbach's phenomena , apparitions , hauntings , and the physical aspects of Spiritualism such as table-tilting , materialization , and apportation . In

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2048-424: 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. The affiliation of the Parapsychological Association (PA) with

2112-528: The US is now confined to private institutions funded by private sources. After 28 years of research, Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory (PEAR), which studied psychokinesis , closed in 2007. Two universities in the United States have academic parapsychology laboratories. The Division of Perceptual Studies, a unit at the University of Virginia 's Department of Psychiatric Medicine, studies

2176-664: The affiliation of the PA to the AAAS needed to be reconsidered. His challenge to parapsychology's AAAS affiliation was unsuccessful. Today, the PA consists of about three hundred full, associate, and affiliated members worldwide. Beginning in the early 1950s, the CIA started extensive research into behavioral engineering . The findings from these experiments led to the formation of the Stargate Project , which handled ESP research for

2240-537: The approaches of psychical research, which generally sought qualitative evidence for paranormal phenomena, the experiments at Duke University proffered a quantitative , statistical approach using cards and dice. As a consequence of the ESP experiments at Duke, standard laboratory procedures for the testing of ESP were developed and adopted by interested researchers worldwide. George Estabrooks conducted an ESP experiment using cards in 1927. Harvard students were used as

2304-680: The cards, sealed them in an envelope, and asked Garrett 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. The parapsychologist Samuel Soal and his colleagues tested Garrett in May 1937. Soal conducted most experiments in the Psychological Laboratory at University College London . Soal recorded over 12,000 guesses, but Garrett failed to produce above chance level. In his report Soal wrote "In

2368-422: The case of Mrs. Eileen Garrett we fail to find the slightest confirmation of 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." The parapsychology experiments at Duke evoked much criticism from academics and others who challenged

2432-474: The concepts and evidence of ESP. Many psychological departments attempted to repeat Rhine's experiments with failure. W. S. Cox (1936) from Princeton 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

2496-461: The economist Mary Paley Marshall , the classicist Margaret Verrall , the Irish-born sugffragist Mary Ward , former Newnham lecturer Ellen Wordsworth Darwin , the mental health campaigner Ida Darwin , Baroness Eliza von Hügel and the U.S. socialites Caroline Jebb and Maud Darwin . Eleanor and her husband resided at Newnham until 1900, the year of Henry Sidgwick's death. In 1894 Sidgwick

2560-526: The experiment appeared far more often than others, indicating poor shuffling or card manipulation. The experiment was not repeated. Duke's administration 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

2624-484: The experimenter; nobody controlled the experiment, so Ownbey could have cheated by communicating with Zirkle or made recording mistakes. The Turner-Ownbey long-distance telepathy experiment was also flawed. May Frances Turner positioned herself in the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory, while Sara Ownbey claimed to receive transmissions 250 miles away. For the experiment, Turner would think of

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2688-418: The experiments a success, being the result of an " ectenic force ". Critics noted that the conditions were insufficient to prevent trickery. For example, the sitters may have moved the table with their knees, and no experimenter was simultaneously watching above and below the table. The German astrophysicist Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner tested the medium Henry Slade in 1877. According to Zöllner, some of

2752-658: The experiments were successful. However, flaws in the experiments were discovered, and critics have suggested that Slade was a fraud who performed trickery in the experiments. The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) 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 . Presidents of

2816-490: The field, and to integrate the findings with those of other branches of science". 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. In 1979, physicist John A. Wheeler said that parapsychology is pseudoscientific and that

2880-462: 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 funded by Thomas Welton Stanford , brother of the university's founder. After conducting approximately 10,000 experiments, Coover concluded that "statistical treatments of the data fail to reveal any cause beyond chance." In 1930, Duke University became

2944-401: The human mind, and anomalistic psychology , which examines paranormal beliefs and subjective anomalous experiences in traditional psychological terms. Parapsychologists study some ostensible paranormal phenomena, including but not limited to: The definitions for the terms above may not reflect their mainstream usage nor the opinions of all parapsychologists and their critics. According to

3008-663: 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". The United Kingdom has the largest number of active parapsychologists of all nations. In the UK, researchers work in conventional psychology departments and do studies in mainstream psychology to "boost their credibility and show that their methods are sound". It

3072-422: 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 was put under hypnosis to identify them. The subject was reported to have succeeded in a series of 133 trials, but the results dropped to the chance level when performed before

3136-413: The possibility of survival of consciousness after bodily death , near-death experiences , and out-of-body experiences . Gary Schwartz at the University of Arizona 's Veritas Laboratory conducted laboratory investigations of mediums , criticized by scientific skeptics . Several private institutions, including the Institute of Noetic Sciences , conduct and promote parapsychological research. Over

3200-412: The receiver mentally. While in the Ganzfeld, experimenters ask the receiver 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, the receiver is taken out of the Ganzfeld state and shown four images or videos, one of which is the actual target and three non-target decoys. The receiver attempts to select

3264-408: The second major U.S. academic institution to engage in the critical study of ESP and psychokinesis in the laboratory. Under the guidance of psychologist William McDougall , and with the help of others in the department—including psychologists Karl Zener , Joseph B. Rhine , and Louisa E. Rhine —laboratory ESP experiments using volunteer subjects from the undergraduate student body began. As opposed to

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3328-614: The statistical results higher than they should have been. Rhine and his colleagues attempted to address these criticisms through new experiments described in the book Extrasensory Perception After Sixty Years (1940). 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

3392-448: The subjects. Estabrooks acted as the sender, with the guesser in an adjoining room. Estabrooks conducted a total of 2,300 trials. When Estabrooks sent the subjects to a distant room with insulation, the scores dropped to chance level. Attempts to repeat the experiment also failed. 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

3456-661: 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 . Notable cases investigated by Walter Franklin Prince of the ASPR in the early 20th century included Pierre L. O. A. Keeler , the Great Amherst Mystery and Patience Worth . In 1911, Stanford University became

3520-412: The target, using perceptions experienced during the Ganzfeld state as clues to what the mentally "sent" image might have been. 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. Hyman discovered flaws in all of

3584-400: The term psychical research to indicate a significant shift toward experimental methodology and academic discipline. The term originates from the Greek : παρά para meaning "alongside", and psychology . In parapsychology, psi is the unknown factor in extrasensory perception and psychokinesis experiences that is not explained by known physical or biological mechanisms. The term

3648-518: The term remote viewing for use in some of his work at SRI in 1974. 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 although the word parapsychology was discarded in favor of the term psychotronics. The main promoter of psychotronics

3712-487: The word "parapsychology", coined by psychologist Max Dessoir 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. 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

3776-632: Was Czech scientist Zdeněk Rejdák, who described it as a physical science , organizing conferences and presiding over the International Association for Psychotronic Research. In 1985, the Department of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh established a Chair of Parapsychology, awarding it to Robert Morris , an experimental parapsychologist from the United States. Morris and his research associates and PhD students pursued research on topics related to parapsychology. Since

3840-471: Was anecdotal, biased, dubious and the result of "faulty observation and familiar human frailties". 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. Illusionist Milbourne Christopher wrote years later that he felt "there are at least

3904-495: Was awarded honorary degrees by the universities of Manchester , Edinburgh , St Andrews and Birmingham . Most of her writings related to psychical research, and are contained in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research . However, some related to educational matters, and a couple of essays dealt with the morality of international affairs. Sidgwick was highly critical of physical mediumship . In 1886 and 1887

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3968-566: Was created in Durham, North Carolina , on June 19, 1957. J. B. Rhine proposed its formation at a parapsychology workshop 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

4032-663: Was one of the first three women to serve on a royal commission , the Bryce commission on Secondary Education. As a young woman, Eleanor had helped Rayleigh improve the accuracy of experimental measurement of electrical resistance; she subsequently turned her careful experimental mind to the question of testing the veracity of claims for psychical phenomena. She was elected President of the Society for Psychical Research in 1908 and named President of Honour in 1932. In 1916 Sidgwick left Cambridge to live with one of her brothers near Woking , where she remained until her death in 1936. She

4096-401: Was used to prevent the pair from 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

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