Frequently Asked Questions about Parapsychology
Last update: December 17, 1995
Last update: December 17, 1995
This FAQ was compiled by an ad-hoc group of scientists and scholars
interested in parapsychology, the study of what is popularly called
"psychic" phenomena. The disciplines represented in
this group include physics, psychology, philosophy, statistics,
mathematics, computer science, chemistry, anthropology, and history.
The major contributors and their
affiliations are listed at the end of this document.
The majority of this group are members of the Parapsychological Association (PA).
The PA is an international professional society founded in 1957
and elected an affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science in 1969. While this FAQ is not an official publication
of the PA, the contributors do include several past- Presidents
of the PA, including the current (1995) President, and past and
present members of the Board of Directors of the PA. The authors'
actual laboratory and field research experience with parapsychology
is estimated at over 400 years.
The group aimed for consensus on each FAQ item, but as in many
intellectual pursuits, especially in young, multidisciplinary
domains, there were some sharp disagreements. In spite of these
disagreements, the authors believe that because of burgeoning
public interest in parapsychology, the relative lack of reliable
information, and the many myths and distortions associated with
this field, it was important to put some basic information on
the World Wide Web sooner rather than later.
To submit questions to the FAQ, send email to Dean Radin
(dradin@nevada.edu )
or see the Consciousness Research Laboratory home
page.
This was written as a general introduction to parapsychology for
individuals ranging from advanced high-school students to professionals
with little or no background in parapsychology. Writing for such
a broad audience is a challenge, because gaining an appreciation
of parapsychology today requires at least a passing knowledge
of a wide range of topics, including statistics, experimental
design, quantum mechanical theory, the sociology and philosophy
of science, history of parapsychology, and the scientific literature
on parapsychology.
Because our expected audience is so broad, we have touched only
briefly on many technical issues that underlie interesting issues
and debates within the field. Therefore, the approach in this
FAQ is to clarify the complex topic of parapsychology without
glossing over important points and without "dumbing down"
the basic content. For a few particularly tricky issues that we
do wish to cover here, we've included sections labelled Technical
Note.
We eventually plan to provide (mainly through links to other sources
on the Web) a comprehensive source of information on parapsychology,
including details on the major topics of debate, the prevailing
theories, discussions of empirical evidence, links to journal
papers, reference sources, mission statements and other items
from the major parapsychological research centers, individual
researchers' home pages, and home pages for relevant scientific
and scholarly societies.
The content and style of this FAQ sparked a vigorous debate among
the authors. At least five potential audiences were identified:
physical scientists, social and behavioral scientists, hardened
skeptics, New-Age enthusiasts, and readers with little or no background
in any of the conventional sciences or in parapsychology.
For physical scientists, we felt it was important to discuss methodology
and terminology, and comment on some of the usual criticisms of
parapsychology. For social and behavioral scientists, we added
some implications of the observation that people throughout history
and across all cultures have reported psychic experiences.
For hardened skeptics, or people whose knowledge of parapsychology
is based solely upon the skeptical literature, we felt it was
important to address the fact that there is substantial, scientifically
persuasive empirical data available. For people with New-Age interests,
enthusiasms, or assumptions, we felt that at least part of the
purpose here would be to indicate the limits of what claims the
scientific data actually justify.
For readers who know little or nothing about the topic, or about
science or scientific methods, we've applied a broad-brush approach
to cover as much of the field as possible in a single document.
Hyperlinks will be added in future editions to help flesh out
this FAQ.
Parapsychology is the scientific and scholarly study of certain
unusual events associated with human experience.
A long-held, common-sense assumption is that the worlds of the
subjective and objective are completely distinct, with no overlap.
Subjective is "here, in the head," and objective is
"there, out in the world." Parapsychology is the study
of phenomena suggesting that the strict subjective/objective dichotomy
may instead be part of a spectrum, with some phenomena occasionally
falling between purely subjective and purely objective. We call
such phenomena "anomalous" because they are difficult
to explain within current scientific models.
These anomalies fall into three general categories: ESP (terms
are defined below), PK, and phenomena suggestive of survival after
bodily death, including near-death experiences, apparitions, and
reincarnation. Most parapsychologists today expect that further
research will eventually explain these anomalies in scientific
terms, although it is not clear whether they can be fully understood
without significant (some might say revolutionary) expansions
of the current state of scientific knowledge. Other researchers
take the stance that existing scientific models of perception
and memory are adequate to explain some or all parapsychological
phenomena.
In spite of what the media often imply, parapsychology is not
the study of "anything paranormal" or bizarre. Nor is
parapsychology concerned with astrology, UFOs, searching for Bigfoot,
paganism, vampires, alchemy, or witchcraft.
Many scientists view parapsychology with great suspicion because
the term has come to be associated with a huge variety of mysterious
phenomena, fringe topics, and pseudoscience. Parapsychology is
also often linked, again inappropriately, with a broad range of
"psychic" entertainers, magicians, and so-called "paranormal
investigators." In addition, some self-proclaimed "psychic
practitioners" call themselves parapsychologists, but that
is not what we do, as this FAQ will help to clarify.
Many feel that the strangest, and most interesting, aspect of parapsychological phenomena is that they do not appear to be limited by the known boundaries of space or time. In addition, they blur the sharp distinction usually made between mind and matter. In popular usage, the basic parapsychological phenomena are categorized as follows:
The above terms are representative of common usage, but parapsychologists
usually define psi phenomena in more neutral or operational terms.
This is because labels often carry strong but unstated connotations
that can lead to misinterpretations.
For example, telepathy is commonly thought of as mind-reading.
However, in practice, and certainly in laboratory research, experiences
of telepathy rarely involve perception of actual thoughts, and
the experience itself often does not logically require communication
between two minds, but can also be "explained" as clairvoyance
or precognition. Keep in mind that the names and concepts used
to describe psi actually say more about the situations in which
the phenomena are observed, than about any fundamental properties
of the phenomena themselves. That two events are classified the
same does not mean they are actually the same.
In addition, in scientific practice many of the basic terms used
above are accompanied by qualifiers such as "apparent,"
"putative," and "ostensible." This is because
many claims supposedly involving psi may not be due to psi, but
to normal psychological or misinterpreted physical reasons.
Parapsychology is interesting mainly because of the implications.
To list a few examples, psi phenomena suggest (a) that what science
knows about the nature of universe is incomplete; (b) that the
presumed capabilities and limitations of human potential have
been underestimated; (c) that fundamental assumptions and philosophical
beliefs about the separation of mind and body may be incorrect;
and (d) that religious assumptions about the divine nature of
"miracles" may have been mistaken.
As an aside, we should note that many scientific parapsychologists
today, including most of the authors of this FAQ, take an empirical,
data-oriented approach to psi phenomena, and specifically avoid
discussing speculative implications that are not supported by
data. However, some researchers regard the current findings of
parapsychology as having a wide variety of important implications,
including implications about the spiritual nature of humankind.
Thus, in deference to the broad readership expected of this document,
we present in the following Technical Note some
of the possible implications of psi, acknowledging that this section
is, of course, speculative.
In general, physicists tend to be interested in parapsychology
because of the implication that we have a gross misunderstanding
about space and time and the transmission of energy and information.
Biologists are interested because psi implies the existence of
additional, unexplained methods of sensing the world. Psychologists
are interested for what psi implies about the nature of perception
and memory. Philosophers are interested because psi phenomena
specifically address many age-old philosophical problems, including
the role of the mind in the physical world, and the nature of
the objective vs. the subjective.
Theologians and the general public tend to be interested because
personal psi experiences are often accompanied by feelings of
profound, ineffable meaning. As a result, psi is thought by some
to have "spiritual" implications.
From the materialistic perspective, which is one of the foundations
of the scientific worldview, human consciousness is nothing but
an emergent product of the functioning of Brain, Body, and Nervous
System (BBNS). That is, no matter how different mind may seem
from solid stuff like bodies, it is generated solely by the electrochemical
functioning of the BBNS, and so it is absolutely dependent on
it. When the BBNS dies, so does consciousness. From this perspective,
claims of survival of bodily death, or ghosts, or apparitions,
must be due to wishful thinking. Furthermore, the limits of material
functioning automatically determine the ultimate limits of mental
functioning, thus ESP and PK appear to be impossible, given our
current understanding about how the world works.
And yet, psi phenomena have occurred in all cultures throughout
history, they continue to occur, and some of the reported phenomena
have been persuasively verified using scientific methods. Because
psi seems to transcend the assumed limits of material functioning,
and therefore the BBNS, some interpret psi as supporting the idea
that there is something more to mind than just the BBNS, that
there is some sort of "soul," or the like.
This "non-physical" aspect, an aspect that does not
seem to be as tightly bounded by space or time as present scientific
models require, might survive bodily death. If so, there may be
important truths contained in some spiritual ideas and practices.
Of course, parapsychology is a very long way from being able to
say that "the data shows that X" (insert your favorite
religious group here) are specifically right about religious doctrines
A, B, and C but dead wrong about dogmas P, Q and R.
We must emphasize that there is a big difference between
simply noting that the findings of parapsychology may have implications
for spiritual concepts, versus the idea that parapsychologists
are driven by some hidden spiritual agenda. Some critics of parapsychology
seem to believe that all parapsychologists have hidden religious
motives, and that they are really out to prove the existence of
the soul. This is no more true than claiming that all chemists
really harbor secret ambitions about alchemy, and thus their real
agenda is to transmute mercury into gold. The reasons why serious
investigators are drawn to any discipline are as diverse as their
backgrounds.
Studies of direct mental interaction with living systems suggest
that traditional mental healing techniques, such as prayer, may
be based on genuine psi-mediated effects. In the future it may
be possible to develop enhanced methods of healing based on these
phenomena.
Psi may be involved in Murphy's Law: "If anything can go
wrong, it will." That is, modern machines based upon sensitive
electronic circuits, such as copiers and computers, may at times
directly interact with human intention, and as a result, inexplicably
fail at inopportune times. Of course, the converse may also be
true. That is, the possibility exists to repair, or to control
sensitive machines solely by mental means. Such technologies would
significantly benefit handicapped persons.
Other potential applications include improved methods of making
decisions, of locating missing persons or valuables, and of describing
events at locations we cannot go to because of distance, time,
or accessibility. This includes the possibility of psi-based historians
and forecasters.
Highly developed psi abilities may benefit psychotherapy and other
forms of counseling. Psi may be used to provide a statistical
edge in the financial markets and in locating archeological treasures.
Version: February 14, 1996
Copyright 1995, 1996 Dean Radin
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