Below are some common questions asked regarding parapsychology. If you're new to the topic, this is the best place to start. The questions are listed under the subcontents menu at the right.

"Parapsychology is the scientific and scholarly study of certain unusual events associated with human experience."

Basically, parapsychology is the study of phenomena that seem to cross the boundaries between mental intention and physical reality. Such phenomena are termed "anomalous because they are difficult to explain within current scientific models."

"These anomalies fall into three general categories: Extrasensory Perception (ESP), Psychokinesis (PK), and phenomena suggestive of survival after bodily death," such as near-death experiences (NDE), hauntings, and reincarnation.

While most parapsychologists believe that the current state of scientific knowledge will have to revised in order to incorporate the workings of psychic phenomena, other researchers continue to hold that the "existing scientific models of perception and memory are adequate to explain some or all parapsychological phenomena."

Despite the popular belief that parapsychology is the study of "anything paranormal or bizarre," it is not concerned with such topics as astrology, UFOs, Bigfoot, paganism, vampires, alchemy, or witchcraft. Parapsychology is also not related to so-called psychic entertainers or paranormal investigators. Many scientists have come to distrust parapsychology because of its inaccurate association with such "fringe topics and pseudosciences."

The basic parapsychological phenomena are listed below.

Extrasensory perception (ESP):

A general term for obtaining information about events beyond the reach of the normal senses. This term includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

Clairvoyance:

Obtaining information about events at remote locations, beyond the reach of the normal senses.

Telepathy:

Direct mind-to-mind communication.

Precognition:

Obtaining information about future events, where the information could not be inferred through normal means.

Psychokinesis (PK):

Direct mental interaction with physical objects.

Bio-PK:

Direct mental interactions with living systems.

Poltergeist:

Large-scale PK phenomena which are thought to be due to a living person, frequently an adolescent.

Haunting:

Recurrent phenomena reported to occur in particular locations that include apparitions, sounds, movement of objects, and other effects.

Out-of-Body Experience (OBE):

Sometimes referred to as astral projection; the experience of feeling separated from the body, often accompanied by visual perceptions as though from above the body.

Near Death Experience (NDE):

An experience reported by those who were revived from nearly dying. Often refers to a core experience that includes feelings of peace, out-of-body experiences, seeing lights, and other phenomena.

Reincarnation:

The belief that we live successive lives, with primary evidence coming from the apparent recollections of previous lives by very small children.

Psi:

A neutral term for parapsychological phenomena. Psi, psychic, and psychical are synonyms.

Psychic experiences involve the communication of information through means other than those which science, specifically biology and psychology, have identified (and which parapsychology has termed extrasensory perception). Psychic experiences may also involve events which are brought about by a person's influence (termed psychokinesis), though not the type "normally associated with human action." ²

"A genuine psi exchange [cannot] be based even upon subtle, subliminal forms of perception or action." ⁶

Parapsychology is interesting mainly because what it implies. For example, psi phenomena may indicate that:

• "What science knows about the nature of universe is incomplete.
• The presumed capabilities and limitations of human potential have been underestimated.
• Fundamental assumptions and philosophical beliefs about the separation of mind and body may be incorrect.
• Religious assumptions about the divine nature of miracles may have been mistaken."

Those subjects which link intricately with the topics studied in parapsychology include physics (because of the possibility "that we have a great misunderstanding about space and time and the transmission of energy and information"), biology ("because psi implies the existence of additional, unexplained methods of sensing the world"), psychology ("because [of] what psi implies about the nature of perception and memory"), philosophy ("because psi phenomena specifically address many age-old philosophical problems, including the role of the mind in the physical world"), and theology ("because personal psi experiences are often accompanied by feelings of profound [spiritual] meaning").

"Parapsychology has remained controversial, even with substantial, persuasive, and scientifically palatable results," for the following reasons:

First, popular notions of parapsychology, often contributed to by the media and pop culture, associate it with the "sensational, unscientific beliefs and stories about the paranormal." This inaccurate association "has led many scientists to simply dismiss the field as being unworthy of serious study."

Secondly, "thoroughly understanding the nature of the existing evidence in parapsychology is not easy." Generally, people will tend to look for the glaring scientific evidence in support of the fantastical claims of psychic phenomena that have arisen over the centuries, but all they will find are anecdotes. This inevitably leads many to believe that there is no evidence in support of psi, but that is not the case.

Third, "even if someone wanted to study the evidence, much of the persuasive work is published in limited circulation professional journals. These can be found in most large university libraries, but in many cases, scholars must request reprints and technical reports from authors."

And finally, accepting the existence of psi unleashes common fears and beliefs such as:

• "It is associated with diabolic forces, magic and witchcraft. "
• People might be able to read my mind and know that I am secretly or unconsciously harboring sexual or aggressive thoughts.
• "Thinking about psi leads to a medieval superstitious mentality, which will in turn support a rising tide of dangerous, primitive thinking. "
• With ESP, I might learn things that I do not want to know about myself or other people, such as accidents that are about to happen.
• If I am telepathic, how will I distinguish other people's thoughts from my own? Perhaps this will lead to mental illness.
• "Many people have a self-destructive streak to their personality. What damage would result if psi were used in the service of this factor?"
• "If psi exists, how many of my other cherished beliefs will I have to give up?"
• "If psi exists, does that mean that a psychic could watch me while I am using bathroom facilities?"

This depends on the attitude of the person interpreting the experience. Those who believe psi is impossible will always look for normal explanations, no matter how implausible. Those who believe in psi will look for mystical explanations when normal ones typically suffice. Parapsychologists feel that normal explanations cannot adequately explain all the recorded experiences, and therefore feel that all the answers regarding this topic are not in yet. ²

Opinions about the workings of psi are fairly dispersed.

One belief promoted by "physicalists" is that "the psi sensing capacity is like any other human sensory system, and as such it will most likely be explained by known principles from biophysics, chemistry, and cognitive science. For these theorists, psi is expected to be accommodated into the existing scientific structure, with perhaps some modifications or extensions."

Another belief, promoted by the "mentalists," states that "reality would not exist if it were not for human consciousness. For these theorists, the nature of the universe is much more effervescent, thus accommodating psi into existing scientific models will require significant modification of science as we know it."

Some theorists, however, claim that while some scientific revision will be necessary, the evidence for psi already exists in some branches of science, such as quantum mechanics.

The major research approaches consist of:

• "Scholarly research, including discussion of philosophical issues and historical surveys.
• Analytical research, including statistical analysis of large databases.
• Case studies, including in-depth studies of personal psi experiences, field investigations, and comparisons of cross-cultural beliefs and practices related to psi.
• Theoretical research, including mathematical, descriptive and phenomenological models of psi.
• Experimental research, including laboratory studies of psi effects."

Although all five of these methods have contributed greatly to psi research, the main avenue of psi research today lies in controlled laboratory experiments. "By applying the exacting standards of the scientific method, researchers over the past six decades have developed an increasingly persuasive database for certain types of psi phenomena."

Over the years, several experimental designs have been developed, "and a select few experiments have now been repeated hundreds of times by dozens of researchers worldwide. Sometimes these experiments are conducted as strict replications, but more often they are conceptually similar experiments that add controls or extend the range of questions addressed."

While many people still assume that parapsychologists primarily use the well-known ESP cards, this is not the case. The most highly-used experiments today are:

• Remote Viewing
• ESP in the Ganzfeld
• PK on random number generators
• PK on living systems

Technical Note: Methodologies

While parapsychology uses the same scientific methods as other fields, it differs slightly in that parapsychologists must pay close attention to conventional explanations, since psi phenomena has been defined "as exchanges of information that do not involve currently known processes."

Thus, an integral part of parapsychological research involves "eliminating known contact methods from laboratory setups...In ESP research, this requires knowing about the psychology of sensation, perception, memory, thinking, and communication, and about the biology and physics of sensation and movement. In PK studies, it is important to know about the physical characteristics of the target, how it works, and what might affect it. In field studies, and in most laboratory studies, it's important to know about the ways in which people can interact with each other."

Despite the tightest controls on experiments, there also exists the possibility that what is observed could have occurred by chance. "That is, a person's apparent ESP knowledge about some distant event might be a random guess that just happens to resemble the target. Or, what looks like a PK effect on a physical system might be a random change in that system that just happens to occur at the right time." Therefore, parapsychologists must also be familiar with the field of statistics in order to tell how likely it is that the results could have occurred by chance.

Some practical applications of psi include:

• Psychic healing (since studies in the field of bio-PK suggest that "traditional mental healing techniques, such as prayer, may be based on genuine psi-mediated effects")
• Improved methods of making decisions
• Being able to locate missing persons or valuables
• Describing events at locations that one cannot go to "because of distance, time, or accessibility" (which brings up the possibility of psi-based historians and forecasters)
• Assisting in involvement in the financial markets
• Assisting in locating archeological treasures

"Constructive criticism is essential in science and is welcomed by the majority of active psi researchers. Strong skepticism is expected, and many parapsychologists are far more skeptical about psi than most scientists realize. However, it is not generally appreciated that some of the more vocal criticisms about psi are simply...authoritarian proofs of the impossibility of psi...[and] disparaging rhetoric and ad hominem attacks."

Some of the more common criticisms are as follows:

"Criticism: Apparently successful experimental results are actually due to sloppy procedures, poorly trained researchers, methodological flaws, selective reporting, and statistics problems." Therefore, there is not a shred of scientific evidence in support of psi phenomena.

"Response: These issues have been addressed in detail by meta-analytic reviews of the experimental literature. The results unambiguously demonstrate that successful experiments cannot be explained away by these criticisms. In fact, research by Harvard University specialists in scientific methods showed that the best experimental psi research today is not only conducted according to proper scientific standards, but usually adheres to more rigorous protocols than are found in contemporary research in both the social and physical sciences. In addition, over the years there have been a number of very effective rebuttals of criticisms of individual studies, and within the past decade, experimental procedures have been developed that address virtually all methodological criticisms, even the possibility of fraud and collusion, by including skeptics in the experimental procedures."

"Criticism: Psi phenomena violate basic limiting principles of science, and are therefore impossible."

"Response: Twenty years ago, this criticism was a fairly common retort to claims of psi phenomena. Today, with advancements in many scientific disciplines, the scientific worldview is rapidly changing, and the basic limiting principles are constantly being redefined. In addition, the substantial empirical database in parapsychology now presents anomalies that simply won't [disappear,] thus this criticism is no longer persuasive and is slowly disappearing. Given the rate of change in science today, assigning psi to the realm of the impossible now seems imprudent at best, foolish at worst.

"Criticism: Parapsychology does not have a "repeatable" experiment."

"Response: When many people talk about a repeatable psi experiment, they usually have in mind an experiment like those conducted in elementary physics classes to demonstrate the acceleration of gravity, or simple chemical reactions. In such experiments, where there are relatively few, well-known and well-controllable variables, the experiments can be performed by practically anyone, anytime, and they will work. But insisting on this level of repeatability is inappropriate for parapsychology, or for that matter, for most social or behavioral science experiments. Psi experiments usually involve many variables, some of which are poorly understood and difficult or impossible to directly control. Under these circumstances, scientists use statistical arguments to demonstrate repeatability."

Unfortunately, the number of courses and degrees available in topics such as parapsychology, transpersonal psychology, or human consciousness are extremely few.

The standard advice for anyone interested in parapsychology is to first get a degree in any science, then take up parapsychology, as this will provide a good foundation in the basic principles of the scientific method, "which underlies virtually all parapsychological research." ²

"If your interest in consciousness research can be focused on a relatively accepted aspect of it, [for example] biofeedback research, you may be able to find a professor at some mainstream university doing research that you could work with. If your primary interest is parapsychology, things get much tougher. You can forget most mainstream academic institutions if you want to get seriously involved in this topic at the professional level."

It is important to note that scientific parapsychology is an extremely small field, with only a few dozen people in the entire world working in it. "At present, the chances of landing a decent job are very small indeed...[in fact], parapsychologists usually make a living teaching or doing another conventional job."

"Pursuing parapsychology as a career also requires strong entrepreneurial skills, enormous persistence and creativity, resourcefulness, solid training in one of more of the conventional sciences or in a scholarly discipline, and the ability to withstand the tides of conventional wisdom. The payoff is that parapsychology, like other scientific frontiers, is an extremely challenging discipline with plenty of room for exploring creative ideas and making significant advancements to the state-of-the-art. If you expect fast solutions to easy problems, or absolute answers to clear questions, then parapsychology is definitely not for you. If you enjoy exploring the full range of human potential and challenging the status quo, then there is no better discipline than parapsychology."

In one word: meditate. Sit down in a comfortable position, close your eyes, quiet your mind, and try and free yourself from all sensory stimulation. While there is no guarantee that if you do this you will have psychic experiences, there is a significant amount of evidence suggesting that "meditators perform better in some laboratory psi tests than non-meditators."

Also, while there are a plethora of books out there that claim to be able to teach people how to use psychic powers, the majority of these are under strict scrutiny, as studies have shown that these types of books and programs typically fail. However, there are cases of a few people (such as Malcolm Bessent) who have attended "psychic school" and gone on to perform very well in several parapsychology experiments.

It may be that psychic ability is similar to an artistic talent: for those who inherently have that ability, training will help to improve and refine that ability, and for those who do not, there is little that training will do. ²

What is parapsychology?

What is not parapsychology?

What do parapsychologists study?

What, specifically, constitutes as a psychic experience?

Why is parapsychology interesting?

Why is parapsychology so controversial?

What separates the normal from the paranormal?

What is the state-of-the-theory for psi?

What are the major research approaches?

What are the major psi experiments today?

What are some practical applications of psi?

What are some common criticisms about parapsychology?

Where can I get a degree in parapsychology?

How can I develop my psychic abilities?