Parapsychology Term Papers

For example, a person may hear a sound but experience it as colour, i.e. they will “hear” the colour red.

Even though one person may feel that they have shared the same experience as another and they may feel that they know what the other person felt in their situation, this does not necessarily mean that the other person would agree.

1- What was experimentally wrong with the Ghostbusters ESP study (video link) at the end of your chapter one slideshow, and how could it be improved to meet scientific standards?

Sense of body- involves consciousness of physical sensations, (Piotrowski, 2005). Example: Mary is aware of her frown lines.

Per “The Synesthesia Project”, we do not know how many people have synesthesia. The most common statistic is 1 in every 2,000 people. But these numbers aren’t static, because since scientists developed an interest in the condition, many synesthetes are now self-reporting.

Telepathy: the ability to exchange information without the use of the known senses. Psychokinesis: the ability to move or influence objects without physical contact. Precognition: the ability to obtain information about future events outside of available perception. These abilities, along with many others are just some of the many instances of unexplained phenomena that parapsychology attempts to understand. The exact purpose of parapsychology is widely misinterpreted; whether due to a lack of information in the general public or preconceived notions from media portrayal, it is inaccurate to think that parapsychology and its researchers deal with paranormal activity or fringe sciences. The history of parapsychology has also been affected

A common human being can assume that these psychic abilities are fake, but they are a working progress among skeptic individuals. Only lab research can prove that these abilities are

Divine precognition is a phase of clairvoyance that brings knowledge of future events without relying on any physical senses. While clairvoyance is an awareness of past or future events that happen at a distance, precognition is knowing about events that will take place soon. For instance, you may be shown forthcoming events while you are in a dreaming state, during meditation or via flashes of clarity.

Singer and Benassi (1981) described a positive correlation between environmental uncertainty in western countries and occult beliefs. Although it could be argued that they may be overreaching with this generalization which is not supported with data, there is truth to this correlation. Humans try to be rational, and logical, and think critically, but in uncertain situations, we look to our environment, the physical and social environment, to provide us with information. Therefore, superstitions and supernatural phenomenon seem possible if no logical explanation can be given, and if the feedback from the environment reinforces what could be occult beliefs. French, Haque, Bunton-Stasyshyn, & Davis (2009) conducted an experiment attempting to investigate whether they could try to create a “haunted” room, and if participants would experience more abnormal sensations. Participants were informed they may feel some abnormal sensations prior to entering the room. Majority of participants reported having three or more abnormal sensations in the 50-minute period they were in the room. These sensations can be a result of susceptibility, but the uncertainty of that environment, and the lack of information may create these sensations and can validate occult

Very little is known about the nature of the human mind. The mental and social life of humans is based on the mind, yet not much is known about it and the extent to which it can go. In all cultures there is a belief about the mind, the heart, and the soul, with a variety of notions about these parts of the human being. Psyche in its ancient sense is extended to limits that go beyond the human body in many of the existing cultures. Surveys that have been done in most countries of the West, Britain, and the U.S have consistently shown that a significant portion of the populations in these regions believe in the occurrence of psychic phenomenon and more than fifty percent believe that they have at one point or another personally experienced it (Sheldrake 102). Considering these beliefs and experiences, it is senseless to claim that the mind is only restricted to the brain. This makes the advocates of mechanistic orthodoxy make an assertion that since paranormal phenomena lacks a scientific explanation, it is non-existent. According to scientific education, this is regarded as superstition but there still calls for need of more study and research into this widespread phenomenon.

When many people think of epilepsy they think of someone falling on the ground shaking and jerking uncontrollably and the thought makes them uncomfortable. Some believe bystanders should put a wooden spoon in the mouth of the one having a seizure and hold them down. These are both misconceptions. Most people think that epilepsy and seizures are the same, this information is also incorrect. Epilepsy is an often misinterpreted disorder. To better understand the disorder and the lives of people with Ep more information and education is needed.

This higher order scanning mechanism can be conceived as an inner sense, or an inner state directed towards other inner states. This allows us to make decisions and “behave selectively” towards our own states of mind.

Someone who is Clairaudient is able to hear events occurring at long distances, in the physical world, and events occurring in other dimensions. “On of the most common mental phenomena, which already attained some prominence in the mesmeric movement of the preceding half-century, was clairvoyance.” (Randi 338.) Clairaudient people receive messages in thought form from another frequency or realm. It is considered a form of channeling.

EMDR has weaknesses and debated for being controversial due to it being difficult to support the signature aspect of the therapy, namely alternating eye movements as actually necessary to the treatment (McLay et al., 2016, p. 702). Eye movements and cognitive reprocessing which are deemed by EMDR as essential failed to make a unique contribution to the outcome of therapy (Rubin, 2002, p. 14). According to the Prochaska & Norcross, “The eye movements are only one form of bilateral stimulation and may not be required for the therapeutic effect” (2014, p. 211). Hand taps and repetition of auditory cues are other alternate stimuli which can be used instead of eye movements. Early claims were made about EMDR having almost magical results that only one session of EMDR could provide treatment for clients (McLay et al., 2016, p. 702; Prochaska & Norcross, 2014, p. 210). Furthermore, EMDR could be viewed as a simple variant of exposure therapy with a gimmick in marketing the therapy as something new (Rubin, 2002, p. 12). According to Perkins & Rouanzoin (2002), “EMDR is best explained by learning processes that subsume exposure and cognitive-behavioral treatments” (p. 80). EMDR has not been proven effective outside of PSTD.

Millions of Americans express a belief in extrasensory perception, or ESP, they believe that certain people have psychic abilities. Movies like “The sixth sense” , and commercials for telephone psychics add to the common perception. That psychic abilities are real. Newspapers and television news show are frequently too ready to provide a forum for self-proclaimed psychic. And too quick to dismiss the skeptical viewpoint—if the writers even bother to find out what skeptics believe. People who believe in ESP claim that skeptics are curmudgeons.Who automatically reject any claim about paranormal abilities, no matter how compelling the evidence. The truth is that no psychic has ever been able to demonstrate his or her abilities under controlled