| >>Apparent paranormal phenomena has been elicited in the laboratory many
>>(conservatively speaking, hundreds) times under conditions most scientists
>>would consider highly rigorous, particularly if they were not informed that
>>the experiment were a parapsychology experiment.
>
> . . . Please document these claims.
>Parapsychology is not widely accepted in the scientific community precisely
>because it has *not* been demonstrated in the way you calim.
>
>-- Jim Balter (ima!jim)
Glad to. It is obviously impractical for me to personally summarize over the
net a literature consisting of over 3000 papers, and I'm sure that no one
expects me to. Instead I'll give some useful citations and anyone interested
can try to check them out themselves. Unfortunately even the major
publications are hard to find in libraries so you may have to look around some.
There are lots of primary sources but two stand out:
*The Journal of Parapsychology*: this is the journal started by J.B. Rhine in
the late 30's. Much of the early work, as in any field, is flawed but these
flaws were quickly found and corrected. Early issues are interesting to read
for this very reason: one can watch a new science being born. Standards have
been high throughout the Journal's lifetime. A useful feature is the section
of abstracts in each issue. This includes works published elsewhere and also
work that, for one reason or another, remains unpublished. The unpublished
papers can be obtained for a nominal copying charge from "The Foundation for
Research on the Nature of Man" (FRNM) which publishes the Journal. The most
common reason for non-publication is lack of overall significant scoring, this
service was in part inspired as a response to criticisms of selective
publication as the source of "psi" results.
*The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research* (JASPR): early
issues (from 1906) concentrated on field work and are thus rather weak
in evidential terms. Somewhere around 1925 the ASPR was "taken over" by
"spiritualists." Although there was occasional good work published during
this period, it could not really be considered a properly refereed, scientific
journal, and can't be taken too seriously. In the early 40's, however, it got
back to a scientific orientation, and high standards were reimposed. If
you're in doubt about any early 40's issue, look for Gardner Murphy's name.
It remains less laboratory oriented then the Journal of Parapsychology but
this is far from absolute.
A good source of reprints for many outstanding original papers in
parapsychology is the book *The Basic Experiments in Parapsychology* edited by
K. Ramakrishna Rao, published in 1984. Dr. Rao is the current director of
FRNM and the editor of the Journal of Parapsychology. The papers are not
restricted, however, to that source. Some caution is necessary (and Dr. Rao
himself provides it in the introduction). Dr. Rao was forced, because of
space limitations, to drop many papers he wished to include, and of course,
other people would have chosen papers that Dr. Rao didn't. A more accurate
title might, therefore, have been *Some of The Basic Experiments ...*. Also,
these papers were selected to provide an overview of experimental
parapsychology, not to provide the best existing evidence for the existence
of psi. Many of the experiments are the first to investigate a particular
phenomena, or to use a particular technique. These frequently contained
flaws (major or minor) which were later corrected in further experiments.
Some papers were included simply because they sparked controversy.
There are of course, many surveys. It is hard to imagine a parapsychologist
writing a book about parapsychology for a general audience without including
one. You may find such surveys interesting but they tend to be neither
complete nor detailed enough to provide much meat. There are, however,
several good, technical surveys.
The classic is *Extrasensory Perception After Sixty Years* by J.G. Pratt,
J.B. Rhine, Burke M. Stuart, Charles Stuart and Joseph A. Greenwood. It
was first published in 1940 and surveyed the field up to that time. There is
much discussion of the criticisms leveled at Rhine's early work, and his
answers. The book has been reissued and is still in print.
The *Handbook of Parapsychology* edited by B.B. Wolman (not to be confused
with a book of the same name by Hans Holtzer) contains many good survey
articles. Unfortunately, it has recently gone out of print.
I have no doubt at all that by far the most complete source is the irregular
series *Advances in Parapsychological Research* edited by Stanley Krippner.
The first three volumes were published by Plenum Press, and the fourth by
McFarland and Company. Not all the articles are relevant, so I'll list
the relevant ones separately.
Volume 1, subtitled "Psychokinesis", published in 1977 contains:
"Problems and Methods in Psychokinesis Research" by Joseph H. Rush.
"Research Findings in Psychokinesis" by Gertrude Schmeidler.
Volume 2, subtitled "Extrasensory Perception", published in 1978 contains:
"A Survey of Methods and Issues in ESP Research" by Robert L. Morris.
"Extrasensory Perception: Research Findings" by John Palmer (this is
a monumental survey, running almost 200 pages. If you read only
one thing it should be this.)
"Theories of Psi" by K. Ramakrishna Rao.
Volume 3, published in 1982, was principally intended as an update for the
previous two volumes. It contains:
"An Updated Survey of Methods and Issues in ESP Research" by Morris.
"ESP Research Findings: 1976-1978" by Palmer.
"Problems and Methods in Psychokinesis Research" by Rush.
"PK Research: Findings and Theories" by Schmeidler (this is not simply
an update but goes into areas, most importantly theoretical, not
covered by her first paper).
I have not yet read Volume 4 which was published in 1984, and so, with one
exception cannot recommend any of the papers. The exception is:
"Methodological Criticisms of Parapsychology" by Charles Akers. (This
is a good, hard, mostly negative look at one particular body of
experimental work by an insider. This is in my mind, one of the best
pieces of broad critical work around, and I recommend it. If you do
read it, however, keep in mind that it has not gone unchallenged, and
that it is not universally perceived as a negative evaluation of the
evidence it examines. Also, it deals with some of the methodologically
more complex areas of parapsychology, so there is a question as to its
generality. I'll be glad to discuss it with anyone who has read it.)
If you are unable to find any of these I will give one last source. It's
primary advantage is accessibility: most technical libraries will have it.
It is not, however, complete nor does it give a representative view of the
field. It was written by a "convert", essentially to explain why he decided
that there was something to the field after all. The author is Robert G. Jahn
who is the Dean of Engineering at Princeton.
Jahn, Robert G.; The Persistent Paradox of Psychic Phenomena: An
Engineering Perspective; PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, VOL. 70, #2 (February
1982)
If you need any help, or wish to know about the "legitimacy" of any source,
I'd be glad to provide any help I am able to.
|
| The field of parapsychology has been suffering for a long time from a lack
of a good technical introduction to the entire field, i.e., a good
textbook. At long last a reasonable, conservative, technical, broad
coverage textbook has been published.
I strongly recommend it. I do not agree with everything the authors say,
and there are a number of minor typos (and one incorrect statistical
formula that I know of). All in all, though, it is a solid book.
The book discusses in a fair amount of detail, the history, methods,
theories, evidence, terminology, criticisms, weaknesses, successes,
failures, philosophical implications and relations to other fields of
parapsychology. It covers none of these in great depth, but it gives a more
than simply adequate introduction to all of them. Depth can be obtained by
following up on the very extensive references.
For those whose interest is technical rather than (or as well as!)
spiritual or experiential, whether you are skeptical, convinced or
somewhere in between, this is a must read. It pulls no punches on either
side of the scientific controversy.
The book is:
_Foundations of Parapsychology: Exploring the Boundaries of
Human Capability_ by Hoyt L. Edge, Robert L. Morris,
John Palmer, and Joseph H. Rush. Published by Routledge &
Kegan Paul; Boston, London and Henley. 1986.
ISBN 0-7102-0226-1 and (pbk.) 0-7102-0805-7.
You can order it through most medium to large bookstores. The price for
the paperback is $22.50.
If you wish to give some financial support to the field while you buy your
book, you might wish to order it from the Parapsychology Press. This is
a division of the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man, which is
the non-profit organization founded by Dr. Rhine when he left Duke. The
major purpose of the Parapsychology Press is to publish the Journal of
Parapsychology, one of the major technical journals of the field. In
addition they have a small catalog of recommended books about parapsychology
which they sell through the mail. The books are published by a number
of different publishers. Send your order to:
Parapsychology Press
Box 6847, College Station
Durham, NC 27708
If you live in NC add 4% sales tax. Postage and Handling is "$1.50 for
under $10, $2.00 for $10 to $25, and $3.00 for over $25". You can also
add, of course, a tax deductible donation if you wish.
You can also order from them any or all of the volumes of "Advances in
Parapsychological Research" ($29.50 each, except Vol 4 which is $29.95)
mentioned in .1 and "The Basic Experiments in Parapsychology"
($29.95) also mentioned in .1. "Poltergeists" mentioned in
note 139.5 is available for $26.95. I also recommend "A Glossary of Terms
Used in Parapsychology" by Michael A. Thalbourne ($8.95). Much more.
You could also simply ask for their booklist, which lists the
"recommended books" which they sell.
[Disclaimer: I have no direct financial stake in the Parapsychology Press,
or to FRNM. I do, however, subscribe to their Journal, and know and have
worked with a number of people who are/have been associated with them
(a significant fraction of everyone in the field has been at one time or
another). Except for some (very valuable, I think) pamphlets and their
journal, unavailable elsewhere, there is no *intrinsic* value to ordering
books from them rather than your local bookstore.]
Topher
|