Guidelines for Testing Psychic Claimants

Guidelines for Testing Psychic Claimants
Author: Richard John Wiseman
Publisher: Univ of Hertfordshire Press
Total Pages: 78
Release: 1995
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780900458583

Many people claim to be psychic. Palm readers and astrologers claim that they look into the future to help solve personal problems. Mediums claim to help individuals communicate with deceased friends and relatives. Faith healers and psychic surgeons claim to diagnose and cure illness. Psychic detectives offer advice to the police to help solve crime. Alleged psychics have been used to attract followers to religious organizations and as consultants by large businesses.

Guidelines for Extrasensory Perception Research

Guidelines for Extrasensory Perception Research
Author: Julie Milton
Publisher: Univ of Hertfordshire Press
Total Pages: 98
Release: 1997
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9780900458743

Laboratory tests of extrasensory perception have been going on for over 50 years, attracting international interest within the scientific community. Some scientists believe that these studies are well-conducted, and that positive results obtained support the existence of ESP. In contrast, critics have argued that there are serious methodological errors in such experiemnts and that their results should be ignored.

The Language of Mediums and Psychics

The Language of Mediums and Psychics
Author: Robin Wooffitt
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2017-03-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351887173

Every week thousands of people in Europe and the USA consult psychic practitioners. Communication is crucial to the performance of psychic powers in a range of settings. Psychic practitioners use language to demonstrate their powers, whether they are reporting the words of their spirit contacts or interpreting the spread of Tarot cards. Their clients also accept or reject this information through talk. This book presents the first sustained study of the verbal interaction between the various kinds of psychic practitioners and their clients. Using conversation analysis, Robin Wooffitt examines the structure of the interaction, focusing on the ways in which psychic practitioners and their clients establish the authenticity of the claimed paranormal powers. Adopting a neutral standpoint towards the status of the claims of psychic practitioners, the book raises important issues about the role of social science in understanding the activities of psychic practitioners and other kinds of parapsychological phenomena. This highly original study will appeal to students and scholars of discourse studies, and to sociologists interested in conversation analysis. It is written in a style accessible to non-specialists, and will also interest parapsychologists and social scientists studying psychic phenomena and the paranormal.

Psychic Intuition

Psychic Intuition
Author: Nancy du Tertre
Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2012-08-22
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1601635915

Author Nancy du Tertre, “the Skeptical PsychicTM,” takes you on a journey to find the answer to these questions and more in Psychic Intuition. She became psychic in mid-life after years of intensive study and training, and is now a believer that everyone has the potential to tap into their intuition and understand the world at a deeper level. Psychic Intuition bridges the gap between skeptics who can analyze but don’t experience psychic phenomena, and believers who have the experiences but lack the ability to analyze. This book explains, for the first time, how psychic ability works in the brain.

An Introduction to Parapsychology, 5th ed.

An Introduction to Parapsychology, 5th ed.
Author: Harvey J. Irwin
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2007-03-07
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0786430591

This is a thoroughly updated and revised edition of our highly acclaimed university textbook on the science of parapsychology. The objective of this book is to provide an introductory survey of parapsychologists' efforts to explore the authenticity and bases of anomalous, apparently paranormal phenomena. It outlines the origins of parapsychological research and critically reviews investigations of extrasensory perception, psychokinesis, poltergeist phenomena, near-death and out-of-body experiences, and the evaluation of parapsychology as a scientific enterprise. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Ghosts

Ghosts
Author: R. C. Finucane
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Total Pages: 326
Release: 1996-06
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1615925910

Throughout history, people have reported seeing ghosts. But a Victorian ghost is in many respects a very different phenomenon from a ghost in Classical Greece, or in medieval Europe. Finucane surveys reports of ghosts from ancient Greece, the early Christian era, the Reformation, the Victorian age, and through the twentieth century. He asks such questions as: How have the physical aspects claimed for ghosts varied from age to age? What differences are there in the functions and intentions ascribed to ghosts? How have the changes in more general beliefsin religion and science, in particularinfluenced the perception of ghosts? Drawing on primary sources from all periods and cultures, Finucane addresses this topic in its full breadth.R.C. Finucane (Rochester, MI) is chairperson of the Department of History at Oakland University.. . . highly recommended. Magonia (UK). . . a useful book for those readers interested in the history of the supernatural . . . Extrapolation

The Ghost in the Universe

The Ghost in the Universe
Author: Taner Edis
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2009-12-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1615923306

Emphasizing the results of natural science, physicist Taner Edis takes a fresh look at an age-old question: Is there a God or a spiritual reality beyond nature?

Encounters With the Paranormal

Encounters With the Paranormal
Author: Kendrick Frazier
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 427
Release: 2023-10-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1633889718

Do polygraph tests really detect lies? Can memories be implanted? Is subliminal perception a reality? What is the relationship between science and belief?Experts in the fields of physical/biological science, psychology, philosophy, social science, and forensic science bring their perspectives to controversies that affect the way we think and how we perceive reality and the natural world. From science's influence on beauty to antiscience in our universities and from UFO mythologies to near-death experiences, this volume spans the gamut of pseudoscience today.Contributors include James Alcock, Susan Blackmore, Alan Cromer, Mandy Fowler, Christopher C. French, Martin Gardner, Thomas Gilovich, Theodore Goertzel, Paul R. Gross, Peter Huston, Ray Hyman, Noretta Koertge, Paul Kurtz, Dan Larhammar, Leon M. Lederman, James Lett, Norman Levitt, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Elizabeth Loftus, Lee Loevinger, Katy McCarthy, Joe Nickell, Bernard Oritz de Montellano, Debbie Peers, Anthony Pratkanis, Carl Sagan, Kenneth Savitsky, Glenn Seaborg, Elie Shneour, Matthew Smith, Victor Stenger, Jeffrey F. Victor, Jeff Wiseman, and Richard Wiseman.

Parapsychology

Parapsychology
Author: Caroline Watt
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1351912828

Many people believe that they have experienced paranormal phenomena and others claim to possess psychic abilities. For the past hundred years or so, researchers have undertaken systematic and scientific work into these alleged experiences and abilities. This collection of articles provides readers with a general sense of the methods used in this research, the findings that have been obtained and the controversies generated by this work. They cover a wide range of issues, including the psychology of paranormal belief, investigations into ghosts and hauntings, laboratory research into extra-sensory perception and psychokinesis, and controlled tests of psychics and mediums. An introductory essay sets each of the selected papers in context and provides additional references for those wishing to delve deeper into the issues surrounding each of the areas covered.

Demystifying Shamans and Their World

Demystifying Shamans and Their World
Author: Adam J. Rock
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2011-10-14
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1845403339

Shamanism can be described as a group of techniques by which its practitioners enter the “spirit world,” purportedly obtaining information that is used to help and to heal members of their social group. Despite a resurgence of interest in shamanism and shamanic states of consciousness, these phenomena are neither well-defined nor sufficiently understood. This multi-disciplinary study draws on the fields of psychology, philosophy and anthropology with the aim of demystifying shamanism. The authors analyse conflicting perspectives regarding shamanism, the epistemology of shamanic states of consciousness, and the nature of the mental imagery encountered during these states.