Extra-sensory perception (ESP)

This is a term coined by Dr. JB Rhine (1895-1980) to refer to supposed abilities such as telepathy (the ability to perceive the thoughts or emotions of others without the use of the recognized senses), precognition (the ability to see into the future) or clairvoyance (the ability to ‘see’ information about either living beings or inanimate objects or locations without the assistance of the ordinary senses) and clairaudience (the ability to ‘hear’ information from occult sources such as spirits), and psychokinesis or PK (the ability to move or influence objects with psychic powers): collectively referred to as Psi or Psi phenomena.

‘Zener ESP cards’ were named after their designer, Karl Zener (1903 – 1963), and comprise of five kinds of cards (five each in a deck of twenty-five): a circle, two straight lines that cross in the middle, three wavy verticle lines, a square, and a five-pointed star. One of the problems with Rhine’s (and others’) use of Zener cards centres upon inappropriate comparisons of outcomes† such as subjects’ guessing of the symbols of cards from the deck of twenty-five against theoretical probabilities assuming very large numbers of trials in which each available type of outcome has an equal chance of crystallizing on any occasion, etc. A further area of concern encompasses inadequate measures taken to preclude cheating and/or inadvertent sensory leakage or cueing, not to mention data mining*, experimenter bias and self-deception, or even experimenter fraud, e.g., SG Soal’s now-verified activities.

In addition to these problems Psi and other Parapsychological research is dogged by its negative definition and investigational strategy. ESP, for example, ostensibly occurs without the aid or interposition of the ordinary senses or other prosaic means, is apparently unobservable, and is thought distinct from lucky guesses or other chance factors (or for that matter to flaws and errors in experimental design or execution), so in what way is it deemed to have occurred? By ‘uncovering’ statistical oddities which its practitioners say can't be explained by random distributions and variations, etc., or by any other known natural or mundane causes: what is taken to be evidence for psi. The smaller any statistical differences, especially over a great many trials (see: Langmuir), the less weight such claims carry in scientific terms. Some systematic defect in the conduct of the experiment might, for instance, emerge after a large number of trials, yet believers will still be convinced that the research has produced evidence of paranormal events. Unfortunately, the history of psychical research offers very little hope that those inclined towards the reality of such purported phenomena are able to satisfactorily identify and sift those results brought about by error, methodological artefact, chance, and fraud from any allegedly ‘paranormal’ happenings. It should be noted that over the period of formal investigation into psi  – some almost one hundred and thirty years – by far the majority of the evidence advanced for ESP and PK has been anecdotal or testimonial, rather than statistical or the result of attempts at controlled experimentation.

Although some speculative surmises have been made offering possible mechanisms for how psychic functioning could work, and a few rather vague conjectures have also been suggested, nothing even remotely approaching and worthy of the name “scientific theory” has yet been formulated or articulated (see: scientific approach and pseudo-science). Suffice to say that the evidence thus far accumulated seems at best extremely poor and of a character as to be quite unpersuasive to most psychologists, as well as most scientists. If there is such a thing as psi it appears to be a phenomenon having a very weak, diffuse, and unreliable effect with no practical application or value.

A major work by Rhine was his first book Extra-Sensory Perception, 1934. (see Milbourne Christopher’s Extra-Sensory Deception for an amusing, incisive dissection of the fraud, naïveté, and wishful thinking permeating this area).

‘Psi’, the twenty-third letter of the Greek alphabet, is a related term used to denote paranormal events and abilities and which parapsychologists define as “an apparent ability to acquire information about their environment and to affect the environment without the use of currently understood mechanisms”.

‘Parapsychology’, also known as psychical research, is the study or investigation of reported though unsubstantiated events, phenomena, or abilities such as ESP which, it is asserted, cannot at this time be explained by conventional scientific theories.

‘Paranormal’ – literally the adjective means “beside or beyond normal” – and is a subset of pseudo-science in which the explanations advanced for alleged phenomena are outside the bounds of established science.

‘Psychic’ is used to describe an assortment of supernatural events, forces, and powers, including but not limited to: Extra-sensory perception, levitation, psychic or divine healing, spiritualistic phenomena, and ghosts;

also, the term refers to a person who purports to possess, wield, tap into, be in tune with or attuned to such forces or powers, such as a ‘sensitive’, clairvoyant, spiritualist, soothsayer, diviner, or medium, etc.

‘Occult’ and ‘Spirit’. The former is a synonym for mysterious, not revealed, secret, or obscure. The latter is said to concern a soul or an immaterial substance, entity, or ‘personality’ either inhabiting a living creature (usually a human being) which can survive the death of that creature or existing in the ‘void’ and uninhibited by a mere mortal encasement (body).

‘Spiritualism’ was born in 1848 at Hydesville, New York as a result of the (fraudulent) activities of the Fox sisters – Kate and Margaret – beginning with rather primitive ‘rapping’ and ‘knocks’, simple tricks such as manipulating their toes joints and involved claimed communication with the dead through what quickly became known as spirit(ualistic) mediums. The communication(s) took place at a gathering or event known as a séance in which the medium and the “sitters” – those hoping to receive communications from deceased people, most often their loved ones – would sit around a table in a darkened, quite frequently almost completely dark, room. Happenings varied and included rappings and knockings, table tipping, the appearance of “ectoplasm” postulated to emanate from the medium’s body, and the materialization of objects from the spirit world called “apports”. Mediums commonly affected going into some sort of ‘trance’ – a sleep-like condition, a daze, or stupor believers thought suspended the medium’s voluntary action – which was supposed to enable a spirit guide or spirit helper – a special type of spirit or a spirit having a special role – to temporarily inhabit the medium’s body and act as a go-between with those in “the other world”. The fad quickly spread throughout the nation and then became an international sensation, as well as later spawning a religious movement and a church (Theosophical Society, Theosophy).