User talk:Martinphi/parascience

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[edit] Is parapsychology science?

It has sometimes been asserted that parapsychology is not a science, or that it is a pseudoscience. Skeptical scholars such as Ray Hyman and James E. Alcock have said that parapsychology needs to do more theoretical work and produce results which are more easily replicable. They say that parapsychology lacks a cumulative database, and that its claims are based on the rejection of the null hypothesis.[1] Parapsychologist such as Jessica Utts and Dean Radin say that these objections do not consider that parapsychology has built on its previous experiments, and point to the ganzfeld experiment as one experiment which is replicable. They say that other sciences such as physics also use indirect means of detecting the phenomena they study.[2][3]

The Parapsychological Association has been a member of the AAAS since 1969. Among the peer-reviewed journals dealing with parapsychology are the The Journal of Parapsychology, the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, the European Journal of Parapsychology, the International Journal of Parapsychology, and the Journal of Scientific Exploration.[4][5] According to magician, debunker and skeptic James Randi commenting on How to Think Straight About Psychology by Keith E. Stanovich,

If Stanovich is referring to parapsychology as a pseudoscience, I disagree. It has all the structure and appearance of any other science, and must be respected as such. The fact that differentiates it from other sciences is largely that it has no history of successful experiments upon which to base conclusions.[6]

In 2003 Marie-Catherine Mousseau attempted to determine whether parapsychology is a science by comparing mainstream versus Parapsychological peer-reviewed journals. Writing in the Journal of Scientific Exploration she said,

Many efforts have been made to set up ‘‘necessary and sufficient’’ criteria for science (Chalmers, 1999), but no consensus has been reached. Why not? One might argue there are no such things as ‘‘epistemological invariants’’ for science, that each discipline (or even each lab) could have its own rules and methods (see Zingrone, 2002). However, even if there is no clear criterion for science, there must be a way to distinguish it from pseudo-science if the latter term is to have any meaning.[7]

According to Mousseau, it is not possible to judge whether a field is actually a science based on an examination of its results. This is because often research is done which follows the scientific method, even in the absence of sufficient evidence to form a theory.

Thus predictability and reproducibility usually bring results; results bring consensus and acceptance by mainstream science. However, this process is the final objective. A science in the making may not yet have gone through these different stages. That does not mean that it will not, that it is not science. That is why the criterion of assessing what is science by its results is not reliable.

Mousseau said that the scientific quality of the discourse in parapsychological journals is higher than the average within science. Still, possibly because of the sparsity of parapsychological results in comparison with many other fields of science, and because of a lack of theoretical knowledge which would explain parapsychological results, parapsychology is in some ways less robust as a science than some other fields. For instance, Mousseau found that parapsychological journals had a smaller number of experimental reports relative to epistemological articles. She speculated that this could be due to the difficulty of conducting parapsychological experiments. Mousseau also found that parapsychology did not meet criteria for pseudoscience, such as suppressing unfavorable data, over-reliance on anecdotal evidence, or obliviousness to alternative theories, among others.[7] Mousseau concluded in part that

Mainstream scientists could also learn from the generally extreme rigor of their experimental approach which aims to address any kind of possible criticisms and which is necessary to separate a very elusive phenomenon from the background noise. They could learn from their concern to publish unsuccessful experiments, whereas mainstream scientists often neglect to report negative data although it can be very useful.[7]

Parapsychology has made significant contributions to other fields, in such areas as the mind-body problem, the transformative effects of parapsychological experiences, and the psychology of OBEs. Parapsychological research has helped to combat superstition and to evaluate popular claims of the paranormal. For instance, investigation of Silva Mind Control and Transcendental Meditation found no evidence to support their claims. Parapsychological researchers have pioneered statistical techniques to study phenomena. Ian Hacking argued that parapsychologists made early use of probability and randomization in their nineteenth-century studies of telepathy in the nineteenth-century. Parapsychology has contributed to the study of fraud and self-deception, such as cases of fraudulent mediumism.[8]

Need a skeptical quote to finish off with, or I'm going to be accused of advocating.

[edit] Notes etc from here on

[edit] Possible sources:

[1]

[2] Retrieved Wednesday, December 13, 2006

[3]

[4]

[5] This one says:

Parapsychology has pioneered research into several aspects of human behavior and experience that are now a part of mainstream psychology, e.g., hypnosis, multiple personalities, anomalous healing. Other topics investigated by the early societies for psychical research (e.g., lucid dreaming, near- death experiences, out- of- body experiences) are beginning to enter the psychological mainstream and the mechanisms for these phenomena are on their way to becoming understood. Perhaps telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis someday will travel the same road. The prefix "para" does not exclude ordinary mechanisms for psi phenomena. Neher (1990) observes that "parapsychology" simply means "alongside of" the mainstream of psychology. After reviewing the two fields, Collins and Pinch (1982) conclude that "there is...nothing in psychology that definitely makes parapsychology unscientific." They also claim that "it has not been demonstrated decisively that there are any specific physical principles that conflict with parapsychology." Truzzi (198O) would consider parapsychology to be a "legitimate scientific enterprise" whether or not psi actually exists because parapsychologists employ such scientific methods as target randomization, double- blind judging, control groups, and statistical tests. For Leahy and Leahy (1983),"methodologically, parapsychology is a science; substantially,the verdict is still out."

[edit] This is from the Psychic page, what started the riot:

The scientific consensus in the field of parapsychology is that certain types of psychic phenomena such as psychokinesis, telepathy, and precognition are well established scientifically.[9][10][11][12][13][11][14] Critics such as Ray Hyman say that the evidence for psi needs further replication and theoretical work before it is accepted.[15]

Parapsychologists and skeptics agree that many of the instances of more popular psychic phenomena such as mediumism, can be attributed to non-paranormal techniques such as cold reading.[16] [17] [18] Magicians such as Ian Rowland and Derren Brown have demonstrated techniques and results similar to those of popular psychics, but they proffer psychological explanations instead of paranormal ones. They have identified, described and developed complex psychological techniques of cold reading and hot reading.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.mceagle.com/remote-viewing/refs/science/air/hyman.html The Journal of Parapsychology, December, 1995, Evaluation of Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena By Ray Hyman Retrieved January 5, 2007
  2. ^ RESPONSE TO RAY HYMAN'S REPORT "Evaluation of Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena" By Professor Jessica Utts Division of Statistics University of California, Davis, September 15, 1995
  3. ^
  4. ^ http://www.scientificexploration.org/ Retrieved February 23, 2007
  5. ^ http://parapsych.org/mission_statement.html Parapsychological Association Mission Statement, Retrieved February 23, 2007
  6. ^ http://www.randi.org/jr/071803.html, Website of the James Randi Educational Foundation, Retrieved February 19, 2005
  7. ^ a b c http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/articles/pdf/17.2_mousseau.pdf Parapsychology: Science or Pseudo-Science? By MARIE-CATHERINE MOUSSEAU in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 271-282, 2003, Retrieved February 19, 2005
  8. ^ http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_2_67/ai_n6032971 Carlos S. Alvarado Reflections on being a parapsychologist, Journal of Parapsychology, The. Fall 2003. 17 Feb. 2007. Retrieved February 23, 2007
  9. ^ http://www.metapsychique.org/Does-Psi-Exist-Replicable-Evidence.html Bem, D.J., and C. Honorton. 1994. Does psi exist? Replicable evidence for an anomalous process of information transfer. Psychological Bulletin 115:4-18
  10. ^ http://www.boundaryinstitute.org/articles/tri2.pdf Evidence for a retrocausal effect in the human nervous system Dean Radin & Edwin May Boundary Institute, Retrieved Dec 15, 2006
  11. ^ a b The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena by Dean I. Radin Harper Edge, ISBN 0-06-251502-0
  12. ^ http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/articles/pdf/17.2_mousseau.pdf Parapsychology: Science or Pseudo-Science? By MARIE-CATHERINE MOUSSEAU in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 271-282, 2003, Retrieved February 19, 2005
  13. ^ http://www.psy.gu.se/EJP/EJP1984Bauer.pdf Criticism and Controversy in Parapsychology - An Overview By Eberhard Bauer, Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg, in the European Journal of Parapsychology, 1984, 5, 141-166, Retrieved February 09, 2007
  14. ^ http://www.parapsych.org/faq_file3.html#20 What is the state-of-the-evidence for psi? Retrieved January 31, 2007
  15. ^ http://www.mceagle.com/remote-viewing/refs/science/air/hyman.html The Journal of Parapsychology, December, 1995, Evaluation of Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena By Ray Hyman Retrieved January 5, 2007
  16. ^ http://www.psy.gu.se/EJP/EJP1984Bauer.pdf Criticism and Controversy in Parapsychology - An Overview By Eberhard Bauer, Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg, in the European Journal of Parapsychology, 1984, 5, 141-166, Retrieved February 09, 2007
  17. ^ O',Keeffe, Ciarán and Wiseman Richard: Testing alleged mediumship: Methods and results. British Journal of Psychology (2005), 96, 165-17. http://www.psy.herts.ac.uk/wiseman/papers/MediumBJP.pdf
  18. ^ Rowland, Ian: The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading. http://ianrowland.com/ItemsToBuy/ColdReading/ColdReadingMain1.html


[edit] Sources- my whole list

<ref name="EntangledMinds">''Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality'' by Dean I. Radin, Simon & Schuster, Paraview Pocket Books , 2006 ISBN-13: 978-1416516774</ref>    

<ref name="ConsciousUniverse">''The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena'' by Dean I. Radin Harper Edge, ISBN 0-06-251502-0</ref>

<ref name="ConsciousUniverse"/>
<ref name="EntangledMinds"/>

<ref>http://parapsych.org/glossary_e_k.html#h Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved February 10, 2007</ref>

<ref>http://parapsych.org/historical_terms.html Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved January 24, 2006</ref>

<ref>Psychological Bulletin 1994, Vol. 115, No. 1, 4-18.  ''Does Psi Exist?  Replicable Evidence for an Anomalous Process of Information Transfer'' By Daryl J. Bem and Charles Honorton</ref>

GAMBLING
<ref>http://twm.co.nz/FAQpara.htm#1? Parapsychology FAQ, Compiled by Dean Radin, PhD of UNLV's Cognitive Research Division ''A helpful guide to parapsychology and the facts regarding that field'', Retrieved December 26, 2006</ref>

<ref>DISCIPLINING HETERODOXY, CIRCUMVENTING DISCIPLINE: PARAPSYCHOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGICALLY By David J. Hess In David Hess and Linda Layne (eds.), Knowledge and Society Vol. 9: The Anthropology of Science and Technology. Greenwich, Ct.: JAI Press. Pp. 191-222. Electronic version available at  http://www.davidjhess.org/DiscHet.pdf</ref>

<ref>http://www.deanradin.com/para3.html Why is parapsychology so controversial? FAQ on the website of the President of the Parapsychological Association, retrieved December 27, 2006</ref>

only firmly settled parapsychological subject matter consists of
extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK). This explains why Rhine 

<ref>http://www.psy.gu.se/EJP/EJP1984Bauer.pdf ''Criticism and Controversy in Parapsychology - An Overview'' By Eberhard Bauer, Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg, in the European Journal of Parapsychology, 1984, 5, 141-166, Retrieved February 09, 2007</ref>

<ref>http://www.parapsych.org/sheep_goat_effect.htm ''The Sheep - Goat Effect''
by Mario Varvoglis, Ph.D., from the website of the Parapsychological Association, retrieved December 27, 2006</ref>

<ref>http://www.metapsychique.org/Does-Psi-Exist-Replicable-Evidence.html Bem, D.J., and C. Honorton. 1994.  ''Does psi exist?  Replicable evidence for an anomalous process of information transfer.'' Psychological Bulletin 115:4-18</ref>

<ref>http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~abraham/psy1.html 1979 survey quoted in ''Does Psi Exist? Replicable Evidence for an Anomalous Process of Information Transfer'' By Daryl J. Bem and Charles Honorton in the Psychological Bulletin 1994, Vol. 115, No. 1, 4-18</ref>

<ref>http://www.boundaryinstitute.org/articles/tri2.pdf ''Evidence for a retrocausal effect in the human nervous system'' Dean Radin & Edwin May Boundary Institute, Retrieved Dec 15, 2006</ref>

<ref>http://www.boundaryinstitute.org/articles/presentiment99.pdf ''Evidence for an anomalous anticipatory effect in the autonomic nervous system'' By Dean I. Radin, Boundary Institute, Retrieved Dec 15, 2006
</ref>

<ref>http://www.nidsci.org/pdf/timereversed.pdf ''Time-reversed human experience: Experimental evidence and implications'' By Dean Radin, Boundary Institute, Los Altos, California, Retrieved Dec 15, 2006</ref>

<ref>[[South China Morning Post]].July 7, 1998. Link: http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/115_sonypsi.shtml</ref>


<ref>http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~abraham/psy2.html ''Response to Hyman'' By Daryl J. Bem Psychological Bulletin 1994, Vol. 115, No. 1, 25-27.</ref>

SCIENTIFIC THEORY

<ref>http://www.journaloftheoretics.com/Editorials/Vol-1/e1-3.htm ''What is Science?'' Journal of Theoretics Vol.1-3 Aug/Sept 1999 Editorial Retrieved December 31, 2006</ref>

<ref name="Edinburgh">http://moebius.psy.ed.ac.uk/FAQ.php3#Nonsense ''It's All Nonsense, Isn't It?'' From the website of the Koestler Parapsychology Unit part of the Psychology Department (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences) at the University of Edinburgh, Retrieved December 31, 2006</ref>


<ref>http://www.surveysystem.com/signif.htm ''Statistical Significance'' Definition of what is considered significant and "highly" significant, Creative Research Systems, Retrieved January 1, 2007</ref>

<ref>http://www.csicop.org/si/9603/claims.html ''The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality'' by Ray Hyman in the Skeptical Inquirer magazine, March/April 1996  Retrieved Wednesday, December 13, 2006</ref>


<ref>http://www.mceagle.com/remote-viewing/refs/science/air/hyman.html The Journal of Parapsychology, December, 1995, ''Evaluation of Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena'' By Ray Hyman Retrieved January 5, 2007</ref>

Radin where:       Dr. Dean Radin, Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, in Petaluma, California,<ref>http://www.noetic.org/about/staff.cfm IONS staff directory, Retrieved on January 5, 2006</ref>

Hyman where:
Dr. Ray Hyman, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Oregon

ECTOPLASM
<ref>http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ectoplasm Merriam Webster dictionary, Retrieved January 18, 2007</ref>

EVP ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENON
<ref>http://www.forteantimes.com/exclusive/evp_questions.shtml ForteanTimes ''EVP Question Time'' with Tina Laurent, Retrieved January 29, 2007</ref>

<ref>http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/articles/pdf/15.3_baruss.pdf ''Failure to Replicate Electronic Voice Phenomenon'' By IMANTS BARUÆSS, ''Journal of Scientific Exploration,'' Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 355–367, 2001 0892-3310/01
</ref>


PSYCHIC:
<ref>http://www.answers.com/topic/psychic, Answers.com, Retrieved January 31, 2007</ref>

<ref>http://www.thefreedictionary.com/psychic The Free Dictionary, Retrieved January 31, 2007</ref>

WHAT IS PARAPSYCHOLOGY

<ref>http://parapsych.org/faq_file1.html#4 "What is parapsychology?" From the FAQ of the website of the Parapsychological Association, Retrieved February 3, 2007</ref>

WHAT PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS HAVE BEEN PROVEN WELL ESTABLISHED

<ref>http://www.parapsych.org/faq_file3.html#20 "What is the state-of-the-evidence for psi?" From the FAQ of the website of the Parapsychological Association, Retrieved February 3, 2007</ref>

PSI, DEFINITION
<ref>http://www.parapsych.org/faq_file1.html#6 What do parapsychologists study?, From the FAQ of the website of the Parapsychological Association, Retrieved February 3, 2007</ref>

<ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_n3_v56/ai_13771782/pg_5 Retrieved February 04, 2007</ref>

PRONOUNCE PSI
<ref>http://www.ramcconnell.com/psibonds.htm Retrieved February 5, 2007</ref>

PARAPSYCHOLOGY CONTROVERSIAL WITHIN SCIENCE:

PARAPSYCHOLOGY IS CONTROVERSIAL:
<ref> ''PARAPSYCHOLOGY The Controversial Science'' By Richard S. Broughton, Ballantine Books 1992 ISBN 0-345-37958-6</ref>

<ref>http://parapsych.org/faq_file3.html#19 FAQ on the website of the Parapsychological Association, Retrieved February 10, 2007</ref>

PARAPSYCHOLOGY IS A SCIENCE:

<ref>Irwin, H.J. (1999). Evaluation of parapsychology as a scientific enterprise. In H.J. Irwin, ''An Introduction
to Parapsychology'' (3rd. ed.) (pp. 305-320). Jefferson, NC: McFarland. (133.072 IRW) </ref>

Society for Scientific Exploration: peer reviewed Journal = the Journal of Scientific Exploration (JSE)
<ref>http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/articles/pdf/17.2_mousseau.pdf ''Parapsychology: Science or Pseudo-Science?'' By MARIE-CATHERINE MOUSSEAU
in the ''Journal of Scientific Exploration,'' Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 271–282, 2003, Retrieved February 19, 2005</ref>

<ref>''A Compendium of the Evidence for Psi'' By Adrian Parker and Göran Brusewitz, Department of Psychology, Swedish Society for Psychical Goteborg University Research, in the European Journal of Parapsychology, 2003, 18, 33-51, reviewed by Dr Joakim Westerlund</ref>
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