Parapsychology: Science of the Unexplained

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 by selective information in media, vastly implying that research of this kind originated in the later half of the 20th Century, when the science has been around for much longer. This paper was written with the intention of clarifying the misconceptions that surround the science of parapsychology.

What exactly is parapsychology? The term itself implies that it deals with the mind, but there are many misconceptions of what the science is, and what those who study parapsychology do, and therefore, what the science actually is. Brian Schill, founder of the International Parapsychology Research Foundation, writes that “It is a common misconception that parapsychologists are psychic or are psychoanalysts. This is not true, and unfortunately, due to popular media, many people who hear the word parapsychologist think that we are entertainers, astrologers, psychic readers, or the like” (Schill). Then what is a parapsychologist outside of media representation? As mentioned earlier, some of the many occurre...

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...er researchers of precognition arrived at was that “Most of these are realistic dreams, that is, the precognized event is represented in a fairly literal way. It is quite possible that unrealistic or symbolic dreams are not recognized for what they are and thus their reported incidence is depressed (Irwin, 1989). While precognition is as possible as all other paranormal phenomena, experiments in precognition have not yielded the same success rate when compared to experiments in telepathy and psychokinesis.

References

Alcock, James E. (1981). Parapsychology: Magic or Science?. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon Press.

Irwin, H. J. (1989). An Introduction to Parapsychology. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.

Schill, Brian. “An Introduction to Modern Parapsychology.” International Parapsychology Research Foundation, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.iprfinc.com/brian3.html.