enjoy my english essay into the validity of paranormal research, though it does cover more about ESP and the like ratehr than spirits. but that was more to the fact that there were more controlled expiraments for Psychic abilities.
Investigation into the Paranormal
Does investigation into the paranormal have any legitimacy? The paranormal (or, ‘anomalous phenomenon’), is “an observed phenomenon for which there is no agreeable rational explanation†(Anomalous Phenomenon). As one would imagine, such events and explanations which involve either the supernatural or paranormal are by in large, rejected by the scientific community. After all, by their very definition they are not testable by science, at least not in any accurate fashion. So does this mean they should be ignored? I believe not, as their existence could possibly open up an entirely new corner of the universe to us, including some of the answers to our most desperate questions. However, for now we will focus on some of the more testable phenomenon, those being the ‘psychic’ abilities.
Extrasensory perception, or ESP, is the “ability to acquire information by means other than the known senses, i.e. taste, sight, touch, smell, hearing, balance and proprioception†(Extrasensory Perception). So how could this be possible. I am not one to believe something in blind faith, and if I cannot sense it with one of the above senses, I am very likely to write it off as fiction. “If ESP is real, we would need to overturn the scientific understanding that we are creatures whose minds are tied to our physical brains and whose perceptual experiences of the world are built of sensations†(Myers). That in itself is a relatively scary thought, no one likes having their beliefs questioned, and all the more when that belief is in something wholly scientific and based on sound, documented evidence. It was be like having someone tell you that gravity was just a myth.
The most testable forms of ESP would have to be 1) Telepathy, where a person receives are transmits thoughts to another, 2) Clairvoyance, in which the user is able to perceiving remote events, and 3) Precognition, or perceiving future events.
When hypnosis first became popular, the legend came about that a person who was hypnotized would be able to demonstrate ESP. Carl Sergeant, who was a psychology major at the University of Cambridge decide to test these claims for any validity of a link between hypnosis and the ability to use ESP. He split the students into two groups, one as hypnotized while the others (the control group) were not. Using a set of Zener cards, (There are 25 Zener cards in a pack, with 5 cards each of * (Zener Card)
each design.), The control group averaged 20% (5/25), as would be expected given the number symbols. However, “the subjects who were hypnotized did more than twice as well, averaging a score of 11.9 out of 25 right. Sargent's own interpretation of the experiment is that ESP is associated with a relaxed state of mind and a freer, more atavistic level of consciousness†(Extrasensory Perception). Sadly, it was found that these experiments did not take the usual experimental controls, and thus need be largely ignored.
Despite claims by ‘psychics,’ (most of whom I personally dislike, as the large majority who present themselves as such are blatant frauds, thus further discrediting the field), Psychics working with the police... generate dozens or even hundreds of predictions. This increases the odds of an occasional correct guess, which psychics can then report to the media†(Myers).
Additionally, magician James Randi has offered a prize of one-million-dollar prize to anyone who can demonstrate legitimate paranormal or supernatural abilities under proper observing conditions (Carroll). For example, ‘spoon benders’ could not use their own spoon. In this instance, the reason is that some alloys retain structure memory and revert to their memorized state as they reach a certain temperature, and was used by stage performers (and charlatans) to give such an illusion. In any case, though several people have come forward to attempt to claim the prize, non have yet succeeded.
Cornell University psychologist Daryl Bem, in conjunction with the late University of Edinburgh parapsychologist Charles Honorton... reported on a series of eleven studies using the "Ganzfeld" (a German word meaning "whole field") paradigm, a method that originated in the 1930s†(Lilienfeld). As Lilienfeld explains, during the study the ‘percipients’ are put into a uniform sensory field, usually consisting of covering their eyes with ping-pong ball halves, directing a red floodlight directly at their eyes, and emitting white noise via headphones worn by the percipient. This is done in order to limit the amount of outside stimuli which may distract the percipient from the already weak signal being sent. A sender, who is kept in a sound proof room, then attempts to transmit a specific visual stimulus to the receiving percipient. The percipient is then given four visual stimulus, only one which was used, and asked to rate the extent to which each stimulus matches the mental imagery experienced during the session.
The results of the trials were a surprising thirty-five percent correlation, where twenty-five percent would have been expected. However, like most experiments into abilities associated with ESP, the reproduction of this experiment has been rather disappointing.
The main issue I have with such reproductions is that 1) they are using different test subjects that the previous set used in the original study where the data was anomalous, and 2) they are selecting new subjects on assumptions about what would give someone a better chance of being capable of extrasensory perception. It’s would be like testing for color blindness in a population, while only choosing to test those who have green eyes, since those in the first study who were color blind all had green eyes. Their just guessing at the indications of what their studying. Not that they can be completely blamed, given the lack of solid information in such matters.
Moving on, often associated with ESP, psychokinesis (aka, telekinesis), is “the psi ability to influence the behavior of matter by mental intention (or possibly some other aspect of mental activity) alone†(Psychokinesis). The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) program has studied the effects of consciousness in the physical world since 1979 with intriguing results.
“Based on her work at PEAR, Brenda Dunne believes the odds are slim indeed that PK experimental results can be put down to chance. ‘When we look across the full spectrum of all our experiments, where there's a real random source, the overall likelihood that this is chance is a couple parts in 10 to the 13th power. We're confident they're real and not artifacts of some statistical or environmental influence. We've refined our designs over the years to preclude any artifacts from altering the output. Nothing can eliminate the effects’" (Miller).
During the course of the cold war, “Nina Kulagina... was a Russian woman who reportedly had great psychic powers, particularly in psychokinesis†(Nina Kulagina). With the records of these tests where black and white videos of Nina apparently using he abilities, moving various small objects around a table. Nina claimed that she required meditation before using her abilities, and that she would experience sharp pains in her spine, as well as problem with her eyes when she had reached the required level of focus needed for her to perform psychokinesis. After ‘proving’ her ability to move inanimate objects, it was suggested that they test her abilities on organic material. The test attempted to have Nina stop the heart of a frog. According to USSR records, she succeeded.
This is not to say that Nina Kulagina without a doubt had these abilities. After all, despite apparent video evidence, this was the age of the cold war, and misinformation was most likely rampant.
“In the late 1970s, a near fatal heart attack forced Nina to scale back her activities. According to a report produced by Dr. Zverev, her heartbeat was irregular, she had high blood sugar, and her endocrine system was disturbed. Over the long term, she suffered from pains in her arms and legs, could not coordinate properly, and experienced dizziness. Purportedly, these symptoms were the result of her paranormal exertions, and limited her ability to demonstrate psychokinesis under controlled conditions†(Nina Kulagina).
Jon Ronson’s “The Men Who Stare At Goats,†makes an interesting claim. “In the 1980s at 'goat lab' at Fort Bragg, special forces troops attempted to influence the heart rate of mammals such as goats†(Psychokinesis). It was claimed that the psychics used were able to stops the hearts long enough to cause death. Also, at least according to Ronson, Donald Rumsfeld had over one-hundred goats were transferd to Fort Bragg. Given this information, it would be very plausible that the research has since continued.
So, does research into the paranormal have any legitimacy? Maybe, and maybe not. This does not mean that we should not continue to investigate it. It is the job of science to reveal this universe to us, even if that part of the universe is currently un-sensible to us at this time. After all, x-rays were not discovered until 1885, and electromagnetic fields not until 1831. This was not because of lack of math or understanding per say, but rather the lack of means to track such things up until then. As such, until we are able to measure this so-called ‘psi energy,’ there will always be those skeptical of the paranormal, and there would probably be skeptics even if there were such a device. Until then, we should press on in our attempt to understand this universe, and our existence in it.
Works Cited
“Anomalous Phenomenon.†Wikipedia. 2 May 2006. 7 May 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal>
Carroll, Robert T. “Randi paranormal challenge .†The Skeptic’s Dictionary. 13 Feb. 2006. May 7 2006. <http://skepdic.com/randi.html>
“Extra-sensory perception.†Wikipedia. 1 May 2006. 7 May 2006. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrasensory_perception>
Lilienfeld, Scott O. “New Analyses Raise Doubts About Replicability of ESP Findings.†Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Sept. 1994. 7 May 2006. <http://www.csicop.org/si/9405/lilienfeld.html>
Miller, Craig. “Psychokinesis: Proving the Power of the Mind.†Parascope: Something Strange is Happening! 1997. 7 May 2006. <http://www.parascope.com/articles/0397/pkindex.htm>
Myers, David G. “Extrasensory Perception.†davidmyers Home Page. 2005. 7 May 2006. <http://www.davidmyers.org/Brix?pageID=15>
“Nina Kulagina.†Wikipedia. 27 April 2006. 7 May 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Kulagina>
“Psychokinesis.†Wikipedia. 1 May 2006. 7 May 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychokinesis>
“Zener card.†Wikipedia. 18 March 2006. 7 May 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zener_cards>
Works Referenced
Browne, Sylvia. Phenomenon: Everything You Need to Know About the Paranormal. Dutton. New York: NY, 2005
Natsis, Carl and Potter, Maryl. Exploring the unknown. Sydny, London, Reader's DIgest, 1999.
Nickell, Joe. Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal. The University Press of Kentucky. 2001.
Williiams, Mary E.. Paranormal Phenomenon: Opposing Viewpoints. Greenhaven Press. San Diego: CA, 2003.
