Subject Variables in ESP Performance

Parapsychologists have given much attention to the identification of successful ESP

subjects.
Apart from throwing some light on the nature of ESP such research has the pragmatic
justification that
if investigators can select a sample of people who are relatively open to
extrasensory experiences,
then there is a greater chance of achieving statistically significant results in
experimental work.
The major personalistic variables that have been investigated are attitudes, mood,
and
personality, although increasing attention is being given to physiological and
cognitive variables. In
the following review some reference is made for comparative purposes to the
correlates of
spontaneous ESP experiences.
Attitudes and Beliefs
The best known work on the contribution of attitudes to ESP performance was
conducted by
Gertrude Schmeidler (1952; Schmeidler & McConnell, 1958). She began by dividing ESP
subjects in
two groups, one group designated sheep comprising people who believed in the
possibility of ESP
and a second group of so-called goats who rejected that possibility. On pooling
scores on ESP tests
over a number of such groups Schmeidler established a trend for sheep to score
above MCE and for
goats to score significantly below chance level.
Separating the sheep from the goats in terms of ESP belief therefore also tends
to differentiate
two types of ESP performer. The result for sheep is interesting although perhaps
not surprising: it is
consistent with other cognitive research that suggests people attend to information
they want to and
perceive what they believe can be perceived. The result for goats is most
fascinating. Not only does it
confirm an effect of attitudes on the occurrence of ESP, it also reminds us of the
adage that there are
none so blind as those who will not see. But the fact that goats mean ESP score is
significantly
below chance suggests these people are not merely directing their attention away
from extrasensory
information nor blocking its cognitive processing; rather they seem to be
identifying ESP targets at an
extra-chance level and then unwittingly choosing a different target as their
response. By making more
incorrect responses than expected by chance, goats seemingly use ESP in a self-
defeating endeavor to
support their belief that ESP does not exist. It is not that goats are
intrinsically insensitive to
extrasensory information, but that their attitude affects how they deal with such
information.
The sheep-goat effect is one of the more successfully replicated relationships in
experimental
ESP research (Palmer, 1977), even if the overall effect size (0.03) is very small
(Lawrence, 1993).
Later work, however, indicates that attitude to ESP is more complex than one at
first might think.
Do I believe in ESP? may subsume many distinct attitudes and beliefs, including
Would I like ESP
to exist? Do I think I have ESP? Do I think I will exhibit ESP in this
particular experiment?
Can I suspend my natural skepticism toward ESP for the duration of this
experiment? Do I think
this ESP experiment will work (for people in general)? and Do I think this
experimenter can elicit
my ESP? The measurement, scope and correlates of paranormal belief currently
represent a very
active area of research (see Chapter 15).
That beliefs are more fundamental in the sheep-goat effect than are specific
dimensions of
personality and adjustment remains to be established. One experiment by Lovitts
(1981), however,
suggests the effect does stem from an attitude. When she disguised an ESP test as a
procedure for
disproving ESP, the usual scoring pattern was reversed, that is, sheep tended to
perform below
chance and goats showed psi hitting. This indicates that the sheep-goat effect
arises from subjects
use of ESP in conformance with their beliefs about it. Replication of Lovittss
most elegant study is
called for. One constructive (i.e., not literal) replication by Wiseman and Smith
(2002) was
successful and confirmed the sheep-goat effect as a cognitive rather than
motivational bias.
Mood
Carpenter (1991) developed a succession of mood scales, each one more refined than
its
predecessors in its prediction of the total score and variance of restricted-choice
ESP performance.
This research program indicates that ESP hitting is associated with moods in which
the subject feels
strong-willed or assertive, detached or dreamy, and agreeable or outgoing; ESP
missing is best
predicted by a socially anxious mood. These findings are consistent with earlier
research suggesting
that a psi-conducive state is characterized by relaxation and a belief that success
in the ESP task is
possible, but Carpenters view that these features might usefully be regarded as
(relatively transient)
mood factors is noteworthy. Carpenter also reports that large run-score variance is
associated with
fearless, dull, and carefree moods, and small variance is related to moods depicted
as drifting,
annoyed, and task-involved. Carpenters most recent research has focused on free-
response studies.
He analyzed transcripts of over 600 ganzfeld sessions looking at participants
experiences in these
sessions. He found that hitting was predicted by neutral or positive physical or
emotional experiences
whereas missing was associated with anxiety and unhappy adjustment to the situation
(Carpenter,
2001, 2005b). Earlier researchers also found that performance on projective tests
of mood were
associated with ESP performance (Humphrey 1946a,b). Evidently mood does influence
ESP scores.
Personality
There has been considerable empirical interest in determining the personality
correlates of ESP.
The two principal variables investigated in this regard are neuroticism and
extraversion.
Neurotic people display either high levels of anxiety or marked reliance upon
defense
mechanisms directed against anxiety. On the evidence of a substantial number of
studies it seems that
ESP performance correlates negatively with neuroticism; that is, neurotic subjects
tend to score at
chance or below MCE whereas stable and well-adjusted people yield above-chance ESP
scores
(Palmer, 1978a, pp. 130132). This at least is the dominant trend in studies in
which the ESP test is
conducted with subjects on an individual basis. When ESP tests are administered to
a group of people
at one time the relationship with neuroticism does not always emerge, possibly
because in this
situation neurotic individuals can lose themselves in the crowd and thereby their
anxiety is not
evoked to the same degree as in the one-to-one setting of an individual assessment
of ESP.
Related to neuroticism is defensiveness. A series of studies have found a
relatively weak
relationship between ESP scores and the strength of general defense mechanisms as
indexed by the
Defense Mechanism Test (DMT): whereas highly defensive subjects tend to score at or
below
chance expectation in an ESP test, people with low defensiveness show psi hitting
(Haraldsson &
Houtkooper, 1992, 1995; Haraldsson & Johnson, 1979; Watt, 1994b). The replicability
of this
relationship has been queried recently by Haraldsson, Houtkooper, Schneider and
Bckstrm (2002)
in terms of its apparent dependence on one specific researchers scoring of the
DMT, although an
independent study using a different index of defensiveness (Watt & Morris, 1995)
was successful in
replicating the relationship.
Extraversion is a personality type in which the individuals interests are directed
outward to the
world and other people rather than inwards to thoughts and feelings (introversion).
A number of
studies employing this personality measure have found a positive relationship
between extraversion
and ESP performance, that is, extraverts typically yield higher ESP scores than
introverts (Honorton
et al., 1998; Palmer, 1978a, pp. 132133; Palmer & Carpenter, 1998; Parra &
Villanueva, 2003).
While research on the personality correlates of ESP performance is moderately
encouraging by its
level of consistency and replicability there is some question over its
generalization to ESP in
everyday situations. The general trend in the research is for the best ESP scorers
to have superior
social adjustment, that is, to be folk who readily adapt to novel social situations
like a psychology
experiment. Perhaps then, ESP can occur if the individual is comfortable or relaxed
in the given
situation, and should this be so, virtually anybody could experience ESP at some
time or another,
regardless of their personality. This may account for the fact that if experients
of spontaneous ESP
are surveyed there is no definitive trend for them to exhibit the distinctive
personality profile thrown
up by the experimental research (e.g., Haight, 1979); of course, other explanations
of this discrepancy
are possible. Other personality correlates of spontaneous ESP (e.g., proneness to
psychosis, Ross &
Joshi, 1992) are addressed in Chapter 15 in the context of paranormal belief.
Physiological Variables
Several studies have documented a relationship between the report of spontaneous
extrasensory
experiences and the presence of abnormalities in temporal lobe functions (Neppe,
1983; Palmer &
Neppe, 2003; Persinger, 1984; Persinger & Makarec, 1987; Persinger & Valliant,
1985), prompting
the bald declaration by Persinger (2001, p. 523), To date there has not been a
single type of
paranormal experience that is not understandable in terms of known brain
functions. But there is
meager evidence of relationships between experimental ESP performance and
electroencephalographic (EEG) measures. A high amount or density of alpha wave (8
to 13 Hz)
activity during the ESP test may be a good predictor of performance, at least if
the individual also
reports having been in an altered state of consciousness at the time (Palmer,
1978a, pp. 123128).
Alpha waves usually are associated with a relaxed, passive state of mind. In a
single-subject design,
McDonough, Warren and Don (1989) found an association between hits in an ESP test
and increased
power in the delta (1 to 3 Hz) and theta (4 to 7 Hz) EEG bands, suggesting a
facilitatory effect of low
cortical arousal. In a subsequent study with a larger sample however, the same
researchers found a
differential effect with psi hitting associated with stronger alpha and beta (14 to
30 Hz) activity, and
psi missing with delta and theta waves (McDonough, Don & Warren, 1994). More
recently, these
investigators observed an association between gamma (30 to 70 Hz) activity and the
mere
presentation of a target symbol (McDonough, Don & Warren, 2000). Evidently the
study of the
relationship between ESP and EEG needs to take into account distinct stages of
information
processing.
Some studies have examined the role of cerebral hemispheric specialization under
the hypothesis
that ESP is a right hemisphere task. There are some experimental data to support
this view but one
study indicates that left hemisphere processes also can be a vehicle for psi
(Maher & Schmeidler,
1977). In these investigations the distribution of demands upon processing capacity
seems to be
critical (Irwin, 1979a, pp. 128137).
More recently, student volunteers at the University of Padova in Italy took part in
a clairvoyance
study (Sartori, Massacessi, Martinelli & Tressoldi, 2004). While their heart rate
was monitored, the
students were asked to guess which of four serially-presented pictures a computer
had randomly
chosen as the target. Heart rate was significantly elevated during presentation of
target compared to
non-target pictures. Participants conscious target guesses were at chance level.
This may suggest that
physiological measures could serve as more sensitive indicators of GESP than
conscious guessing.
We will return to this issue in Chapters 5 and 6, as there has been a great deal of
recent interest in
physiological indicators of psi.
Cognitive Variables
A number of studies have correlated ESP performance with scores on standard
intelligence tests.
Only a few of these experiments have yielded significant data, but interestingly
enough the findings
generally indicate a positive relationship between ESP scores and IQ (e.g., Nash &
Nash, 1958).
This is seemingly at odds with the trend for a disproportionately high incidence of
spontaneous ESP
experiences among people with a poor educational background, at least in some
countries
(Haraldsson, 1985; Haraldsson & Houtkooper, 1991; Palmer, 1979, p. 245). If the
relationship
between ESP and IQ is valid it suggests the relatively low level of reporting by
people with higher
education is a function not of intelligence but of some other (e.g., social)
factor. At the same time the
experimental data are not only weak but typically based on very narrow samples of
intelligence (e.g.,
university students). Further, it is notable that there are some reports of highly
significant psi hitting in
groups of mentally retarded children. Possibly therefore the reported IQ-ESP
correlations reflect the
operation of some intervening factor such as a capacity to settle into the test
situation quickly.
Allied to the popular notion of intelligence is that of creativity. A few studies
have sought to
compare ESP scores across groups high and low in creativity, but no clear evidence
of a relationship
between these variables has emerged. Account may have to be taken of the nature of
both the measure
of creativity and the ESP task (Palmer, 1978a, p. 139); for example, creative
people may find
restricted-choice tasks very dull (Schmeidler, 1994a). In free-response research,
several ganzfeld
studies have reported high ESP scoring for participants drawn from creative
populations (e.g.,
Dalton, 1997b; Morris, Cunningham, McAlpine & Taylor, 1993). Perhaps the best-known
of these
studies (Schlitz & Honorton, 1992) was conducted with an exceptional population20
students from
the renowned Juilliard School in New York City. These performing arts students
obtained a
significant hit-rate of 50 percent (double the chance expectation). However,
Schlitz and Honorton
found no correlation between ganzfeld scores and formal measures of creativity. A
more recent
ganzfeld study found ESP scores to correlate in the predicted direction with three
out of four
creativity measures, but not to a statistically significant extent (Roe, McKenzie &
Ali, 2001).
Nonetheless parapsychological experients reportedly rate artistic creativity as an
important purpose
of life (Kennedy & Kanthamani, 1995).
The memory skills of the ESP subject have received some measure of attention for
theoretical
reasons (see Chapter 8). The experimental literature on this topic at first sight
shows little
consistency but some order may be introduced if account is taken of the type of
memory skills
entailed. Thus there are indications that ESP scores correlate positively with
long-term memory
performance, that is, with the ability to retrieve information about past events.
Additionally there is
some suggestive evidence of a negative correlation between ESP and short-term
memory or ability to
keep information in mind just for a minute or so; this relationship however is
evidentially rather more
equivocal than that for long-term memory skills (Irwin, 1979b).
In spontaneous cases of ESP information often is mediated in the form of visual (or
other mental)
imagery (e.g., White, 1964a). Indeed one of the first authors own surveys (Irwin,
1979c) found that
people who in a variety of normal psychological tasks adopted the style of a
visualizer (as
opposed to that of a verbalizer) tended more often to have their ESP experiences by
way of imagery;
verbalizers on the other hand more often had intuitive (imageless) extrasensory
impressions, although
the latter trend did not reach significance. It is appropriate therefore, to
explore experimentally the
relationship between ESP scores and performance on various measures of mental
imagery (for a
review see George, 1981; Irwin, 1979a, pp. 98100; Palmer, 1978a, pp. 139140).
There are reports of a dependence of ESP scores on spatial abilities (e.g.,
Freeman, 1970), but
the results of research using questionnaire measures of mental imagery are rather
inconsistent.
The cognitive style dimension of imagery noted by Irwin (1979c) to be pertinent to
spontaneous
extrasensory experience has also been investigated tangentially by Mitchell and
Drewes (1982). In
that experiment subjects with highly verbal interests scored more highly in a
verbal ESP task than in a
performance ESP task.
Dream recall is another factor of some interest. Several surveys (e.g., Alvarado &
Zingrone,
2003b; Haraldsson, Gudmundsdottir, Ragnarsson, Loftsson & Jonsson, 1977; Palmer,
1979) have
obtained a positive relationship between the frequency with which people can recall
their dreams and
the incidence of spontaneous extrasensory experiences. This could be a reporting
bias, because both
dream recall and spontaneous ESP experiences are self-reported. However, laboratory
ESP tasks are
not susceptible to this potential bias, and two of seven experiments have found a
positive correlation
between dream recall and ESP scores (Honorton, 1972; Palmer, 1978a, p. 140; Palmer,
1982, p. 61).
The trend is suggestive but not conclusive. Further, the basis of this correlation
is far from clear. It
may indicate a psychodynamic factor: people who repress their dreams might not be
open to ESP. It
may reflect imagery processes: people with certain sorts of skills in mental
imagery may recall their
dreams more often and achieve high ESP scores.
A dimension that incorporates elements of a cognitive style and other cognitive
skills is that of
dissociative tendencies. In a dissociative state, mental processes are divided or
lacking integration in
a situation where their integration would normally be expected (Spiegel & Cardea,
1991). It might
reasonably be expected, for example, that a person who has just undergone a major
trauma could
remember what had happened to them, but many trauma victims are unable to do so, at
least initially;
the traumatic memories may be said to have been dissociated from normal
consciousness. Some
people are habitually inclined to dissociate from certain aspects of their
experience, that is, they have
strong dissociative tendencies. Several recent studies (Pekala, Kumar & Marcano,
1995; Ross &
Joshi, 1992; Zingrone & Alvarado, 1994) have found that people who report
spontaneous ESP
experiences tend to have dissociative tendencies. This cognitive style also has
been implicated in
laboratory ESP performance (Palmer, 1996). Given that dissociative tendencies can
be exacerbated
by childhood trauma (Irwin, 1994c) it is not surprising that ESP experients
commonly present with a
history of abuse during childhood (Ross & Joshi, 1992; Wright, 1999). The latter
point will be
pursued further in subsequent discussion of the psychological functions of
paranormal belief (see
Chapter 15).
Psychological dimensions closely related to dissociative processes also are
reported to
characterize ESP experients and superior performers in ESP experiments. One of
these dimensions is
hypnotic susceptibility: Pekala et al. (1995) have identified this trait as a
correlate of spontaneous
ESP experience, and it might also predict experimental ESP scores (Stanford &
Stein, 1994). Another
variable related to dissociation is sensation seeking (Kuley & Jacobs, 1988), that
is, a propensity to
take risks in the pursuit of novel experiences. Sensation seeking may well be a
predictor of both
spontaneous ESP experiences and of experimental ESP performance (Curtis & Wilson,
1997; Kumar,
Pekala & Cummings, 1993), although further confirmatory studies certainly are
called for.
Perhaps more significantly, psychological absorption, an empirically identified
component of
dissociation (Ross, Ellason & Anderson, 1995), appears to play a major role in ESP.
Originally
educed as the central cognitive feature of the state of hypnosis, absorption is
defined formally as a
total attention, involving a full commitment of available perceptual, motoric,
imaginative and
ideational resources to a unified representation of the attentional object
(Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974,
p. 274). As noted earlier in this chapter, situations that are conducive to a state
of absorption are
recognized as common contexts both for spontaneous extrasensory experience and for
high
performance in laboratory ESP tests; these situations include hypnosis, sensory
deprivation
(ganzfeld), meditation, progressive relaxation, and dreaming.
A second factor of the absorption domain, the capacity of the individual to achieve
an absorbed
state, may also be related to ESP. Nadon and Kihlstrom (1987) found the occurrence
of spontaneous
psi experiences to correlate positively with absorption capacity. The findings of
experimental
research on this point, however, have been equivocal. A third element of the
absorption domain is
more concerned with motivation or cognitive style, and it is known as the need for
absorption; a
given person may have adequate absorption capacity and be in a conducive situation
yet rarely enter
an absorbed state simply because of a disinclination to do so. A recurrent desire
to engage in
absorbed mentation was found by Irwin (1985b) to be strongly related to the
occurrence of
spontaneous extrasensory experiences. Indeed, the need for absorbing experiences,
dissociative
tendencies, fantasy proneness, and the presence of abnormal temporal lobe activity
(Neppe, 1983;
Persinger, 1984; Persinger & Makarec, 1987; Persinger & Valliant, 1985) might well
prove to be
essentially indiscriminable as correlates of the occurrence of spontaneous
extrasensory experiences.
There is nevertheless a need for further research into the role of the dissociation
domain in
experimental ESP performance.
Several of the foregoing cognitive variables have been encompassed by a
hypothesized higherorder
dimension termed transliminality, that is, the readiness with which subconscious
material can
cross the threshold of consciousness in a given person (e.g., Thalbourne, 2000). At
this stage research
on the utility of transliminality for predicting laboratory ESP performance is in
the formative stage
(e.g., Del Prete & Tressoldi, in press), but the concept certainly holds promise
for the conceptual
analysis of extrasensory and other parapsychological experiences (see also Myers,
1903).
Demographic Variables
While demographic variables have been incorporated almost as a matter of course in
the analyses
of data from spontaneous case surveys they have been given rather less attention in
the laboratory
setting.
Gender differences have been subject to some investigation. Women tend to
predominate in ESP
case collections but that seems to be a consequence of willingness to contribute to
these collections
rather than of openness to spontaneous experiences as such. In ESP tests there is
no clear trend for
differential scoring between the sexes (Palmer, 1978a, pp. 144146), although in
some circumstances
gender may interact with other variables to influence performance (Rao, Kanthamani
& Norwood,
1983). For example, in GESP and telepathy experiments it is possible that the
gender of the subject
and that of the agent have some bearing on the ability of the pair to form some
sort of rapport which in
turn might influence scoring.
Spontaneous ESP experiences are reported more commonly by separated, divorced or
widowed
individuals than by married people (Haraldsson & Houtkooper, 1991; Palmer, 1979;
Zingrone &
Alvarado, 1997). This relationship may reflect the role of psychosocial needs
rather than that of
demographical characteristics as such. An effect of marital status on ESP
performance in the
laboratory has not been investigated.
In a few experiments age has had an effect on ESP scoring, with children tending to
perform better
than adolescents and adults. On the other hand, many similar studies have been
unsuccessful in
demonstrating age-dependent differences in scoring (Palmer, 1978a, pp. 146148).
Again, age (or at
least, generation) sometimes is found to be negatively correlated with spontaneous
ESP experiences
(Levin, 1993; Ross & Joshi, 1992). Like gender, age may be a factor which moderates
the influence
of more fundamental variables.
Little systematic investigation into the pertinence of race and culture has been
undertaken.
Certainly the incidence of acknowledged spontaneous telepathic and clairvoyant
experiences varies
from one country to another, being higher in America than in Europe, for example
(Haraldsson, 1985,
p. 155; Haraldsson & Houtkooper, 1991), but as the available data are from Western
nations the full
range of cultural differences in this regard is unknown. Members of so-called
primitive societies
have been given ESP tests and some have performed well (Rose & Rose, 1951), but
there are no data
with which adequate cross-cultural comparisons may be made. This has not prevented
a few
parapsychologists from interpreting the occurrence of ostensibly paranormal
experiences in primitive
cultures as evidence for the view that ESP is a relic of a form of communication
characteristic of a
distant epoch of our evolution (see McClenon, 2002; Taylor, 2003) and indeed, that
ESP itself may
have been a major mechanism of evolution (Hardy, 1950). Freud (1933, p. 76) too
regarded ESP as
an atavistic phenomenon.
In the preceding sections some factors that affect experimental ESP performance
have been
discussed. At this point no attempt will be made to draw these findings together,
if indeed that is
possible. Their relevance to our conception of psi will be considered after we have
looked at other
aspects of psi.
Nevertheless, it already should be clear that on some points there is a reasonable
degree of
consistency and coherence in the process-oriented experimental data. A number of
relationships have
been replicated by independent researchers in disparate contexts, and some observed
relationships
are compatible with those on allied matters. To the extent that there are
consistencies in the data on
the nature of ESP it might be argued that there is further support for the
authenticity of ESP (Edge et
al., 1986, p. 185). Surely if the results of ESP tests were fortuitous or
artifactual there would be
rather less consistency across experiments linking ESP performance to psychological
variables.
While there is some merit in this view it should not be given undue weight. First,
the observed
level of consistency may be indicative that the extra-chance performance in ESP
tests is a real
phenomenon, but for reasons outlined earlier this does not demonstrate the
authenticity of ESP as
opposed to alternative explanations of the anomaly. Second, the determined skeptic
may argue that the
operation of artifacts in ESP experiments (unintentional sensory cues, subject
fraud, etc.) is
correlated with various psychological variables and that it is actually these
correlations that processoriented
experiments have revealed. For example, ESP scores may be related to extraversion
because
extraverts are more inclined than introverts to seek means of cheating. This line
of argument certainly
should not be accepted without subjecting the specific claims to further empirical
scrutiny. But the
very fact that these arguments can be mounted is sufficient to indicate that the
coherence of processoriented
data is, at best, merely supportive of the ESP hypothesis.
Notwithstanding these various grounds for caution, the available data do offer some
encouragement to researchers who believe that the concept of ESP is viable, and
certainly they
provide foundations for theory building.
KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS
Charles Richet
J. B. Rhine
Duke University
Zener cards/ESP cards
open/closed decks
restricted-choice tests
free-response tests
target
selected/unselected subjects
call
run
hits
misses
critical ratio
mean chance expectation (MCE)
Extra-Sensory Perception
target pool
mentation
judging period
decoy targets
replication
meta-analysis
the definitive experiment
the cumulative record
experimenter effects
the parapsychological experimenter effect
nonintentional psi
psi hitting
psi missing
consistent missing
position effects
differential effect
displacement
ESP focusing
response bias
variance effects
clustering
multiple-aspect targets
psi-conducive states
hypnosis
sensory/perceptual deprivation
ganzfeld
meditation
progressive relaxation
hypnagogic states
dreams
drug intoxication
the sheep-goat effect
Defense Mechanism Test
graphic expansiveness
neuroticism
extraversion
alpha activity
hemispheric specialization
intelligence/scholastic ability
memory skills
imagery skills
visualizer/verbalizer
cognitive style
dissociative tendencies
absorption
demographic factors
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. The work of Charles Richet generally is not as widely acknowledged as it
deserves to be. In
what respects was it significant?
2. What were J. B. Rhines principal contributions to parapsychology as a
scientific discipline?
3. Why did J. B. Rhine devise the ESP cards?
4. What are the elements of an adequate experimental test of the ESP hypothesis?
5. Discuss the proposition, ESP is defined ultimately as a statistical anomaly.
6. What criticisms were leveled at the Duke University research into ESP, and how
were these
taken into account in subsequent research?
7. On what grounds could ESP be shown to be authentic? Has it been authenticated?
If so, how? If
not, why not?
8. What is the parapsychological experimenter effect in parapsychology, and why is
it of major
concern?
9. Akers (1984) notes a range of potential flaws in recent process-oriented ESP
experiments. Do
such studies really have to be as tightly controlled as proof-oriented experiments?
10. Does the notion of a below-chance score in an ESP test make sense? Do the
correlates of psi
missing help in any way to bring credibility to the notion?
11. Some ESP experiments have incorporated erotic pictures in the target material
without
informing the participants. Consider the ethical aspects of this procedure.
12. The physical characteristics of targets seem to have scant impact upon ESP
scores. Can we
therefore discount the idea that ESP is mediated by some unknown form of physical
(e.g.,
electromagnetic) radiation?
13. In light of the findings of process-oriented research, how would you best seek
to elicit high
scores from subjects in a controlled ESP experiment?
14. As an exercise, set up a simple ganzfeld situation in your own home and
experience its
(nonparapsychological) effects for about an hour.
15. Under what circumstances have you encountered a spontaneous extrasensory
experience? Do
these circumstances lend support to the experimental research on psi-conducive
states?
16. Drawing on your own experience, what sorts of people do you imagine sheep to
be? What
do you think goats are like? How might these differences between sheep and goats
actually produce
differential performance on ESP tests?
17. Construct a psychological profile of people who perform well in ESP tests. To
what extent
does this accord with your own impression of people who report spontaneous
extrasensory
experiences?
18. Is the evidence for the authenticity of ESP strengthened by the coherence of
the functional
relationships identified in process-oriented ESP research?