Is Parapsychology dead?

[Dr B]

Well is it? A field that has never produced a repeatable 'paranormal effect' makes it unique in scientific terms.

I see parapsychology like a kind of pressure group (like Greenpeace). Parapsychology did help to get OBEs, NDEs, chance-perception, apparitional experiences etc, on the mainstream research agenda. That is a good thing. It did it in much the same way other pressure groups get their agendas addressed.

As a result, nowadays mainstream cognitive neruoscience has frameworks and models that provide fascinating insights into these experiences. They no longer seem to be the exclusive property of the parapsychologist who did little to explain them.

With less and less phenomena needing a paranormal explanation, Is Parapsychology dead? Are there benefits to keeping it alive at the University level? If so, should we also be teaching Phrenology?

Cogent thoughts always welcome.

 

[Ersby]

Judging by how long it's taking new issues of JoP and JSPR to come out, you may have a point.

 

[Ersby]

*ahem*

A slightly less flip reply would be that some people don't agree that there's no replicable experiment. The use of meta-analysis to look for significant effects has come to the fore recently. So, taking your idea of parapsychology as a pressure group for science one step further, it's future role could be to effect statistics in the same way.

 

[Dr B]

Good point (especially about the journals )

However, meta-analysis is a bloody awful technique which should only be used if there was no other way. Ray Hyman has published some stuff on this that is well worth a read. Basically, different studies have used different critera for including studies in the analysis, and some may well have too much power in them (Type I errors). Some MA studies have failed to find an effect completely (again see Ray Hyman stuff)

The debate has become a statsitical one and I think you are right to highlight that.....but these conclusions are already known to statisticians so I am still not sure what the contribution of parapsychology is here other than to muddy the water.... ah well.....

 

[Stellafane]

Dunno about parapsychology, but ghosthunting is definately dead...

 

[Tricky]

Parapsychology, as a discipline that produces useful, repeatable results, has been dead for a long time (if indeed it was ever alive.) Parapsychologists, however, thrive.