Is parapsychology accepted?

From WikiSynergy

Parapsychology attracts experts from many fields, not just psychology. The Parapsychological Association has been an affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since 1969. In 2007 the PA had about 110 members and 100 associate members.

Anyone who shows an interest in parapsychology or psychic phenomena -sometimes even when they are inclined to be skeptical- runs the risk of professional ostracism. Denial of funding, positions, and the ability to publish papers are among the risks parapsychologists face. This is a universal complaint in the field. Cambridge physicist Brian Josephson who won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1973 told The Observer "'Yes, I think telepathy exists,' [...] 'and I think quantum physics will help us understand its basic properties.' [...] 'I think journals like Nature and Science are censoring such research,' he said. 'There is a lot of evidence to support the existence of telepathy, for example, but papers on the subject are being rejected - quite unfairly.'"

Parapsychology is denied funding. According to parapsychologist Charles Tart

Really, the under-funding of psychical research is ridiculous. Back in the 70's I did a survey of all the parapsychologists in the USA and Canada who could be remotely regarded as heading a psychical research laboratory. I counted about 13 people, which is such a disappointingly small number. I found that the amount of financial support for their research amounted to around $500,000 a year. That ranged from zero for individual labs up to around $100,000 for the really lucky ones. By scientific industrial standards of the time, $500,000 was enough to support 1 or 2 scientists and their associated support costs. It's like saying, 'Let's try and cure cancer. We'll hire one guy to work on it part time'. That is how psychical research compares to mainstream research!^[1]

Most paranormal investigation is carried on by amateurs, who often do not follow scientific protocol, and often espouse beliefs which are not supported by science, even while calling themselves parapsychologists. In short, they give the field a bad name. At the same time, parapsychology as practiced in academia has little public outreach, and does not do a good job of addressing the concerns of normal people. For example, parapsychology gives little attention to the question of whether the personality survives physical death. It is also very difficult to lay your hands on the research papers in the field, unless you have what to some people is a lot of money.

Although scientists in the mainstream may not be as likely to believe in psychic phenomena as most people, a surprising number of them do accept the existence of the paranormal. It is rare to find a survey concerning what scientists think of the paranormal, but Daryl J. Bem and Charles Honorton, in their 1994 paper in the Psychological Bulletin entitled Does psi exist? Replicable evidence for an anomalous process of information transfer quoted a 1979 survey which said:

A survey of more than 1,100 college professors in the United States found that 55% of natural scientists, 66% of social scientists (excluding psychologists), and 77% of academics in the arts, humanities, and education believed that ESP is either an established fact or a likely possibility. The comparable figure for psychologists was only 34%. Moreover, an equal number of psychologists declared ESP to be an impossibility, a view expressed by only 2% of all other respondents (Wagner; Monnet, 1979).

Among the general public, polls show that belief in many aspects of the paranormal, some of which have backing in parapsychological studies, is quite high. According to the Skeptical Inquirer,

Despite the best efforts of CSICOP and other skeptical organizations, the results of a poll conducted June 6 through 8, 2005, by the Gallup Organization show that very nearly three quarters of Americans continue to believe in the paranormal. Participants were presented with a list of ten potential paranormal beliefs: extrasensory perception (41 percent of the respondents acknowledge belief in this item), haunted houses (37 percent), ghosts (32 percent), telepathy (31 percent), clairvoyance (26 percent), astrology (25 percent), communication with the dead (21 percent), witches (21 percent), reincarnation (20 percent), and channeling spiritual entities (9 percent). Gallup designated these items paranormal because they "require the belief that humans have more than the 'normal' five senses." Three other beliefs were presented in the poll that don't meet this criterium for paranormality: psychic healing--because "the healing powers of the mind have been demonstrated empirically, reflected in the power of placebos" (55 percent); demonic possession--because it is unclear how many respondents "interpret[ed that statement] in metaphorical terms" (42 percent); and extraterrestrial visitations--because "the existence of extra-terrestrial (sic) beings and their ability to visit earth are subject to empirical verification" (24 percent).(Musella, 2005)

[edit] Citations

Musella, David Park (2005). Gallup poll shows that Americans' belief in the paranormal persists. Skeptical Inquirer Sept-Oct, 2005.</span> Skeptical Inquirer, Sept-Oct, 2005 by David Park Musella

References

1. ↑ http://www.thepsychictimes.com/articles/tart.htm Charles Tart - a man of many passions by SIMON FORSYTH The Psychic Times 2004-2005