Paranormal

From New World Encyclopedia



Paranormal, meaning "outside the norm", is an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of reported anomalous phenomena that cannot be explained by current scientific knowledge. The term 'paranormal' is used to describe most subjects studied in parapsychology, which deals with psychic phenomena like telepathy, extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis, and post-mortem survival studies like reincarnation, ghosts, and hauntings. Additionally, the term is used to describe subjects outside the scope of parapsychology, including UFOs, creatures like Bigfoot, purported phenomena surrounding the Bermuda Triangle, and many other non-psychical subjects.[1]

Paranormal research

Approaching paranormal phenomena from a research perspective is often problematic because, by definition, such phenomena are difficult to explain using existing rules or theory. If they exist at all, paranormal phenomena exist outside of conventional norms. Despite this challenge, studies on the paranormal are periodically conducted by researchers from various disciplines, and psychic phenomena like telepathy and psychokinesis are routinely researched by parapsychologists. Some researchers devote study to just the beliefs in paranormal phenomena, regardless of whether the phenomena actually exist or not.

There are several main approaches to investigation of the paranormal, ranging from the unscientific to the scientific. Many skeptics feel that most scientific approaches are actually pseudoscience, and have little to no scientific merit.

Anecdotal approach

Charles Fort, 1920. Fort is perhaps the most widely known collector of paranormal stories.

An anecdotal approach to the paranormal involves the collection of anecdotal evidence, or informal accounts of experiences. In contrast to empirical evidence, anecdotal evidence cannot be investigated using the scientific method. The anecdotal approach is by no means a scientific approach to the paranormal, as verification of a phenomena is totally dependent on the credibility of the party presenting the evidence. Even if such a person is reliable and truthful, the account may be subject to cognitive bias, inductive reasoning, and lack of falsifiability, all of which can make the account useless from a research perspective. Nevertheless, the collection of such evidence is a common approach to paranormal phenomena.

Charles Fort (1874 - 1932) is perhaps the best known collector of paranormal anecdotes. A self-declared "intermediatist", Fort thought of himself as a true skeptic who opposed dogmatism, and remained open to all possibilities.<Carroll, Robert. "Charles Fort" The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved April 27, 2007.</ref> Fort is said to have compiled as many as 40,000 accounts of unexplained phenomena, though there were no doubt many more than these. These notes came from what he called "the orthodox conventionality of Science," which were odd events originally printed in respected mainstream scientific journals or newspapers such as Scientific American, The Times, Nature and Science. From these researches Fort wrote The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931) and Wild Talents (1932), in which he discussed such anecdotal evidence and put forth his idea of continuity, where everything exists in an intermediate state between extremes.[2]

Reported events that Fort collected include poltergeist activity, falls of frogs, fishes, and an amazing range of other materials, crop circles; unaccountable noises and explosions, spontaneous fires, levitation, ball lightning (a term explicitly used by Fort), and unidentified flying objects, among many other things. He is generally credited with coining the term teleportation, and is perhaps the first person to explain strange human appearances and disappearances by the hypothesis of alien abduction, and was an early proponent of the extraterrestrial hypothesis.

Fort is considered by many as the father of modern paranormalism, which is the belief in paranormal phenomena.

Experimental approach

Participant of a Ganzfeld Experiment which proponents say may show evidence of telepathy.
Main article: parapsychology

Experimental investigation of the paranormal is largely conducted within the field of parapsychology. Although parapsychology has its roots in earlier research, it is largely credited as having begun with the research of J. B. Rhine in the 1930's. Rhine popularized the now famous methodology of using card-guessing and dice-rolling experiments in a laboratory to find a statistical validation of extra-sensory perception. Another well-known technique for testing ESP is found in ganzfeld experiments, where a subject (receiver) is asked to access through psychic means a telepathically target. The target is typically a picture or video clip selected randomly, which is viewed in a remote location by another subject (sender). Ganzfeld experiments attempt to create a type of audio and visual sensory deprivation to remove any kind of external stimulus that may interfere with the testing or corrupt the test by providing cues to correct targets. The expected hit (correctly identified target) ratio of such a trial is 1 in 4, or 25%. Deviations from this expected ratio might be seen as evidence for psi, although such conclusions are often disputed.[3]

In the 1950's, organizations such as the Parapsychology Association and Parapsychological Association began to be formed, giving researchers a forum to discuss and compare the results of their research. In 1969, the Parapsychological Association became affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. That affiliation, along with a general openness to psychic and occult phenomena in the 1970s, led to a decade of increased parapsychological research. During this time, other notable organizations were also formed, including the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine (1970), the Institute of Parascience (1971), the Academy of Religion and Psychical Research (1972), the Institute for Noetic Sciences (1973), and the International Kirlian Research Association (1975). Each of these groups performed experiments on paranormal subjects to varying degrees. Parapsychological work was also conducted at the Stanford Research Institute during this time.

With the increase in parapsychological investigation, there came an increase in opposition to both the findings of parapsychologists and the granting of any formal recognition of the field. The techniques as well as the potential gullibility of researchers was often questioned. Skeptics founded the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (1976), now called the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and its periodical, Skeptical Inquirer". The goal of the committee was not to reject claims of the paranormal, but rather to "carefully examine such claims" and to "commission research by objective and impartial inquirers".[4]

As astronomer Carl Sagan put it, 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence'[5], and parapsychologists continue to try to find enough evidence to convince the skeptics.

Participant/observer approach

Ghost hunters taking an EMF reading which proponents say may show evidence of ghosts.

While parapsychologists look for quantitative evidence of the paranormal in laboratories, other researchers immerse themselves in qualitative research through participant-observer approaches to the paranormal. Ghost hunting is a familiar type of participant/observer research. By immersing oneself in the subject being studied, a researcher seeks to gain understanding of the subject. A study might consist of a researcher visiting a place where alleged paranormal activity is said to occur and recording observations while there. Participation levels may vary; researchers may just observe, or they may conduct a séance or participate in other activities said to cause paranormal activity.

Criticisms of participant-observation as a data-gathering technique include an increased chance of non-objectivity, unsystematic gathering of data, reliance on subjective measurement, and possible observer effects (where the observation may distort the observed behavior).[6] Ghost hunters in particular are said to often suffer from bias, as well as psychosomatic response and hysteria, where emotions, expectations, and stress manifest as physical symptoms often attributed to the supernatural.[7] Specific data gathering methods, such as using EMF readings to indicate the presence of a ghost, have their own criticisms beyond those attributed to the participant-observation approach itself.

The participant-observer approach to the paranormal has gained increased visibility and popularity through reality-based television shows like Ghost Hunters, and the formation of independent ghost hunting groups.

Belief in the Paranormal

While the validity of the existence of paranormal phenomena is controversial and debated passionately by both proponents of the paranormal and by skeptics, surveys are useful in determining the beliefs of people in regards to paranormal phenomena. One such survey of the beliefs of the general United States population regarding paranormal topics was conducted by the Gallup Organization in 2005. This survey polled about one thousand people, and found that nearly three quarters of them believed in at least one of ten listed paranormal phenomena. Items included in the survey were as follows (the percentage of respondents who indicated that they believed in the phenomenon is in parenthesis): Extrasensory perception (41%), haunted houses (37%), ghosts (32%), telepathy (31%), clairvoyance (26%), astrology (25%), communication with the dead (21%), witches (21%), reincarnation (20%), and channeling spiritual entities (9%). Only one percent of those surveyed believed in all ten items, and twenty seven percent did not believe in any.[8]

Another survey conducted in 2006 by researchers from Australia's Monash University sought to determine what types of phenomena people claim to have experienced and the effects these experiences have had on their lives. The study was conducted as an online survey with over 2,000 respondents from around the world participating. Seventy percent of respondents believed an unexplained event changed their life, mostly in a positive way, eighty percent reported having had a premonition, and almost fifty percent recalled a previous life.[9]

Paranormal and perinormal

Paranormal phenomena, by definition, lacks scientific explanation. The word "perinormal" ("in the vicinity of" normal) was coined to describe phenomena that were once thought to be paranormal, but have since been explained by science. One example of such a phenomenon is electromagnetic fields (EMF). At one time EMF's existence was debatable from a scientific perspective but was later proven real and is currently accepted by scientific and medical communitities.[10]

Other examples of perinormal phenomena include medical oddities or medical conditions which at first may baffle medical professionals, and later turn out to have a mundane cause. An excellent example of a perinormal-type medical oddity would be the "Pregnant Man" from Nagpur, India. When doctors went to remove what they thought was a tumor causing the man to look pregnant, they instead found a human being inside the man's abdominal region. What could have been misconstrued as the paranormal case of a pregnant man, was actually the perinormal case of fetus in fetu; the man's twin brother had been growing inside his abdomen for 36 years.[11]

Paranormal subjects

Although this is not intended to be a complete list, the following subjects are often considered to be paranormal:

The Paranormal in Popular Culture

Humanity is often fascinated by that which it doesn't understand, and the paranormal is often the subject of television, film, and literature. From Washington Irving's short story 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow' to Stephen King's novel 'Pet Semetary', the paranormal has fascinated writers and audiences throughout the ages. Ghosts in particular have been the subject of countless campfire stories, legends, films, and television programs. Movies like Ghostbusters have explored the fictional possibilities of parapsychology, and television series like the "X-Files" have depicted regular investigation of a wide range of paranormal phenomena. Additionally, numerous documentaries and reality-based television shows and movies have also been made about the paranormal.

References
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  1. Varvoglis, Mario. What is PSI? What Isn't? Parapsychological Association. retrieved April 27, 2007
  2. "About Fortean Times" Fortean Times. Retrieved April 27, 2007.
  3. Carroll, Robert. "Psi Assumption" The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved April 30, 2007
  4. "Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal" Answers.com. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
  5. "Carl Sagan Quotes" Quotes4all.net. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
  6. Becker, Howard S. 1993 "Problem of inference and proof in participant observation" Irvington Pub ISBN:0829034935
  7. Carter, Bob and Cody Polston. 2006. "Psychological factors in Ghost Hunting" Southwest Ghost Hunters Association. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
  8. Musella, David. Sept-Oct 2005. "Gallup poll shows that Americans' belief in the paranormal persists", Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved April 30, 2007
  9. November 17, 2007. "'Spooky survey' gets big response" ABC Science Online. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
  10. [1] sociologyesoscience.com. Retrieved April 30, 2007
  11. "Man With Twin Living Inside Him — A Medical Mystery Classic" ABC News. Retrieved April 29, 2007


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