Free Downloads of Articles on Psychical Research in the History of Science and Medicine

A special section on psychical research, guest-edited by Andreas Sommer for the journal Studies in History and Philosophy of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences, is available for free download until the 7th of December 2014. Visit the Forbidden Histories Blog for links to the downloads.

Open Sciences Website

A relatively new website has recently come to my attention: www.opensciences.org

OpenSciences.org is "a portal for open-minded scientific investigations that go beyond the dogmas that dominate so much of science today. The main areas covered include consciousness studies, alternative energy sources, integrative medicine and healing, post-materialist approaches to science and new aspects of cosmology, physics, chemistry and biology. The website includes selected videos, books, publications, journals, and links to the websites of open-minded scientific researchers and organisations."

It's a well-organized and informative site, and I'm not just saying that because they link to Public Parapsychology as one of their Top Blogs from Scientists and Scholars.  I could lose an entire weekend exploring all of the rich links contained there.

Kudos to editor/developer Sebastian Penraeth  and the founders of the Campaign for Open Science  - Mario Beauregard, Gary Schwartz, Lisa Miller, Larry Dossey, Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Marilyn Schlitz, Rupert Sheldrake and Charles Tart -  for this important initiative.

Videos from Ex TEDxWestHollywood

Perhaps you remember last April 2013 when TED pulled the plug on the TEDxHollywood event "Brother, Can You Spare A Paradigm" featuring Russell Targ, Larry Dossey, and many others?

The event organizers decided to continue the event, even without TED's backing, and the resulting videos are available at YouTube.

This is old news, but certainly worth revisiting.  See the 4 minute sizzle reel below:

Online Parapsychology Conference

On November 1st and 2nd, academics, scientists and professors from the Instituto de Psicología Paranormal in Argentina, the University of São Paulo in Brazil, the University of Northampton in England, the University of Strasbourg in France, the Institut für Grenzegebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene in Germany, the University of Padova in Italy, and the University of West Georgia in the United States, among other locations, will be gathering for online conference on the interface between parapsychology and psychology.

Registration ranges from $30 to $50 and scholarships are available.

Visit the Parapsychology Online website for more information.

Survey at CSAPP

Researchers from the Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes (CSAPP) based in the Psychology Division of the University of Northampton are interested in whether people seek support following an anomalous experience. They acknowledge that anomalous experiences can be both distressing and positive and would like to know where people go if they want to discuss the meaning of the experience or seek support:

https://survey.northampton.ac.uk/care

Crowd Funding Campaign for PhD Research on Communicating with the Deceased

Harriet Stubbes, a PhD student at the University of York, UK, is starting the second year of her research project looking at how people use social networking to communicate with and about the deceased. However, since winning a Parapsychological Association Research Endowment grant in 2013, her funding has run out and she is in need of tuition assistance for her second year of study.

It can be very difficult for those with unorthodox research interests to find the support from traditional funding sources for their graduate studies. Please visit her campaign page at StudentFunder to learn more about her research and find out how you can help.

OBE Research Study at Nottingham Trent University

Have you had one or more Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs) in which it seems as if your sense of self or consciousness has become separated from your physical body? These experiences can occur under a variety of conditions. If you have experienced one or more OBEs researchers at Nottingham Trent University  are interested in hearing from you.

The aim of their research is to develop an OBE ‘screening’ scale which will be able to more precisely identify whether someone has had an OBE. At present no such tool exists for OBEs. Their research is not testing your experience in relation to psychological variables as is commonly done in OBE research, but instead explores the content of the experience itself to better understand it and differentiate it from other experiences.

To do this they would like your help by asking you if you would fill in an online questionnaire anonymously about the individual aspects of one of your OBEs. Your inclusion of this experience is important as it will contribute to the development of the scale. You can access the questionnaire by clicking on the link below.

The questionnaire includes full information on the study to enable you to decide whether or not to participate and offers a general definition of the OBE.

The inclusion criteria for this study (aside from your experience fitting our definition) are:

• You have no known organic condition which causes you to be prone to visual hallucinations
• You are able to provide informed consent
• You are over 18 years old
• You are able to provide a short written account of your OBE in English
• You are able to recall all of the OBE you wish to tell us about (i.e. not just give a partial account of it)

You won’t need to note these down but please only participate if you can agree with these criteria.

The survey can be completed by clicking the link below:

https://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/ntupsychology/obequestionnaire

Closing date of the survey is: 31st July 2014

If you wish to find out more about the survey, or wish to take part and have any queries, please contact Andrew Hodrien at: andrew.hodrien@ntu.ac.uk.

Exceptional Experiences Survey

Dr. Christine Simmonds-Moore (Assistant Professor of psychology in the psychology department, University of West Georgia)  is currently undertaking a survey investigation into exceptional experiences. The survey is looking to understand more about factors influencing when people have and do not have exceptional experiences. She would love to hear from you whether you have had any exceptional experiences or not: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/UWGexperiences

Historical Research at the University of British Columbia

Have you experienced objects that repeatedly moved on their own with no apparent explanation? If so, Christopher Laursen, a Ph.D student at the University of British Columbia, would like to hear from you - particularly if you had such experiences prior to 1990.

Visit his Extraordinarium website for more details.

Call for Participants: University of Central Lancashire

Ann Winsper, a PhD student at the University of Central Lancashire, is currently carrying out research investigating what people report hearing when listening to sound clips where it is unclear what is being heard. She is looking at connections between a number of different personality measures and characteristics and seeing if these affect what people report hearing.

Participants must be over 18 years of age.

She is currently recruiting for the first part of this study, which requires filling out a questionnaire pack that she can email or post to you. The questionnaires should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete. The questionnaires in the pack do cover a broad range of topics which include attitudes and belief in the paranormal and life after death, and other possibly sensitive subjects. While the study covers paranormal themes, participants are invited from a wide range of beliefs and experiences (including skeptics).

Once you have completed the questionnaire, you will be able to take part in further elements of the study, if you so wish.

Please contact arwinsper@uclan.ac.uk if you wish to take part in this study, or if you require more information.

Support for Parapsychological Research in Frontiers of Human Neuroscience

Last week, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, an open-access academic publisher and research network, published an opinion article titled "A call for an open, informed study of all aspects of consciousness", which calls attention to research on parapsychological topics, such as telepathy and precognition. Organized by Dr. Etzel Cardeña, a professor of psychology at Lund University, the article stresses the following:

• Research on parapsychological phenomena is being carried out by academics trained in the scientific method, and has been for some time.
• Positive results from parapsychological studies have been published in an array of peer-reviewed academic journals.
• Significant support for the existence of psi phenomena has not disappeared under increased experimental controls.
• Research practices in the field of parapsychology (i.e. meta-analyses, trial registries, and null results reporting) further discourage the idea that these results are due to chance.
• Like other studies of complex human behavior in psychology and medicine, the effect sizes are typically small and cannot be reproduced on demand.
• Developing theories of psi phenomena do not necessarily violate the known laws of nature, especially giving consideration to modern theories in physics, and "growing evidence for quantum effects in biological systems".

The article is then signed by 100 university professors from over 20 different countries.

Other commentaries on the internet have characterized this announcement as "legitimizing" parapsychology and psychical research as a science (here and here).  However, I feel that this characterization falls short. 

Members of the Parapsychological Association (PA) were welcomed into the workshop of science almost fifty years ago when the American Association for the Advancement of Science accepted the PA as an affiliate organization. In recent years, around eighty Ph.D.'s have been awarded for research on psi-related topics in the U.K. alone. And as the article points out, over twenty Nobel prizewinners have supported psi research in some form over the years.  

Despite the negative impression given by some critics, the legitimacy of parapsychology as a science has been established for some time.  This is covered in the article's first point.  The next five points are about research results, and that is what makes the publication of this article a bold, and important moment in parapsychological history.

I encourage you to read the more nuanced version of these tenets, as 100 university professors don't simply come together over a few bullet points - but they do come together.  The article is brief, written in plain language, and access is free:

Cardeña E (2014) A call for an open, informed study of all aspects of consciousness. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 8:17. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00017

(cross-posted to Reality Sandwich at: http://realitysandwich.com/216628/unified-support-for-parapsychological-research/)