EXCERPT: Exploring time-reversed versions of established psychological phenomena was a stroke of genius, says the sceptical Krueger. Previous research in parapsychology has used idiosyncratic set-ups such as Ganzfeld experiments, in which volunteers listen to white noise and are presented with a uniform visual field to create a state allegedly conducive to effects including clairvoyance and telepathy. By contrast, Bem set out to provide tests that mainstream psychologists could readily evaluate. The effects he recorded were small but statistically significant. In another test, for instance, volunteers were told that an erotic image was going to appear on a computer screen in one of two positions, and asked to guess in advance which position that would be. The images eventual position was selected at random, but volunteers guessed correctly 53.1 per cent of the time. That may sound unimpressive – truly random guesses would have been right 50 per cent of the time, after all. But well-established phenomena such as the ability of low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attacks are based on similarly small effects, notes Melissa Burkley of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, who has also blogged about Bems work at Psychology Today.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 11:47:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015