Parapsychology studies paranormal abilities such as telepathy and psychometry. It emerged in the late 19th century and is still of interest today, with universities and organizations dedicated to its study. However, it is not considered true science due to its subjective nature and lack of verifiable results.
Parapsychology is the study of behaviors, events, or perceptions that are outside of what most people would traditionally accept that a human being can perceive. In other words, evaluate things that could be considered sixth sense abilities, such as mental telepathy, medium abilities, psychometry, and telekinesis. These abilities taken together are called psi or paranormal abilities. Para is a prefix that translates to “above and beyond,” and thus the paranormal can be described as things above and beyond what is considered normal in traditional scientific thought.
Most of parapsychology can be viewed as an attempt to study paranormal events or abilities. Some feel that this is not true science, as it is rarely possible to practice parapsychology by adhering to normal scientific methods. Others complain that work in parapsychology is simply too subjective, and there are few ways to make it objective and truly scientific. No studies based on parapsychology have been considered verifiable, as the results of most studies cannot be duplicated, which is considered a hallmark of scientific testing.
Parapsychology doesn’t tend to deal with things like aliens, the truth of astrology, or whether or not witchcraft works. It is an attempt to find and describe things that are unusual and outside the realm of traditional experience. There are many subjects that a parapsychologist could undertake to study. Some of the more publicly accepted studies have looked at things like out-of-body or near-death experiences.
Many associate parapsychology with the idea of ghosts and poltergeists. It is true that some parapsychologists may attempt to investigate allegations of this type, but not all people who study parapsychology are potential ghostbusters. Others are more interested in assessing human abilities that are outside the normal range and might evaluate or attempt to test a person’s ability to read minds, communicate mind-to-mind (telepathy) without speaking, predict the future, or to move objects with their minds. There is a huge range of supposed human abilities that have never been scientifically proven, yet they are of great interest to parapsychology.
Parapsychology emerged as a field of interest in the late 19th century and was usually referred to as psychic research. The 19th century had brought an excessive interest in the paranormal and the spiritualism movement. Many people in the mainstream, including several sects of Christianity, began to believe that communication with the dead was possible. Although some in the spiritualism movement were exposed as fraudulent, many still believed that paranormal events were possible, even when they could not be scientifically proven. Parapsychology arose about 19 years after spiritualists began trying to study and explain the paranormal.
The paranormal phenomenon remains of intense interest to the general public. There is a fascination with what might be possible. This is evidenced by the many books, movies, and television shows that deal with one or more aspects of the paranormal. In the 2000s, there were up to 7-8 television series running at the same time dealing with main characters who have paranormal abilities.
This interest has led to the support and formation of parapsychology departments at some universities and several large parapsychology organizations. Organizations like the Institute for Psychical Research, the Parapsychology Foundation, and the International Association for Near Death Studies are proliferating. In addition, several journals publish the results of parapsychology research, including the Journal of Parapsychology and the International Journal of Parapsychology.
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