Frederic WH Myers
by Trevor Hamilton
Frederic Myers was one of the principal founders of the Society for Psychical Research, established in London in 1882. His book Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death, published posthumously in 1903, analyses phenomena associated with what he called the ‘Subliminal Self’, such as automatic writing, precognitive dreams and the trance states of mediums, and is regarded as a major theoretical contribution to understanding this kind of anomalous mental experience. Myers closely followed the work of continental pioneers such as Sigmund Freud, whose thought about the unconscious he anticipated in some respects, and whose writings he introduced to the British and American reading public.1 However, he departed from the mainstream in considering much anomalous mental phenomena to be normal aspects of human consciousness, not pathological symptoms requiring treatment, and also possible indicators of the continuation of that consciousness after death.
Myers read and admired Darwin, but like many people of his generation he was disturbed by the implications of evolution theory for religious faith, and he sought empirical evidence that personality and consciousness survive the death of the body. In this he was disappointed by the results of much of his early research with mediums while believing that, on occasions, a small number produced genuine paranormal phenomena. However, he found from other events and experiences – telepathy, hypnosis, automatic writing, etc – evidence which encouraged his growing belief that the mind and personality might, in some form, not be totally dependent on and constrained by the body; and towards the end of his life he received communications through mediums which convinced him personally of the reality of survival.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...c-wh-myers
Roger Nelson
by Michael Duggan
Roger D Nelson is an experimental psychologist and psi researcher. He was research co-ordinator at Princeton’s PEAR laboratory, where he worked for two decades, and is founder and director of the long-running Global Consciousness Project.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...ger-nelson
Robert Morris
by Michael Duggan
Robert Morris (1942-2004) was an American parapsychologist who established the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at the University of Edinburgh, overseeing a wide range of psi research studies. Many of his doctoral students now teach parapsychology in British universities and elsewhere.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...ert-morris
Caroline Watt
by Michael Duggan
Caroline Watt is a Scottish psychologist and second holder of the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh. She has made contributions to understanding psi from both a proponent and sceptic angle, with an emphasis on improving methodological rigour.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...oline-watt
Bruce Greyson
by Michael Duggan
Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia, and a leading researcher on near-death experiences.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...ce-greyson
Adrian Parker
by Michael Duggan
Adrian Parker is an Anglo-Swedish clinical psychologist, parapsychologist and author based at Sweden's University of Gothenburg. In the 1970s he was one of the first psi researchers to use the ganzfeld telepathy technique.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...ian-parker
Chris French
by Michael Duggan
Chris French is a British psychologist working at Goldsmiths, University of London, and a prominent psi sceptic. French frequently appears in the media as a critic of psychic claims, but has also carried out laboratory psi research.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...ris-french
James Carpenter
by Michael Duggan
James Carpenter is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and parapsychologist. His psi research has focused on identifying the relationship between psychological variables and ESP scoring. He is best-known for his innovative First Sight Theory, which posits that psi phenomena are integral to normal perception and action.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...-carpenter
Jeffrey Mishlove
by Michael Duggan
Jeffrey Mishlove is a clinical psychologist, parapsychologist and broadcaster. As host of the public television series Thinking Allowed (1986-2002) – and currently as host of the YouTube channel New Thinking Allowed – he has interviewed hundreds of prominent experts on topics relating to scientific research, consciousness and spirituality.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...y-mishlove
Gertrude Schmeidler
Gertrude Schmeidler (1912-2009) was an American experimental psychologist and parapsychologist, noted for her ‘sheep-goat’ theory that experimental subjects’ ESP ability relates to their belief or otherwise in the reality of psychic phenomena.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...schmeidler
Deborah Delanoy
Deborah Delanoy is a British psychologist and parapsychologist who has conducted research in ESP and DMILS (direct mental interaction with living systems).
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...ah-delanoy
Alejandro Parra
Alejandro Parra is an Argentinian psychologist, psychotherapist and parapsychologist based at the Universidad Abierta Interamericana in Buenos Aires. His psi research topics have included ganzfeld telepathy, psychometry, mirror gazing, hypnosis, premonitions, and others. He is author of several Spanish-language books and recently published in English The Last Farewell Embrace: Paranormal Experiences Among Nurses (2019).
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...ndro-parra
Dick Bierman
Dick Bierman is a Dutch psychologist and parapsychologist, with a background in molecular physics. His experimental psi research has included work on ESP and presentiment effects. He has also experimented on the role of consciousness in quantum collapse.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...ck-bierman
Thomas Rabeyron
by Michael Duggan
Thomas Rabeyron is a French clinical psychologist and parapsychologist, whose psi research has covered precognition and presentiment effects and the clinical aspects of anomalous experiences.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...s-rabeyron
Michael Thalbourne
by Michael Duggan
Michael Thalbourne (1955-2010) was an Australian psychologist and parapsychologist whose research interests included psi experimentation and theory, the psychology of mystical experience, coincidence, Kundalini, and bipolar disorder.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...thalbourne
Orbs (Light Anomalies)
by Steven Parsons
‘Orbs’ is the term used to describe the globular light anomalies often seen in photographs and video film, which are sometimes attributed to the presence of ghosts, spirits or angelic beings. Paranormal investigators consider the phenomenon to have normal causes, mainly the effect of light reflected by dust, pollen and other airborne material.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...-anomalies
Simon Sherwood
by Michael Duggan
Simon Sherwood is a senior psychology lecturer at the University of Derby, whose research interests include anomalous sleep experiences, dream-ESP and hauntings.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...n-sherwood
Titus Rivas
by Michael Duggan
Titus Rivas is a Dutch theoretical psychologist, who works as an independent researcher, author and teacher with a particular focus on parapsychology. He has written books and papers about evidential aspects of near-death experiences and past life memories.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/titus-rivas
Jack Hunter
by Michael Duggan
Jack Hunter is an anthropologist, writer and teacher, with particular research interests in mediumship and trance phenomena. He is author of Greening the Paranormal (2019) and editor of Paranthropology
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/jack-hunter