Psi Encyclopedia

Sinclair Telepathy Experiments
by Karen Wehrstein
Upton Sinclair, an American writer and political activist, wrote in Mental Radio (1930) about informal experiments in telepathy that he carried out with his wife Craig Sinclair. In these experiments, performed over a period of three years, Craig successfully reproduced drawings of objects which Upton had previously made and kept out of her sight.  The book contains a short preface by Albert Einstein.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...xperiments

Ray Hyman
by Karen Wehrstein
Ray Hyman is a psychologist, amateur magician and leading critic of parapsychology.  He has served appointments by government agencies to evaluate paranormal claims and testified as an expert witness in court proceedings. He is a co-founder of the Committee for the Scientific Inquiry (CSI).
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/ray-hyman

Ray Hyman
by Karen Wehrstein
Ray Hyman is a psychologist, amateur magician and leading critic of parapsychology.  He has served appointments by government agencies to evaluate paranormal claims and testified as an expert witness in court proceedings. He is a co-founder of the Committee for the Scientific Inquiry (CSI).
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/ray-hyman

I've not studied his work in detail and don't know to what extent this article does him justice. This quote though interests me:

He states: ‘I consider all my publications as dealing with aspects of my major interest in human error and deception’.

The concept of self-deception and error has long been something which interests me too. I've seen it at first hand in people I know well and trust. But I didn't use it as a stick to beat them with, but rather as a warning to myself, to guard, as far as I could, against self-deception. Of course we all have our blind spots so I can't claim complete success here. It does though make me ask to what extent Hyman has considered his own fallibility to be the primary focus to which he should apply his ideas?

I had another different idea too. I consider creativity an important quality in human beings, and perhaps beyond too. In this respect, rather than self-deception, it is possible that we reach different conclusions by exercising our own creativity. For example I may not agree with the next person as to what is the best kind of music, or which fashion in clothing is the best. We each inhabit our own world. To what extent then are different viewpoints over topics such as the paranormal to be regarded as a virtue and a positive sign of our creativity in manifesting the world as we wish it to be? And I mean each of us, including the critics of the paranormal are also manifesting reality according to their beliefs. Maybe. An interesting thought, at any rate, and maybe a topic for discussion.

I have his book in my "To Read" pile. Otherwise I know only the basics of his involvement in the Ganzfeld debate. But I did see a much more recent quotation a few years ago, which made him sound like someone determined to disbelieve regardless of the evidence.

I did read Hansel's book last year, and I was quite impressed by his criticisms of the flaws in some experimental studies - to the extent that they were supported by evidence. The problem was that in studies where there was no evidence of actual flaws, he seemed determined that there should still be something to criticise, and came up with hypothetical flaws instead. Perhaps there's some validity to that approach, but if it goes too far there's a danger of it turning into untestable speculation, and it all gets a bit meaningless.

Martin Gardner
by Karen Wehrstein
Martin Gardner (1914-2010) was a American writer and critic of paranormal claims. His targets included parapsychology, alternative health treatments, religion-based pseudoscience and cult movements.  He co-founded the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims for the Paranormal (now the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) and is considered to have been a leading figure of the modern skeptical movement.  
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...in-gardner

I have his book in my "To Read" pile. Otherwise I know only the basics of his involvement in the Ganzfeld debate. But I did see a much more recent quotation a few years ago, which made him sound like someone determined to disbelieve regardless of the evidence.

I did read Hansel's book last year, and I was quite impressed by his criticisms of the flaws in some experimental studies - to the extent that they were supported by evidence. The problem was that in studies where there was no evidence of actual flaws, he seemed determined that there should still be something to criticise, and came up with hypothetical flaws instead. Perhaps there's some validity to that approach, but if it goes too far there's a danger of it turning into untestable speculation, and it all gets a bit meaningless.

Coincidentally, Craig Weiler has posted a link to a review of Hyman's book, "The Elusive Quarry," by George P. Hansen, originally published in the Journal of the American SPR in 1991:
http://www.tricksterbook.com/ArticlesOnl...Review.htm

Because the book is a compilation of Hyman's published writings on parapsychology, the review is actually an evaluation of his contribution. Essentially, Hansen thinks it's a mixture of sometimes insightful technical criticism and biassed polemic. The review concludes:
Over a period of decades, Hyman has expended considerable effort in trying to explain away the results of parapsychology. He admits that this endeavor has been unsuccessful. His specifically stated tactic now is to dissuade the scientific community from giving serious attention to the field. The dust jacket of the book acknowledges that one of Hyman’s major themes is that “the best way to proceed in the hunt for the ‘elusive quarry’ of psi is to improve the communication between parapsychologists and their critics.” This appears to be yet another credibility-building tactic of the debunker. Research scientists have little to gain in trying to communicate with polemicists who engage in no research themselves and who have already decided the issue. As pointed out by Richard Feynman in his (unpublished) banquet address at the 1984 PA convention, the field has good internal critics and does not need outsiders to do that job.

Edgar Cayce
by Karen Wehrstein
Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) was an American psychic famous for trance readings in which he diagnosed the cause of medical symptoms and prescribed simple and seemingly effective remedies. In other readings, Cayce described past lives, predicted future events and expounded on philosophical, metaphysical and astrological topics.  The content of Cayce's readings was a major influence on the development of New Age thought and on public ideas about paranormal phenomena.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/edgar-cayce

Chris Roe
by Michael Duggan
Chris Roe is professor of psychology at the University of Northampton and director of its Centre for Psychology and Social Sciences, which includes a research group devoted to Exceptional Experience and Consciousness Studies (EECS). He is also president of the Society for Psychical Research. Roe’s research interests are focused around understanding the nature of anomalous experiences, including the psychology of belief and self-deception. He has utilized experimental approaches to test psi abilities, in particular those involving psychological factors. Most recently, his focus has shifted to investigating unconscious measures of psi and correlating these with behavioural and personality measures.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/chris-roe

Witchcraft
by Leo Ruickbie
Socially proscribed magical practices existed long before the English language acquired the word ‘witchcraft’. The term has a gendered nuance, evolving from the enchantresses of Greek and Roman literature to the explicit codification of primarily female ‘witches’ as ‘diabolic’ in Christian theology.  Magic-users were persecuted in pagan societies; however, the systematic destruction of people for the alleged crime of witchcraft developed fully in the Christian era. In the eighteenth century, growing intellectual freedom challenged the legal and theological basis of witch hunts, leading to the repeal of witchcraft laws. Today, witchcraft has been reimagined as a legitimate religion in its own right, principally in the form of Wicca.
This survey focuses on the European history of witchcraft, although the core meaning of the word finds similarities in other cultures that suggest universal characteristics.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/witchcraft

Psychological Aspects in Poltergeist Cases
by Bryan Williams
A current theory about poltergeist phenomena is that they represent brief, sporadic and large-scale manifestations of psychokinesis linked to a certain living individual, as opposed to a discarnate spirit. This article briefly examines the underlying basis for the theory, summarizing some of the psychological and neuropsychological aspects that have been associated with individuals found to be at the center of the phenomena.
https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/artic...eist-cases