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An Introduction to Parapsychology

By Gregon

Are you interested enough in psi research to take the next step? The respected Koestler Parapsychology Unit is offering “An Introduction to Parapsychology“, a short course taught entirely online which is open to anyone regardless of geographical location. Led by parapsychology researcher Dr Caroline Watt, the course starts with a ‘familiarisation’ week, followed by ten weekly modules covering key topics in parapsychology, and which feature some of the top researchers in the field:

Week 0: Ice-breaking and familiarisation
(containing some warm-up exercises)

Week 1: Introduction and History
Expert: Professor Donald West (Emeritus Professor, University of Cambridge, UK)

Week 2: Spontaneous Paranormal Experiences
Expert: Professor Etzel Cardeña (University of Lund, Sweden)

Week 3: Extrasensory Perception in the Lab
Experts: Professor Richard Wiseman (University of Hertfordshire, UK); Dr John Palmer (Rhine Research Centre, Durham, North Carolina, USA)

Week 4: Psychokinesis in the Lab
Expert: Dr Holger Bösch (formerly of University Hospital Freiburg, Germany)

Week 5: Latest Lab Developments
Expert: Dr Dean Radin (Institute of Noetic Sciences, California, USA)

Week 6: Theories of Psi
Expert: Professor Harald Walach (University of Northampton, UK)

Week 7: Testing Psychic Claimants
Expert: Professor Stephen Braude (University of Maryland, USA)

Week 8: Belief in the Paranormal
Expert: Professor Christopher French (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Week 9: Thinking Critically About Parapsychology
Expert: Professor James Alcock (York University, Toronto, Canada)

Week 10: Summing Up and Implications
Experts: Professor Jessica Utts (University of California at Irvine, USA); Professor Deborah Delanoy (University of Northampton, UK)

The course begins on 12th April 2010. Note that this is a non-accredited course, meaning that there is no formal assessment or qualification gained. It would certainly place you well though in being able to better understand and debate some of the key evidence (and criticisms) for psi phenomenon. If you don’t have the time, you still might want to pick up the recommended text for the course, An Introduction to Parapsychology (Amazon US and UK).

Greg
Editor
Greg is the owner-editor of The Daily Grail, as well as the author of a number of books including Stop Worrying, There Probably is an Afterlife.
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4 Comments

  2. Caroline Watt in the Guardian
    Caroline Watt wrote the following article for the Guardian newspaper (link at bottom).

    I was somewhat surprised and encouraged to see the Guardian give her column space. However, the online version has a comments section following the article and many of the responses are what you might expect from the Guardian demographic. Nevertheless, the sceptics didn’t quite manage 100% of the published responses and one contributor calling him/herself “Door” made a few valid points for the “other side”. This paragraph, in particular, states my own perspective nicely:

    [quote]Finally there is a huge pressure to deny the relevant theories because almost all of them promote the importance of the role of consciousness in the process of existence, and this seems diametrically opposed to current scientific assumptions: No one likes having their universe turned upside down and the inclusion of consciousness into the equation has strong implications for the validity of the scientific method itself. That, by sciences own standards, is not a reason to stop exploring though.[/quote]

    There are, as you will see if you take the time to read the responses, some well argued justifications of the sceptical view. On the other hand, there are also the depressingly familiar:

    [quote]There, there, dear Caroline. I know, it’s difficult to let go. But don’t fret. You can believe in psi for as long as you want, because it’s safe in your imagination, safe from the cruel probing of experiment, and there it will remain, never to be disproven.[/quote]

    Link to the article:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/feb/04/parapsychology-science-sheldrake-paranormal

    Dave.

    1. Negatively defined?
      [quote]Caroline Watt wrote:

      Skeptical commentators such as James Alcock and Richard Wiseman have rightly pointed out that psi is negatively defined; that is, if artefacts are ruled out in studies with above-chance results then parapsychologists infer that psi is the explanation for their statistically significant results. The problem with this is that if the study contains undetected flaws then it may be these flaws, rather than psi, that are responsible for the study’s outcome.[/quote]

      I think this particular point is only due to the liminal standing of psi research. Because even the idea is not accepted, any positive finding surely can’t be psi, therefore there may be other artefacts, therefore psi researchers negatively define their quarry. This is really no different to any other area of science – just in those cases, a positive outcome is simply accepted as justification of the theory without further contemplation of the possibility of other causes/artefacts etc. It’s like Ray Hyman’s caveat in his remote viewing research summary: “By the standards of science, this is proven…still, I can’t say for sure that something else may have happened and caused these results therefore it’s all rubbish” (to paraphrase rather sarcastically).

      1. Dearie me i can think of a
        Dearie me i can think of a lot of better things to spend £200 on, i mean really what does this teach you at the end of the day you can’t already find and self teach elsewhere.

        Sorry not sold on this.

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