Investigated
What does parapsychology study?
Short answer
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Parapsychology investigates alleged anomalies involving mind, information, and physical events, including telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, psychokinesis, apparitions, near-death experiences, and possible survival after death. Its advocates describe this as scientific study of unusual human experiences; critics argue that reliable, reproducible evidence for paranormal phenomena remains absent or inconclusive.
The views on this question
Two lenses on the same evidence. Source weight and the primary source ratio show what each rests on.
Alternative
Source weight 40%Lens adapted to this topic: Parapsychologists’ research program
Parapsychologists define their field as the scientific and scholarly investigation of anomalous experiences that do not fit current models. They organize research around ESP, mind–matter interaction, and phenomena suggestive of survival, using experiments, conceptual models, and field investigations.
- The Parapsychological Association defines parapsychology as the study of ESP, mind–matter interaction, and phenomena suggestive of survival after bodily death.
- Parapsychologists study experiences such as telepathy, clairvoyance, remote viewing, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition.
- This perspective treats the phenomena as anomalies requiring investigation, while acknowledging that their mechanisms are not currently explained by established models.
Follow the white rabbit
Deeper threads worth pulling on next.
- What is psi research history?Different angle, same storyTracing 19th–20th century origins, major labs, and key figures shows how parapsychology grew as an academic and cultural movement.
- Are ESP experiments reproducible?Different angle, same storyExamining replication attempts, meta-analyses, and methodological critiques clarifies why critics say claimed effects fail to hold up.
- What was the Ganzfeld experiment?