Home > Self Help > The Paranormal & The Unexplained > Ghosts

Testing For The Paranormal

 
Rate this Film:
Click stars to rate this interview
Viewing problems?  |   Report problem
Ratings: 1  | Views: 338  | Added: Jan 02, 2008
Share
Favorite
Download
Text Version
Close

Testing For The Paranormal

What methods can you use to test for the paranormal?

In testing paranormal claims and they come in all kind of different varieties. So the important thing is as far as I am concerned, is to adopt a scientific approach and secondly to try and carry out a fair test. So if someone approaches me and they claim that they have abilities which lay outside the realms of explanation for conventional science. Then the first thing is to find out from them what their claim is, under what conditions they operate, and what would prevent it from working. And trying to set up a well controlled test that they agree in advance is a fair test. It is very important that you test them in a way that they are happy with and then go ahead and you can carry out your test.

How do you test someone who claims to be telepathic?

If someone claims that they can read someone else's mind then that is fairly straight forward to test. We put one person in one room, the sender; we put the receiver in the other room, a good distance away. We do our best to rule out any possibility of what we call sensory cueing, i.e. the person who is supposed to be doing the guessing picking up the information in some other way than via telepathy. We try to rule out any possibility of cheating and we give them a number of trials where one person is trying to send a randomly selected target to the receiver, we work out how many they get right, and we see whether that is a statistically significant figure in terms of what we would expect to get just by guess work. So it's fairly easy to describe, in practice it can be quite difficult to do it because you have to know all the possible things that you need to control for and of course some of the claims are not as straight forward as that. But the important thing is that you find out what the claim is, you design your test around it, and you make sure that the person you're testing agrees that it's a fair test in advance.

What is James Randi's 1m Paranormal Challenge, and has anyone ever passed it?

James Randi is an American conjurer and debunker of the paranormal. And for many, many years now, he has an offer over $1 million to anyone who can prove, under controlled conditions that they have some kind of psychic ability. Now, lots of people have put themselves forward to try and claim this money and so far everyone's failed. So, it's pretty good evidence in itself that although people may sincerely believe that they do have psychic powers; when you actually put it to test properly, those powers always seem to fail.

What sort fo evidence would convince you that the paranormal exists?

It's not at all unusual for me to be told lots and lots of amazing stories from people about paranormal experiences that they themselves have personally had or that someone they know and trust has had, and that they find convincing. The problem for me, as a psychologist, is that that kind of evidence on its own is never going to convince me. And the reason for that is that psychologists are all too aware of how our own perception can fool us, of how our own memories can fool us. And even things like hallucinations, people tend to think that hallucinations are something that only ever happen to people who have serious mental problems. That's just not the case. They're much more common than people realize. So once you get into this area, you realize there are all these other kinds of possible explanations for the weird experiences that people have. So even if I were the one who had the experience, even if I thought I had seen a ghost or had a near death experience, that in itself should not be convincing. There are other possible explanations for that. So the only kind of evidence that will ever convince me will be that that comes from well-controlled scientific studies.

Also known as:

Suggest other titles for this film
Email a friend
To:*
Your Name:*
Your Email:*
Message:*
Send

Embed
Link:
Embed:
Embed single question:
  1. What methods can you use to test for the paranormal?
  2. How do you test someone who claims to be telepathic?
  3. What is James Randi's 1m Paranormal Challenge, and has anyone ever passed it?
  4. What sort fo evidence would convince you that the paranormal exists?

Post
Post to:
Digg Reddit Facebook Stumble Upon Google Delicious Yahoo! Newsvine Windows Live!
Please login or sign up to add this to your Favorites.
This has been added to your Favorites
Remove from your favorites
Add to your favorites
You may also like to:
Add to Favourites

Bookmark in my Browser

Post to:
Digg Reddit Facebook Stumble Upon Google Delicious Yahoo! Newsvine Windows Live!

Subscribe to Related Topics:
Subscriptions allow you to store topics in your profile,
& to be alerted to new films within that topic.
Ghosts
Please login or sign up to download the PSP, IPod or Mobile version.
Download FREE to your:
IPod IPod
Cell Cell
MP3 MP3
 
Why not download something extra?
Popular subjects include: Ghosts
Close
Order by:     
Comments

 
Post a comment:
Submit

Would you like to comment?

Please login or sign up for a free account.
Anomalistic Psychologist Chris French
Meet the Expert
Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit
  • What methods can you use to test for the paranormal?
  • How do you test someone who claims to be telepathic?
  • What is James Randi's 1m Paranormal Challenge, and has anyone ever passed it?
  • What sort fo evidence would convince you that the paranormal exists?
more ...
Ghost Hunting
 Exorcising A Location 
  1. Michele Kennedy
  2. Do exorcists rid houses of spirits? 
  3. Why do some locations need exorcising? 
  4. How do I know if my house needs exorcising? 
  5. Is there an alternative to exorcism for getting rid of ghosts? 
  6. Do exorcists expel demons from the possessed? 
 Exorcism Defined 
  1. Michele Kennedy
  2. What is an exorcist? 
  3. What does an exorcist do day-in day-out? 
  4. What happens during an exorcism? 
  5. What are your hours like? 
  6. How much does an exorcist earn? 
  7. What does it feel like to perform an exorcism? 
  8. Do you have to be a priest to be an exorcist? 
  9. Do you have to be Catholic to be an exorcist? 
  10. What's the best part of the job? 
  11. What's the worst part of the job? 
  12. Is an exorcism scary? 
  13. Does performing an exorcism put the exorcist in danger? 
  14. What are spirits' and demons'? 
  15. Can I learn exorcism myself? 
  16. Is exorcism dangerous if I don't know what I'm doing? 
  17. What's the worst that can happen? 
  18. What does spirit attachment' mean? 
 Life As An Exorcist 
  1. Michele Kennedy
  2. What's the biggest exorcism you've done? 
  3. How do I find a reputable exorcist? 
  4. What do you say to people who think exorcism is hokum? 
  5. How realistic is the film The Exorcist'? 
  6. What's the scariest exorcism you've done? 
  7. How does remote exorcism work? 
 Exorcising The Possessed 
  1. Michele Kennedy
  2. How much does it cost to get rid of a spirit? 
  3. Is performing an exorcism dangerous to someone who's possessed? 
  4. What happens to someone when they're possessed? 
  5. What does it feel like to be possessed? 
  6. How do I know if someone needs exorcising? 
  7. Can I perform an exorcism on someone myself? 
 Life Of A Psychic 
  1. Rosa Derriviere
  2. How much does a psychic earn? 
  3. What's the best bit about your job? 
  4. What's the worst bit about your job? 
  5. What's the scariest thing that's ever happened to you? 
  6. What's the best example of a reading you've done that proves your abilities? 
  7. Have you ever had your skills tested? 
  8. What do you say to people who think that psychics are scammers? 
  9. Have you ever given readings for anyone famous? 
  10. Have you ever seen someone's death in a reading? 
  11. What happens when someone goes for a reading? 
  12. What sort of things does a clairvoyant see? 
  13. How much does it cost for a reading? 
  14. What are the benefits of going for a reading? 
  15. Are there any risks involved in going for a reading? 
  16. Is going for a reading dangerous? 
  17. How do I find a reputable clairvoyant or psychic? 
  18. Why don't all clairvoyants win the lottery? 
  19. What tools do psychics and clairvoyants use? 
  20. How do tools help psychics and clairvoyants to give readings? 
 Becoming A Psychic 
  1. Rosa Derriviere
  2. What is a psychic? 
  3. What does a psychic do day in, day out? 
  4. Can anyone become a psychic? 
  5. Can anyone set themselves up as a psychic? 
  6. Who tests psychics? 
  7. Are psychics regulated? 
  8. How do you go about finding clients? 
  9. How did you get into this line of work? 
  10. How can psychics get into this line of work? 
  11. Do psychics or clairvoyants speak to the dead? 
  12. Is a clairvoyant the same thing as a psychic? 
  13. When was your first spiritual experience? 
  14. How do you see into the future? 
  15. What's it like seeing into the future? 
  16. Does being a psychic start to get monotonous? 
  17. After a while, does being a psychic start to feel like just another job? 
 Debunking The Paranormal 
  1. Anomalistic Psychologist Chris French
  2. Can all paranormal phenomena be explained by science? 
  3. What sort of fakes and hoaxes have you come across? 
  4. How does a Ouija board work? 
  5. How does a seance work? 
  6. How does Uri Geller bend spoons? 
  7. What about spoons that carry on bending after being put down? 
  8. Have you met Uri Geller? 
  9. How do mediums channel the dead? 
  10. Does dowsing really work? 
 Belief In The Paranormal 
  1. Anomalistic Psychologist Chris French
  2. Why do people believe in the paranormal? 
  3. Do most people believe in the paranormal? 
  4. How important are people's paranormal beliefs to them? 
  5. How easy or difficult is to change someone's belief with regards to the paranormal? 
  6. Are people with certain personality types more likely to believe in the paranormal? 
  7. How does a person's background affect their belief in the paranormal? 
  8. How does a persons psychological state affect their belief in the paranormal? 
  9. Are people with mental health problems more likely to believe in the paranormal? 
  10. Why do people believe in aliens and UFO's? 
  11. Why do people claim to have been abducted by aliens? 
  12. How can I tell if I'm psychic? 
  13. Are twins more likely to be psychic? 
Testing For The Paranormal (Now Playing)
  1. Anomalistic Psychologist Chris French
 Terms And Definitions 
  1. Anomalistic Psychologist Chris French
  2. What does paranormal mean? 
  3. What does psychic mean? 
  4. What is psychic healing? 
  5. What is ESP? 
  6. What is telepathy? 
  7. What is clairvoyance? 
  8. What is precognition? 
  9. What are psychokinesis and telekinesis? 
  10. What is a pseudoscience? 
  11. What is dowsing? 
  12. What is cold reading? 
 Anomalistic Psychology 
  1. Anomalistic Psychologist Chris French
  2. What is anomalistic psychology? 
  3. What is the difference between anomalistic psychology and parapsychology? 
  4. Is parapsychology a real science? 
  5. Do you believe in the paranormal? 
  6. Do you have to be a sceptic to be an anomalistic psychologist? 
  7. Why do you think your work is important? 
  8. What does a typical day involve for you? 
  9. What abilities do you need? 
  10. How did you get into this field? 

Related Topics

  • Ghosts
    TOPIC
    Contains all content on Ghosts:
    28 Films
    2 Discussions
More
Use The Ouija Board
VIDEO
03:12
Use The Ouija Board
Views: 3,032
Do A Telepathy Test
VIDEO
03:18
Do A Telepathy Test
Views: 2,870
Top Five Scariest Movie Scenes
VIDEO
04:34
Top Five Scariest Movie Scenes
Views: 9,133
Anomalistic Psychology
INTERVIEW
07:04
Anomalistic Psychology
Views: 529
Be Psychic - Cold Reading Techniques
VIDEO
02:51
Be Psychic - Cold Reading Techniques
Views: 4,101
Freaky Ghost
VIDEO
MADE BY YOU
00:38
Freaky Ghost
Views: 1,632
Be Psychic
VIDEO
04:05
Be Psychic
Views: 4,355
Haunted Hospital
VIDEO
MADE BY YOU
00:55
Haunted Hospital
Views: 1,348
What To Do If Your House Is Haunted
VIDEO
03:58
What To Do If Your House Is Haunted
Views: 4,144
Be Psychic - Cold Reading Psychology
VIDEO
02:30
Be Psychic - Cold Reading Psychology
Views: 2,294
Ghost Security Footage
VIDEO
MADE BY YOU
00:34
Ghost Security Footage
Views: 1,512
Ghost In A Haunted Room
VIDEO
MADE BY YOU
00:55
Ghost In A Haunted Room
Views: 2,034
Haunted House Cleanse
VIDEO
MADE BY YOU
13:43
Haunted House Cleanse
Views: 363
Ouija Boards Explained
VIDEO
MADE BY YOU
04:09
Ouija Boards Explained
Views: 695
Orb Photography
VIDEO
MADE BY YOU
04:29
Orb Photography
Views: 383
Ghost Hunt: A Guide To Paranormal Investigation
VIDEO
06:23
Ghost Hunt: A Guide To Paranormal Investigation
Views: 1,807
Ghosts: A Spotter's Guide
VIDEO
02:56
Ghosts: A Spotter's Guide
Views: 1,183
Belief In The Paranormal
INTERVIEW
16:02
Belief In The Paranormal