psi - The Skeptic's Dictionary

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class="logo"> <img src="_images/logo_01.png" alt="The Skeptic's Dictionary" width="270" height="60" border="0" />           <br /> by <a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/bio.html">Robert Todd Carroll</a> * est. 1994 </div> <div class="slogan"> <img src="_images/slogan_01.gif" alt="A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions" width="362" height="30" /> </div> </div> <div class="menu"> <ul> <li></li><li><a href="http://skepdic.com/">Home</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/news/">Newsletter</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/feedback.html">Feedback</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/faq.html">FAQ & Interviews</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tour.html">Site Map</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="middle"> <div class="left"> <h2>Topical Indexes</h2> <ul class="nav_1"> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tialtmed.html">Alternatives to Medicine</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/ticriticalthinking.html">Critical Thinking</a></li> 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href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#I">i</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#J">j</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#K">k</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#L">l</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#M">m</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#N">n</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#O">o</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#P">p</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Q">q</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#R">r</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#S">s</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#T">t</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#U">u</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#V">v</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#W">w</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#X">x</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Y">y</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Z">z</a></li> </ul> <webContent><h1>psi</h1> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">Psi (pronounced <i>sigh</i>) is a term commonly used by <a href="parapsy.html">parapsychologists</a> to refer to both <a HREF="esp.html">ESP</a> and <a HREF="kinesis.html">psychokinesis</a> taken together. The term was coined by B.P. Weisner and recommended by R.H. Thouless as a term for describing ESP in his 1942 article "The Present Position of Experimental Research into Telepathy and Related Phenomena," (<em>Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research</em>, 47, part 166, pp. 1-19). J. B Rhine (1948 <i>Reach of the Mind) </i>used the term to refer to both ESP and psychokinesis.</font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">The <a href="http://www.randi.org/">James Randi Educational Foundation</a> offers a prize of $1,000,000 to anyone who can prove he or she has a psychic ability.</font></p> <hr align="left" width="25%" noshade> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><b>See also</b> <a HREF="clairaudio.html">clairaudience</a>, <a HREF="clairvoy.html">clairvoyance</a>, <a href="coldread.html">cold reading</a>, <a href="declineeffect.html">decline effect</a>, <a href="displacement.html"> displacement</a>, <a HREF="esp.html">ESP</a>, <a href="experimentereffect.html">experimenter effect</a>, <a href="filedrawer.html">file-drawer effect</a>, <a href="ganzfeld.html">ganzfeld experiment</a>, <a href="geller.html">Uri Geller</a>, <a href="medium.html">medium</a>, <a href="metaanalysis.html">meta-analysis</a>, <a href="moody.html">Raymond Moody</a>, <a href="nostrada.html">Nostradamus</a>, <a href="opstart.html">optional starting and stopping</a>, <a HREF="parapsy.html">parapsychology</a>, <a href="pastlife.html">past life regression</a>, <a HREF="precog.html"> precognition</a>, <a href="http://skepdic.com/precog.html#presentiment">presentiment</a>, <a href="psiassumption.html">psi assumption</a>, <a href="http://skepdic.com/psifocus.html">psi-focus assumption</a>, <a href="psimiss.html">psi-missing</a>, <a href="psychic.html">psychic</a>, <a href="psychdet.html"> psychic detective</a>, <a href="psurgery.html">psychic surgery</a>, <a HREF="kinesis.html">psychokinesis</a>, <a href="psychomet.html">psychometry</a>, <a href="randi.html">James Randi Foundation psychic challenge</a>, <a href="remotevw.html">remote viewing</a>, <a HREF="retrocog.html">retrocognition</a>, <a href="seance.html">s茅ance,</a> <a href="sheep-goat.html">sheep-goat effect</a>, <a href="shynesseffect.html">shyness effect</a>, <a href="tart.html">Charles Tart</a>, <a href="kinesis.html">telekinesis</a>, and <a HREF="telepath.html">telepathy</a>.</font></p> <hr align="left" noshade width="25%"> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><b><a HREF="comments/psicom.html">reader comments</a></b> </font> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><b>further reading</b> </font> </p> <p style="text-align: left"><b><font face="Arial" size="3">books and articles</font></b></p> <p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0907845487/roberttoddcarrolA/">Alcock, James E.<i>,</i> Jean Burns and Anthony Freeman.  Editors. <i>Psi Wars: Getting to Grips with the Paranormal</i> by   (Imprint Academic, 2003).</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0879753145/roberttoddcarrolA/">Frazier, Kendrick. editor, <i>Science Confronts the Paranormal</i> (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1986). </a> See especially the article "Fooling Some of the People All of the Time," by Barry Singer and Victor A. Benassi. </font> </p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0486203948/roberttoddcarrolA/">Gardner, Martin. <i>Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science</i> (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1957), ch. 25.</a> </font> </p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0879755121/roberttoddcarrolA/">Gardner, Martin. <i>How Not To Test a Psychic : Ten Years of Remarkable Experiments With Renowned Clairvoyant Pavel Stepanek</i> (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1989).</a> </font> </p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0879755334/roberttoddcarrolA/">Hansel, C.E.M. <i>The Search for Psychic Power : ESP and Parapsychology Revisited</i> (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1989).</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1573929794/roberttoddcarrolA/">Hines, Terence. <i>Pseudoscience and the Paranormal</i> 2nd ed. (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003).</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0879755040/roberttoddcarrolA/">Hyman, Ray. <i>The Elusive Quarry : a Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research</i> (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1989).</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a href="http://www.mceagle.com/remote-viewing/refs/science/air/hyman.html">Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena,"</a> <em>Journal of Scientific Exploration</em>, Volume 10 Number 1.</font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a href="http://www.csicop.org/si/show/evidence_for_psychic_functioning_claims_vs._reality/"> Hyman, Ray. 1996. "The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality." <i>Skeptical Inquirer.</i></a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0879751223/roberttoddcarrolA/">Marks, David and Richard Kammann, <i>The Psychology of the Psychic </i>(Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1979).</a> </font> </p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0879751983/roberttoddcarrolA/">Randi, James. <i>Flim-Flam!</i> (Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books,1982).</a></font><p style="text-align: left"> <b><font face="Arial" size="3">websites</font></b></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font size="3"> <a href="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000464CE-BC82-1E1C-8B3B809EC588EEDF&catID=2"> Psychic Drift -Why most scientists do not believe in ESP and psi phenomena By Michael Shermer</a> </font> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a href="http://www.pni.org/research/anomalous/classif_art/pjsa/culture.html">Culture, Psychopathology And Psi: A Clinical Relationship</a></font><p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.tricksterbook.com/ArticlesOnline/ResearchWithBD.htm" style="text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single"> The Research With B.D. and the Legacy of Magical Ignorance </a> by George P. Hansen</font><p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.tricksterbook.com/ArticlesOnline/DeceptionBySubjects.html"> Deception by Subjects in Psi Research</a> by George P. Hansen</font><p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.dina.dk/~abraham/psy1.html">Does Psi Exist? Replicable Evidence for an Anomalous Process of Information Transfer </a>Daryl J. Bem and Charles Honorton</font><p></webContent>Last updated 19-Oct-2015 </p> </div> </div> <div class="right"> <div class="right_it"> <div class="search"> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="_top"> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="skepdic.com" /> <input type="text" name="q" maxlength="255" value="" size="20" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" /> <br /> <div class="search_2"> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="" /> Web     <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="skepdic.com" checked="checked" /> Skepdic.com <br /> <img src="_images/logo_google.gif" alt="Google" width="48" height="19" /> </div> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-3542920166946725" /> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;" /> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en" /> </form> </div> <div class="center"> <p align="right"><a href="http://skepdic.com/authorpage.html"><strong>Books by R. 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