The Experimental Evidence for Parapsychological Phenomena: A Review
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Plain English Summary
This is arguably the most important paper making the case for psychic phenomena in mainstream psychology — published in the APA's flagship journal, a huge deal for a topic most academics avoid. Cardena assembles meta-analyses (combined results from many experiments) across ten-plus psi paradigms: telepathy under sensory deprivation, precognition, remote viewing, dream ESP, and more. The numbers are striking — across 108 ganzfeld studies, people identified a hidden target 31% of the time versus 25% expected by chance. Effect sizes rival accepted findings in medicine and psychology. His bottom line: cumulative evidence supports psi and can't be dismissed by blaming fraud or cherry-picking. Note that Cardena is a leading psi proponent — though the paper survived rigorous peer review.
Research Notes
The most important single review of psi evidence in mainstream psychology — published in American Psychologist, lending unprecedented institutional credibility. Central reference for the meta-debate (Controversy #10) and provides the quantitative backbone for evaluating every domain-specific controversy in this library. Authored by Cardeña, a leading proponent, which should be weighed alongside its rigorous peer review.
Comprehensive integration of current experimental evidence and theories about parapsychological phenomena, published in the APA's flagship journal. Reviews recent/updated meta-analyses across 10+ psi paradigms including ganzfeld (108 studies, z = 8.31, hit rate 31% vs 25% MCE), Bem-type precognition (90 experiments from 33 labs, ES = 0.09), presentiment (26 studies, ES = 0.21), remote viewing, dream ESP, DMILS, noncontact healing, dice PK, and micro-PK. Synthesizes theoretical frameworks from quantum physics (nonlocality, retrocausality) and psychology (PMIR, first-sight theory). Concludes that cumulative evidence supports the reality of psi, with effect sizes comparable to established psychological phenomena, and cannot be explained by study quality, fraud, or selective reporting.
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Related Papers
Cites
- Feeling the Future: Experimental Evidence for Anomalous Retroactive Influences on Cognition and Affect — Bem, Daryl J (2011)
- Feeling the Future: A Meta-Analysis of 90 Experiments on the Anomalous Anticipation of Random Future Events — Bem, Daryl J (2015)
- Meta-Analysis of Free-Response Studies, 1992–2008: Assessing the Noise Reduction Model in Parapsychology — Storm, Lance (2010)
- Predictive Physiological Anticipation Preceding Seemingly Unpredictable Stimuli: A Meta-Analysis — Mossbridge, Julia (2012)
- Examining Psychokinesis: The Interaction of Human Intention With Random Number Generators—A Meta-Analysis — Bösch, Holger (2006)
- A Call for an Open, Informed Study of All Aspects of Consciousness — Cardeña, Etzel (2014)
- A Joint Communiqué: The Psi Ganzfeld Controversy — Hyman, Ray (1986)
- Why Psychologists Must Change the Way They Analyze Their Data: The Case of Psi — Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan (2011)
- A Bayes Factor Meta-Analysis of Recent Extrasensory Perception Experiments: Comment on Storm, Tressoldi, and Di Risio (2010) — Rouder, Jeffrey N (2013)
- An Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioning — Utts, Jessica (1996)
- Decision Augmentation Theory: Toward a Model of Anomalous Mental Phenomena — May, Edwin C (1995)
- Anomaly or Artifact? Comments on Bem and Honorton — Hyman, Ray (1994)
- Correcting the Past: Failures to Replicate Psi — Galak, Jeff (2012)
- Estimating the Reproducibility of Psychological Science — Open Science Collaboration (2015)
- We Did See This Coming: Response to 'We Should Have Seen This Coming' by D. Sam Schwarzkopf — Mossbridge, Julia A (2015)
- Information and Uncertainty in Remote Perception Research — Dunne, Brenda J (2003)
- Failing the Future: Three Unsuccessful Attempts to Replicate Bem's 'Retroactive Facilitation of Recall' Effect — Ritchie, Stuart J (2012)
- Does Psi Exist? Lack of Replication of an Anomalous Process of Information Transfer — Milton, Julie (1999)
- Testing for Questionable Research Practices in a Meta-Analysis: An Example from Experimental Parapsychology — Bierman, Dick J (2016)
- Measuring the Prevalence of Questionable Research Practices With Incentives for Truth Telling — John, Leslie K (2012)
- Meta-Analysis That Conceals More Than It Reveals: Comment on Storm et al. (2010) — Hyman, Ray (2010)
- Two Meta-Analyses of Noncontact Healing Studies — Roe, Chris A (2015)
- Of Two Minds: Sceptic-Proponent Collaboration within Parapsychology — Schlitz, Marilyn J (2006)
- Distant intentionality and the feeling of being stared at: Two meta-analyses — Schmidt, Stefan (2004)
- Psychophysical Modulation of Fringe Visibility in a Distant Double-Slit Optical System — Radin, Dean (2016)
Cited By
- Measuring Extraordinary Experiences and Beliefs: A Validation and Reliability Study — Wahbeh, Helané (2019)
- Quantum Aspects of the Brain-Mind Relationship: A Hypothesis with Supporting Evidence — Kauffman, Stuart A (2023)
- Cognitive Styles and Psi: Psi Researchers Are More Similar to Skeptics Than to Lay Believers — Pehlivanova, M (2024)
- Advancing the Evidence for Survival of Consciousness — Delorme, Arnaud (2021)
Companion
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📋 Cite this paper
Cardeña, Etzel (2018). The Experimental Evidence for Parapsychological Phenomena: A Review. American Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000236
@article{cardena_2018_experimental,
title = {The Experimental Evidence for Parapsychological Phenomena: A Review},
author = {Cardeña, Etzel},
year = {2018},
journal = {American Psychologist},
doi = {10.1037/amp0000236},
}