Psychology and Anomalous Observations: The Question of ESP in Dreams
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Plain English Summary
This paper catches five major psychology textbooks red-handed: every single one either ignored, twisted, or flat-out falsified the results of the famous Maimonides dream telepathy experiments. One book claimed stimuli were shown before sleep (they weren't), another exaggerated the possibility of sensory leakage, and yet another said there were no proper controls when there clearly were. When Child went back and reanalyzed the original Maimonides data across 15 experimental segments, the results were striking -- hits beat misses on every single line, with astronomical odds against chance (p < .0001). Outside judges' ratings hit p < .000002, which is wildly significant. This matters beyond one set of experiments because it shows how mainstream reviews can systematically misrepresent parapsychological evidence, raising uncomfortable questions about whether skeptical dismissals elsewhere deserve similar scrutiny.
Research Notes
Central to the meta-debate controversy (#10) on how psi research is treated in mainstream psychology. Demonstrates that even published critical reviews can systematically misrepresent parapsychological evidence, a pattern relevant to evaluating all skeptical reviews in this library.
A review of how five major psychology books have represented the Maimonides Medical Center dream ESP experiments, revealing that all five either ignored, distorted, or falsified the research. Reanalysis of the Maimonides data across 15 experimental segments showed hits exceeded misses on every independent line (sign test p < .0001). Combined probability for outside judges' ratings on segments free of nonindependence issues was p < .000002; for subjects' own ratings, p < .002. Specific misrepresentations included describing post-sleep stimuli as pre-sleep priming (Zusne & Jones), exaggerating sensory cuing (Hansel), dismissing within-subject controls as absent (Alcock), and complete omission (Marks & Kammann).
Links
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📋 Cite this paper
Child, Irvin L (1985). Psychology and Anomalous Observations: The Question of ESP in Dreams. American Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.40.11.1219
@article{child_1985_psychology_anomalous,
title = {Psychology and Anomalous Observations: The Question of ESP in Dreams},
author = {Child, Irvin L},
year = {1985},
journal = {American Psychologist},
doi = {10.1037/0003-066X.40.11.1219},
}