Perspectives on Precognition
📄 Original study ↗Plain English Summary
Here's something you don't see every day: a mainstream APA psychology journal decided to take precognition seriously. Not endorsing it, not dismissing it, but giving it a proper hearing. The editors set up a debate -- one team presented evidence humans might sense the future, two skeptic teams fired back, and the original team responded. The editors stayed neutral, refusing to pick sides. What's remarkable is the institutional signal: a respected journal saying this topic clears the bar for legitimate discussion. They framed it with Carl Sagan's idea that science needs both radical openness and ruthless scrutiny, plus a fun reminder that plate tectonics was once laughed off too.
Research Notes
Institutionally significant: a mainstream APA journal legitimizing rigorous pro-vs-con precognition debate with equal standing for both sides. Editors refuse to adjudicate while signaling the topic meets the bar for serious scientific engagement. Special-issue structure: one supportive review, two invited skeptical critiques, and a pro-psi rebuttal — most are in the catalog.
Two-page editorial introducing a special issue of Psychology of Consciousness devoted to precognition. Woody and Lynn frame the issue using Carl Sagan's dual-attitude characterization of science — openness to new ideas combined with ruthless skeptical scrutiny — and two physics analogies: plate tectonics dismissed as 'cocktail party speculation' and Wheeler-Feynman's one-electron universe tested against empirical constraints. Five companion articles follow: Schooler et al. on entertaining vs. endorsing anomalous claims, Mossbridge & Radin's empirical review of precognition evidence, skeptical critiques by Schwarzkopf and by Houran et al., and Mossbridge & Radin's response. The editors take no position on whether precognition is real.
Links
Related Papers
Companion
- Entertaining Without Endorsing: The Case for the Scientific Investigation of Anomalous Cognition — Schooler, Jonathan W (2018)
- Precognition as a Form of Prospection: A Review of the Evidence — Mossbridge, Julia A (2018)
- Cross-Examining the Case for Precognition: Comment on Mossbridge and Radin (2018) — Houran, James (2018)
- Predictive Physiological Anticipation Preceding Seemingly Unpredictable Stimuli: An Update of Mossbridge et al.'s Meta-Analysis — Duggan, Michael (2018)
More in Precognition
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Raising the value of research studies in psychological science by increasing the credibility of research reports: the transparent Psi project
A Preregistered Multi-Lab Replication of Maier et al. (2014, Exp. 4) Testing Retroactive Avoidance
Bem's 'Feeling the Future' (2011) Five Years Later: Its Impact on Scientific Literature
📋 Cite this paper
Woody, Erik, Lynn, Steven Jay (2018). Perspectives on Precognition. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000155
@article{woody_2018_perspectives,
title = {Perspectives on Precognition},
author = {Woody, Erik and Lynn, Steven Jay},
year = {2018},
journal = {Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice},
doi = {10.1037/cns0000155},
}