Papers relating to the study of consciousness and personality. Topics include anomalous states of consciousness: hallucinations, multiple personality, healing, memory, hypnagogia, the effects of drugs, dreams and dreaming, prodigies and out-of-body experiences.
keywords: psi, consciousness, altered states, personality, multiple personality, healing, hypnosis, dreams, out of body experiences, beliefs, witchcraft, magic, experiments, methodology, theory, xenoglossy
Barrett, W.F. et al. FIRST REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF MESMERISM, Proceedings 1, 1883, pp. 217-29. Begins with a review of belief and scepticism about mesmerism, and follows with a description of experiments. Cases are given in which subjects were induced to eat candles, salt and other unpalatable substances believing they were ‘sponge cakes’ and ‘sugar’; were unable to see individuals who were right in front of them; accurately mimicked animal sounds; obey commands; and tolerate pain. hypnosis/experiments
Barrett, W.F. ON SOME PHENOMENA ASSOCIATED WITH ABNORMAL CONDITIONS OF MIND, Proceedings 1, 1883, pp. 238-44. Discusses some personal investigations of mesmerist cases, including one suggestive of clairvoyance, where the subject visits Regent Street in London in her imagination and is able correctly to identify a shop by name and appearance, although she has never left her village. hypnosis/clairvoyance/experiments
Barrett, W.F. SECOND REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON MESMERISM, Proceedings 1, 1883, pp. 251-62. Discussion of characteristics of mesmerism tending to contradict the view that the mesmerist applies no specific influence: varieties of power and susceptibility; that only the individual who mesmerises a person can reverse the state; symptoms of distress; persistence of will in mesmerised subjects. Types of phenomena witnessed in investigations, with emphasis on the rapport between subject and mesmerist, the effect of the will, unexpressed, of the mesmerist, resistance to pain, etc. APPENDDC, Proceedings 1, 1882-3, pp. 284-90. hypnosis/experiments/methodology
Barrett, W.F. et al. THIRD REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON MESMERISM, Proceedings 2, 1884, pp. 12-23. Discussion of ‘the transference of volition’, with illustrations from experimental work by Barrett. The subject is placed in a light hypnotic state by an agent, and is then asked if, for instance, he will open the fingers of his closed hand. At the same moment as asking the question the experimenter signals ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the agent who placed him in the trance. The agent wills the subject accordingly. Out of 20 successive trial, 17 are successful. The experiment is then performed in a number of variations. Further experiments in transference of pain and tastes are carried out, and an appendix records anecdotal accounts of this phenomenon. hypnosis/experiments
Gurney, Edmund. THE STAGES OF HYPNOTISM, Proceedings 2, 1884, pp. 61-72. Discussion of characteristics and varieties of the hypnotic state. ABSTRACT, Journal 1, 1884, pp. 4-5. hypnosis/theory
Gurney, Edmund. AN ACCOUNT OF SOME EXPERIMENTS IN MESMERISM, Proceedings 2, 1884, pp. 201-6. An experiment is described in which a subject’s sight of his hands is blocked, and the fingers are subjected individually to an electric current, the subject unable to identify which. Other experiments in the transference of pain and tastes are also given. hypnosis/experiments
Gurney, Edmund. THE PROBLEMS OF HYPNOTISM, Proceedings 2, 1884, pp. 265-92. Full reflections on the nature and characteristics of hypnotism, contrasting the explanation of the psychologist William Carpenter that focuses on mental states, which the author considers unsatisfactory, with that of Braid who takes account of changes in the physical state. hypnosis/theory
Gurney, Edmund. HALLUCINATIONS AND DREAMS, Journal 1, 1884, pp. 14. Original circular appealing for the public to send in descriptions of personal experiences. The letter generated a big response, and the material was subsequently analysed in the Census of Hallucinations. The definitions required are as follows: Hallucinations: Have you ever, when in good health and completely awake, had a vivid impression of seeing, or being touched by, a human being, or of hearing a voice or sound which suggested a human presence, when no one was there? Dreams: Can you recall that you have ever, in the course of the last ten years, had a dream of the death of some person known to you (about whom you were not anxious at the time), which dream you marked as an exceptionally vivid one, and of which the distressing impression lasted for as long as an hour after you rose in the morning? CORRESPONDENCE, p. 29. On definitions used in the circular announcing the SPR’s establishment. psi/dreams/hallucinations
Langley, J. N. THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECT OF MESMERISM, Journal 1, 1884, p. 40. Brief report of a lecture on mesmerism, or ‘hypnotism’ as Langley prefers, focusing on the phenomenon of the paralysis of will. hypnosis/methodology/theory
Anon. ON THE EXISTENCE OF A ‘MAGNETIC SENSE’, Journal 1, 1884, pp. 41-4. Discussion of the effect of magnets on humans. electromagnetism/hypnosis
Anon. ALLEGED CURES OF ANAESTHESIA BY MAGNETISM, Journal 1, 1884, pp. 65-7. A cure of hysteria by the use of magnets. electromagnetism/healing
Anon. A NEW ALLY OF ART, Journal 1, 1884, pp. 103-4. Note on the link between art and hypnotism. hypnosis/theory
Stewart, David. FURTHER EXPERIMENTS ON THE ALLEGED EFFECT OF MAGNETISM ON THE HUMAN BODY, Journal 1, 1884, pp. 112-3. A subject sees sparks and feels other effects from magnets. electromagnetisni/experiments
Pinhey, M.A. A CASE OF MESMERIC RAPPORT, Journal 1, 1884, pp. 133-42. A patient shows an unusual ability to share private sensations and experiences of a mesmerist who is treating her. hypnosis/experiments
Gurney, E. & Myers, F.W.H. SOME HIGHER ASPECTS OF MESMERISM, Proceedings 3, 1885, pp. 401-23. Reviews the public controversy over mesmerism, with reference to its most noted enthusiasts. These include successful practitioners such as Braid, also Esdaile, who briefly used it to anaesthetize patients undergoing operations until it was superceded by gas, and Elliotson, whose advocacy of its usefulness was marred by arrogance. ABSTRACT & DISCUSSION, Journal 1, 1885, pp. 418-9; 451. hypnosis/theory
Gurney, Edmund. HALLUCINATIONS, Proceedings 3, 1885, pp. 151-189. A study of the origins and character of hallucinations. Gurney starts by defining them as independent from true perceptions on the one hand, and remembered images or mental pictures on the other. He criticizes the established method of distinguishing the ‘idea’ element from sensory impressions and shows that delusive experiences are actually seen and heard, the only difference being that they lack an objective basis. The causes are investigated, both in external stimulus and where that is absent, arising instead from a central disturbance of some kind in situations where the sense organs are often in repose. Attention is then given to the cerebral processes involved in the creation of hallucinations, following with a discussion of the class of ‘veridical hallucinations’, those that accurately conform to some actual event in a remote location of which the subject could not be aware by normal means. Gurney argues that this class tends to support the view that hallucinations have a distinct origin from sensory mechanisms. hallucinations/theory
Gurney, Edmund. LOCAL ANAESTHESIA INDUCED IN THE NORMAL STATE BY MESMERIC PASSES, Proceedings 3, 1885, pp. 453-59. A continuation of experiments with the same agent and subject as in AN ACCOUNT OF SOME EXPERIMENTS IN MESMERISM, Proceedings 2, 1884, pp. 201-6. hypnosis/experiments
Ochorowicz, J. A NEW HYPNOSCOPE, Journal 1, 1885, pp. 277-82. Describes an apparatus aimed at measuring ‘hypnotic sensitiveness.’ hypnosis/methodology
Myers, Frederic W.H. CASE OF MONITION, SUCCEEDED BY CERTAIN MESMERIC PHENOMENA, Journal 1, 1885, pp. 310-12. Report of personal experiences in Greece, in which a patient undergoing a mesmeric cure shows clairvoyant abilities. PREDICTION OF RECOVERY IN MESMERIC TRANCE, pp. 467-9. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 2, 1885, pp. 5-6. Provides confirmation of the testimony. hypnosis/clairvoyance/experiments
Anon. MESMERIC PHENOMENA, Journal 1, 1885, pp. 425-9. An 18-year old apprentice exhibits clairvoyant symptoms while undergoing mesmerism. hypnosis/clairvoyance/experiments
Myers, A.T. ON THE ACTION OF DRUGS AT A DISTANCE, Journal 2, 1885, pp. 58-62. Two French doctors experiment with hysteric patients, finding that medical substances held without their knowledge behind their backs produce the effects that they would expect to have if they were ingested. The hospital director first rejects their findings but accepts them as genuine after carrying out his own experiments. Several theories are considered but none is found to adequately cover the facts. psi/experiments
Noel, R., & Myers, F.W.H. NOTES ON THE UNCONSCIOUS SELF, Journal 2, 1885, pp. 122-31. See also Journal 2, 1886, pages 158-71, 195, 234-43, 269-72. Myers locks horns with a critic of his physiological approach to automatic writing. automatic writing/methodology/theory
Myers, Frederic W.H. HUMAN PERSONALITY IN THE LIGHT OF HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION, Proceedings 4, 1886, pp. 1-24. Argues that hypnotic states provide important clues to the workings of human consciousness, with reference to specific cases. See also Journal 2, 1885, pp. 90-92, where in a meeting with colleagues Myers sketches out the approach he intends to take, regarding the true nature of human personality. hypnosis/consciousness/theory
Myers, Frederic W.H. ON TELEPATHIC HYPNOTISM AND ITS RELATION TO OTHER FORMS OF HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION, Proceedings 4, 1886, pp. 127-88. Discussion of the author’s observations of a hypnotic subject of French psychologist Pierre Janet, which he compares to similar cases described in Phantasms of the Living. hypnosis/telepathy
Myers, Frederic W.H. NOTE ON CERTAIN REPORTED CASES OF HYPNOTIC HYPERAESTHESIA, Proceedings 4, 1886, pp. 532-9. Describes cases where hypnotic subjects were able to gain information by heightened use of the senses. hypnosis
Anon. MESMERIC RAPPORT, Journal 2, 1886, pp. 243-8. Account of experiments in which a hypnotized subject perceives the taste of substances being ingested by the experimenter. hypnosis/experiments
Matthews, F. Barrow. AN ACCOUNT OF AN OUTBREAK OF RELIGIOUS HALLUCINATION IN THE BAHAMAS, WEST INDIES, Journal 2, 1886, pp. 485-7. A clergyman reports on an outbreak of religious hysteria in which instances of clairvoyance are noted. clairvoyance/hallucinations/beliefs
Gurney, Edmund. PECULIARITIES OF CERTAIN POST-HYPNOTIC STATES, Proceedings 4, 1887, pp. 268-323. Investigation of hypnotic subjects’ state of mind and behaviour following their trance. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION, Journal 3, 1887, pp. 98-100. Following a reading by Gurney, Myers describes a French patient, and refers to an experiment by Charles Richet. hypnosis/experiments
Myers, Frederic W.H. MULTIPLEX PERSONALITY, Proceedings 4, 1887, pp. 496-514. Describes two French cases involving a sudden change of personality. See also Journal 2, 1886, pp. 443-55, where Myers reports on French hypnosis experiments. personality
Gurney, Edmund. STAGES OF HYPNOTIC MEMORY, Proceedings 4, 1887, pp. 515-31. Investigates the apparent ability of hypnotic subjects to remember different things at different times. hypnosis/experiments
Myers, Frederic W.H. NOTE ON CERTAIN REPORTED CASES OF HYPNOTIC HYPERAESTHESIA, Proceedings 4, 1887, pp. 532-9. Describes cases where hypnotic subjects were able to gain information by heightened use of the senses. hypnosis/experiments
Newnham, P.H. ‘WILL-TRANSFERENCE’ - FACT OR FANCY?, Journal 3, 1887, pp. 49-54. A clergyman describes his ability to will people to look at him in church. hypnosis/experiments
Richet, Charles. SOMMEIL A DISTANCE, Journal 3, 1887, pp. 150-52. Richet describes clairvoyance experiments with Leonie (‘Mme. ?’). CORRECTIONS, pp. 167. hypnosis/clairvoyance/experiments
Richet, Charles. CHANGES OF WRITING ACCOMPANYING CHANGES OF PERSONALITY, Journal 3, 1887, pp. 166-7. Richet describes experiments in automatic writing. automatic writing/experiments
Richet, Charles. RECENT EXPERIMENTS BY M. CHARLES RICHET ON TELEPATHIC HYPNOTISM, Journal 3, 1888, pp. 222-6. More work with ‘Mme ?’. hypnosis/clairvoyance/experiments
Gurney, Edmund. RECENT EXPERIMENTS IN HYPNOTISM, Proceedings 5, 1888, pp. 3-17. New experiment, in which subjects perform tasks in the normal state which they have been set while under hypnosis: writing words that begin with certain letters; doing sums; referring to recent events; testing rhyming faculties; etc. They are unable to say why, even when offered significant sums of money. A subject is asked to describe the two different states. A subject is unable to see other people in the room when told under hypnosis there is no one there, and instances of ‘post-hypnotic hallucinations are given where subjects act out in the normal states commands given under hypnosis. Individual fingers are made to lose feeling as in previous experiments (Proceedings 1, pp. 257). hypnosis/experiments
Richet, Charles. RELATION DE DIVERSES EXPERIENCES SUR LA TRANSMISSION MENTALE, LA LUCIDITE, ET AUTRES PHENOMENES NON EXPLICABLES PAR LES DONNES SCIENTIFIQUES ACTUELLES, Proceedings 5, 1888, pp. 18-168. Describes experiments with four hypnotic subjects, particularly Leonie B, a 45-year-old patient treated by Janet and others for a nervous condition, who becomes a secondary personality under hypnosis. Considers the desirability of measuring the significance of results in terms of statistics. Claivoyant awareness is demonstrated in relation to time (32), reproduction of drawings (55), diagnosis of illness (116), ‘spirit’ communications (138), playing cards (148), names (152), ‘travelling’ clairvoyance (153). clairvoyance/telepathy/hypnosis/experiments
Gurney, Edmund. HYPNOTISM AND TELEPATHY, Proceedings 5, 1888, pp. 216-259. Attempts to reach conclusions about how the hypnotic trance is induced, looking at physical and psychical aspects and with reference to French cases by Pierre Janet and others. Gurney goes on to consider a possible telepathic component to hypnosis ‘at a distance’, and develops this idea in relation to experiences described in Phantasms of the Living. hypnosis/telepathy/methodology
Fontan, Professeur. HYSTERO-EPILEPSIE MASCULINE: SUGGESTION, INHIBITION, TRANSPOSITION DES SENS, Proceedings 5, 1888, pp. 263-8. Describes the effects of hypnosis on a French patient, a young sailor being treated for hysteria. Sense of smell is transferred from the nose to the hands, and the subject is able to select sort by colour objects that he cannot see. hypnosis/synaesthesia
Myers, F.W.H. THE WORK OF EDMUND GURNEY IN EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, Proceedings 5, 1888, pp. 359-73. Appreciation of Gurney’s contribution to the study of psychology with his work on hypnotism and hallucinations. hypnosis/hallucinations
Myers, F.W.H. FRENCH EXPERIMENTS ON THE STRATA OF PERSONALITY, Proceedings 5, 1888, pp. 374-97. Based on an essay by Pierre Janet on his subject Leonie, in which various phenomena relating to two secondary personalities are elicited by hypnosis. Myers finds in this work striking confirmation of his own ideas about personality, which he was later to develop in his book Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death, that it consists of fragmented parts potentially subject to different arrangements, each distinguishable by ‘the chain of memories which pertains to it’ and becoming visible through hypnosis, drugs, hysteria, mediumistic trance, automatic writing, etc. hypnosis/personality/experiments
Schrenck-Notzing, Albert von. EXPERIMENTS IN HYPNOTISM, Journal 3, 1888, pp. 233-8. Digest of a German report of investigations in Munich into clairvoyance and transference of sense occurring under hypnosis. ‘Many witnesses attended these trials, the majority asserting themselves convinced that thoughts and impulses were imparted to the hypnotized subject without the intervention of the usual channels of sense.’ Myers (pp. 258-65), describes a personal visit to observe the Munich experiments at first hand, accompanied by the Sidgwicks. hypnosis/experiments
MacNaughton, S. INTEMPERANCE CURED BY HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION, Journal 3, 1888, pp. 239. Hypnosis leads to a cure for alcoholism. hypnosis/healing
Balfour, A.B. SOME REMARKS ON PROFESSOR RICHET’S EXPERIMENTS ON THE POSIBILITY OF CLAIRVOYANT PERCEPTION OF DRAWINGS, Journal 3, 1888, pp, 348-54. Suggests methods of repeating and improving Richet’s experiments with clairvoyance. Richet replies Journal 4, 1889, pp. 3-7. clairvoyance/hypnosis/experiments/methodology
Myers, F.W.H. FRENCH EXPERIMENTS ON STRATA OF PERSONALITY, Journal 3, 1888, pp. 306. Describes hypnotic clairvoyance experiments with ‘Madame B’ by the psychologist Pierre Janet (report of a reading). CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 318-20. clairvoyance/hypnosis/experiments
Richet, Charles et al. [EXPERIMENTS WITH MME ?], Journal 3, 1888, pp. 346-8. Report of a reading of a paper by Charles Richet in which he describes his investigations of clairvoyance with Madame B. Members follow with observations, including suggestions of possible means of trickery. clairvoyance/hypnosis/experiments/methodology
Barkworth, Thomas. DUPLEX PERSONALITY: AN ESSAY ON THE ANALOGY BETWEEN HYPNOTIC PHENOMENA AND CERTAIN EXPERIENCES OF THE NORMAL CONSCIOUSNESS, Proceedings 6, 1889, pp. 84-97. Attempts to illuminate the abilities of the mind in the hypnotic trance state by comparing the roles of intellect and intuition in performing certain ordinary actions, such as playing music, versifying and making speeches. SUMMARY & DISCUSSION, Journal 4, 1889, pp. 20-24. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 4, 1889, pp. 24-5, 58-63, 76-80, 146-9, 163-5. hypnosis/consciousness/personality/theory
Richet, Charles. FURTHER EXPERIMENTS IN HYPNOTIC LUCIDITY OR CLAIRVOYANCE, Proceedings 6, 1889, pp. 66-83. More experiments with Leonie B, in which Richet is able for the first time to use playing cards successfully, a method that has the advantage over drawings that the probabilities can be measured. A card is drawn from a mixture often packs of 52 cards each, unseen by the experimenter, and placed in an opaque envelope. The subject holds the envelope and eventually attempts to identify the card, sometimes taking several hours. Possibilities of fraudulent manipulation by the subject are considered and rejected. Tabulated results are given, and show that the subject makes 12 correct guesses where only one or two would be expected by chance. Significant results are also obtained from correct guesses of colour and suit. The results satisfy Richet that some unknown principle is at work. clairvoyance/telepathy/hypnosis//experiments/methodology
Sidgwick, Henry and Eleanor & Smith, G.A. EXPERIMENTS IN THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE, Proceedings 6, 1889-90, pp. 128-70. Successes are obtained with hypnotized subjects in transferring two digit numbers telepathically. The number of correct guesses is 117 out of 664, a ratio of 1:5/6 when 1:90 is expected as a result of chance. telepathy/hypnosis/experiments
Myers, A.T. INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, Proceedings 6, 1889, pp. 171-82. Report of discussions on psychical aspects of psychology, including phenomena of hypnotism and telepathy, attended by Frederic Myers, Charles Richet, William James, Pierre Janet and others. Includes a difference of opinion as to whether these should be considered symptoms of a disease or as normal effects of consciousness. hypnosis/telepathy/experiments
Myers, Frederic W.H. PROFESSOR PIERRE JANET’S ‘AUTOMATISM PSYCHOLOGIQUE’, Proceedings 6, 1889, pp. 186-99. Review of Janet’s work, including Myers’s reflections on differing attitudes to hypnotic phenomena in France and Britain. hypnosis/methodology/theory
Myers, Frederic W.H. BINET ON THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF HYSTERICAL SUBJECTS, Proceedings 6, 1889, pp. 200-6. An account of results of hypnosis experiments with hysteric patients achieved by the French psychologist A. Binet at the Salpetriere clinic, which Myers finds confirm similar findings by Pierre Janet and the Society. hypnosis/consciousness/experiments
Myers, Frederic W.H. ‘DAS DOPPEL-ICH’, Proceedings 6, 1889, pp. 207-15. More reflections on the multi-layered character of consciousness, referring to evidence of a continuous monitoring process by the unconscious mind while the conscious self is engaged on other matters. consciousness/personality/theory
Myers, Frederic W.H. DR JULES JANET ON HYSTERIA AND DOUBLE PERSONALITY, Proceedings 6, 1889, pp. 216-21. Describes the unexpected effects of hypnosis on two Salpetriere patients. hypnosis/multiple personality/experiments/
Leaf, Walter. PROFESSOR LIEGEOIS ON SUGGESTIONAND SOMNAMBULISM IN RELATION TO JURISPRUDENCE, Proceedings 6, 1889, pp. 222-4. Reflects on the potential of hypnotic suggestion to reveal the instigators of crimes. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 4, 1890, p. 280. hypnosis/theory
Anon. MR HANSEN’S HYPNOTIC DEMONSTRATIONS, Journal 4, 1889, pp. 85-6. Brief record of stage hypnotism. CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 99-100. hypnosis/magic
Anon. THE USE OF HYPNOTIC TREATMENT IN INSANITY, Journal 4, 1889, pp. 151. Briefly describes some successful uses of hypnosis by British doctors. hypnosis/healing
Wesermann, H.M. MESMERISM AND THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, Journal 4, 1890, pp. 217-19. Review of the German literature on animal magnetism, with an account of around 40 volumes and extracts of accounts of experiments and observations: mesmerism at a distance, thought transference, transferred sensations, clairvoyance, premonitions, phantasms of the living and the dead, etc. hypnosis/psi/methodology/theory
Azam, Dr & Dufay, Dr. OBSERVATIONS ON CLAIRVOYANCE, Proceedings 6, 1890, pp. 407-28. French doctors describe incidents arising from their use of hypnosis on mental patients, including instances of effective hypnotizing at a distance, transference of taste, and clairvoyant awareness of actual events. hypnosis/psi/synaesthesia/experiments
Lach-Szyrma, W.S. HEREDITARY MEMORY, Journal 4, 1890, pp. 230-31. Gives example of deja-vu, which the author argues may be explained as inherited memory. psi/theory
Anon. DOUBLE PERSONALITY: MEMORY OF THE SECONDARY STATE REVIVED BY HYPNOTISM, Journal 4, 1890, pp. 258-9. Brief report of a French case in which a barrister undergoes hypnotic spells, losing his memory and taking on a secondary consciousness. hypnosis/multiple personality/experiments
Anon. HYPNOTISM AS AN ANAESTHETIC, Journal 4, 1890, pp. 259-61. Report of J. Milne Bramwell’s use of hypnotism as an anesthetic. See also Journal 5, 1891, pp. 67-8. hypnosis/healing
Anon. ILLUSIONS HYPNAGOGIQUES, Journal 4, 1890, pp. 263. Suggests a connection between dream images occurring on the verge of sleep and telepathic impressions. CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 276-8, Journal 8, 1897, pp. 158-9, 170-71, 269-70, 295-6. dreams/telepathy
Barkworth, Thomas. THE LEGAL ASPECTS OF HYPNOTISM, Journal 4, 1890, pp. 279-80. Draws attention to the difficulties involved in prohibiting the use of hypnotism by amateurs in Britain, if the attempt should be made to follow the continental example. hypnosis/methodology
Barkworth, Thomas. SOME RECENT EXPERIMENTS IN AUTOMATIC WRITING, Proceedings 7, 1891, pp. 23-29. Experiments with a young girl, in which automatic writings show a certain degree of facility in arithmetic, geography and other matters somewhat beyond the ability of the subject. altered states/automatic writing/experiments
Marillier, Leon. APPARITIONS OF THE VIRGIN IN DORDOGNE, Proceedings 7, 1891, pp. 100-110. Describes the epidemic of religious hallucinations in the Dordogne province of France in 1889, attributing their apparent contagious character to their being merely ‘a special form of illusions’ brought on by suggestion. hallucinations/hypnosis/theory
Hodgson, Richard. A CASE OF DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS, Proceedings 7, 1891, pp. 221-58. The case of Ansel Bourne, a New England carpenter turned evangelist who unconsciously assumed a different identity, waking one morning to find himself running a small shop in Pennsylvania, where he discovered he had been for the past two months. Hypnosis is applied and reveals his movements during this period. hypnosis/multiple personality/altered states
Myers, F.W.H. TWO NEW CASES OF SPONTANEOUS CHANGE OF PERSONALITY, Journal 5, 1891, pp. 93-6. Report of two cases observed by French psychologist Professor Charcot. multiple personality/altered states
Anon. NEGATIVE HALLUCINATIONS, Journal 5, 1891, pp. 144. Comment on the phenomenon of losing sight of an object that is plainly visible. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 5, 1891, pp. 152-3; 210. hallucinations/hypnosis
Anon. MEETING OF THE AMERICAN BRANCH OF THE SOCIETY, Journal 5, 1891, pp. 4-5. William James, chairman, talks of the progress of the Society and gives an account of double personality. psi/multiple personality
Myers, F.W.H. THE MECHANICS OF SUGGESTION, Journal 5, 1891, pp. 170-72. Brief report of an address, in which Myers argues that obedience to hypnotic suggestion indicates the present of a subliminal intelligence with powers not possessed by the supraliminal intelligence. Discussion follows. hypnosis/theory
Anon. MEETINGS OF THE AMERICAN BRANCH, Journal 5, 1892, pp. 217-21. Report of activities and progress of the American branch of the Society, including detailed comments on automatic writing by Mrs Underwood. psi/automatic writing
Anon. MEETING OF THE AMERICAN BRANCH OF THE SPR, Journal 5, 1892, pp. 282-3. Includes brief report by William James on results of the Census of Hallucinations. psi/hallucinations
Myers, Frederic W.H. THE SUBLIMINAL CONSCIOUSNESS, CHAPTERS 1-2, Proceedings 7, 1892, pp. 298-355. The first of a series of papers in which Myers characterizes the effects of hypnosis, telepathy, dreaming and other altered states as indicating the presence of a subliminal consciousness. He takes issue with those who assume that all telepathic and clairvoyant phenomena associated with hypnosis necessarily indicate hysteria. Areas he refers to are veridical hallucinations and dreams (313), crystal visions (318), collective hallucinations (320), sense of touch and pain (322). He then turns to the content of the subliminal messages (327), focusing on the hypnotic effect of anesthesia, and the effect of suggestion in producing stigmata (337). CHAPTERS 3-4, Proceedings 8, 1892, pp. 333-404. More examples of the ‘uprush of subliminal faculty’ (338), with examples of warnings of danger (339), arithmetical prodigies (349), dreams (362), hypnagogic visions (369), night sight (371), dreams treated as real events (373), clairvoyant dreams (380). CHAPTER 5, Proceedings 8, 1892, pp. 436-535 (synop). Continues the argument with reference to hallucinations of different types, including persistent after-images as an explanation for ‘ghosts’, hypnagogic imagery, sound-seeing, crystal vision and telepathy. In conclusion Myers describes a graduation through various levels of such mental experiences. DISCUSSION, Journal 6, 1893, pp. 21-2. SUMMARY& DISCUSSION, Journal 5, 1891, pp. 98-100. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 5, 1892, pp. 261-2, 279-80. psi/consciousness/altered states/personality/theory
Myers, Frederic W.H. THE SUBLIMINAL CONSCIOUSNESS, Proceedings 9, 1893, pp. 3-128. CHAPTER 6: THE MECHANISM OF HYSTERIA, pp. 3-25. Myers turns his attention to ‘hysterical disturbances of personality’, with reference to real experiences described to him by the author Robert Louis Stevenson and the work of Joseph Breuer and Sigmund Freud in Vienna. He stresses his view that hysteria is a pathological variant of the hypnotic suggestions which can be evident in healthy minds and which he has discussed earlier. Myers goes on to examine the changes of consciousness that occur in hysteria, drawing on examples in the published work of the French clinical psychologist Pierre Janet (16). He remarks on the modification of muscular power that enables one of Janet’s patients to perform unusual feats of strength, and speculates that this force may be implicated in occurrences of mediumistic psychokinesis (22). He goes on to comment on the apathy and indifference of hysteric patients, and the point at which even the most severe cases have a sudden perception of unclouded reality, drawing the analogy with the normal waking state of most humans and ‘the possibility of a like resurrection into reality and day’ (25). SUMMARY, Journal 6, 1893, pp. 78. CHAPTER 7: MOTOR AUTOMATISM, pp. 26-128. Discusses various aspects of telepathy, in which information comes into the recipient’s mind that is accurately linked to actual events or actions in the real world. Numerous anecdotal examples of experiences and informal experiments are given. A man experimenting with a medium is willed by her at a distance to walk in a particular direction (29); a party is broken up when one member of the group has a premonition of danger concerning a young boy: they return just in time to save him from suffocation by smoke (35); automatic writing reveals the whereabouts of stolen jewels (44); a road accident is accurately foretold by automatic writing (46); a table-tipping session elicits accurate information about the death of a child some distance away (48). Several instances from the personal experiences of the journalist W.T.Stead are described, in which his automatic writing communicates ideas from the subliminal mind of a friend, which often turn out to have a close relation to fact, although her conscious mind is not aware of it (52). Stead’s own reflections are reproduced. Several other instances of automatic writing are given. SUMMARY, Journal 6, 1893, pp. 51-2. CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 122-3. psi/consciousness/altered states/personality/automatic writing/theory
Delboef, MJ. DE L’APPRECIATION DU TEMPS PAR LES SOMNAMBULES, Proceedings 8, 1892, pp. 414-21. Gives examples of hypnotic subjects’ ability to precisely measure intervals of time. hypnosis/experiments
Anon. THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, Proceedings 8, 1892, pp. 601-11. Discussions involving Janet, Myers, Van Eeden, Schrenk-Notzing, and others. psi/consciousness/experiments/methodology/theory
Barkworth, Thomas. NOTE ON CARPENTER’S ‘MENTAL PHYSIOLOGY,’ SECTION 341, Journal 5, 1892, pp. 209-10. Takes issue with a mechanistic view of hallucination in order to accommodate telepathy. hallucinations/telepathy/theory
Anon. [SELF-SUGGESTION], Journal 5, 1892, pp. 236-7. Argues that phenomena of self-suggestion can be profitably investigated in the activities of faith healers and Christian Scientists. hypnosis/healing/beliefs
Myers, F.W.H. MM BALL AND BOETEAU’S CASE OF DOUBLE PERSONALITY, Journal 5, 1892, pp. 260-61. Report of a French case in which the memory of an episode experienced and then forgotten by a hysteric patient is recovered through hypnosis. multiple personality/hypnosis/experiments
Anon. SUBLIMINAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE LAPSE OF TIME, Journal 5, 1892, pp. 294-5. Also pp. 308-10; 320-21 and Journal 6, pp. 79-82, Journal 10, 1901, pp. 93-5. Brief reports of experimental attempts to wake at pre-determined times. psi/experiments
Anon. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 5, 1892, pp. 326-7. Challenges the conclusions of a French hypnosis experiment. hypnosis/experiments
Myers, A.T. & Myers, F.W.H. MIND CURE, FAITH-CURE, AND THE MIRACLES OF LOURDES, Proceedings 9, 1893, pp. 160-210. Frederic Myers and his brother, a physician, draw attention to the claims or miracle cures as fit topics for investigation by the Society. Early general reflections are followed by anecdotal instances of cures achieved by faith healing or suggestion. They then turn to Lourdes, referring the original visions. The authors give the account of a spiritualist healing observed by a continental doctor, followed by various cases of healings extracted from Lourdes by Boissarie, and attempts to categorize the types of malady involved. They conclude that there is no evidence that the Lourdes apparition of the Virgin was more than a subjective hallucination, that it has any more than a subjective connection with the cures, or that the cures themselves can definitively be said to be miraculous. SUMMARY & DISCUSSION, Journal 6, 1893, pp. 96-8. A RECENT CASE OF FAITH HEALING, pp. 172-3. Brief description of a Russian case. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 7, 1896, pp. 207. hypnosis/healing/apparitions/hallucinations/beliefs/theory
Smith, R. Pearsall. THE LOURDES MIRACLES AND OTHER CURES BY MENTAL IMPRESSION, Journal 6, 1893, pp. 1-3. Describes a number of cases, mostly in the author’s own family, of ‘sudden and complete cures of more or less serious disorders that had followed on a religious faith or a determined expectation of the part of the patient or the operator that the disorder would be cured.’ Reading of a paper, followed by comments from Myers and others. hypnosis/healing/beliefs
Anon. CORRESPONDENCE: HYPNOTISM AS A THERAPEUTIC AGENT, Journal 6, 1893, pp. 90. A member records his appreciation of weekly hypnosis therapy as a means of alleviating chronic stress symptoms. hypnosis/healing
Ramsay, W. EXPERIMENTS WITH ANAESTHETICS, Journal 6, 1893, pp. 94-5. Describes the author’s mental state when experimenting with anesthetics: ‘an overwhelming mental impression that he alone was a self-centred existence on which passing events made little or no impression’. Reading of a paper followed by discussion. healing/experiments
Anon. [HEALING BY SUGGESTION], Journal 6, 1893, pp. 152-6. Correspondents describe personal experiences of cures through different forms of self-suggestion. hypnosis/healing
Anon. ACCOUNT OF A HYPNOTIC SUBJECT, Journal 6, 1893, pp. 157-62. A case is recalled of a subject who showed evidence of clairvoyance and unnatural strength while under hypnosis. hypnosis/psi
Anon. A CASE OF ALTERNATING PERSONALITY, Journal 6, 1893, pp. 162-3. A case of memory alternating between two states. multiple personality/consciousness
Ramsay, William. PARTIAL ANAESTHESIA, Proceedings 9, 1894, pp. 236-44. An investigator of anaesthetics described the mental impressions and ‘delusions’ he has experienced while under the influence of a range of chemicals, including chloroform, ether, ethylidene dichloride, amylene, and others. He writes: ‘An overwhelming impression forced itself upon me that the state in which I then was, was reality; that now I had reached the true solution of the secret of the universe, in understanding the secret of my own mind; that all outside objects were merely passing reflections on the eternal mirror of my mind; some more, some less transient.. .The main and impressive fact for me was that I was self-existent, and that time and space were illusions. This was the real Ego, on whose surface ripples of incident arose, to fade and vanish like the waves on a pond’ (237). CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 16. healing/consciousness/altered states/experiments
Balfour, A.J. [NO TITLE], Journal 6, 1894, pp. 190-93. Reflects on the scientific investigation of hypnotic mental states. hypnosis/experiments
Anon. THE COMMITTEE FOR THE SYSTEMATIC INVESTIGATION OF HYPNOTIC PHENOMENA, Journal 6, 1894, pp. 199-200. See also pages 231-2 and 247-9. Brief record of the committee’s activities. hypnosis/methodology
Anon. THE SUBLIMINAL CONSCIOUSNESS AT WORK DURING THE INFLUENCE OF AN ANAESTHETIC, Journal 6, 1894, pp. 209-10. Cases are described of detailed memory of an operation carried out under anaesthetic returning to the patient some time later. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 16. hypnosis/healing/experiments
Anon. APPARENT DUALITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS UNDER MORBID CONDITIONS, Journal 6, 1894, pp. 286-8. An American writer describes his experiences of altered consciousness, stimulated by an open letter addressed to Myers by the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson on a similar topic. See also OBITUARY: ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 6-7. consciousness/altered states/multiple personality
Slosson, E.E. A CASE OF AN ALTERNATING PERSONALITY, Journal 6, 1894, pp. 162-3. American case of a young man who suffers ‘spells’ in which he changes from being sober and industrious to become ‘witty, sharp and unscrupulous’, with memories of actions and events in one state never being recalled in the other. multiple personality/consciousness
Mason, R. Osgood. CASE OF HYSTERIA, CATALEPSY AND UNSTABLE CONSCIOUSNESS, ACCOMPANIED BY SUPERNORMAL PERCEPTION, Journal 6, 1894, pp. 361-5. A young woman, treated by hypnosis for following hysteric symptoms, shows an apparently supernormal sensitivity to different substances. hypnosis/experiments
Dill, J.G., & Green, C.T. DIPSOMANIA AND HYPNOTISM, Proceedings 11, 1895, pp. 18-23. Brief record of attempts to treat alcoholism by hypnosis, with mixed results. hypnosis/healing
Pierce, Arthur H. & Podmore, F. SUBLIMINAL SELF OR UNCONSCIOUS CEREBRATION?, Proceedings 11, 1895, pp. 317-32. Pierce questions the need for ideas of the subliminal self put forward by writers such as Pierre Janet, A. Binet and Frederic Myers, arguing from a physicalist standpoint that there is no need to consider such states as they describe in hysteric patients as ‘conscious’. In reply, Podmore argues that this narrow definition fails to do justice to the known facts. consciousness/personality/theory
Fryer, A.T. THE HOLYWELL ‘CURES’, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 85-93. Anecdotal record of claimed cures at a well owned by a Jesuit order, with the recommendation that they be properly investigated. beliefs/healing
Barrett, W.F. HUMAN PERSONALITY IN THE LIGHT OF, AND IN ITS RELATION TO, PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 115-6. Discusses the bearing of recent psychological and psychical research on attributes of personality, such as self-consciousness and self-control (abstract). psi/consciousness/personality/theory
Anon. CORRESPONDENCE: A NOTE ON ‘MESMERIC PASSES’, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 126-7. Argues that mesmeric ‘passes’ can have a pronounced physical effect on a subject. CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 144. hypnosis/methodology
Dobbie, A.W. HYPNOTISM AS AN ANAESTHETIC, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 187-8. Describes the effective use of hypnotism in abreast cancer case. hypnosis/healing
Wiltse, S. EXPERIMENTS IN THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 197-206. Successful American experiments where images in the mind of a transmitting agent are correctly perceived by percipients under hypnosis. telepathy/hypnosis/experiments
Myers, F.W.H. EXPERIMENTAL DREAMS, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 218-20. Describes successful experiments to influence the content of dreams by means of a physical stimulus. dreams/experiments
Bramwell, J. Milne. PERSONALLY OBSERVED HYPNOTIC PHENOMENA, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 262-6. Account of experiments showing the power of hypnotic subjects to appreciate time (summary and discussion). See also EXTENSIONS OF SUBLIMINAL FACULTY DURING SLEEP, Journal 8, 1897, pp. 28-30. hypnosis/experiments
Augear. William R. [SPRITISM IN THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS], Journal 7, 1895, pp. 274-5. A South Sea Islander describes the case of a sick man who appeared to be entranced, talked in languages he was not known to speak, and had supernormal knowledge of other peoples’ affairs. clairvoyance/xenoglossy/altered states
Bramwell, J. Milne. WHAT IS HYPNOTISM?, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 278-82. Examines various theories about the nature of hypnotism (abstract and discussion). hypnosis/theory
Sidgwick, H. THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PSYCHOLOGY, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 295-9. Report of a successful conference, held in Germany, which included discussion of hypnosis and contributions by the Society on the Census of Hallucinations. hypnosis/hallucinations
Newbold, W.R. SUB-CONSCIOUS REASONING, Proceedings 12, 1896, pp. 11-20. Recounts three instances of thinkers achieving a sudden conceptual breakthrough in dreams. SUMMARY& DISCUSSION, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 231-3. dreams/theory
Barrows, C.M. SUGGESTION WITHOUT HYPNOTISM, AN ACCOUNT OF EXPERIMENTS IN PREVENTING OR SUPPRESSING PAIN, Proceedings 12, 1896, pp. 21-44. Describes a number of cases where suggestion alone succeeded in reducing pain and discomfort to manageable levels in cases of dentistry, neuralgia, trapped nerves, rheumatism, with supporting letters of testimony. SUMMARY & DISCUSSION, Journal 7, 1895, pp. 215-7. hypnosis/healing
Bramwell, J. Milne. JAMES BRAID: HIS WORK AND WRITINGS, Proceedings 12, 1896, pp. 127-65. Study of the work and career of the British pioneer of hypnotism. hypnosis/methodology
Bramwell, J. Milne. PERSONALLY OBSERVED HYPNOTIC PHENOMENA, Proceedings 12, 1897, pp. 176-203. Describes experiments that demonstrate the highly accurate awareness of time in hypnotic subjects. The author, an experienced practitioner of hypnosis, records details of other phenomena, including physical changes, variable memory, and anaesthesia. DR BRAMWELL ON HYPNOTISM, Journal 8, 1897, pp. 59-64. Some additional points. hypnosis/experiments
Bramwell, J. Milne. WHAT IS HYPNOTISM?, Proceedings 12, 1897, pp. 204-58. Considers the theories put forward by pioneers of hypnotism, including Esdaile, Braid, Charcot, Heidenhain, Hart, Bennett, Gurney, Bernheim, and Myers. hypnosis/theory
Anon. A CASE OF THE CURE OF WARTS BY SUGGESTION, Journal 8, 1897, pp. 7-10. Also pp. 100-104 and Journal 8, 1898, 225-7, 273-6; Journal 9, 1899, pp. 99-100, 100-104, 222, 225-7, Journal 12, pp. 313-16. Several cases are given of warts disappearing following forms of’charm’ or ‘faith’ healing. hypnosis/healing
Anon. THE USE OF HYPNOTISM IN EDUCATION, Journal 8, 1897, pp. 37-40. Abstract of exchanges between physicians published in an American medical Journal. hypnosis/methodology
Prince, Morton. A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF HYSTERIA AND HYPNOSIS, Journal 8, 1897, pp. 66-9. A specialist in nervous diseases describes the effects of hypnosis in cases of hysteria. hypnosis/healing
Anon. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 8, 1897, pp. 80. Brief description of auditory hallucinations. hallucinations
Myers, F.W.H. THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL LIMITS OF SUGGESTION, Journal 8, 1897, pp. 83-7. Also pages 95-6. Examines ethical aspects in hypnotic suggestion (summary and discussion). hypnosis/methodology
Anon. SUPERNORMAL PHENOMENA OBSERVED DURING HYPNOTIC TREATMENT BY DR ALFREDO BARCELLOS OF RIO DE JANEIRO, Journal 8, 1897, pp. 88-95. Also pages 99-116. A Brazilian doctor describes successful attempts to hypnotize a patient at a distance. He also describes several instances in which a clairvoyant accurately reported circumstances of which she had no direct knowledge. See also A CURE OF PARALYSIS BY HYPNOTISM, Journal 9, 1900, pp. 238-41. hypnosis/experiments/psi/methodology
Prince, Morton. A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF HYSTERIA AND HYPNOSIS, BEING SOME EXPERIMENTS ON TWO CASES OF HYSTERIA, AND A PHYSIOLOGICO-ANATOMICAL THEORY OF THE NATURE OF THESE NEUROSES, Proceedings 14, 1898, pp. 79-97. Describes cases where hysteric patients who had lost feeling in an arm showed under hypnosis that they were aware of being pinched and pricked by an investigator. The author seeks a phsyiological solution to this puzzle. hypnosis/experiments/theory
Bramwell, J. Milne, et al. THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION AND HYPNOTISM, Proceedings 14, 1898, pp. 98-110. Contributions to a conference on hypnotism, including an address by Frederick Myers on ‘the psychology of hypnotism’. hypnosis/methodology/theory
Smith, J.G. SOME CASES RECORDED IN THE ANNALES DES SCIENCES PSYCHIQUES, Proceedings 14, 1898, pp. 115-28. Brief descriptions of French papers on clairvoyance under hypnosis and table-turning. hypnosis/psi
Tuckey, C. Lloyd. THE INFLUENCE OF SUGGESTION ON HEALTH, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE, Journal 8, 1898, pp. 247-9. Argues that any benefits in Christian Science are due to the long known effects of mental suggestion, and that the only contribution of the cult is to add ‘much that [is] false or ridiculous’. hypnosis/healing/beliefs/theory
Myers, Frederic W.H. DR MORTON PRINCE’S ‘EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF VISIONS’, Proceedings 14, 1899, pp. 366-72. Reflections on a striking case of ‘split personality’. personality/theory
Anon. NOTE ON A CASE IN THE ARCHIV FUR RELIGIONS WISSENSCHAFT, Journal 9, 1899, pp. 6-9. Describes instances of yoga-trance in Hungary. altered states
Anon. COLONEL DE ROCHAS’ MUSICAL SENSITIVE, Journal 9, 1899, pp. 21-22. Particular chords of music trigger consistent physical movements and attitudes in a female subject of hypnosis. hypnosis/experiments/methodology
Anon. CORRESPONDENCE: HUMAN MAGNETISM, Journal 9, 1899, pp. 51-56. Disputes the orthodox view that there is no ‘magnetic force’ involved in hypnotism. hypnosis/theory
Sajous, E. de M. ALLEGED EMANATIONS FROM MAGNETS, Journal 9, 1899, pp. 71-2. An outline of experiments in Paris, ‘during which luminous rays or radiations emanating from magnets were supposed to have been seen by subjects in the secondary state’. experiments/altered states/electromagnetisni/aura
Kingsley, Mary H. THE FORM OF APPARITIONS IN WEST AFRICA, Proceedings 14, 1899, pp. 331-42. Introduction to African spiritualist ideas by a British traveller and explorer. DISCUSSION, Journal 9, 1899, p. 51. beliefs/apparitions
Anon. CORRESPONDENCE: ON DREAMS OF FLYING, Journal 9, 1899, pp. 95-6. A correspondent rejects a medical explanation of a recurring dream. dreams/theory
Anon. SOME NOTES ON SELF-SUGGESTION, Journal 9, 1899, pp. 120-22. A hypnotist uses self-suggestion to alleviate his own stress symptoms. CORRESPONDENCE, p. 144. hypnosis/healing
Anon. A CASE OF ALLEGED LOSS OF PERSONAL IDENTITY, Proceedings 15, 1900, pp. 90-95. Describes an involved case of amnesia. personality/altered states
Anon. A CASE OF DUPLEX PERSONALITY, Journal 9, 1900, pp. 265-8. A middle aged man disappears and returns six months later claiming to have suddenly ‘woken up’ to find himself living a different life. See also Hodgson, R. A CASE OF DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS, Proceedings 7, pp. 221-57. multiple personality/altered states
Myers, F.W.H. PSEUDO-POSSESSION, Journal 9, 1900, pp. 270-74. Discusses cases recorded in books by Janet and Flournoy ‘where there was an apparent invasion or possession of a living human organism by an external spirit’ (summary and discussion). CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 288-92. multiple personality/altered states/theory
Anon. SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF HYPNOTISM, Journal 9, 1900, pp. 261-5. Schedule of topics. hypnosis
Murray, Oswald. THE INTERNATIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL INSTITUTE AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PSYCHOLOGY, Journal 9, 1900, pp. 296-8. Includes brief report of remarks by Richet, Myers, and Flournoy. consciousness/psi
Myers, Frederic W.H. PSEUDO-POSSESSION, Proceedings 15, 1901, pp. 384-415. Discusses cases where symptoms seemingly of possession can be attributed to less dramatic causes, drawing from case material by the French psychologist Pierre Janet and the case of Hélène Smith described by Theodore Flournoy in From India to the Planet Mars. multiple personality/altered states/theory
Prince, Morton. THE DEVELOPMENT AND GENEALOGY OF THE MISSES BEAUCHAMP: A PRELIMINARY REPORT OF A CASE OF MULTIPLE PERSONALITY, Proceedings 15, 1901, pp. 466-83. No summary given. multiple personality/altered states
Eeden, Frederick & Myers, F.W.H. FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PSYCHOLOGY, Proceedings 15, 1901, pp. 445-8. Report of a conference in Paris, where it seemed that acknowledgement of the Society’s work is greater than on previous occasions. psi/consciousness
Schiller, F.C.S. REVIEW OF NOUVELLES OBSERVATIONS SUR UN CAS DE SOMNAMBULISME AVEC GLOSSOLALIE, BY THEODORE FLOURNOY, Proceedings 17, 1901, pp. 245-51. Flournoy comments on new material from his subject Helene Smith who, however, he continues to regard as less important than Piper and Thompson, mediums studied by the Society. See also Myers, F.W.H. PSEUDO-POSSESSION, Proceedings 15, 1901, p. 395. and Flournoy, Theodore. FROM INDIA TO THE PLANET MARS: A STUDY OF A CASE OF SOMNAMBULISM WITH GLOSSALALIA, reviewed by Alan Gauld, Journal 43, 1966, pp. 322-3. CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 438-9. multiple personality/altered states/experiments/theory
Stevens, E.W. [WATSEKA WONDER], Journal 10, 1901, pp. 99-104. Describes the possession case of Lurancy Vennum, a 14-year old girl in Watseka, Illinois, who became apparently controlled by the spirit of a neighbour’s daughter (edited paper and summary of discussion). multiple personality/altered states/consciousness
Anon. A MUSICAL PRODIGY, Journal 10, 1901, pp. 20-22. Brief report of a paper by Charles Richet describing a three-year old Spanish boy who plays the piano. consciousnes/altered states/personality
Greenwood, Edward, (pseudonym). SOME EXPERIMENTS IN HYPNOTISM, Proceedings 17, 1902, pp. 279-89. Describes experiences with a hypnotic subject. DISCUSSION, Journal 11, 1903, pp. 3-6. hypnosis/experiments
Skeat, Walter. MALAY SPIRITUALISM, Proceedings 17, 1902, pp. 290-304. Describes magical practices and ceremonies in Malaysia. SUMMARYAND DISCUSSION, Journal 10, 1902, pp. 259-60. beliefs/spiritualism/magic
Anon. MIND READING AND ALLIED PHENOMENA, Journal 10, 1902, pp. 177-92. See also pages 199-208 and 230-32. A member observes the unusual workings of his own consciousness, some of which appear to be of a supernormal character. telepathy/consciousness/experiments
Anon. AN EPIDEMIC OF HALLUCINATIONS, Journal 10, 1902, pp. 235-6. Marian visions in Tuscany. Reflections by Andrew Lang follow. hallucinations/beliefs
Bramston, M. AUTOMATIC ROMANCE, Journal 10, 1902, pp. 268-70. Uses the term ‘automatic romance’ to describe the subliminal activity of the unconscious self in creating imaginary characters in fiction and mediumship (summary and discussion). consciousness/altered states/theory
Honeyman, John. ON CERTAIN UNUSUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA, Proceedings 18, 1903, pp. 308-22. Describes the case of a 70-year old man, with defective vision, who for a period sees hallucinations of brilliant colour and exact detail, flowers, buildings, human forms, etc. hallucinations
Anon. FAITH HEALING, Journal 11, 1903, pp. 49-52. A cancer patient enjoys a short remission after dreaming that he would be cured. dreams/healing/
Anon. DISCUSSION: SECONDARY PERSONALITY, Journal 11, 1903, pp. 56-7. Frank Podmore, Everard Feilding and others comment on a paper on secondary personality by J.H. Hyslop. multiple personality/consciousness/altered states/theory
Anon. CASES OF SUBLIMINAL MEMORY IN DREAMS, Journal 11, 1903, pp. 97-100. A woman’s dream is shown to contain accurate details stored in her unconscious memory but not consciously recalled by her. dreams/methodology
Anon. UNPREJUDICED TESTIMONY, Journal 11, 1903, pp. 160-64. The unreliability of memory is demonstrated by two widely diverging spectator accounts of a single event. consciousness/experiments/methodology
Wilson, Albert, et al. A CASE OF MULTIPLE PERSONALITY, Proceedings 18, 1904, pp. 352-415. A 12-year-old girl recovers from meningitis but continues to suffer severe and various symptoms of personality change. Comments by other physicians involved in the case are appended, also comments by Alice Johnson on the writings and drawings of the secondary personalities. multiple personality/altered states
Anon. A DREAM COMPOSITION, Journal 11, 1904, pp. 193-4. A dream yields lines of poetry in the manner of Coleridge’s Kubla Khan. dreams
Wilson, Albert. A CASE OF MULTIPLE PERSONALITY, Journal 11, 1904, pp. 231-7. An adolescent patient having suffered influenza and meningitis develops a number of different personalities, whose characteristics are described (summary of reading and discussion). multiple personality/altered states
Dunbar, Ernest. THE LIGHT THROWN ON PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES BY THE ACTION OF DRUGS, Journal 11, 1904, pp. 263-8. Analyses the effects on consciousness of alcohol, ether and other substances (summary of reading and discussion). consciousness/personality/experiments/methodology
Summers, Constance. CASE OF THE CURE OF WARTS BY ‘CHARMING’, Journal 11, 1904, pp. 273-6. A cure is successfully effected by suggestion at a distance. hypnosis/healing
Dunbar, Ernest. THE LIGHT THROWN ON PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES BY THE ACTION OF DRUGS, Proceedings 19, 1905, pp. 62-78. Describes the effects of anaesthetics and drugs, including cannabis, ether, chloroform, etc. consciousness/personality/altered states/experiments/methodology
Head, Henry. CERTAIN MENTAL CHANGES THAT ACCOMPANY VISCERAL DISEASE (GOULSTONIAN LECTURES FOR 1901), Proceedings 19, 1905, pp. 267-74. A doctor describes various types of hallucination that accompany illness, with case notes. hallucinations/methodology
Anon. AN AUDITORY HALLUCINATION PROBABLY DUE TO ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS, Journal 12, 1905, pp. 23-9. A walker experiences an auditory hallucination of his sister’s voice, apparently triggered by subconscious recognition of landscape features associated with an incident that took place fourteen years earlier. hallucinations
Anon. AUTOMATIC INTELLIGENCE UNDER ANAESTHETICS, Journal 12, 1905, pp. 28-9. A patient is told to count as chloroform is administered and she picks up where she left off as she regains consciousness. hypnosis/healing
Olivier, Sydney. SOME NORMAL EXTENSIONS AND INTENSIFICATIONS OF CONSCIOUS PERCEPTION, Journal 12, 1905, pp. 72-6. Abstract of paper dealing with emotional and aesthetic responses to art, music, love and religion. consciousness/personality
Fryer, A.T. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE WELSH REVIVAL OF 1904, Journal 12, 1905, pp. 106-9. Describes the characteristics of an outbreak of religious enthusiasm in Wales (summary of reading and discussion). beliefs/methodology
Anon. CASE OF TRANCE WITH CONTINUOUS MEMORY, Journal 12, 1905, pp. 156-60. A woman becomes spontaneously hypnotized by a lamp during a church service and attempts to rouse her fail for several hours. After the fit passes she is able to recall every detail of what occurred when she was supposedly unconscious. hypnosis/altered states
Anon. OLFACTORY HALLUCINATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCONSCIOUS VISUAL PERCEPTIONS, Journal 12, 1906, pp. 188-90. A visitor to an art gallery experiences powerful sensations of smell, apparently triggered by the subject matter of paintings. hallucinations
Dickinson, Lowes. A CASE ILLUSTRATING SOME PHASES OF HYPNOTIC PERSONALITY, Journal 12, 1906, pp. 287-90. Describes the case of Blanche Poynings, where information transmitted by a medium and thought to be unknown by her is discovered in its entirety in a book read by her earlier (summary and discussion). hypnosis/psi/personality
McDougall, W. THE CASE OF SALLY BEAUCHAMP, Proceedings 19, 1907, pp. 410-31. Reviews the prominent case of secondary personality described by Morton Prince in his book The Dissociation of a Personality and in Proceedings 15. SUMMARY & DISCUSSION, Journal 13, 1907, pp. 20-23. multiple personality/altered states
Anon. A MEDICAL SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF HYPNOTISM, Journal 13, 1907, pp. 14-5. Launch of a new research group. hypnosis
Anon. ON THE USE OF THE TERM HALLUCINATION, Journal 13, 1907, pp. 34-5. Refreshes memories on the meaning of the term ‘hallucination’, with reference to Edmund Gurney’s definition, see Proceedings 3, pp. 151-89. hallucinations/methodology
Anon. INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PSYCHIATRY, Journal 13, 1907, p. 48. Forthcoming conference in Amsterdam on psychiatry, neurology, psychology and the care of the insane. SPR matters
Mitchell, T.W. THE APPRECIATION OF TIME BY SOMNAMBULES, Proceedings 21, 1908, pp. 2-59. Experiments with hypnotic subjects demonstrating their exact knowledge of the passing of time. SUMMARY & DISCUSSION, Journal 13, 1907, pp. 83-7. hypnosis/experiments
Anon. HALLUCINATION, Journal 13, 1907-8, pp. 34-5. Brief further discussion on the proper use of the term ‘hallucination’. hallucinations
Lodge, Oliver. AUTOMATISM AND POSSESSION, Journal 13, 1908, pp. 180-86. Abstract of an address on the relationship between body and mind involved in cases of automatism and possession, with diagrams. consciousness/altered states/multiple personality/theory
Williamson, Emily. CURING BY SELF-SUGGESTION, Journal 13, 1908, pp. 191-2. Account of a cure by self-suggestion of the effects left by an acute bronchial attack. hypnosis/healing
Anon. SUBCONSCIOUS TIME-COUNTING, Journal 13, 1908, pp. 197-8. Case of subconscious and apparently accurate awareness of time. psi/experiments
Anon. AUTOMATIC TELEGRAPHY, Journal 13, 1908, pp. 219-20. A wireless telegrapher describes an incident of apparent automatism, in which his hand, resting on the transmitting key while he is reading, suddenly starts to transmit ‘at extraordinary speed’. altered states/automatic writing
Anon. A CURE BY SUGGESTION, Journal 13, 1908, pp. 302-308. Report of a damaged thumbnail cured by suggestion. hypnosis/healing
Lodge, Oliver. POSSIBLE AUTOMATISM OF YOUNG CHILDREN, Journal 14, 1909, pp. 60-63. Discusses musical prodigies and compares their ability to the, as yet, undiscovered and probably impossible, faculty of equally young children to write automatically. psi/altered states/personality
Podmore, Frank. MESMERISM AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE: A SHORT HISTORY OF MENTAL HEALING, reviewed by T.W. Mitchell, Proceedings 24, 1910, pp. 687-97. Study of Animal Magnetism, and its influence on later advocates of mental healing. hypnosis/healing/beliefs
Mitchell, T.W. A STUDY IN HYSTERIA AND DOUBLE PERSONALITY, Journal 14, 1910, pp. 263-5. Describes a case of secondary personality in a hysteric patient treated by hypnosis (summary and discussion). hypnosis/multiple personality/healing
Mitchell, T.W. THE HYPNOIDAL STATE OF SIDIS, Proceedings 25, 1911, pp. 338-52. Commentary on the work by American hypnosis practitioner Boris Sidis on suggestibility. hypnosis/methodology
Dickinson, G. Lowes. A CASE OF EMERGENCE OF A LATENT MEMORY UNDER HYPNOSIS, Proceedings 25, 1911, pp. 455-67. A subject in hypnotic experiments describes visiting other planes of existence and holding extensive conversations with a noblewoman who lived during the reign of Richard II. Investigation reveals that the scenes, though historically accurate, are drawn from a novel which she had read some time earlier. hypnosis/altered states/experiments
Anon. CASE OF RECURRENT HALLUCINATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH ILL-HEALTH, Journal 15, 1911, pp. 90-95. An Anglican nun describes apparitional hallucinations that she has sometimes experienced at night during periods of ill-health. hallucinations/altered states
Mitchell, T.W. SOME TYPES OF MULTIPLE PERSONALITY, Proceedings 26, 1912, pp. 257-85. Describes cases in which individuals perform involuntary actions as a symptom of severe psychological pressure. multiple personality/consciousness/altered states
Mitchell, T.W. A STUDY IN HYSTERIA AND MULTIPLE PERSONALITY, WITH REPORT OF A CASE, Proceedings 26, 1912, pp. 286-311. Detailed report of a case in which a hysteric patient showed symptoms of amnesia, impairment of speech, reading and writing, and the emergence of a secondary personality, with reference to the views of Sigmund Freud. multiple personality/altered states
Freud, Sigmund. A NOTE ON THE UNSCONSCIOUS IN PSYCHO-ANALYSIS, Proceedings 26, 1912, pp. 312-18. Brief explanation of the exact meaning of the term ‘unconscious’ as used in psychoanalysis. consciousness/methodology/theory
Sidis, Boris. THE THEORY OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS, Proceedings 26, 1912, pp. 319-43. Discusses rival views of the unconscious. consciousness/theory
Taplin, A. Betts. THE LIVERPOOL PSYCHO-THERAPEUTIC CLINIC, Proceedings 26, 1912, pp. 373-4. Notice concerning the establishment of a psychotherapy clinic. healing
Barrett, W.F. SOME RECENT HYPNOTIC EXPERIMENTS, Journal 15, 1912, pp. 179-188. A Swedish experimenter speculates that hypnotic ability is due to an emanation from the fingers of the hypnotiser and that this energy can be blocked or inducted through certain materials. The author doubts this and argues that the filtering is more likely to be an effect of telepathic suggestion. hypnosis/experiments/theory
Winslow, L. Forbes. THE NEED FOR ADVANCE IN PSYCHOLOGY, Journal 15, 1912, pp. 212-5. Describes successful cures of nervous conditions through the use of psychotherapeutic hypnotism. hypnosis/healing
Bayfield, M.A. SOME CASES OF THE REMOVAL OF PAIN AND INDUCTION OF SLEEP BY NON-HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION, Journal 15, 1912, pp. 298-308. A beginner in the use of suggestion describes three cases of success in alleviating pain and inducing natural sleep. hypnosis/healing
Anon. THE CASE OF EDITH BALLARD, Journal 15, 1912, pp. 308-12. A bed-ridden young woman sees a bright light and hears a voice telling her to get up and walk. The manifestations continue and a cure is gradually affected. Witness testimony is accompanied by a medical report. CORRESPONDENCE, p. 326. hallucinations/healing
Anon. MUSICAL PRODIGIES AND AUTOMATISM, Journal 16, 1913, pp. 56-64. A young Austrian boy, normal in every other respect, experiences a periodic urgent need to write down music which he hears in his head and which is too complex for him to play. Reference is also made to Pepiot Arriola (see Journal 10, 1901, p.20) and, at greater length, to an American piano-playing prodigy aged 11. consciousness/altered states
Anon. THE CASE OF CHARLES ? BREWIN, Journal 16, 1913, pp. 87-96. A citizen of New Jersey disappears and is discovered four years later living in a different part of the state carrying on a life under another identity. He at first has no recollection of his former life, but his memory is suddenly restored and he cannot understand where he is or what he is doing. multiple personality/altered states
Hill, Arthur. FEVER VISIONS AND AUDITIONS, Journal 16, 1914, pp. 235-40. Describes experiences in a fevered state, including the appearance of ‘vague floating half-human faces’, monstrous book cases, the sound of playing barrel-organs, etc. hallucinations/altered states
Anon. AN INQUIRY INTO SPIRITUAL HEALING, Journal 16, 1914, pp. 263-6. A committee of clerics and medics is appointed to investigate spiritual healing. It examines six cases and concludes that healing by ‘faith’ is identical to healing by ‘suggestion’; that suggestion is more effectively exercised by some people than by others (which may explain the ‘gifts’ claimed by certain healers); that healing by suggestion can only be effective in the case of functional disorders; and that sufferers should never rely on ‘healers’ to the extent of postponing, until it is too late, resort to orthodox medical treatment. healing/hypnosis
Anon. PSYCHOTHERAPY AND THE WAR, Journal 16, 1914, pp. 310-16. Discusses the usefulness of psychotherapy as a means of alleviating symptoms of shell-shock. healing
Jacks, L.P. DRAMATIC DREAMS: AN UNEXPLORED FIELD FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, Journal 17, 1916, pp. 178-84. Seeks a psychological interpretation of non-veridical dreams in which a number of personalities seem to be involved. Schiller, F.C.S. DREAMS AND PSYCHOLOGY, pp. 201-3. Supports the appeal and offers suggestions. Jacks responds. See also Journal 18, 1917, pp. 2-6. dreams/personality/altered states
Girdlestone, F. Kenneth. A FIRST EXPERIMENT IN SUGGESTION, Journal 17, 1916, pp. 220-30. Describes a gradual cure by hypnosis in a case of total amnesia. hypnosis/altered states/healing
Long, Constance. THE PSYCHOANALYTICAL HUE OF SUBLIMINAL MATERIAL, Proceedings 30, 1918, pp. 1-32. A Jungian psychotherapist describes cases of dream analysis. dreams/consciousness
Johnson, Alice. DREAM-ANALYSIS, Proceedings 30, 1918, pp. 33-133. The author offers a detailed interpretation of her own dreams. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 19, 1919, pp. 35-6. dreams/consciousness
Mitchell, T.W. PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS AND PSYCHOANALYSIS, Proceedings 30, 1918, pp. 134-174. Discusses the rival approaches of Freud and Jung to understanding the secrets of the unconscious. consciousness/theory
Anon. THE INFLUENCE OF HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION ON INFLAMMATORY CONDITIONS, Journal 18, 1918, pp. 108-11. Reports on the effect of hypnosis on skin conditions. CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 145-6. hypnosis/healing
Lambert, G.W. CO-OPERATIVE AUTOMATISM, Journal 19, 1919, pp. 66-70. Offers detailed suggestions for a more precise investigation of automatic writing. automatic writing/experiments/methodology
Anon. THE HYENAS OF PIRRA, Journal 19, 1919, pp. 88-91. A British officer professes to be impressed by experiences in Northern Nigeria, seeming to support local notions that in certain circumstances men turn into animals. altered states/beliefs/witchcraft
Mitchell, T.W. THE DORIS FISCHER CASE OF MULTIPLE PERSONALITY, Proceedings 31, 1920, pp. 30-74. Discussion of the multiple personality case in which an American rector and his wife observed curious behaviour in a 20-year old member of his congregation and adopted her as their daughter in order to observe her and effect a cure. The discovered that the girl, whose trauma stemmed from a violent incident as a young child, had three alternating personalities of quite different temperaments. Over a period of three years Prince offered a treatment by means of suggestion. Under the influence of James Hyslop, an American psychical researcher who had investigated Leonora Piper, he came to believe in the possibility of spirit possession. For Prince’s original report see Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research, 9-11. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 18, 1918, pp. 149-50. Prince, Walter F. FOOTNOTE: DORIS FISCHER, Journal 19, 1920, pp. 257-62. multiple personality/altered states/hypnosis/theory
McDougall, William. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, Proceedings 31, 1920, pp. 105-23. Discussion of consciousness and personality. consciousness/personality/theory
Alrutz, Sydney. PROBLEMS OF HYPNOTISM: AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION, Proceedings 32, 1921, pp. 151-78. Experiments aimed at determining the force involved in hypnosis lead the author to the conclusion that the human body emits a form of ‘nervous effluence’ or radiation, capable of passing through some substances, and of being reflected or absorbed by others. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 21, 1923, pp. 177-84. hypnosis/experiments/theory
Mitchell. T.W. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, Proceedings 33, 1922, pp. 1-22. Reflections on the medical applications of hypnosis and trance from earliest times, and the state of research into telepathy and other areas. hypnosis/psi
Anon. THE WERE-TIGERS OF THE ASSAM HILLS, Journal 20, 1922, pp. 381-8. Describes the belief of Assam inhabitants that a person’s ‘soul’ can temporarily take possession of a tiger or leopard. altred states/beliefs/witchcraft
Bray, M. Gheury de. HYPNOPOMPIC PICTURES, Journal 20, 1922, pp. 256-8. See also Journal 21, pp. 71-77. Description of vivid hypnopompic illusions (ie. visual images experienced on the verge of sleep). altered states/dreams
Bray, M. Gheury de. FURTHER NOTES ON HYNOPOMPIC ILLUSIONS, Journal 21, 1923, pp. 71-7. More experiences described by de Bray and members. altered states/dreams
Hooper, Sydney E. AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE APPRECIATION OF TIME BY SOMNAMBULES, Proceedings 33, 1923, pp. 621-64. Experiments are conducted with the aim of investigating the claim of an early subject of Bramwell that no mental calculation is involved in the surprisingly accurate awareness of time shown by hypnotic subjects. In one case, the subject apparently maintains this awareness by subconscious rhythmic counting. In other cases a form of calculation is found to be more overt. The author concludes that the mental process involved is akin to that used in normal waking consciousness. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 21, 1923, pp. 17-9, 80, 95-6. hypnosis/altered states/experiments
Anon. TWO UNUSUAL DREAMS, Journal 21, 1924, pp. 294-7. A dream in which an overpowering impression of scent lasted into waking consciousness, and one which was repeated after a time lapse of forty years. dreams/hallucinations/altered states
Leaning, F.E. AN INTRODUCTORY STUDY OF HYPNAGOGIC PHENOMENA, Proceedings 35, 1925, pp. 289-412. Study of ‘pseudo-hallucinations’ which were excluded from Phantasms of the Living and had not hitherto been thought worthy of comment by psychologists concerned with more obviously pathological symptoms. The author briefly mentions experiences recorded in books and the few extant commentaries, and discusses the susceptibility and frequency of visions, with reference to specific cases. He examines the physical condition that gives rise the phenomena and compares it with natural sight. In more detail he describes the subject matter of visions (308) and focuses on specific features: variety and change; duration and speed; shape and scale; point of view (size, distance, perspective); illumination (the typical diffusion of bright light; colour; and emotional reaction; as well as accompanying sounds, smells and other sensations. He briefly discusses the differences between hypnagogic and hypnopompic varieties (351). The tendency for the images to be of unfamiliar objects, scenes and people is commented on (357), also the inability to stimulate or control visions (362). The significance of the visions to observers is discussed (368). The 120 cases mentioned are briefly categorized (373) and compared with crystal vision (378). Final sections discuss alternative theories and explanations (384). An extensive bibliography is provided, also two appendices with two examples, in Latin and French. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 21, 1923, p. 64; Journal 25, 1929, ? 287. altered states/dreams/hallucinations/theory
Anon. HYPNAGOGIC PHENOMENA, Journal 22, 1925, pp. 146-54. Members describe their experiences of and ideas about hypnagogic imagery, including one veridical vision. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 23, pp. 81-3 (back). altered states/dreams/hallucinations/psi
Anon. A CASE OF HYSTERICAL AMAUROSIS, Journal 23, 1926, pp. 6-9. A man’s vision, which has been lost with no explanation, is restored by suggestion. hypnosis/healing
Prince, Walter F. CARBON MONOXID OR CARBON MONOXID PLUS?, Journal 23, 1926, pp. 98-9. Account of an alleged haunting in which the percipients were exposed to chronic poisoning by carbon monoxide. Prince points to facts indicating that the gas, though known to cause hallucinations, may not have been the sole cause, since the same hallucination sometimes occurred to different witnesses at the same time. hallucinations/altered states/hauntings
Loon, F.H.G. Van & Thouless, R.H. REPORT OF A DEMONSTRATION OF EXPERIMENTS ON HYPNOTISM BY MR GUSTAF WALLENIUS..., Proceedings 36, 1927, pp. 437-54. Attempts to replicate the findings of Alrutz (Alrutz, Sydney. PROBLEMS OF HYPNOTISM: AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION, Proceedings 32, 1921, pp. 151-78) meet with failure. hypnosis/experiments/theory
Leaning, F.E. HYPNAGOGIC PHENOMENA, Journal 24, 1927, pp. 19-24. More personal descriptions of imagery noted on the threshold of sleep. altered states/dreams/hallucinations/theory
Estabrooks, G.H. TWO CASES OF INDUCED AUDITORY HALLUCINATION, Journal 24, 1927, pp. 99-101. Describes how the writer was able to hear sounds during the night that he induced through self suggestion: an orchestra playing and spiritistic rappings. hypnosis/hallucinations/experiments
Anon. TWO HALLUCINATORY BILOCATIONS OF THE SELF, Journal 25, 1929, pp. 126-8. A soldier experiencing intense discomfort during night sentry duty in the trenches of the First World War suddenly finds that he is observing himself dispassionately from outside his body. A clergyman wakes from a deep sleep in an armchair to see an apparition of himself. out of body experiences/hallucinations
Saltmarsh, H.F. NOTES ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF NONSENSE NAMES, Journal 26, 1930, pp. 5-8. Classifies the different types of invented names and indicates by carrying out an experiment which ones people are most likely to pick. CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 79-80, 113-4. consciousness/experiments/methodology
Prince, Walter Franklin. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF A MISTAKE, Journal 26, 1930, pp. 137-8. The American researcher takes the opportunity of an error concerning a name in his published Presidential Address (Proceedings 34, p. 283) to analyze how he came to make it. consciousness/methodology
Maby J.C. AN INSTANCE OF MENTAL AUTOMATISM AND APPARENT TELEPATHY, Journal 30, 1938, pp. 264-74. An attempt at automatic writing is rewarded when the author internally ‘hears’ the voice of his brother, who lives elsewhere, dictating a passage relating to ancient Roman history. automatic writing/hallucinations
Mitchell, T.W. THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH TO PSYCHO-THERAPEUTICS, Proceedings 45, 1938, pp. 175-86. Reviews the early investigations of hypnosis by Myers and Gurney and the development of the Society’s interest in other topics of interest to medical psychology, including multiple personality and the psychology of trance states. hypnosis/personality/healing
Solovovo, P-P. WITCHCRAFT IN THE BELGIAN CONGO, Journal 30, 1938, pp. 230-35. Supernatural beliefs of natives: ‘leopard witchcraft,’ in which an evil sorcerer takes the identity of a leopard and steals women and goats; and the ‘possession’ of schoolgirls. altered states/beliefs/witchcraft
Baynes, H.G. JUNG’S CONCEPTION OF THE STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY IN RELATION TO PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, Proceedings 46, 1941, pp. 377-88. Presents the tenets of Jung’s analytical psychology regarding the structure of the psyche and the nature of the unconscious, relating them to the problems of parapsychology. Baynes writes: ‘To my mind the real object of psychology at the present time is the unconscious or autonomous psyche, and if we are able to discover under what psychical conditions such phenomena as telepathy, exteriorization of energy (e.g., poltergeists, mediumistic phenomena on the physical plane, etc.), phantasms of the living, precognition, etc., are liable to make their appearance, a most valuable contribution to science will be in our grasp. The practical difficulties, so far as I see them, reside in the fact that before we can reach even an approximate estimate of the psychological factors actually operative in any investigation of group phenomena, we need to conduct a preliminary analytical survey of the medium as well as of each member of the investigating group’ (387). Further, ‘whenever and wherever the phenomena of dissociation are encountered we have to deal, not with the free denizens of the spiritworld, but with specific psychical factors belonging to analyzable human subjects. That these factors can be constellated and brought to manifestation only under certain peculiar conditions pertains to the character of the dissociated state. In order, therefore, to be able to explore the whole field of so-called supernormal phenomena we need to extend our knowledge of the psychology of dissociation’(p.387). PsiLine consciousness/personality/psi/methodology/theory
Anon. A COLLECTIVE HALLUCINATION AT BOSCASTLE, 1933, Journal 32, 1942, pp. 174-8. A couple visiting Cornwall both see a guest-house which they find later does not exist. hallucinations
Anon. AN OUT-OF-THE-BODY’ EXPERIENCE, Journal 33, 1944, pp. 58-60. A man nursing his sick wife during the night experiences a vision in which he sees himself lying on the bed in ‘the shape of a flame with a long silver thread attached to my earth body,’ and feeling a sense of mental exhilaration. He meets his wife’s father, who assures him his wife will be all right and enters into his body while he himself goes further up into space. After his wife has recovered they hold a séance in which her father communicates, confirming the event as real and not imagined. out of body experiences
Anon. AN OUT-OF-THE-BODY’ EXPERIENCE, Journal 33, 1945, p. 179. A woman travelling in a bus close to a flying bomb explosion in London describes feeling herself to be ‘high up in the brightness of the clouds [with] the realization ? am going to God’, and with it an intense feeling of bliss.’ This is followed by a voice telling her ‘no, it is not yet time’ and finding herself alone in the wrecked bus. out of body experiences
Richmond, Kenneth. EXPERIMENTS IN THE RELIEF OF PAIN, Journal 33, 1946, pp. 194-200. Attempts at psychic healing bring positive results in 35 out of a group of 43 patients treated for rheumatic and other pain. healing
Cudden, Eric. A NOTE ON THE REACTIONS OF AN AUDIENCE TO A SIMPLE EXPERIMENT WITH PENDULUMS, Journal 34, 1947, pp. 107-8. Shows how an audience can be deceived into ascribing paranormal properties to pendulums. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 34, 1948, p. 160-2, 235-7. psi/experiments/magic/methodology
Anon. OUT-OF-THE-BODY’ EXPERIENCE, Journal 34, 1948, pp. 206-11. An army officer hit by an enemy shell sees himself from above writhing on the ground, his clothes on fire. He admonishes himself to try to put the flames out, which he does successfully. A hospital case is also described. out of body experiences
Wilson, A.J.C. AYAHUASCA, PEYOTL, YAGE, Proceedings 48, 1949, pp. 353-63. A discussion of three natural hallucinogens supposed to produce clairvoyant, telepathic, and precognitive powers. A review of the relevant literature reveals little or no evidence of their ability to induce paranormal powers that approaches the standards required by the SPR. However a few instances can be said to establish a prima facie case for future investigation. PsiLine psi/altered states/experiments/methodology
Fletcher, Ian. SOME RECENT EXPERIMENTS IN HYPNOTISM, Journal 35, 1949, pp. 101-8. Examples of the effects of hypnosis, by a practitioner. hypnosis/experiments
Smith, Gudmund. PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES IN TWIN DIFFERENCES, Journal 35, 1950, pp. 215-7. Investigation of genetic influences in the form of eidetic imagery. personality/experiments
Flugel, J.C. VISUAL HALLUCINATION OF THE SELF, Journal 36, 1951, pp. 426-9. Brief review of the phenomenon of seeing one’s own double. hallucinations/out of body experiences
Anon. ICHTHYOSIS TREATED BY HYPNOSIS, Journal 36, 1952, pp. 716-8. Partially successful hypnotic cure of a skin disease. ICHTHYOSIS TREATED BY HYPNOSIS: ABSTRACT OF CORRESPONDENCE IN THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, pp. 25-6. Brief report of controversy. hypnosis/healing
Anon. THE YELLOW PATCHES: A COLLECTIVE HALLUCINATION, Journal 37, 1954, pp. 377-80. A couple out for a drive see unexplained patches of yellow on each other’s bodies. hallucinations
Anon. CENTENARY OF SIGMUND FREUD, Journal 38, 1956, pp. 265-7. Note on Freud’s interest in psychical research. consciousness/personality
Heywood, Rosalind. COLLECTIVE HALLUCINATIONS OF NON-EXISTENT BUILDINGS, Journal 41, 1961, pp. 198-201. Two cases in which buildings seen by travellers are later found not to exist. hallucinations
Parsons, Denys. A NON-EXISTENT BUILDING LOCATED, Journal 41, 1961, pp. 292-5. The ‘hallucination’ is discovered to be unfounded. hallucinations
Lambert, G.W. PHANTOM SCENERY, Journal 42, 1963, pp. 1-6. (See also pages 346-8). The author gives the name ‘mislocation’ to such incidents, in which a building once seen is later found to have mysteriously vanished. He gives another example, reported at Bocastle in Cornwall in 1933. hallucinations
Scott, Christopher. THE ELUSIVE HOTEL, Journal 42, 1963, pp. 34-5. Discusses the nature of scientific impartiality, and takes issue with Heywood’s view that one must not have any presuppositions. He holds that one must take into account factors other than the directly relevant evidence. hallucinations
Eastman, Margaret. OUT-OF-THE-BODY EXPERIENCES, Proceedings 53, 1962, pp. 287-309. Discusses the evidence for out-of-body experiences and the extent to which the inferences sometimes drawn are justified. Also describes the circumstances in which these experiences occur, with comments on their psychological and physiological characteristics. Concludes by suggesting ways in which knowledge about the OBE can be made more complete, recommending an open mind regarding possible explanations. PsiLine CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 42, 1963, p. 86. out of body experiences/methodology
Landau, Lucian. AN UNUSUAL OUT-OF-THE-BODY EXPERIENCE, Journal 42, 1963, pp. 126-8. An account of an unusual out-of-body experience during which the experient, in a projected state, carried a material object from one room to another. The writer of the account saw the projected form and at the same time the sleeping body of the projector, though he did not witness the object being moved. PsiLine out of body experiences
Burt, Cyril. JUNG’S ACCOUNT OF HIS PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES, Journal 42, 1963, pp. 163-80. A summary of Jung’s paranormal experiences as recorded in his Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1963). Jung seems to have experienced almost every type of paranormal phenomenon at first hand, including telepathy, clairvoyance, pre and postcognition, psychokinesis, and visions of the dead. There is no attempt to provide any independent confirmation of the experiences, but they are nevertheless interesting as firsthand accounts by a leading psychiatrist. Discusses the problems raised by the accounts which Jung has compiled and how these might be fruitfully followed up by investigators. Suggests, first, that the investigator should attempt, while the opportunity remains, of securing corroborative evidence for the stories Jung relates, at least one of which seems to be based upon a confusion of memory; second, much might be done by investigators with Jung’s doctrine of ‘archetypes,’ which seems to make the whole subject of parapsychology more accessible to analysis; third, Jung’s description of his ‘mystical states’ are interesting in relationship to the experiences reported by persons while under the influence of drugs, of those who claim out-of-body experiences, and to certain mystics such as Plotinus and Swedenborg; fourth, Jung’s so-called principle of synchronicity deserves far more consideration than it has hitherto received, though the author finds the notion as usually conceived quite untenable. PsiLine psi/coincidences/consciousness/personality/theory
Heywood, Rosalind. A ‘MORASS OF SUPERSTITION’?, Journal 42, 1963, pp. 208-9. Comments on a reviewer’s disparaging reference to superstitious belief in Jung’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections. beliefs/theory/coincidences
Beloff, John. REPORT ON THE MAIMONIDES DREAM LABORATORY, Journal 44, 1967, pp. 24-7. An account of the research being conducted by Dr. Montague Ullman at the Dream Laboratory in the psychiatry department of the Maimonides Hospital, Brooklyn, NY. Describes the set-up used by Dr. Ullman and his collaborators, along with the method of assessment adopted for ascertaining whether or not any telepathic influence has been operative. Includes an account of the first two experimental studies to be conducted. PsiLine CORRECTION, p. 104. dreams/telepathy/experiments
Green, C.E. ECSOMATIC EXPERIENCES AND RELATED PHENOMENA, Journal 44, 1967, pp. 111-31. A collection of 23 experiences in which people seem to be perceiving themselves from a point of view which is not coincident with their physical bodies. Provides the background to the study and the method whereby the cases were collected. Also includes a collective analysis of the several experiences with a discussion of the variables involved. PsiLine out of body experiences/methodology
Vessey, D.W.T.C. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OCCULTISM: SOME NOTES, Journal 45, 1969, pp. 161-5. A study of the motivations that lead people to occultism. Distinguishes two basic attitudes toward the occult, approximating to the attitudes taken by extraverts and introverts generally: power occultism, which seeks to overcome deficiencies of personality by domination, and wisdom occultism, which seeks compensation by spiritual progress. Both types of occultism share many common characteristics, including a fanatical rejection of Orthodoxy’ in science and religion, a yearning to possess secret knowledge, and a tendency toward imitativeness. Viewed psychologically, power occultism is probably liable to have a worse effect on unstable minds and may encourage psychoses, whereas wisdom occultism fosters neuroses. Argues that there should be no common ground between the psychical researcher and the occultist. PsiLine CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 45, 1970, pp. 318-20. psi/beliefs/theory
FitzHerbert, Joan. THE NATURE OF HYPNOSIS AND PARANORMAL HEALING, Journal 46, 1971, pp. 1-15. Integrating an explanation of the phenomena described in works by W. Sargant, S. Black, and N. Miller, FitzHerbert describes hypnosis as somewhat analogous to fetal life: the trance as regression to an infantile state, and the hypnotist as a mother figure. The hypothesis suggesting intimate mother child communication with God is cited. In a deep trance, ESP abilities are freed from repression so that one’s power of telekinetic action is increased. Therefore, visualizing physical healing by suggestion in deep hypnotic trance results in healing produced by telekinetic activity. Similar mechanisms are described for autonomie learning and divine healing. In the latter, ‘the telekinetic power of the believer’s mind serves only as the ‘leader’ for the far greater power of the Mind which is God’. PsiLine CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 205-7. hypnosis/psi/healing/theory
Cade, C. Maxwell, & Woolley Hart, Ann P. THE MEASUREMENT OF HYPNOSIS AND AUTOHYPNOSIS BY DETERMINATION OF ELECTRICAL SKIN RESISTANCE, Journal 46, 1971, pp.81-102. One of the stumbling blocks to the use of hypnosis in the study of psi phenomena has been the difficulty of knowing the depth of hypnosis attained by the subject. In spite of inconclusive findings by other investigators, preliminary inquiry indicated that electrical skin resistance (ESR) might provide a good measure. Subsequent investigation showed that, with proper precautions, there is an approximately direct relationship between change of skin resistance and the depth of trance during hypnosis and autohypnosis as estimated from the Le Croon Bordeaux Scoring System. There is such a wide variation in skin resistance, both from person to person and from time to time in the same person, that absolute resistance measurements are of little value. It is the proportional change in electrical skin current at the palms of the hands that is significantly related to hypnosis and to level of arousal. Somatic factors can be estimated by taking a separate reading of electrical skin resistance at the back of the wrist. PsiLine hypnosis/experiments/methodology
Cade, C. Maxwell. PSYCHICAL RESEARCH EXPERIMENTS UNDER HYPNOSIS: A REPORT ON WORK-IN-PROGRESS BY THE HYPNOSIS COMMITTEE: PART I. ‘SCREENING’ OF SUBJECTS AND PRELIMINARY TESTS, Journal 47, 1973, pp. 31-47. Describes a scientific standardized method for evaluating 54 subjects on hypnotic susceptibility. The method proved to be successful. The hypnodynamometer, an instrument based on the known correlation between electrical skin conductance and the autonomie nervous system’s state of arousal, successfully induced trance ‘psycho-cybernetically,’ and measured trance depth. Eighteen subjects’ psi abilities were tested under hypnosis with nonsignificant results although some appear promising. It is interesting to note that subjects claiming psychic abilities or experiences performed better than nonclaimers. The remaining subjects will be tested. PsiLine hypnosis/experiments/methodology
Smythies, E.A. THE MIRACLE OF THE GADARENE SWINE (MODERN VERSION), Journal 48, 1975-6, pp. 120-21. A colonial administrator in India describes an incident in which two native subordinates are found to be seemingly possessed by spirits. psi/altered states
Broughton, Richard S. PSI AND THE TWO HALVES OF THE BRAIN, Journal 48, 1975, pp. 133-47. Until about 40 years ago, it was generally thought that the left hemisphere of the brain was the dominant half and that the right hemisphere had no obvious function. Since that time, experimental brain studies have produced a vast amount of data on hemisphere specialization which may (cautiously) be generalized as indicating that the left hemisphere is geared for discrete information which is processed sequentially, whereas the right hemisphere is better at more diffuse, holistic, gestalt information which is processed simultaneously. There is evidence to indicate that the two hemispheres are different in their structural organization as well, and it is possible that the abilities of both halves complement each other. Historically, psychic powers have been attributed to the right hemisphere. However, most of the experimental techniques in parapsychology today, with few exceptions, expect a response through the dominant left hemisphere (i.e. a verbal response). In testing normal subjects for laterality effects, a major difficulty is the uncertainty as to whether one is really separating the hemispheres effectively, but there are a number of clues in the literature of parapsychology that are suggestive. Not only the anecdotal material but also the experimental work on dreaming (especially that of Ullman and Krippner) has suggested that dreaming is connected with the right hemisphere. Relevant work by Austin showed that subjects whose intellectual bias was toward more imaginative and artistic endeavours (right hemisphere) recalled more dreams and in greater detail than those whose bias was toward rational, scientific thinking (left hemisphere); and a study by Honorton showed that subjects who reported frequent dreaming had greater ESP than those who reported only occasional dreams. Work by Schmidt and by Stanford indicates that PK can subtly influence electrical activity, and the question therefore arises as to whether one or the other hemisphere may be susceptible to PK. Looked at from the evolutionary standpoint, if psi were originally a useful function prior to the development of linguistic communication, it would have been the information seeking environmental scan of the right hemisphere that would have been useful and psi ability would have waned when verbal communication of the left hemisphere became prominent. There seems to be more than sufficient evidence to make it worth while to investigate the question of whether ESP is subject to laterality effects as other cognitive functions are. Perhaps in examining this possibility we may get a handle on some of the critical variables which have been eluding parapsychologists. The interrelations will be exceedingly complex but we should make a start in this direction. PsiLine consciousness/psi/theory
Rogo, D. Scott. ASPECTS OF OUT-OF-THE-BODY EXPERIENCES, Journal 48, 1976, pp. 329-35. A phenomenological study of 28 new cases of out-of-body experience. These experiences, classified in accordance with the ‘form’ the experience takes, break down into three categories: OBErs who report the freeing of a parasomatic body; those who report that their consciousness was enveloped by mist or a ball of light but no body; and those who report that the projected consciousness had no form whatsoever. This data suggests that these are three descriptively distinct types of OBEs, and that the concept of an ultra physical duplicate projected during such episodes must be revised. PsiLine CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 412-3. out of body experiences
Broughton, Richard S. POSSIBLE BRAIN HEMI-SPHERE LATERALITY EFFECTS IN ESP PERFORMANCE, Journal 48, 1976, pp. 384-99. Author’s abstract: Studies of the human brain indicate that each hemisphere has certain relative specializations with regard to normal cognitive activity. Thus one hemisphere may display greater competence in a particular task than the other. Suggestions arise from parapsychological investigations that one hemisphere, the nonverbal right, may have an advantage in some forms of ESP. Using a technique designed to investigate hemisphere differences a series of experiments was carried out to examine the problem. Experiment I yielded unexpected post hoc findings suggesting an ESP advantage in the right hemisphere when the left is distracted. Experiment III confirmed the findings of Experiment I. Overall results for Experiment II failed to show the expected differences. Subsequent analyses for sex differences revealed that one of the experimental manipulations was successful for male subjects only. In this respect Experiment II followed the same trend as Experiment III. A cautious conclusion is drawn that a right hemisphere advantage for some forms of ESP can be demonstrated if the left hemisphere can be distracted with a competing task. CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 358-61. consciousness/psi/experiments/theory
Osis, K. & Mitchell, Janet Lee. PHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF REPORTED OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES, Journal 49, 1977, pp. 525-36. This exploratory study is part of a larger ASPR project on out-of-body experiences (OBEs). Electroencephalograms (EEGs) of a skilled subject, Ingo Swann, were sampled at the times when he reported being out of his body and compared with EEG records of his normal state of consciousness. In Series I he was given a button to push to register on the EEG when he felt that he had been in an out-of-body (OB) state. In five sessions of Series II, the experimenter designated the times for alternating one minute intervals in which he was to go into the OB state or simply rest (NonOB). All data were separated into these two conditions (OB and NonOB). The pooled date of Series I and II show that the mean EEG amplitude recorded during the OB condition was significantly less than during the Non-OB condition. The EEG of the right and left occipital lobes were analyzed separately for differences between conditions (R. ?., ? < .001; L. ?., ? < .005). PsiLine out of body experiences/experiments
Sheils, Dean. A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF BELIEFS IN OUT-OF-THE-BODY EXPERIENCES, WAKING AND SLEEPING, Journal 49, 1978, pp. 697-741. Data from 67 non-Western cultures were used to explore beliefs in out-of-the-body experiences (OBEs). The data reveal that OBE beliefs appear in about 95 percent of the world’s cultures and that they are striking in their uniformity even though the cultures are diverse in structure and location. Three conventional explanations of OBE beliefs social control, crisis, and the dream theories were tested and found to be inadequate as explanations. Hence, it is possible that the specificity and generality of OBE beliefs is simply a response to a genuine event; i.e., the actual occurrence of OBE. Psychic phenomena have been reported, and studied, by people of diverse backgrounds. But there is one group of potential psychic researchers which is most notable for its lack of contribution to the literature that of the social scientists. Rarer still are instances of social scientists employing the comparative method to study psychic phenomena in non-Western cultures. Van De Castle has pointed out that anthropologists (one might say comparative social scientists in general) have largely ignored the psychic field with the result that systematic reviews of psychic events contained in ethnographies are virtually absent. The purpose of this article is to examine one psychic event, the out-of-body experience (OBE), as it is reported to occur in nearly 70 cultures which differ greatly from our own. The source of the data was the Human Relations Area Files. The strengths and weaknesses of the comparative approach are also considered. PsiLine out of body experiences/methodology/theory
Nisbet, Brian C. [HYPNAGOGIA], Journal 49, 1978, p. 851. Appeal for personal experiences. psi/altered states
Heigho, W.J. [OBES AS HALLUCINATIONS], Journal 49, 1978, pp. 908. Raises physicalist objections to out-of-body perception tending to indicate its purely hallucinatory nature. out of body experiences/hallucinations
Brading, D.H. [OBE WEIGHT LOSS], Journal 50, 1979, p. 39. Proposes that individuals undergoing an out-of-body experience in a controlled experiment be measured for weight loss. The editor points to experiments carried out in this regard in the 1960s, which however yielded no significant results. CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 320-21. out of body experiences/experiments/methodology
Irwin, Harvey J. OUT OF THE BODY DOWN UNDER: SOME COGNITIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF AUSTRALIAN STUDENTS REPORTED OOBES, Journal 50, 1980, pp. 448-59. A group of Australian university undergraduates was surveyed for the occurrence of out-of-the-body experiences (OOBEs). Students who supported such experiences where then tested on two aspects of visual imagery and on various dimensions of cognitive style. The results suggest that current psychological theories of the OOBE lack an adequate data base. Further conceptual development in this area requires that much more be learned about the psychological profile of people who undergo OOBEs. Suggestions are made for research along these lines. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 51, 1981, pp. 35-6,118-20. out of body experiences/personality
Mcintosh, Alastair I. BELIEFS ABOUT OUT-OF-THE-BODY EXPERIENCES AMONG THE ELEMA, GULF KAMEA AND RIGO PEOPLES OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA, Journal 50, 1980, pp. 460-478. School students and working people from the Gulf and Central Provinces of Papua New Guinea were asked orally about their own people’s beliefs concerning out-of-the-body experiences (OOBEs). Each of the three ethnic groups held some body of such beliefs, though their extent and depth of detail varied In most respects the beliefs accorded with written occidental and oriental beliefs. This supports the view that the OOBE occurs in most cultures of the world and that some of its chief characteristics manifest cross culturally. out of body experiences/beliefs/methodology/theory
Hearne, Keith M.T. ‘LUCID’ DREAMS AND ESP: AN INITIAL EXPERIMENT USING ONE SUBJECT, Journal 51, 1981, pp. 7-11. A new method of ocular signalling, devised by the author, enabling subjects to convey information from ongoing ‘lucid’ dreams (those in which the dreamer is aware at the time that the experience is a dream), was here applied to ESP research. The technique circumvents the general bodily paralysis of Stage REM sleep which prevents other forms of physical communication. The short pilot study (2 lucid dreams only) involved the subject signalling numerals from within the lucid dream. These were supposed to correspond to 4digit numbers ‘transmitted’ by the experimenter. The results were mildly encouraging on the second occasion. Proposals for further work are presented. dreams/psi/experiments
Wookey, E.E. [HYPNOSIS LECTURE], Journal 51, 1981, pp. 188-9. Criticism of a recent lecture on hypnosis which included derogatory attacks on James Esdaile, a nineteenth century pioneer of therapeutic hypnosis, attacks on a little-known case of regression, and ignorance of scientific bodies competent to investigate hypnotic phenomena. CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 319-20; Journal 52, 1983, pp. 87-8. hypnosis/theory
McHarg, James F. THE PARANORMAL AND THE RECOGNITION OF PERSONAL DISTRESS, Journal 51, 1982, pp. 201-9. The author discusses the problems of recognition and treatment of subjective distress resulting from or causing genuine psi phenomena, and objective disturbances in which pseudo-psi phenomena arise from preexisting psychotic, psychoneurotic, or physiological pathologies. The problems of ‘acognition’ or recognition of the possibility of pathology (a skill the author suspects may proceed more from the use of intuition gained in diagnostic experience than from any formal or articulated criteria), and subsequent handling of phenomena reported as genuine psi experiences are also presented. In an effort to familiarize the psychical researcher with the various diagnoses that might differentiate between subjective distress and symptomatology of objective disturbance that mimics psi phenomena, the author offers illustrations from his experience of the following: delusions and hallucinations arising from major psychoses, such as paranoid schizophrenia, that sometimes take the form of complaints about possession or hauntings; disturbances arising from psychoneurotic disorders such as forms of hysteria that may have some bearing on some poltergeist cases; visual and auditory hallucinations arising from ‘subdelirious’ states due to a variety of toxic conditions; and daylight hallucinations of apparitions that may be provoked by brain dysfunctions such as temporal lobe epilepsy. Two interesting examples of seemingly genuine psi experiences that caused subjective distress are also described. The writings of Hughlings Jackson, Henry James, and some sources in the near death literature are mentioned. Suggestions are given for helpful strategies once a tentative recognition is made. PsiLine psi/personality/methodology/theory
Rogo, D. Scott. ESP AND SCHIZOPHRENIA: AN ANALYSIS FROM TWO PERSPECTIVES, Journal 51, 1982, pp. 329-42. There are two ways one can study the interrelationships between ESP and schizophrenia. One perspective might be based on the experimental literature on the subject, whereas the other can be drawn from the clinical literature on schizophrenia. This report is meant as an analysis and comparison of these two perspectives. Based on experimental research, there seems little evidence that schizophrenia is a psi-conducive personality characteristic. However, there seems to be strong evidence that schizophrenics may show quite striking ESP ability in everyday life. It is possible that laboratory tests using schizophrenic subjects have failed because of the designs of these experiments or because the testing situations were psychologically inhibiting. Certain theories about how ESP manifests in the schizophrenic mind, and what purpose ESP may have for the schizophrenic, are suggested. The issue of schizophrenia and psi is also discussed within the context of the altered states of consciousness paradigm, the role that central nervous system filtering might play in ESP and schizophrenia, and how historical views on the relationship of psi to psychopathology bear on the subject. PsiLine psi/altered states/experiments/theory
Blackmore, Susan J. HAVE YOU EVER HAD AN OBE?: THE WORDING OF THE QUESTION, Journal 51, 1982, pp. 292-302. Two groups of students (N = 96 in each) were given a questionnaire on OBEs, dreaming, and other experiences. One group was given definitions and examples of OBE and lucid dreams and the other was not. At least one OBE was claimed by 18%, 73% claimed lucid dreams, and there were no significant differences between the two groups. The explanations given and questions asked apparently did not affect response rates. OBErs were both older and more often male. Those who reported lucid and flying dreams tended to be male, but there were no age differences. OBEs, frequency of dream recall, lucid dreams, and flying dreams were all found to be related. The OBErs also answered further questions about the nature of their experiences. PsiLine CORRECTION, Journal 52, 1983, p. 152. out of body experiences
Hearne, Keith M.T. ‘ENERGY FLOW’ BETWEEN HEALER AND PATIENT?, Journal 51, 1982, pp. 382-4. It has been observed that the EEG amplitude of the ‘psychic healer’ increases during treatment, whereas that of the patient decreases. The suggestion has been made that an actual transfer of energy occurs between the participants. An experiment was performed, using one subject, to test the more mundane hypothesis that if an individual merely played the role of a ‘healer’ and of a ‘patient,’ such differences would appear in any case due to the different levels of cortical arousal in those two simulations. Fast-Fourier-Transform analysis of total EEG power between 8 and 13 Hz was computed for the 10 trials of each condition (which were mixed randomly to control for any order effects). As anticipated, EEG power in the ‘patient’ state was significantly higher than in the ‘healer’ condition (p < .001). A similar significant difference was shown between simply relaxing and performing mental arithmetic (p< .001). PsiLine healing/experiments
Stevenson, Ian. CRYPTOMNESIA AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY, Journal 52, 1983-84, pp. 1-30. Describes famous examples of unconscious plagiarism in literature and spiritualism, discussing its characteristics and the extent to which it needs to be considered by psychical researchers. psi/mental mediumship/altered states/theory
Blackmore, Susan J. DIVINATION WITH TAROT CARDS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY, Journal 52, 1983, pp. 97-101. Three experiments are reported which test the validity of using Tarot cards to produce personality interpretations. When Tarot readings were given face to face, subjects rated them very highly, but when given blind (using card order only) they were unable to select their own reading from nine others. Instead they tended to choose the readings which were most general. PsiLine CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 285-6, pp. 402-3. personality/psi/experiments
Schmeidler, Gertrude R. INTERPRETING REPORTS OF OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES, Journal 52, 1983, pp. 102-4. When groups are asked if they have had an out-of-body experience (OBE), the percentage of Yes answers varies so widely that it demands an explanation. Blackmore [PsiLine 1099] reports that 10 surveys show a range of Yes answers between 8% and 50% and her analysis indicates that the differences do not depend on the wording of the question or the explanation of it. If we add two more studies to the list we find that the range of Yes answers is more than doubled, now spreading from 4% to 98%, but the high percentage followed a direct suggestion to have an OBE. This implies that differences in prior exposure to direct suggestion or to indirect cultural suggestion can account for the differences in the groups’ reports of OBEs. PsiLine out of body experiences/methodology
Healy, Joan THE HAPPY PRINCESS: PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE OF A PSYCHIC, Journal 52, 1984, pp. 289-96. A clinical assessment of an individual psychic and a discussion of the subject’s personal history are presented as well as the results of the following tests: Wechsler Adult Intelligence ScaleR, Marshall Personality Measure, Thematic Apperception Test, Bender Gestalt, House Tree Person Test, and, in greatest detail, the Rorschach Test. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator was administered but not discussed. The author relates some of her findings to similar work done with other psychics, Eileen J. Garrett in particular. PsiLine psi/personality/methodology
Blackmore, Susan J. A POSTAL SURVEY OF OBES AND OTHER EXPERIENCES, Journal 52, 1984, pp. 225-44. Around 600 people were randomly selected from the Bristol electoral register and sent a questionnaire on dreams, hallucinations, body image distortions, psychic experiences and beliefs, mystical experiences, imagery and OBEs. Three hundred and twenty-one usable questionnaires were returned (55%). Twelve percent reported OBEs. Most OBEs occurred when resting but not asleep and lasted 15 minutes. Many details of the OBEs were obtained. OBErs were more likely to report most of the other experiences. Forty-seven percent of the respondents reported lucid dreams and 28% flying dreams, the two being strongly associated. Mystical experiences were claimed by 198, usually only one in a lifetime. Waking hallucinations were claimed by 45%, and over 50% claimed experiences like changing size, shaking or turning, floating sensations or seeming to see with eyes closed. Twenty-five percent had experienced telepathy, 36% believed in ESP, and 42% in survival. The most important finding was the strong association between many of the experiences. The relevance of this for theories of the OBE is discussed. PsiLine CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 401-23. Briefly notes children’s experiences. psi/out of body experiences/methodology
Roney-Dougal, Serena. OCCULT’ CONFERENCE QUESTIONNAIRE, Journal 52, 1984, pp. 379-82. The author reports on the results of a questionnaire on belief in, and personal experience of, psi, which she administered to approximately one hundred attendees at a conference of witches and magicians convened in 1979 by the editor of the occult Journal Quest. The author was invited to present the case for parapsychology at the conference, creating a bridge between the scientific and magical realms of knowledge and technique. A total of 33 persons returned the completed questionnaire. In spite of a nearly unanimous belief in, and personal experience of, psi, the reactions to the scientific investigation of psi were very mixed. Thirty persons believed in the existence of psi, but only 17 of these felt psi could be scientifically demonstrated. Of the 27 who stated that they had had personal psi experiences, only seven felt that they could demonstrate it in the laboratory. The author laments the sad state of affairs in which parapsychologists are not only unacceptable to the Western scientific community whose methods they are using, but are also unacceptable to the occultists whose material they are investigating. Seventeen respondents felt their psi experiences were the result of some form of psi training, whereas 11 felt they occurred spontaneously. Of the 17 who reported having experienced an altered state, 13 thought it was due to practicing some technique, whereas 10 felt it had occurred spontaneously. The author proposes that parapsychologists try to work with, and learn from, serious occultists instead of mistrusting them. She urges that bridges be built between the two disciplines. PsiLine spontaneous psi/methodology/beliefs/witchcraft
McBeath, Michael K. PSI AND SEXUALITY, Journal 53, 1985, pp. 65-77. Author’s abstract: This paper initiates an exploration into sexual factors as relevant to the occurrence of psi. The bulk of the paper is a review of various areas which suggest that sexual elements influence psi. These include popular ideas. Clinical observations of mediums and poltergeist agents, and the topic of homosexuality. This is followed by a review of relevant laboratory studies and theoretical ideas. The major conclusion is that psi is often associated with some aspects of sexual expression. psi/personality/theory/methodology
Irvin, Harvey J. PERCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVE OF VISUAL IMAGERY IN OBES, DREAMS AND REMINISCENCE, Journal 53, 1986, pp. 210-17. Author’s abstract: A questionnaire survey investigated a hypothesized tendency for out-of-body experients to adopt an exteriorized perspective in their visual imagery, specifically in dreams and in recollection of a past event. Partial support for the hypothesis was found, but a post hoc analysis suggested the underlying operation of a factor other than perspective of visual imagery Specifically, the involvement of somatic imagery both in the OBE and in many dreams of the self is raised as a matter for further empirical investigation. out of body experiences/dreams/theory
Blackmore, Susan J. SPONTANEOUS AND DELIBERATE OBES: A QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY, Journal 53, 1986, pp. 218-24. Author’s abstract: A questionnaire was given to 97 people attending two parapsychological conferences, asking about OBEs, dreams and related experiences. 36 people claimed to have had OBEs and of these 14 had had deliberate OBEs. Associations were found between having OBEs and reporting lucid and flying dreams, dream control skills and mystical experiences. When these were separated out for the different kinds of OBE it was found that the dream control skills were the most common in those who reported deliberate OBEs and the mystical experiences in those who had spontaneous OBEs. out of body experiences/dreams
Fenwick, P. & Hopkins, R. AN EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECT OF HEALING ON WATER, Journal 53, 1986, pp. 387-90. Describes an unsuccessful attempt to confirm earlier experiments that showed small but just significant changes in the infra-red absorption spectrum of water following its treatment by a healer, a change attributed there to an alternation in the hydrogen-bonding of the water. psi/healing/experiments
Dean, Douglas. A NOTE ON THE ‘HEALING?’ INFRA-RED TWIN PEAKS, Journal 53, 1986, pp. 456-8. Chemical analysis reveals slight modifications to the structure of water molecules in stoppered bottles held by some healers ‘with intent to heal’. ADDENDUM, Journal 54, 1987, pp. 145-6. psi/healing/experiments
Roney-Dougal, S.M. SUBLIMINAL AND PSI PERCEPTION: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE, Journal 53, 1986, pp. 405-34. Covers various approaches to subliminal perceptions (percepts produced by sensory stimulation below the awareness threshold) and psi perceptions (ie. telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition), from Myers and Bergson, to Rhine and other twentieth century experimenters. Concludes that research now makes it possible to construct models showing the various functions of the subliminal self. consciousness/personality/psi/theory
Roney-Dougal, S.M. RECENT FINDINGS RELATING TO THE POSSIBLE ROLE OF THE PINEAL GLAND IN AFFECTING PSYCHIC ABILITY, Journal 55, 1989, pp. 313-28. Author’s abstract: In recent years findings in neurochemistry and anthropology have given greater credence to the folklore which states that the pineal gland is the ‘third eye’, source of ‘second sight,’ ‘seat of the soul’, or psychic centre within the brain (ajna chakra). Recent neurochemical research has identified a class of compoumnds called beta-carbolines which appear to be endogenously produced in the pineal gland, most interest centering on the 6-mthoxy-tetrahydrobetacarboline (6MeOTHBC), now being called pinolene. Beta-carbolines are found in the pineal gland in quantities equivalent to melatonin, the major pineal neurohormone, from which they may be synthesized. Beta-carbolines are neuromodulators in that they play a role in the fine tuning of the action of neurotransmitters (Buckholtz, 1980). This neurochemical evidence concerning the pineal gland links directly with anthropologists’ reports on the usage of a vine of the genus Banisteriopsis by South American tribes in the Amazon area. The Indians use the vine specifically for psychic purposes: to induce out-of-body visions, to assist in healing, for clairvoyance and for precognition. There are dozens of psychoactive plants in the Amazon basin, yet ALL of the tribes scattered over this vast area use this vine for psi effects. Chemical analysis of the vine reveals the presence of various harmala alkaloids, these being chemically very closely related to the pinoline found in the pineal gland. The presence of pinoline, and also what we now know of the various functions of melatonin, in the pineal gland, appear to link directly with, and make sense of, many experimental findings in parapsychology. (1) Most spontaneous psi events occur whilst the person is drowsy, or asleep and dreaming. All research indicates that this state of consciousness is psi-conducive. Melatonin, and probably pinoline, are made at night and are related to sleep and possibly pinoline is the trigger for dreaming, in that it is an endogenously produced hallogen. (2) Some research, and common lore, suggests that younger children exhibit stronger psi than do most older children and adults. It has been shown that concentrations of beta-carbolines in the pineal seem to decrease with age. Melatonin is at its highest concentrations during pregnancy and in the new-born infant. (3) There are experimental findings suggesting a link between the geomagnetic field and psi functioning. The geomagnetic field has been found to affect the biosynthesis of melatonin the pineal at night. Keywords: pineal gland; harmaline; beta-carboline; psi-conducive state. psi/electromagnetisni/altered states/consciousness/theory
Braude, Stephen E. MEDIUMSHIP AND MULTIPLE PERSONALITY, Journal 55, 1988-89, pp. 177-95. Finds points of comparison between mediums and the pathology of multiple personality, suggesting that mediumship is merely one of many possible forms of dissociation and not necessarily indicative of survival. mental mediumship/multiple personality/theory
Rogo, D. Scott. PSI AND MULTIPLE PERSONALITY: A REVIEW OF THE RECENT AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL LITERATURE, Journal 55, 1989, pp. 337-49. Author’s abstract: Parapsychologists have shown an historical interest in the rare disorder of multiple personality and related dissociated states. Early reports of the syndrome were first published in parapsychology’s emerging literature, while a few psychical researchers tried to document the psychic experiences of such patients. For the current paper, several recent autobiographies and related book-length case studies were reviewed. A large number of these books describe either ESP or ostensible PK phenomena experienced by the patient. These reports were usually not documented or were only briefly described. Despite these problems, enough data seem to exist to warrant further study of a possible relationship between psi and the syndrome. psi/multiple personality/theory
Rogo D. Scott, A REPORT ON AN UNUSUAL CURE, Journal 56, 1989, pp. 23-27. An unwilling transvestite persuades the author to refer him to a specialist prepared to treat the case as one of possession. The author is sceptical, but hears that hypnotic sessions have resulted in the discovery and expulsion of a female entity. hypnosis/altered states/multiple personality/experiments
Cassirer, Manfred. ESP IN POST-MEDIEVAL WITCHCRAFT, Journal 55, 1989, pp. 350-59. Author’s abstract: The article explores the evidence for ESP in a period of history when ‘supernatural’ or paranormal phenomena were readily accepted by all strata of society and when the consensus of popular opinion in particular veered towards credulity in such matters. While orthodoxy was being gradually eroded among the more enlightened scholars, the rationalism of the Renaissance coincided, paradoxically, with panic waves of paranoid fear concerning the allied [??] deadly enchantments wrought by the witches. But, were all such trepidations and alarms groundless? Or, was there a solid basis at least for the universal belief in psi under whatever name or guise?. spontaneous psi/beliefs/witchcraft
Blackmore, Susan & Wooffitt, Robin C. OUT OF THE BODY EXPERIENCES IN YOUNG CHILDREN, Journal 56, 1990, pp. 155-8. Examines the incidence and nature of OBEs in young children, following from the fact that those who report the experience often comment that their first occurrence was in childhood. However only one child in a sample of 52 reported an OBE. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 56, 1990, pp. 315-6. out of body experiences/personality
Alvarado, Carlos S. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DISSOCIATION: A REVIEW OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS, Journal 56, 1990, pp. 159-66. Brief exploration of key works and workers in the field of dissociation, including Pierre Janet and Alfred Binet, Louis Baldwin, Hannah S. Decker, Adam Crabtree, Michael G. Kenny, and others. Concludes that ‘historians of these issues are starting to consider approaches from other disciplines (eg. anthropology, social history) and to attract scholars from disciplines other than the medical sciences’. consciousness/personality/altered states/theory
Krippner, Stanley. A QUESTIONNAIRE STUDY OF EXPERIENTIAL REACTIONS TO A BRAZILIAN HEALER, Journal 56, 1990, pp. 208-15. Author’s abstract: Ten people who visited a mental healer during a study tour of Brazil completed questionnaires shortly after their healing session as well as 6 and 12 months later. The questionnaires were designed to elicit some of the attitudes and experiential reactions of these individuals. A statistical analysis of the responses determined two significant correlations. The reported determination to change one’s behaviour for the sake of one’s health was positively related to perceived positive change in subjects’ spiritual viewpoint. Reported changes in subjects’ perceived increase in ‘energy and vitality’ following the healing sessions were positively related to changes in subjects’ mental attitudes. These correlations as well as several others had been reported in an earlier study in which the same questionnaires had been used with a group of people visiting Filippino mental healers. psi/healing/beliefs/experiments/methodology
Irwin, Harvey J. PARAPSYCHOLOGY COURSES AND STUDENTS’ BELIEF IN THE PARANORMAL, Journal 56, 1990, pp. 266-73. Author’s abstract: A survey of the literature reveals that parapsychology courses can influence students’ reported belief in the paranormal. In past studies the effect invariably has been to attenuate such belief; on the other hand all of the relevant studies to date have pertained to sceptically oriented courses in parapsychological research. An assessment was made of the effect of instruction on students’ paranormal beliefs in the context of a course that was basically sympathetic to the objectives of parapsychological research. There were indications of a slightly increased belief in psi, or more specifically psychokinesis, and evidence of a fall in the level of belief in supserstitious ideas, extraordinary life forms, witchcraft, and traditional religious concepts. It is suggested that instructional effects on paranormal belief may vary with the style of course and that there may be differential effects across the various facets of such belief. psi/beliefs/theory/methodology
Benor, Daniel J. A PSYCHIATRIST EXAMINES FEARS OF HEALING, Journal 56, 1990, pp. 287-99. Author’s abstract: The efficacy of psi healing has been reported for many centuries. It is claimed to accelerate recuperation from a wide variety of illnesses and occasionally to produce instantaneous cures. Though 61 of 140 controlled trials of healing have demonstrated significant results, healing continues to be ignored by conventional medicine, or worse, denigrated and denied to people who might otherwise enjoy its benefits. This paper examines some of the reasons psi healing has not been accepted by Western scientists. The parallels with other psi phenomena are obvious. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 57, 1991, pp. 438-42. healing/beliefs/psi
Clarke, Dave. STUDENTS’ BELIEFS AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN AN EMPATHETIC COURSE ON THE PARANORMAL, Journal 58, 1991, pp. 74-83. Author’s abstract: Reports on the assessment of a university correspondence course which aimed to inform students about different viewpoints on the paranormal, including parapsychology and perspectives associated with psychic experiences, the occult and spiritualism. Students’ beliefs in the paranormal and academic performance in the course were compared with two other correspondence courses, Abnormal Psychology and Vocational Psychology. There were slight but significant beliefs and disbeliefs in paranormal phenomena for all groups, but no significant changes in beliefs to to any course effects. Academic performance was negatively related to belief in angels, flying saucers/UFOs and psychokinesis for the empathie course, but there were no significant correlations for the other two courses. The primary reasons given by the students why their beliefs did or did not change included personal experience with the phenomena, reading relevant material, and the influence of acquaintances’ experiences. psi/theory/methodology
Dinnage, Rosemary. PSI AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE, Journal 57, 1991, pp. 355-8. Author’s abstract: From a larger sample, 50 accounts of religious experience that also mentioned psi were studied. Characteristics of the accounts of the writers are described, and ways in which they felt the two elements were related. spontaneous psi/beliefs/methodology
Clarke, Dave. BELIEF IN THE PARANORMAL, Journal 57, 1991, pp. 412-25. Author’s abstract: The extent of belief in paranormal phenomena among introductory psychology students and others in New Zealand was examined. Most of the 1,048 subjects indicated belief in telepathy, precognition, and life after death. Over 30 per cent also expressed belief in clairvoyance, astrology, biorythms, body auras, astral projection, flying saucers/UFOs, psychic healing, and ghosts. Compared with beliefs found in representative national surveys in other countries, belief in extrasensory perception (ESP) was also high in the New Zealand sample. The beliefs were examined in relation to gender, age, conservatism and religiosity. Women were stronger than men on religiosity and expressed greater belief than men in ESP, life after death, astral projection, astrology, psychic healing and reincarnation. Men had stronger belief in flying sacuers/UFOs. Factor analysis revealed three independent dimensions comprising belief in the paranormal: Psi-related Belief, Traditional Religious Belief and Extraordinary Life Forms. psi/beliefs/theory/methodology
Gaynard, T.C. YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE PARANORMAL, Journal 58, 1992, pp. 165-80. Author’s abstract: A questionnaire survey of belief in, and experience of, the paranormal was carried out amongs a group of young people in the age range 16 to 19 years. 54.4% of the sample claimed personal experience of at least one paranormal event whilst 41.8% reported experience of two or more different types. Analysis of the various categories of experience showed their relative frequencies to decrease in the order: déjà vu, precognition, ghosts, telepathy, OBE, UFO, poltergeists, apparitions of the living. Gender, intellect and training in science (as opposed to arts) had little effect on susceptibility to paranormal experience, but it was tentatively concluded that certain types of phenomena may occur earlier, rather than later, in life. Belief in the paranormal was independent of both intellect and science/arts training, but there was some indication that belief in OBE, reincarnation and déjà vu is greater amongst females than males. Strong evidence was obtained to suggest that the tendency to experience paranormal phenomena is enhanced if their existence is already accepted. psi/beliefs/theory/methodology
Heras, Antonio Las. PSYCHOSOCIOLOGY OF JUNG’S PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL ABILITY, Journal 58, 1992, pp. 189-93. Author’s abstract: Tries to show, through an account of a series of parapsychological events taking place during Carl Gustav Jung’s life (that is, during his childhood and adulthood), that the famous Swiss psychologist had active parapsychological faculties. The author thinks that the origin of all this is to be found (although partly in his genetic inheritance) mainly in the social situations related to Jung’s family history. psi/theory/personality
Cay, Betty M.W. TWO TRANSIENT DOCUMENTS: A WELCOME BONUS, Journal 58, 1992, pp. 232-8. A historical geographer finds and records details from two eighteenth-century documents in a bundle of title deeds she is examining at a lawyer’s office, but on a subsequent visit discovers no trace of them or any indication that they were ever held at that office. hallucinations
Thalbourne, Michael A. & Evans, Linda. ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS ABOUT, AND REACTIONS TO, STARING AND BEING STARED AT, Journal 58, 1992, pp. 380-85. Authors’ abstract: This study used a simple ??-item survey to explore attitudes and beliefs about, and reactions to, phenomena having to do with staring and being stared at. Subjects were 59 students taking an introductory parapsychology course at Washington University in St Louis. Results confirmed the interpersonal importance of staring-behaviour as well as the existence of several quasi-paranormal beliefs about it, and suggested a number of associations with belief in the paranormal and with several measures relevant to schizophrenia. DMILS/staring/methodology
Roney-Dougal, S.M. & Vogl, Gunther. SOME SPECULATIONS ON THE EFFECT OF GEOMAGNETISM ON THE PINEAL GLAND, Journal 59, 1993, pp. 1-15. Authors’ abstract: Research over the past ten years into the pineal gland and its possible connection with a psi-conducive state of consciousness has recently become linked with research on the connection between the Earths magnetic field (EMF) and psi awareness. This connection is explored with particular reference to neurochemical research into he effect of the EMF on pineal gland activity. Basically, the pineal gland makes the hormones melataonin and pinoline (6-MeOTHBC), which possibly promote a psi-conducive state of consciousness when working in convert with methylated tryptamines. The pineal has enzymes that affect serotonin so as to produce a variety of possibly hallucinogenic tryptamines. The functioning of the pineal gland is affected by the MF. Thus the production of melatonin, pinoline and other serotonin metabolites is affected by variations in the EMF, and this could well be related to variations in a psi-conducive state of consciousness, resulting in ostensible psychic occurrences. The implications of this synthesis are far-reaching, and those concerning our understanding of dowsing and certain anomalous phenomena are mentioned. consciousness/psi/electromagnetisni/theory
Clarke, D. SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND PARANORMAL BELIEFS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY, Journal 59, 1993, pp. 81-8. Author’s abstract: Maslow’s (1970) theory of personality suggests that self-actualizers tend to have mystical rather than traditionally religious beliefs. It was hypothesized that the stronger the self-actualization, the stronger the belief in some aspects of the paranormal such as spiritualism and psi, and the weaker the belief in traditional religious concepts. 475 first-year psychology students completed the Paranormal Belief Scale (PBS) and a self-actualization index. The results supported the first hypothesis, but not the second. Multiple correlations between scores on the PBS and personality factor scores on the index confirmed some of the findings from similar studies on the personality correlates of traditional religious beliefs and paranormal beliefs. beliefs/personality/psi
Thalbourne, Michael A. & Delin, Peter S. A NEW INSTRUMENT FOR MEASURING THE SHEEP-GOAT VARIABLE, Journal 59, 1993, pp. 172-86. Authors’ abstract: A brief account is given of the original and development of the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale, a questionnaire instrument which, in various forms, has been used in a large number of studies to measure extent of belief in, and alleged experience of, parapsychological phenomena. Initially the paranormal claims surveyed concerned extrasensory perception IESP), as well as attitudes regarding life after death, and the response-format was forced-choice. The instrument constructed for the present study contained a total of 18 items, which measured, as well, belief in and alleged experience of psychokinesis (PK), and the respondent indicated degree of conviction by means of a visual analogue scale. This version of the Sheep-Goat Scale was administered to 234 tertiary-educated persons. Results suggested that it is both reliable and valid. Factor analysis of the scale yielded three meaningful but correlated factors: belief in and alleged experience of ESP, alleged experience of PK, and belief in an afterlife and in the possibility of contact with spirits of the dead. psi/personality/experiments/methodology
Aldcroft, Christopher. AN ANTI-MATERIALIST PARADOX, Journal 59, 1993, pp. 194-6. Author’s abstract: A science-fictional example supports the common-sense and Cartesian view that mind can influence matter. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 59, p. 316. consciousness/psi
Thalbourne, Michael A. THE SPR CENTENARY CENSUS: II. THE SURVEY OF BELIEFS AND EXPERIENCES, Journal 59, 1993-94, pp. 420-31. Author’s abstract: As part of the activities to celebrate the Centenary of the founding of the SPR a questionnaire was mailed in 1982 to all those persons who were members at that time. Some 402 persons -about half the membership - returned usable data. The questionnaire contained an ESP test (the results of which were reported in Part 1) and 51 questions pertaining to belief in and experience of phenomena ranging from the paranormal to religion to dream-life. This paper details the responses to those questions, and confirms previously discovered relationships both between belief in various aspects of the paranormal and between it and aspects of religion and dream-life. psi/beliefs/theory/SPR matters
Wiseman, R., Harris, P. & Middleton, W. LUCKINESS AND PSI: AN INITIAL STUDY, Journal 60, 1994, pp. 1-15. Authors’ abstract: Reports an initial study concerned with the nature and effects of everyday luckiness. The study found that subjects had a cohesive belief concerning how lucky they had been in the past and would be in the future. Second, the study discovered a significant positive correlation between perceived past and future luck. Third, there were no significant correlations between perceived luckiness and actual ESP performance (two-trial, four-choice, free-response clairvoyance test). Fourth, actual ESP performance did significantly correlate with a combination of luckiness and whether the ESP task was seen as the type of event which can be determined by non-chance factors; There were no significant correlations between actual ESP performance and luckiness for those subjects who believed the outcome of the ESP task to depend on chance. In contrast, there were significant positive correlations between perceived luckiness and actual ESP performance for those subjects who believed the ESP task to be dependent on non-chance factors. Alternative explanations for the results are explored and future research suggested. psi/beliefs/coincidences/experiments
Thalbourne, Michael A. CONSERVATISM AND ITS RELATION TO VARIOUS ASPECTS OF BELIEF IN THE PARANORMAL, Journal 60, 1994-5, pp. 86-94. Author’s abstract: In this study (N = 115) conservatives and aspects thereof (as measured by the Wilson-Patterson Attitude Inventory) were examined in relation to scores on the 13-item Australian Sheep-Goat Scale as well as on one of its items, namely, belief in an after-life. Sheep tended to score higher on Religion-Puritanism, but on no other aspect of conservatism nor on conservatism itself. Believers in an after-life were more conservative overall, more religious-puritanical, more anti-hedonistic, more militaristic-punitive, and more idealistic. Unexpectedly, those who declared themselves uncertain as to the existence of an after-life proved to be more liberal than either believers or disbelievers. psi/beliefs/theory/methodology
Coleman, M.H. EXPERIMENTALLY-INDUCED SYNCOPE, Journal 60, 1994, p. 119. Draws attention to descriptions of syncope induced by hyperventilation and creating effects similar to those described by NDE experiencers. CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 190-1. near death experiences/theory
Carvalho, Andre Percia de & Amaral, Claudia Escorio G do. MEDIUMSHIP, PSYCHODYNAMICS AND ESP: THE CASE OF CRISTINA, Journal 60, 1994, pp. 29-37. Authors’ abstract: We propose that psychological, social and cultural factors in a medium called ‘Cristina’ could account for her psi phenomena. A case study pointed to the existence of unresolved childhood conflicts, which seemed to be reactivated in her interaction with a threatening environment. This situation could have provoked a disruption of Cristina’s personality structure. The use of several defence mechanisms to ameliorate this situation was objected, some of them being supported by cultural and religious beliefs. These defences, however, were not strong enough to protect Cristina from this threatening situation. Accordingly, it seems that psi arose to provide paranormal information, to sustain her cultural and religious beliefs and to enable her defence mechanisms to sustain a pseudo-equilibrium that avoided total personality disruption. The upshot was the development of what the authors have termed a ‘Paranormal Defence Mechanism’ with its concomitant ‘Psi Neurosis’. Our findings seems to support Stanford’s PMIR Psi-Mediated Instrumental Response) hypothesis of need-relevant psi interactions as well as to reinforce experimental findings on psi in altered states of consciousness and on the importance of belief in its occurrence. psi/personality/mentalmediumship/beliefs
Carvalho, Andre Percia de. PURPORTED SPONTANEOUS PSI EVENTS AND PSYCHODYNAMICS, Journal 60, 1994-5, pp. 229-39. Author’s abstract: Aims to present and analyse purported spontaneous psi events which seem to have occurred in the life of a man called ‘Joe’. The author argues that such purported events may be strongly related to Joao’s psychodynamic patterns, and reinforces his previous published concept of ‘Psi Neurosis’ (PN) and ‘Paranormal (or Psi) Defence Mechanism’ (PDM). Finally, the operational model for understanding purported spontaneous psi events called ‘System of Integrated Factors’ (SIF) will here be reinforced. psi/personality
Snel, F.W.J.J., Sijde, P.C.van der. & Wiegant, F.A.C. COGNITIVE STYLES OF BELIEVERS AND DISBELIEVERS IN PARANORMAL PHENOMENA, Journal 60, 1994-5, pp. 251-7. Authors’ abstract: In this study the cognitive styles field dependency and reflexivity-impulsivity are studied in relation to belief or disbelief in paranormal phenomena (sheep or goats). According to their score on a Sheep-Goat questionnaire, 178 subjects were divied into three groups: sheep, a middle group and goats. All subjects completed the Embedded Figures Test (field-dependency) and the Matching Familiar Figures Test (reflexicity-impulsivity). The overall results show that sheep are more field-dependent than goats. There were not differences between the groups on reflexicity-impulsivity. psi/beliefs/personality/theory/methodology
Clarke, Dave. EXPERIENCE AND OTHER REASONS GIVEN FOR BELIEF AND DISBELIEF IN PARANORMAL AND RELIGIOUS PHENOMENA, Journal 60, 1994-5, pp. 371-84. Author’s Abstract: Research on factors which are related to belief in paranormal and religious phenomena has been based primarily on predetermined variables rather than on asking people why they believe in the phenomena. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of experience and reasons given by 385 mature first-year psychology students and a sub-sample of 111 for their belief or disbelief in various paranormal and religious phenomena revealed as expected that personal experience was the main reason for belief in the paranormal, and influence of religion for traditional religious beliefs, but with some unexpected exceptions. After personal experience, the experience of others played a major role in paranormal beliefs, and the media affected belief but not disbelief. Reasons given for disbelief were mainly insufficient evidence and having had no experience of the phenomena. The findings are discussed in terms of previous empirical research, with some explanations for the anomalies discovered. psi/beliefs/theory/methodology
McCreery, C. & Claridge, G. OUT-OF-THE-BODY EXPERIENCES AND PERSONALITY, Journal 60, 1995, pp. 129-48. Authors’ abstract: A group of 450 people who had experienced at least one out-of-the-body experience (OBE) was compared with a group of 214 controls who had not, using a number of different questionnaire scales. OBErs were found to score significantly higher than controls on scales measuring predisposition to sub-clinical forms of ‘positive’ psychotic symptomatology, such as anomalous perceptual experiences and episodes of hypomanic excitement, but not on ‘negative’ forms, such as physical and social anhedonia. The groups did not differ significantly with respect to neuroticism. This pattern of results was consistent across two different methods of subject recruitment. It was also consistent with the results of comparing people reporting one OBE, people reporting a few, and people reporting many. Overall the results are interpreted in terms of a model of a ‘happy schizotype’, i.e. someone who is functional and relatively well-adjusted despite, and in some cases possibly because of, his or her anomalous experiences. They are also taken as supporting the distinction between psychosis as a breakdown process and ‘schizotypy’ as a long-term set of personality traits. out of body experiences/personality
Carvalho, M. Margarida. A HEALING JOURNEY IN BRAZIL: A CASE STUDY IN SPIRITUAL SURGERY, Journal 60, 1995, pp. 161-8. A Brazilian psychology professor investigates the role played by the mind and spirit in healing, with reference to a local case. First she briefly reviews recent academic commentators and the spiritist doctrines influenced by Allan Kardec. Then she describes a sixty-year old woman who approached a healer named Humberto for relief from a kidney calculus that a urologist had earlier told her required surgery. She underwent a five-minute Operation’ by the healer, in which a conventional incision was followed by a few minutes where he apparently used his hands to locate and remove the obstructions. A local anaesthetic was used but otherwise the patient remained fully conscious and aware of the procedure. On the return journey she felt well and energised. X-rays showed little trace of the obstructions, which the urologist believed had been spontaneously ejected. Seven months later she still felt well and had no recurrence of the problem. The author describes her own observation of the procedure, in which the healer appears to be in a trance state apparently ‘controlled’ by the spirit of a deceased German physician named Dr Ricardo. She declines to offer a firm opinion beyond the assurance that her observations were accurate, but speculates on the existence of an ‘energy field’ based on the ideas of L. LeShan. healing/psychic surgery/altered states/experiments
Carvalho, Andre Percia D. TRANSFERENCE AND POSSIBLE SPONTANEOUS PSI PHENOMENA IN PSYCHOTHERAPY, Journal 61, 1996-7, pp. 18-25. Author’s abstract: The reports of four psychotherapy clients demonstrate the possible occurrence of psi phenomena, especially with regard to ‘transference’. These accounts support the existing literature on psi and psychotherapeutic practice. psi/personality/healing/theory
Krippner, Stanley. A PILOT STUDY IN ESP, DREAMS AND PURPORTED OBEs, Journal 61, 1996, pp. 88-93. Author’s abstract: In 1966, we conducted a 4-night pilot study at the Maimonides Medical Centre Dream Laboratory in Brooklyn, New York. The subject was a male student who claimed to have frequent out-of-body experiences (OBEs) at night. We used telepathy and a clairvoyance target (art print) each night, the latter having been placed in a box attached to the ceiling of the sleep room. The subject was asked to attempt discerning the clairvoyance target if he had an OBE, and to attempt dreaming about it even if he did not have an OBE. Outside judges observed few correspondences between the transcribed dream reports and the telepathy targets, but several correspondences between the reports and the clairvoyance targets. The most provocative dream report was on the final night of the study, when a print of Berman’s ‘View in Perspective of a Perfect Sunset’ was randomly selected; the subject dreamed about a sunset, a content item that appears in fewer than 1 out of every 500 male dream reports according to Hall and Van de Castle’s normative data. The subject reported having had an OBE that night, and the EEG record disclosed an unusual pattern of slow brain wave activity interrupting REM sleep shortly before he was awakened for the dream report in which he mentioned the subset. It is recommended that sophisticated brain-scanning devices (e.g. CT, PET, MRI) be used with subjects in an attempt to identify brain activity during purported OBEs. The expense and discomfort of these procedures have delayed their use by parapsychologists, but the advantages of these procedures outweigh the disadvantages. psi/dreams/experiments
Gauld, Alan. NOTES ON THE CAREER OF THE SOMNAMBULE LEONIE, Journal 61, 1996-7, pp. 141-51. Illustrated. Author’s abstract: This article sketches the career (of which many aspects remain obscure) of the celebrated late-nineteenth-century French multiple-personality subject Leonie (Madame B.). Leonie is of historical interest and importance for her apparent success in experiments on telepathic hypnosis and clairvoyant card-guessing, for her influence on the dissociationisms of Pierre Janet and of F.W.H. Myers, and for the role which she played in controversies surrounding the Dreyfus case. telepathy/clairvoyance/hypnosis
Ratcliffe, E.H. CRYPTOKINESIS?, Journal 61, 1996-7, p. 120. Note arising from Ian Stevenson’s 1982 Myers Memorial Lecture. psi/mental mediumship/altered states/theory
Dobinson, George. THE GURDJIEFF ENIGMA, Journal 61, 1996, pp. 152-5. Author’s abstract: G.I.Gurdjieff was born c.1872 at Alexandropol, Armenia, and died on 29th October 1949 at Neuilly, near Paris (there is some doubt about the exact year of his birth). A Greco-Armenian mystic and philosopher who founded a quasi-religious movement, he established the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in 1919 at Tiflis (now Tbilisi), Georgia; it was re-established at Fontainebleau in 1922. Its members lived a virtually monastic life; ritual exercises and dance were part of the regimen. His basic contention was that human life, as ordinarily lived, was akin to sleep; transcendence of the sleeping state required work, but when it was achieved an individual could reach remarkable levels of vitality and awareness. The Fontainebleau centre was closed in 1933 but Gurdjieff continued teaching in Paris until his death. CORRESPONDENCE, pp. 349-51. consciousness/altered states/experiments/theory
Whiteman, J.H.M. A FIRSTHAND EXPERIENTIAL VIEW OF ‘MULTIPLE PERSONALITY’ AND POSSESSION, Journal 61, 1996, pp. 193-210. Author’s abstract: The study of what is known as ‘multiple personality disorder’ (MPD), and likewise of ‘possession’, can be approached in two ways: (1) as by a laboratory spectator observing a certain physical boldly, and (2) as by an individual reporting on his or her line of consciousness, covering physical and non-physical experience and admitting periods of blackout. In the second approach, almost twenty kinds of ‘trance’ need to be distinguished (including ‘possession’ in nine chief ways) and four kinds of ‘identification’. It is concluded that the term ‘multiple personality’ conveys a mistaken idea of the actual state of affairs. This is better described in terms of a corporate personality consisting of an individual normally in charge (1C) and contributory minds (CMs) mostly coming and going and not objectively isolated by the 1C out of the stream of consciousness. But some CMs (particularly when the 1C is under stress) can come to the fore and take charge for a time. The 1C then recedes either to unconsciousness or to a subservient or dreamlike state. This paper has a specially intimate bearing on the topics of mediumship, survival, and the development of psychical or mystical powers. consciousness/personality/multiple personality/altered states/psi/theory
Carvalho, M. Marguarida de. AN ECLECTIC APPROACH TO GROUP HEALING IN SAO PAULO, BRAZIL: A PILOT STUDY, Journal 61, 1996, pp. 243-50. Author’s abstract: The author obtained the co-operation of a ‘spiritual healer’ and her associates at the Fraternidade Pax Universal in Sâo Paulo. She also had the assistance of a co-interviewer and two physicians. Twenty subjects met five criteria for participation in the study: physical rather than psychological illness; the apparent absence of psychosomatic causation; medical diagnosis and tests; no medical treatment for the duration of the study; and medical evaluation and tests at the end of the study. Among the conditions represented were chronic hepatitis, kidney dysfunctions and AIDS-related diseases. All subjects attended the centre once a week for ten months. The treatment can best be described as ‘eclectic; because it was done in a group setting by volunteers who used laying-on of hands, mental imagery, music, prayer, ‘energy channelling’ and other procedures. At the end often months, four subjects had improved, eleven had stabilized, two had become unstable, and three had deteriorated or died. According to the initial prognosis, none of the subjects had been expected to improve or to stabilize. Six of the eight subjects with AIDS-related diseases had stabilized, making this the first follow-up study of eclectic group healing with AIDS patients in Brazil. The study had several shortcomings; subjects served as their own controls, many attended other healing centres during the ten months, and no attempt was made to parcel out placebo effects. Nevertheless, the Brazilian milieu and the co-operation of these practitioners offers possibilities for more rigorous studies in the future. healing/altered states/experiments
Thalbourne, Michael A. AN ATTEMPT TO PREDICT PRECOGNITION SCORES USING TRANSLIMINALITY-RELEVANT VARIABLES, Journal 61, 1996, pp. 129-40. Author’s abstract: ‘Transliminality’ - or ‘the ability to cross the threshold’ is the name that has been given to the common factor that has been found to underlie creative personality, mystical experience, psychopathology of the schizotypal and manic-depressive kind, and belief in and alleged experience of the paranormal. Other core constituents of transliminality are religiosity, frequency of dream-interpretation and fantasy-proneness. Other correlates include dream-recall and hyperaesthesia. A questionnaire containing a subset of these variable (and some others) was completed by 99 First-Year Psychology students, along with Beloff s ??-item ‘Consumer’s Choice’ test of precognition. Though the core transliminality-relevant variables intercorrelated significantly - component analysis yielding a single underlying factor - and though they correlated significantly with several additional measures, none of the variables was significantly related to the precognition scores. It is suggested that a different test of ESP might yield more success. psi/altered states/personality/precognition/experiments/methodology
Alvarado, Carlos S. & Zingrone, Nancy L. OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES AND SENSATIONS OF ‘SHOCKS’ TO THE BODY, Journal 61, 1997, pp. 304-13. Authors’ abstract: Previously-collected OBE data was analyzed in terms of one of the experience’s features, the sensation of a shock to the physical body on return. Following a trend observed by Sylvan Muldoon with his own OBEs (Muldoon & Carrington, 1929), it was hypothesized that OB-experients who reported sudden returns to the body at the end of their experiences would report shocks more frequently than those who reported gradual returns. Out of 53 cases with information necessary for the analysis it was found that 6% of the OB-experients with gradual returns (N = 16) reported a shock to the body, while 45% of the experients with sudden returns (N = 33) REPORTED THE SAME FEATURE (Fisher’s Exact ? = 0.005 one-tail, Phi Estimated = 0.31). Shocks to the body on return were not significantly related to age nor to most other features, except for self-perception during the experience (X2, TWO-TAIL = 8.57, ? = 0.014, Cramer’s Coefficient = 0.46). An interaction analysis revealed significant effects between shocks and specific aspects of OBE self-perception. It is argued that research such as this reminds us of the importance of testing hypotheses that are derived from the experiential and occult-oriented literature and of conceptualizing such findings from the point of view of existing psychological models of OBEs. out-of-body experiences/experiments/methodology
Thalbourne, Michael. A. & Nofi, Oriana. BELIEF IN THE PARANORMAL, SUPERSTITIOUSNESS AND INTELLECTUAL ABILITY, Journal 61, 1996-7, pp. 365-71. Authors’ abstract: The principal aim of this study was to test the ‘cognitive deficits hypothesis’ that believers in the paranormal are more likely to be deficient in intellectual ability. A subsidiary aim was to examine the relationship of both paranormal belief and intellectual ability to superstitiousness. Sixty subjects - mostly students - were administered the 18-itemn Australian Sheep-Goat Scale, an 8-item questionnaire on superstitions, and the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices test (as a measure of intellectual ability); for those subjects who were or had been students of Psychology 1, the grade on their statistics exam was taken as an index of statistical ability. Results indicated no significant association between paranormal belief and either intellectual or statistical ability, nore between paranormal belief and superstitiousness. However, the more superstitious a subject, the less intellectually able he or she was. psi/beliefs/personality/theory/methodology
Houran, James & Lange, Rense. TOLERANCE OF AMBIGUITY AND FEAR OF THE PARANORMAL IN SELF-IDENTIFIED PERCIPIENTS OF HAUNTING/RSPK PHENOMENA, Journal 62, 1997, pp. 36-40. Authors’ abstract: This research tested the hypotheses that hauntings and poltergeist-like episodes are partly byproducts of people’s fearful responses to ambiguous cognitions and that these responses are gender-specific. As predicted, ‘fear of the paranormal’ (as measured by the Anomalous Experiences Inventory) showed a significant negative correlation of-0.27 with the Rydell-Rosen Ambiguity Tolerance Scale in a sample of 49 Individuals who claimed to have experienced some form of haunting/poltergeist phenomena. While these results replicate previous findings, no significant gender differences in the tolerance of ambiguity were found. Thus, additional gender-related variables need to be accommodated in order to formulate a more complete theory of these paranormal experiences. psi/personality/hauntings/psychokinesis/experiments
Thalbourne, Michael A. & French, Christopher C. THE SHEEP-GOAT VARIABLE AND BELIEF IN NON-PARANORMAL ANOMALOUS PHENOMENA, Journal 62, 1997, pp. 41-6. Authors’ abstract: A sample of 114 university psychology undergraduates at Goldsmiths’ College, London was administered the forced-choice version of the 18-item Australian Sheep-Goat Scale (ASGS-18) along with the Scale of Belief in Extrasensory Phenomena (SOBEP), which has items relevant to the paranormal and as well to other non-paranormal anomalous claims. Total scores on the ASGS-18 were correlated with each individual item of the SOBEP. This analysis showed that sheep tended to believe not only in the paranormal items of the SOBEP (as expected) but also (to a smaller degree) in other anomalies, such as astrological and Ufological ones, and various items under a miscellaneous heading. psi/personality/beliefs
Thalbourne, Michael & O’Brien, Rebecca. BELIEF IN THE PARANORMAL AND RELIGIOUS VARIABLES, Journal 63, 1998-9, pp. 110-22. Author’s abstract: Past research has suggested that persons who believe in the paranormal may or may not be more religious on a variety of indicators. In the present study, 127 members of the general population in metropolitan Adelaide were administered the 18-item visual analogue version of the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale, along with Haraldsson’s 8-item Religiosity Scale, the 12-item Wilson-Patterson Religion-Puritanism Scale, and the 4-item Tobacyk-Milford Traditional Religious Belief Subscale. Only the correlation with the Haraldsson scale was significant (r = +0.25, ? = 0.005, two-tailed) and comparable in size to those in previous research. Additionally, religion of upbringing had no association with paranormal belief, but current religious affiliation was so associated, with Spiritualists having significantly higher levels of such belief. psi/beliefs/personality/theory/methodology
Thalbourne, Michael A. PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENTS WHO BELIEVE THEMSELVES TO BE PSYCHIC, Journal 63, 1998-9, pp. 203. Author’s abstract: A sample of 301 psychology university students was administered a large number of questionnaire scales along with a visual analogue measure of conviction that one is or is not psychic. Results showed that those students who believed themselves psychic were, as expected, much higher on other sheep-goat variables, were higher on the variable known as transliminaltiy, and tended not to read the Bible. Subsidiary analysis showed such students to be higher in absorption, more favourable towards dream-interpretation, older, higher in magical ideation, again, with a tendency not to read the Bible, higher in religiosity and in creative personality, engaging frequently in dream-interpretation, and lower in dissociation. Psi experimenters may want to examine whether the soi-disant psychics of samples such as this one are also good at objective psi tasks in the laboratory. psi/beliefs/personality/theory/methodology
Spinelli, Ernesto. THE DILEMMAS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE SELF: A REPLY TO SUSAN BLACKMORE, Journal 62, 1998, pp. 264-6. Argues that current consciousness studies are by no means as unified or as certain of its material basis as Blackmore implies. Spinelli also comments on Blackmore’s references to Buddhism, pointing out that the Western philosophical approach called phenomenology has much in common with this, and argues that scepticism of the reality of ‘the self does not necessarily contradict the possibility of psi. consciousness/personality/theory
Houran, James. A PRELIMINARY LOOK AT DAYDREAMING AND PSI, Journal 62, 1998, pp. 445-53. Author’s abstract: A content analysis of cases from Stevenson’s (1970) Telepathic Impressions was conducted to investigate whether daydreaming was related to spontaneous waking experiences. A two-stage judging procedure was used based on Singer’s (1975) definition of daydreaming and the conditions conducive for it. The review indicated that 14% of the cases were consistent with conditions conducive for daydreaming, with 7% rated as ‘moderately suggestive’ and 7% rated as ‘highly suggestive’. The results are discussed in terms of daydreaming as a psi-conducive internal attention state, and its possible connection to spontaneous waking experiences. dreams/telepathy/experiments
Alvarado, Carlos S. & Zingrone, Nancy L. OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES AMONG READERS OF A SPANISH NEW AGE MAGAZINE, Journal 63, 1999, pp. 65-85. Authors’ abstract: A survey was conducted among readers of a Spanish New Age magazine to study the features of out-of-body-experiences (OBEs). It was hypothesized that there would be significant positive relationships between a measure of the number of OBE features per case and OBE frequency, claimed capacity to induce the OBE at will, and the frequency of dream recall, lucid dreams, and parapsychological experiences. A questionnaire of parapsychological experiences was printed in a Spanish magazine for New Age and paranormal topics. Four hundred and ninety-two questionnaires were received. Out of 486 questionnaires with information about OBE incidence, 400 or 82% claimed to have had OBEs. There was no significant difference between the proportion of OBEs reported by men and women. Most of the predictions were confirmed. The results of the analyses of OBE frequency and OBE control seem consistent with Blackmore’s theoretical model of the OBE which assumes that practice in the changing of cognitive maps should affect the content of the OBE. out of body experiences/theory
Snel, F.W.J.J., Sidje, P.C.Van der. & Millar, B. LAYING-ON-OF-HANDS AND ENZYME ACTIVITY, Journal 63, 1998-9, pp. 99-109. Authors’ abstract: The influence of psychic healers to enhance enzyme activity has been the subject of study of several researchers (Smith, Edge, and Kief). The results of Smith and Edge are positive, while Kiefs results are negative. Since in the successful experiments the enzyme trypsin was used we set up two series of formal experiments. In the first only unselected (not gifted) subjects participated and in the second selected (gifted) subjects (psychic healers) as well as unselected. In the first series (with unselected subjects) we found an overall significant effect in the desired direction (meaning that the subjects were able to enhance enzyme activity). In the second series we could not confirm the result of the first series for the group of unselected subjects. We did find an overall significant effect for the healers group (in the opposite direction: more activity in the control tubes). Two out of 20 healers individually reached a significant result. We also found a significant difference in the mean number of scores in the right direction between the selected and unselected subjects (in favour of the unselected subjects). Questions resulting from these experiments give rise to new important approaches to healing, which are briefly discussed. psi/DMILS/healing/experiments
MacKenzie, Andrew. [TRANSFERENCE], Journal 63, 1999, p. 179. Recounts a wartime story of a senior army officer who determines to shoot a badly wounded soldier to end his misery and is prevented only by the soldier’s death. Subsequently the officer suffers occasional bouts of agonising pain. MacKenzie suggests that such episodes of psychological transferences be included in the subject of parapsychology. psi/personality/altered states
Thalbourne, Michael A. DUALISM AND THE SHEEP-GOAT VARIABLE: A REPLICATION AND EXTENSION, Journal 63, 1999, pp. 213-16. Author’s abstract: Stanovich (1989) argued that believers in ESP would be expected to subscribe to philosophical dualism - the viewpoint that mental events and brain events are separate and distinct. He himself, however, was unable to obtain straightforward evidence for his hypothesis. Svensen, White and Caird (1992), on the other hand, obtained a significant correlation between dualistic belief and a belief-in-ESP scale. In the present study 85 undergraduate psychology students completed the Dualism Scale and the 18-item visual analogue version of the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale. Significant positive correlations were found with the overall scale, with the ESP section, with the PK section, and with the afterlife belief items. The Svensen et al. Finding was thus replicated and extended. It was concluded that, at least among undergraduates, sheep (in relation to any aspect of the paranormal) tend to be philosophical dualists. psi/personality/beliefs
Houran, James. TOWARDS A PSYCHOLOGY OF ‘ENTITY ENCOUNTER EXPERIENCES’, Journal 64, 2000, pp. 141-58. Author’s abstract: The role that context effects play in structuring the perception and report of entity encounter experiences is not well-understood. The data from four previous studies on the contextual mediation of such experiences (i.e., poltergeists, deathbed visions, angelic encounters, and shamanic trance states) by the author were compiled into a collective sample and analyzed as a group in order to verify the consistency of the previous results, as well as to test for interaction effects. The three main findings from the previous research were validated: (1). There was a strong congruence between the content of the experiences and the nature of the contextual variables available to the percipient; (2) the number of contextual variables was related to the percipient’s state of arousal immediately preceding the experience, and (3) the number of contextual variables was also associated with the number of perceptual modalities involved in the experience. Many of the entity encounter experiences examined here were perceived predominantly on an individual rather than collective level. Further, many experiences involved only one or two contextual variables per encounter, but the various types of entity encounter experiences showed differential degrees of contextual mediation. Over all, these experiences seem reflective of the specific situational context in which they occur, rather than a function of the percipient’s preexisting religious or cultural beliefs. Based on these findings, it is proposed that entity encounter experiences should be conceptualized as non-pathological hallucinations on a structured continuum, which is defined by the number of contextual variables present at the time of the experience. psi/beliefs/theory/methodology
Vaughan, A. & Houck, J. INTUITION-TRAINING SOFTWARE: A SECOND PILOT STUDY, Journal 64, 2000, pp. 177-84. Authors’ abstract: We hypothesized that software offering a precognition test with weighted feedback - the closer to the target, the higher the score - would enable average people to train themselves in intuitive skills. Twelve subjects together improve at the .05 level. Overall scoring is significant at the .01 level. Seven out of 12 subjects show improvement, with three subjects attaining significance, two at the .01 level. Two subjects achieve overall significant scoring, including one who also showed significant improvement. The odds against chance for his dual performances are over 3,000 to 1. Six subjects achieve both improvement and positive overall scoring. Over 30,000 additional subjects would need to be tested to dilute the 12 subjects’ dual performances to chance. CORRESPONDENCE, Journal 65, 2001, pp. 56-7. precognition/experiments/methodology
Whiteman, J.H.M. [PSYCHOLOGISTS AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY], Journal 64, 2000, pp. 251-2. Criticises the claims of cognitive and computational psychologists ‘that all reports claiming to be of scientifically admissible psychical or mystical experience are in fact of ‘brain-engendered hallucinations...’ with reference to Steven Pinker’s ‘enigmas’ of consciousness, the self, free will, meaning, knowledge, and morality. psi/consciousness/hallucinations/theory
Houran, James & Thalbourne, Michael A. FURTHER STUDY AND SPECULATION ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ‘ENTITY ENCOUNTER EXPERIENCES’, Journal 65, 2001, pp. 26-37. Authors’ abstract: Based on the ideas of Evans (1984, 1986, 1987) and insights from a recent content analysis by Houran (in press), we predicted that: 1. entity encounter experiences show a positive relation with scores on the variable known as transliminality; 2. such experiences correlate higher with paranormal beliefs that reflect psychological needs on a personal level ("New Age Philosophy") rather than on a social level ("Traditional Paranormal Beliefs"); and 3. two indices of entity encounter experiences derived from Kumar et al.’s (1994) Anomalous Experience Inventory correlate with one another, thereby providing initial support for the idea that various types of entity encounter experiences are related phenomena. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 125 first-year psychology students, who completed the Anomalous Experience Inventory and Rasch versions of Tobacyk’s (1988) Revised Paranormal Belief Scale and a Rasch version of Thalbourne’s (in press) Transliminality Scale. Correlational and regression analyses confirmed predictions, and ancillary analyses supported previous observations that in general entity encounter experiences do not elicit a characteristic affective response: it can be positive or negative. The moderate correlations between these experiences and transliminality and "New Age Philosophy" suggest the possibility of an encounter-prone personality trait that manifests in times of psychological need. A basic psychophysiological model for this process based on MacLean’s (1973, 1990) triune brain theory is proposed and practical implications of our findings are discussed. psi/beliefs/theory/methodology
Thalbourne, Michael A. & Hensley John H. RELIGIOSITY AND BELIEF IN THE PARANORMAL, Journal 65, 2001, p. 47. Authors’ abstract: Using data from 72 university students, an attempt was made to find a positive correlation between a belief in the paranormal scale and various indicators of religiosity. A number of such correlations were found, suggesting that believers in the paranormal tend to be somewhat more religious. psi/beliefs/methodology
Greaves, Nicholas. [EIDETIC MEMORY AND ESP IN THE TRANCE STATE], Journal 65, 2001, p. 58. The author of a paper analyzing the significance of the trance state, and its connection with eidetic memory and ESP phenomena, seeks information on experiments carried out with subjects under hypnotic trance. hypnosis/psi/experiments/methodology
Poynton, John. CHALLENGES OF OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE: DOES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH FULLY MEET THEM?, Journal 65, 2001, pp. 194-206. Author’s abstract: Reports of out-of-body experience (OBE) challenge ideas of what is "normal’ and what is "real’, and call for clear understanding of spatial relationships that may be involved. Such challenges are examined under the heads: reality rating, classification, and ontology. Ontological issues are seen to be primary. Among currently predominant theories, one that treats OBE as imaginai or hallucinatory is considered not well supported by many reports of OBE, and the alternative theory involving separation of some non-physical element in a single physical spatial field is questioned as being illogical. In line with current multi-space thinking, a definition of separative OBE is seen to require, as one element, experience in a non-physical state. It is suggested that a major challenge to OBE research is to broaden its scope to examine what processes underlie the manifestation of a world on any occasion of observation in a variety of states. out of body experiences/theory
Houran, James. TECHNICAL NOTE: CLARIFICATION OF ‘ENTITY ENCOUNTER EXPERIENCES’ AND PARANORMAL BELIEF, Journal 65, 2001, pp. 218-20. Author’s abstract: In support of a psychodynamic model of apparitional experiences, Houran and Thalbourne (2001) found that three indices of ‘entity encounter experiences’ showed stronger correlations with New Age Philosophy than with Traditional Paranormal Beliefs. However, no statistical tests of difference were performed and reported to validate these findings. This note presents such analyses. Results support the original conclusions, except that no statistically significant difference was found between the single perception of an apparition and the two types of paranormal beliefs. psi/beliefs/theory/methodology
Irwin, Harvey J. PRONENESS TO SELF-DECEPTION AND THE TWO-FACTOR MODEL OF PARANORMAL BELIEF, Journal 66, 2002, pp. 80-87. Previous research suggests that paranormal beliefs may serve the basic human need for a sense of control over life events in a capricious and sometimes hostile world. This view might be taken to suggest that the paranormal believer tends to embrace essentially incompatible beliefs, namely, "Unpleasant things may happen to me" and "I have complete control over life events". On this basis the study examined the relationship between proneness to self-deception and the strength of the two facets of paranormal belief identified by Lange, Irwin, and Houran’s two-factor model [Lange, R., Irwin, H. J., and Houran, J. (2000) Top-down purification of Tobacyk’s Revised Paranormal Belief Scale. Personality and Individual Differences 29, 131-156]. Thirty Australian university students completed the Self- Deception Questionnaire and the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale. Proneness to self-deception was found to be a correlate of New Age Philosophy factor of paranormal belief (r = 0.447), but not of the factor Of Traditional Paranormal Beliefs (r = 0.078). Contrary to expectation, However, New Age Philosophy was associated with a lack of self-deception. It is suggested that paranormal believers as a group are not especially prone to embrace incompatible beliefs, but that adherents of New Age Philosophy may be more analytical of the internal consistency of their worldview than are adherents of Traditional Paranormal Beliefs. psi/beliefs/personality
Thalbourne, Michael A. & Houtkooper, Joop, M. RELIGIOSITY/SPIRITUALITY AND BELIEF IN THE PARANORMAL: A GERMAN REPLICATION, Journal 66, 2002, pp. 113-5. Using data from 188 students at a German university, an attempt was made to find a positive correlation between two measures of belief in the paranormal and religiosity/spirituality. Each of the two paranormal belief measures correlated significantly with each other (r = 0.70) and with the religiosity variable (rs = 0.39 and 0.54, ? < 0.001), the latter correlations indicating that, once again, believers in the paranormal are more likely to be religious/spiritually-minded. psi/beliefs/personality