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Why is PSI so elusive? A review and proposed model

Journal of Parapsychology, The, Sept, 2001 by J.E. Kennedy

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Under this hypothesis, psi is not elusive, it just occurs without being noticed. Given the elusive nature of "noticed" psi, the occurrence of noticed psi must be inhibited compared with unnoticed psi.

Supporting Arguments

Studies of nonintentional psi support the hypothesis that psi may occur without notice (Stanford, 1993). Observations during psychoanalysis offer further evidence for frequent, unnoticed psi (Ehrenwald, 1978; Eisenbud, 1970).

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Several ideas have been proposed to explain why noticed psi may be inhibited. Braud (1982) suggested that psi may primarily process information that is not perceptual in nature (such as emotions), and therefore, the identified perceptual aspects may be only a small part of the overall operation of psi. Broughton (1988) suggested that psi "works best and most unhampered when it is not noticed by the individual it is serving, and it may even be necessary for the individual's protection that the operation of psi remain hidden" (p. 197). Broughton also noted that the concept of "ownership resistance" (Batcheldor, 1984) and the long history of belief that psi is produced by spirits or gods are consistent with the idea that people avoid being identified as the source of psi. Eisenbud (1992) proposed that psi underlies all probabilistic processes in nature and therefore occurs constantly. With this idea, instances of noticed psi are rare because they are counter to the basic characteristics of this pervasive, intrin sic, unnoticed psi.

Opposing Arguments

The nonintentional psi studies do not provide evidence for unnoticed psi because the experimenters intend for a psi effect to occur and clearly notice whether the desired effect does or does not occur. The hypothesis of frequent, unnoticed psi may need to be evaluated outside of an experimental setting.

The psychoanalytic observations are ad hoc speculations that cannot be construed as scientific evidence. Psychoanalytic theories in general have little scientific support (Ford & Urban, 1998, pp. 234-235), and these speculations are some of the most far fetched even by psychoanalytic standards.

The speculations that noticed psi is inhibited in comparison with unnoticed psi are basically efforts to try to imagine that psi reliably achieves some purpose in the absence of supporting evidence. Of course, psi effects that are never noticed or observed would be outside the domain of scientific study.

Conclusion

The hypothesis that psi occurs frequently without notice has little scientific support at present and offers little useful insight into why noticeable psi is so elusive. As Eisenbud (1992), Braud (1982), and Broughton (1988) pointed out, these ideas challenge the traditional research strategies in parapsychology and have received little attention.

HYPOTHESIS 5. Psi Is AN EFFICIENT, GOAL-ORIENTED PROESS SUBJECT TO SHIFTING GOALS

The hypothesis that psi is an efficient goal-oriented process means that psi (a) is independent of the complexity or information-processing aspects of the task and (b) achieves the outcome in a way that has the minimum effect or disturbance to the system. Experimental outcomes change as the experimenters' interests and intentions change, which indicates a dominant role for the experimenter. Declines in psi occurrence across experiments may be due to the experimenters shifting their goals from success for individual participants and studies to success for the line of research. The goal of a statistically significant line of research could be achieved with many later studies being nonsignificant.

Why is PSI so elusive? A review and proposed model

Journal of Parapsychology, The, Sept, 2001 by J.E. Kennedy

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