ESP and altered states of consciousness: an overview of conceptual and research trends

The research for, and the writing of, this paper occurred while I enjoyed grants from the Parapsychology Foundation and the Society for Psychical Research. In the final stages of revision, I was supported by the Institut fur Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene. I am grateful to Nancy L. Zingrone for editorial suggestions that greatly improved the content of this paper.

(1) For extensive bibliographies, see Crabtree (1988) and Gauld (1992).

(2) Two useful book-length overviews are Ellenberger (1970 and Gauld (1992). For review articles of aspec of this literature, see alvarado (1991), Carson (1986), and Decker (1986).

(3) Gurney and Myers' use of the abnormal and the unusual to understand the makings of the normal mind was part of a wider tradition prevalent in nineteenth century work on dissociation (e.g., Binet, 1892/1896).

(4) For English-language translations of these reports, see Janet (1886/1968a, 1886/1968b). These studies and similar ones have recently been discussed by Caratelli (1993). On Leionie, see Gauld's (1996) recent paper.

(5) Also important were the "cross correspondences," a series of messages obtained between 1901 and 1930 that came from different mediums and contained many references to classical literature that made sense when the different communications were put together (Johnson, 1908; Lodge, 1911; Piddington, 1908; Verrall, 1906). The literature of trance mediumship includes many other studies, such as Allison, 1929; Goldney & Soal, 1938; Piddington, 1904; Radclyffe-Hall & Troubridge; 1919; Rhine, 1934b; and Thomas, 1922. There is much on the psychology of medium Eusapia Palladino's trances and of her spirit controls in Enrico Morselli's Psicologia e "Spiritismo" (1908), but this refers mainly to physical phenomena.

(6) A statistical analysis of these data show a significant result favoring the alcohol condition (N= 133, Z2 = 28.24, p = .0000, phi = .46).

(7) Other descriptions of similar observations may be found in the writings of De Brath (1925) and Tyrrell (1922). See also the reviews of Smith and Gibson (1941) and White (1964).

(8) These social events were discussed by Caute (1988), Dickstein (1977), Johnston (1973), Morgan (1970), and Speck (1972).

(9) Other aspects of the consciousness movement include the study of imagery (Richardson, 1969), split-brain research (and ideas of right- and left-brain consciousness styles), and the rise of psychophysiological studies of consciousness (Lee, Ornstein, Galin, Deikman, & Tart, 1976).

(10) Stanley Krippner's (1975) autobiography is a good case in point regarding the influence of both intellectual and experiential learning and its impact on ESP research.

(11) Other article reviews include Brand (1975, 1978); Krippner and George (1986); and Palmer (1978b). See also the discussions of Hardy (1989) and Kelly and Locke (1981).

(12) This is not to say that all of the altered states work was conducted with free-response tests. In fact, many of the studies with hypnosis, meditation, and the alpha state conducted during this period were done using forced-choice methods. My point is that the return to this form of testing is related to a general interest in introspection and consciousness. For discussions of free-response methods and ways to statistically evaluate responses, see Morris (1972), Pratt (1969), Roll (1962), and Roll and Burdick (1969).