Psychoanalysis and Telepathic Processes.

Freud's writing on the topic of thought-transference stimulated controversy among analysts and original reflection on psychoanalytic understandings of the psyche. The notion of telepathy has also contributed significantly to the development of fundamental psychoanalytic concepts, including transference, projective identification, and primary forms of symbolization processes. The notion of telepathy, especially in light of current trends in post-Bionian and field theories, is used to outline an epistemological framework in which the clinical relevance of this notion becomes clear. Epistemological questions raised by telepathy and how this notion relates to the most originary and primary forms of the intersubjective relationship are addressed before questioning the conditions for the emergence of telepathy, its integration within contemporary psychoanalytic theory, and its ontological nature.

Characteristics of English-speaking trance channelers.

Historical records suggest that channeling has existed globally, in a variety of cultures, for thousands of years, and recent research suggests that channeling is more prevalent than most people realize. The present study used an online survey to explore mental health factors, personality characteristics, subjective experiences, and the impact of channeling on 83 participants who self-identified as trance channelers. Most participants endorsed being spiritual but not religious as adults, and on average the channeling experiences began at middle age. The majority of participants did not report pathological levels of dissociative or psychotic symptoms, anxiety or depression. Compared to relevant norms, participants reported similar scores on most personality factors, psychological absorption and empathy. Participants' average scores on emotional and environmental sensitivity corresponded to being designated as sensory-processing sensitives. Participants reported high levels of noetic beliefs and experiences, particularly beliefs in life after death, non-local consciousness, and telepathy. Most participants reported that their channeling process is willful and consensual and that they are consciously aware of the channeling state while it occurs. The majority of participants also reported a positive impact of channeling on their lives. Lower psychotic symptoms, older age when the trance channeling experiences began, and higher sensitivity scores predicted a greater positive impact of trance on participants' lives. Given that trance channeling has played a role in religious and spiritual traditions around the world throughout history, the present study provides an important exploration of the trance channeling phenomenon.

A qualitative exploratory analysis of channeled content.

Throughout history, within numerous multicultural contexts across the globe, channeling has been expressed, practiced, revered and shunned. Broadly defined, channeling is "communication of information to or through a physically embodied human being, from a source that is said to exist on some other level or dimension of reality than the physical as we know it, and that is not from the normal mind…of the channel" (Klimo, 1998, p. 2). Despite its persistence and presence across time, the enigmatic, speculative nature of channeling creates a unique research challenge. Historically, scientific channeling research tends to minimize attention on the actual channeled material, in part due to validation constraints. The focus of this qualitative exploration was to categorize and thematically analyze content channeled during the final segment of a trance channeling study. Recorded over two days, 13 healthy adult trance channels responded to the question, "Do you have any suggestions/messages regarding the current or future channeling experiments?" Transcribed content analysis revealed seven common themes under three categories - Scientific Methodology: (1) Constraints of the current quantitative study, (2) Advancing channeling research; Channeling Processes:(3) 'How-to' of channeling, (4) Experienced processes described from the "non-physical being's" point-of-view; Open-Ended Information: (5) Philosophical - personal to global to universal, (6) Gratitude and Collaborative spirit, and (7) Personal messages for healing/growth. Themes 2 and 6 were the most represented content of messages delivered. This analysis was designed to present the experiences of the channelers, how that might be interpreted and to provide global access to the potentially valuable content.

Levels of communication: The talking horse experiments.

In the early twentieth century, counting and speaking horses, like the famous Clever Hans or the "Horses of Elberfeld," became widely debated subjects in experimental psychology. The idea was to determine whether their learning success was only a fraud, or if it might open up a new chapter in "animal psychology" - or even belong to the realm of parapsychology and telepathy. When their tricks were discovered, the teachers of the animals were marked as charlatans. Both the attempts to detect charlatans and the efforts to avoid this accusation during the talking horse experiments proceeded using the method of introducing new levels of communication into the human-animal interaction process in order to substantiate each respective standpoint. This paper argues that the scientific studies and debates on the talking horses are relevant not only from psychological, biological, and semiotic vantage points, but also from the perspective of communications theory, giving rise to the foundational issue of levels of communication.

Negative Experiences in Childhood, Parental Style, and Resilience Among People Reporting Paranormal Experiences.

There are relatively few studies examining the parental style, childhood trauma, and paranormal experiences/beliefs; therefore, the aim of this study is to measure the dominant parental style of those who have experienced paranormal events and their correlation with negative events in childhood and resilience. Four questionnaires were administered to 644 participants. The results showed high frequency of experiences such as sense of presence, premonitory dreams, telepathy, mystical experiences, apparitions, and out-of-body experiences, among others. The results confirmed three hypotheses that predict a positive and significant correlation between the paranormal experiences in adult life and negative experiences in childhood, such as abuse and neglect. One possible interpretation is that "flexible" parental style is the more permissive ones (greater openness and sensitivity to capture alternative realities), in contrast to "rigid" parental style (whose perspectives generate restrictions to capitalize on the unconventional experiences of their children).

El Instituto Psicológico Argentino (1892). Teosofía, hipnosis y charlatanería en los orígenes de una iniciativa olvidada / The Argentine Psychological Institute (INSTITUTO PSICOLÓGICO ARGENTINO) (1892). Theosophy, hypnotism and quackery in the origins of a forgotten enterprise

En octubre de 1892 llegó a Buenos Aires un extraño personaje, que decía ser conde y poseer título médico. De inmediato comenzó a efectuar con la ayuda de su esposa demostraciones de hipnosis, de telepatía y de clarividencia. Ofreció además conferencias sobre esos asuntos. Muy pronto, a mediados de diciembre de ese año, fundó el Instituto Psicológico Argentino, tarea para la que contó con la colaboración de espiritistas y científicos locales. Todas esas actividades fueron informadas con detalle por los periódicos de la ciudad y por una de las revistas del espiritismo porteño. Al poco tiempo el Departamento de Higiene logró la clausura del Instituto, a pesar de lo cual Sgaluppi continuó con sus demostraciones y conferencias. El objetivo de este artículo es reconstruir en detalle esa historia, sobre todo con el auxilio de fuentes periódicas de la época. Nuestro cometido es iluminar un capítulo poco conocido de la historia del hipnotismo en Buenos Aires, poniendo de relieve dos aspectos: el valor que las disciplinas esotéricas tuvieron en la cultura científica de fines de siglo, y las dificultades que tuvieron las autoridades sanitarias para hacer valer sus regulacion

In October 1892 a strange man arrived to Buenos Aires, who claimed to be a Viscount and to posses a medical degree. Immediately he began to perform with the help of his wife some demonstrations oh hypnotism, telepathy and clairvoyance. He also delivered lectures on these matters. Soon, in mid-December of that year, he founded the Argentine Psychological Institute (Instituto Psicológico Argentino), an enterprise for which he was assisted by local spiritualists and scientists. All these activities were reported in detail by local newspapers and by a spiritualist magazine. Soon the Health Office managed to close down the Institute, but nevertheless Sgaluppi continued with his performances and lectures. The aim of this paper is to explore those events, especially with the aid of primary sources. Our aim is to illuminate a tittle-known chapter in the history of Buenos Aires hypnotism, highlighting two aspects: the value that esoteric disciplines had in the fin-de-siècle scientific culture, and the difficulties experienced by health authorities to enforce their regulations

About an energy functioning by fusion, independently.

An innovative biological energy has been observed related to the eye sight and fusing with another energy over tap water through a small metallic chain. The fused energy has been repeatedly described under standard conditions and it is characteristics vary according to the condition of the eye sight and the water content. This energy may be called: "EFI" (energy functioning, by fusion, independently).

Methodological guidelines to investigate altered states of consciousness and anomalous experiences.

Anomalous experiences (AE) (uncommon experiences or one that is believed to deviate from the usually accepted explanations of reality: hallucinations, synesthesia, experiences interpreted as telepathic…) and altered states of consciousness (ASC) have been described in all societies of all ages. Even so, scientists have long neglected the studies on this theme. To study AE and ASC is not necessary to share the beliefs we explore, they can be investigated as subjective experiences and correlated with other data, like any other human experience. This article presents some methodological guidelines to investigate these experiences, among them: to avoid dogmatic prejudice and to 'pathologize' the unusual; the value of a theory and a comprehensive literature review; to utilize a variety of criteria for pathology and normality; the investigation of clinical and non-clinical populations; development of new appropriate research instruments; to be careful to choose the wording to describe the AE; to distinguished the lived experience from its interpretations; to take into account the role of culture; to evaluate the validity and reliability of reports and, last but not least, creativity and diversity in choosing methods.

Automated Tests for Telephone Telepathy Using Mobile Phones.

OBJECTIVE: To carry out automated experiments on mobile phones to test for telepathy in connection with telephone calls. STUDY METHOD: Subjects, aged from 10 to 83, registered online with the names and mobile telephone numbers of three or two senders. A computer selected a sender at random, and asked him to call the subject via the computer. The computer then asked the subject to guess the caller׳s name, and connected the caller and the subject after receiving the guess. A test consisted of six trials. INTERACTIONS EVALUATED: The effects of subjects׳ sex and age and the effects of time delays on guesses. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The proportion of correct guesses of the caller׳s name, compared with the 33.3% or 50% mean chance expectations. MAIN RESULTS: In 2080 trials with three callers there were 869 hits (41.8%), above the 33.3% chance level (P < 1 × 10(-15)). The hit rate in incomplete tests was 43.8% (P = .00003) showing that optional stopping could not explain the positive results. In 745 trials with two callers, there were 411 hits (55.2%), above the 50% chance level (P = .003). An analysis of the data made it very unlikely that cheating could explain the positive results. These experiments showed that automated tests for telephone telepathy can be carried out using mobile phones.

Creating past-life identity in hypnotic regression.

To examine the role of hypnotic suggestion in identity in past-life regression, 2 experiments were conducted at the request of Korea's major national television companies. A real historical person and a fictional character were selected as past-life identities. After hypnotic induction, a past-life regression suggestion was given. While counting backward to past-life, the suggestion of a specific identity was interspersed 3 times. In 5 of 6 subjects, the same past-life identity that had been suggested was produced, with relatively rich content accompanied by emotional and historical facts identical to the suggested identity. This study found that it was quite simple and easy to manipulate past-life identity. The role of suggestion in the formation of past-life memories during hypnosis is crucial.

Dissociation and the experience of channeling: narratives of Israeli women who practice channeling.

"Channeling" is a phenomenon in which people describe themselves as receiving messages from another personality or dimension of reality. Channeling is often regarded as dissociation, which is a disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception. This study explored the interface between channeling and dissociation through a phenomenological analysis. Qualitative data were obtained through interviews with 20 Israeli women who practice channeling. The analysis revealed 3 themes: dissociation, absorption, and control. The channelers' descriptions correspond with what is coined as "dissociative states" and enable an emic view of the etic definition of dissociation.

Anomalous information reception by research mediums under blinded conditions II: replication and extension.

CONTEXT: The examination of the accuracy and specificity of information reported by mediums addresses the existence of non-local information transfer. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to replicate and extend a previous methodology achieving positive findings regarding the anomalous reception of information about deceased individuals by research mediums under experimental conditions that eliminate conventional explanations, including cold reading, rater bias, experimenter cueing, and fraud. DESIGN: Mediumship readings were performed over the phone under blinded conditions in which mediums, raters, and experimenters were all blinded. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 20 Windbridge Certified Research Mediums WCRMs participated in 86 readings. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Accuracy and specificity were assessed through item scores, global reading scores, and forced-choice selections provided by blinded sitters. RESULTS: (1) Comparisons between blinded target and decoy readings regarding the estimated percentage accuracy of reading items (n = 27, P = .05, d = 0.49), (2) comparisons regarding the calculated percentage accuracy of reading items (n = 31, P = .002, d = 0.75), (3) comparisons regarding hits vs. misses (n = 31, P < .0001 and P = .002 for different reading sections), (4) comparisons regarding global scores (n = 58, P = .001, d = 0.57), and (5) forced-choice reading selections between blinded target and decoy readings (n = 58, P = .01) successfully replicate and extend previous findings demonstrating the phenomenon of anomalous information reception (AIR), the reporting of accurate and specific information without prior knowledge, in the absence of sensory feedback, and without using deceptive means. Because the experimental conditions of this study eliminated normal, sensory sources for the information mediums report, a non-local source (however controversial) remains the most likely explanation for the accuracy and specificity of their statements.

The trouble with halos: invited commentary on Kim, S., & Harris, P. L. (2014). Children prefer to learn from mind-readers. British Journal of Developmental Psychology.

This commentary on Kim and Harris (2014) addresses the authors' interpretation of the halo effect, in which 5- to 6-year-old children preferentially agreed with an informant who could read other people's minds, regardless of domain of knowledge.

Selecting among extraordinary informants.

In our reply to the commentaries by Jacqui Woolley and Rebekah Richert, we discuss the following: (1) possible effects that religious educations have on individual differences and (2) how older children may construe mind-readers.

Enrico Morselli's Psychology and "Spiritism": psychiatry, psychology and psychical research in Italy in the decades around 1900.

This paper traces Enrico Morselli's intellectual trajectory from the 1870s to the early 1900s. His interest in phenomena of physical mediumship is considered against the backdrop of the theoretical developments in Italian psychiatry and psychology. A leading positivist psychiatrist and a prolific academic, Morselli was actively involved in the making of Italian experimental psychology. Initially sceptical of psychical research and opposed to its association with the 'new psychology', Morselli subsequently conducted a study of the physical phenomena produced by the medium Eusapia Palladino. He concluded that her phenomena were genuine and represented them as the effects of an unknown bio-psychic force present in all human beings. By contextualizing Morselli's study of physical mediumship within contemporary theoretical and disciplinary discourse, this study elaborates shifts in the interpretations of 'supernormal' phenomena put forward by leading Italian psychiatrists and physiologists. It demonstrates that Morselli's interest in psychical research stems from his efforts to comprehend the determinants of complex psychological phenomena at a time when the dynamic theory of matter in physics, and the emergence of neo-vitalist theories influenced the theoretical debates in psychiatry, psychology and physiology.