Paranormal

From WikiSynergy

Note: This poor article has been rescued from Wikipedia. (On Wikipedia, when you put "freaky" into the search box, it redirected to the paranormal article; this was true for over a year.)

Paranormal is a general term that describes unusual experiences or phenomena that have not yet been explained by science. ^[1] It is different from supernatural, which means that which science can never explain. Paranormal phenomena include the phenomena studied in Parapsychology such as Extra-sensory perception, NDEs and Psychokinesis. The word is also used for non-parapsychological phenomena such as UFOs, cryptids such as Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster, reported phenomena surrounding the Bermuda Triangle.^[2]

[edit] Paranormal research

Studies on various paranormal subjects may study just people's Beliefs, without considering whether the subjects are real or not, or they may try to ascertain if paranormal claims are objectively verifiable. There are various approaches to research: anecdotal, experimental, and participant-observer approaches, the skeptical investigation approach and the Survey approach.

[edit] Anecdotal approach

An anecdotal approach to the paranormal presents special problems when used as scientific evidence. It involves the collection of stories told about paranormal phenomena. In such cases, extreme care must be taken with the data in order that the data be made separated as much as possible from the biases of the people who tell the stories. Anecdotal evidence of this type is essential to many sciences such as psychology and medicine. Although it can be used as scientific evidence, especially when combined with other forms of evidence, it is difficult to evaluate and does not produce an evidential case as strong as data gained in other ways.

[edit] Parapsychology

Main article: Parapsychology

Experimental investigation of the paranormal has been conducted by parapsychologists since the 1880s. Parapsychology began as field research into apparitions, mediumship and other phenomena, and began laboratory research in the 1930s under the direction of J. B. Rhine (1895 – 1980).^[3] Rhine popularized the now famous methodology of using card-guessing and dice-rolling experiments in a laboratory in the hopes of finding a statistical validation of Extra-sensory perception.^[3]

[edit] Participant-observer approach

A great number of people immerse themselves in Qualitative research through participant-observer approaches to the paranormal. Participant-observer methodologies have overlaps with other essentially qualitative approaches as well, including phenomenological research that seeks largely to describe subjects as they are experienced, rather than to explain them.^[4]

Participant-observation suggests that by immersing oneself in the subject being studied, a researcher is presumed to gain understanding of the subject. This approach carries an increased risk of unsystematic gathering of data, reliance on Subjective measurement, and possible observer effects (observation may distort the observed behavior).^[5]

[edit] Skeptical scientific investigation

Skeptics attempt to find conventional scientific explanations for purported paranormal phenomena, taking into account that alleged paranormal abilities and occurrences are sometimes hoaxes or misinterpretations of natural phenomena. See Standards of evidence and Scientific skepticism

[edit] Belief polls

Most people believe in one type of paranormal phenomenon or another. There is little or no research on what mental process produces belief or disbelief in specific phenomena, and it is also unclear whether beliefs are logically integrated (I believe in X and Y because of Z, but do not believe in A because it conflicts with Z).

One survey of the beliefs of the general United States population regarding paranormal topics was conducted by the Gallup Organization in 2005.^[6] The survey found that 73 percent of those polled believed in at least one of the ten paranormal items presented in the survey. The ten items included in the survey were: Extrasensory perception (41% held this belief), Haunted houses (37%), Ghosts (32%), Telepathy (31%), Clairvoyance (26%), Astrology (25%), communication with the dead (21%), Witches (21%), Reincarnation (20%), and channeling spiritual entities (9%). These items were selected as they "require the belief that humans have more than the 'normal' five senses." Only one percent of respondents believed in all ten items.

Another survey conducted in 2006 by researchers from Australia's Monash University^[7] sought to determine what types of phenomena people claim to have experienced and the effects these experiences have had on their lives. The study was conducted as an online survey with over 2,000 respondents from around the world participating. According to the results, around 70% of the respondents say a paranormal event changed their life, mostly in a positive way. About 70% also claimed to have seen, heard, or been touched by an animal or person that they knew was not there; 80% a Premonition, and almost 50% said they recalled a previous life.^[7]

Polls were conducted by Bryan Farha at Oklahoma City University and Gary Steward of the University of Central Oklahoma in 2006, and compared to the results of a Gallup poll in 2001.^[8] They found fairly consistent results.

Percentage of Americans polled
	belief	not sure	belief	not sure
	Farha-Steward		Gallup
Psychic/spiritual healing	56	26	54	19
ESP	28	39	50	20
Haunted houses	40	25	42	16
Demonic possession	40	28	41	16
Ghosts/spirits of the dead	39	27	38	17
Telepathy	24	34	36	26
extraterrestrials visited Earth in the past	17	34	33	27
Clairvoyance and Prophecy	24	33	32	23
communication with the dead	16	29	28	26
Astrology	17	26	28	18
witches	26	19	26	15
Reincarnation	14	28	25	20
channeling	10	29	15	21

Other surveys by different organizations at different times have found very similar results. A 2001 Gallup Poll found that the general public embraced the following: 54% of people believed in Psychic/Spiritual healing, 42% believed in Haunted houses, 41% believed in satanic possession, 36% in Telepathy, 25% in Reincarnation, and 15% in Channeling.^[9] A survey by Jeffrey S. Levin, associate professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk found that over 2/3 of the U.S. population reported having at least one mystical experience.^[10]^[8]

A 2002 Roper poll conducted for the Sci Fi channel reported that 56% thought UFOs were real craft and 48% that aliens had visited the Earth.^[8]

A 2001 National Science Foundation survey found that 9 percent of people polled thought Astrology was very Scientific, and 31 percent thought it was somewhat Scientific. About 32% of Americans surveyed stated that some numbers were lucky, while 46% of Europeans agreed with that claim. About 60% of all people polled believed in some form of Extra-sensory perception and 30% thought that "some of the unidentified flying objects that have been reported are really space vehicles from other civilizations."^[11]

[edit] Etymology

The word “paranormal” has been in the English language since at least 1920.^[12]^[13] Para has a Greek and Latin origin. Its most common meaning (the Greek usage) is 'similar to' or 'near to', as in Paragraph. In Latin, para means 'above,' against,' 'counter,' 'outside,' or 'beyond'. For example, parapluie in French means 'counter-rain' – an Umbrella. It can be construed, then, that the term paranormal is derived from the Latin use of the prefix 'Para', meaning 'against, counter, outside or beyond the norm.'