Journal of the Society for Psychical Research - spr.ac.uk 81.4.pdf · VOLUME 81, NUMBER 4 JOURNAL RESEARCH OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL Consciousness OCTOBER 2017 Journal of the Society

VOLUME 81, NUMBER 4

JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH

OCTOBER 2017

Journal of the Society for

Psychical ResearchVolume 81, Number 4 October 2017

What About Parapsychology and Anomalistics? Results of a WGFP and GFA Member Survey .............................Gerhard Mayer 209

RESEARCH NOTES

Exploring Linguistic Patterns in NDE Accounts James Houran, Rense Lange & Bruce Greyson 228

Do Dying Rat Brains Offer a Possible Explanation For The Occurrence of Near-Death Experiences?

Robert Charman 240

BOOK REVIEWS

Opening The Doors of Perception: The Key to Cosmic Awareness ............................................... Robert A Charman 248

Ojos Invisibles: La Cruzada por la Conquista Del Espiritu [Invisible Eyes: The Crusade for The Conquest of The Spirit] .........................................................Stanley Krippner 253

I Saw a Light and I Came Here: Childrens Experiences of Reincarnation ................................................... Zofia Weaver 255

When Did You Ever Become Less by Dying? .... Marian Barton 257

Origins Of Consciousness

Transcendent Mind: Rethinking The Science of Consciousness ...........................................Matthew Colborn 261

Healing In A Hospital: Scientific Evidence That Spiritual Healing Improves Health ....................... Robert A Charman 267

Notice regarding Annual General Meeting 2018 ...................... 144

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RESEARCH NOTES



Robert Charman 240

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RESEARCH NOTES



Robert Charman 240

BOOK REVIEWS

Opening The Doors of Perception: The Key to Cosmic Awareness ...............................................Robert A Charman 248


I Saw a Light and I Came Here: Childrens Experiences of Reincarnation ...................................................Zofia Weaver 255

When Did You Ever Become Less by Dying? ....Marian Barton 257



Healing In A Hospital: Scientific Evidence That Spiritual Healing Improves Health .......................Robert A Charman 267


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NOTES FOR AUTHORS

The Editor of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research welcomes original submissions in English on any aspect of psychical research so long as it is followed with sufficient rigour and awareness of the wider academic literature. The Editorial Board will consider any empirical approach, including (but not restricted to) experimental work, field investigations, case collections, questionnaires and interviews, as well as historical or theoretical work that can demonstrate an original contribution. Submissions are considered on the understanding that they have not been published before and are not concurrently under review by any other journal. All submissions are subject to anonymous review by subject experts as identified by the Editorial Board and will be accepted or rejected based on the recommendations of those reviewers. The email address for submissions is [email protected] and we encourage electronic submissions as Word, rich text, or PDF files.

Organization of Manuscript Papers should not normally exceed 7,000 words, which should include a short abstract of 50100 words that describes the key aspects of the paper. Authors are responsible for the preparation of artwork for figures and these and any photographs submitted should be of quality suitable for repro duction.

In the preparation of manuscripts, authors are expected to adhere to APA style (see http://www.apastyle.org/ or refer to previous issues of the JSPR example copies can be provided on request). Note in particular that APA style requires that citations are given in the body text by author surname and date (e.g. Smith & Jones, 2016) and that a references list is included that includes all cited work listed in alphabetical order by authors name. All periodical titles should be given in full.

Footnotes These should be indicated in the text by superscript numerals at the appropriate places, numbering consecu-

tively. The notes should be placed at the foot of the text page concerned, separated from the main text by a line. Although footnotes may include citations, they should not be used as a way of referencing others work.

We invite Letters to the Editor that comment on or otherwise develop ideas introduced by material published in the Journal. These should not exceed 1,000 words of text and 10 references.

Publication If the paper is accepted the author or firstnamed of joint authors will be sent copies of the type set pages for checking and correction prior to printing (but proofs are not usually sent for letters). On publication a PDF copy of the work will be sent to the lead author.

COPYRIGHTAuthors retain copyright to their writings and take responsibility for any opinions expressed. However, if an article has been accepted for publication in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research then the Society reserves the right to reproduce the material as part of a published journal, and to make it available in electronic as well as print formats. The material must not appear anywhere else (including on an Internet website) until it has been published by the Journal (or rejected for publication). After publication in the Journal, authors may use the material as they wish but should make appropriate reference to its prior publication in the Journal; for example: This paper (material) first appeared in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, vol..., pp..., and is reproduced here with their permission.

Permissions Authors are responsible for securing written permission to re-produce any published or unpublished material for which copyright is current-ly held. It is not normally necessary to secure permission to publish short quotations from published works.

Society for Psychical Research, 201700379751 / 17

The Journal of the Society for Psychical Research

The Society for Psychical Research was founded in 1882 to examine without prejudice or prepossession and in a scientific spirit those faculties of man, real or supposed, which appear to be inexplicable on any generally recognised hypothesis. In keeping with most scientific bodies, the Society holds no corporate views, and any opinions expressed in this Journal or the Societys other publications are those of the authors alone. However, for over a century the Society has published an impressive body of evidence for the existence of such faculties and the occurrence of so-called paranormal phenomena.

Editorial BoardProf. John Poynton, MSc, PhD (Chair)

Carlos S. Alvarado, BS, MS, MA, PhDProf. Stephen E. Braude, PhDRichard S. Broughton, BA, PhD

Prof. Bernard Carr, MA, PhDProf. Deborah Delanoy, BA, PhD

Alan Gauld, MA, PhD, DLittJames Houran, MA

Prof. Adrian Parker, MA, PhDAdrian Ryan

Stefan Schmidt, PhDPaul Stevens, BSc, PhD

Prof. Donald West, MD, LittD, FRC PsychCarl Williams, BA, PhD

Prof. Robin Wooffitt, BSc, PhD

EditorProf. Chris A. Roe, BSc, MSc, PhD, AFBPsS

Editorial AssistantCharmaine Sonnex, BSc, MSc

Review EditorTom Ruffles, BSc, BA, MA, PhD, ARPS

The annual subscription to the Journal, which is published quarterly, is 40/$88. This includes any Proceedings published. More information is available on the Societys website at: www.spr.ac.uk

Issue Number 929ISSN 00379751 Society for Psychical Research

The Society for Psychical Research, 1 Vernon Mews, London W14 0RL Telephone 020 7937 8984

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Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 2017Vol. 81, No. 4, 209227, www.spr.ac.uk

WHAT ABOUT PARAPSYCHOLOGY AND ANOMALISTICS? RESULTS OF A WGFP AND GFA MEMBER SURVEY

By Gerhard Mayer1

ABSTRACT

In 2014, Harvey Irwin published the results of an online survey of members of the Parapsychological Association concerning the views of parapsychologists about paranormal phenomena and parapsychological research. The current study is a conceptual replication with a German version of the questionnaire that was partly adapted to the special demands of two particular survey groups: members of the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft zur Frderung der Parapsychologie (WGFP) [Scientific Society for the Advancement of Parapsychology] and the Gesellschaft fr Anomalistik (GfA) [Society for Anomalistics]. A total of 25 WGFP members and 57 GfA members took part in the survey. The results were compared between the groups as well as with the data of the survey conducted by Irwin. Despite many parallels, some remarkable differences were found. In general, it became apparent that parapsychologists and individuals interested in anomalistics do not form a homogeneous group with regard to their assessment of the evidence and their opinions on research-specific issues. Thus, they are not credulous sheep who adopt, without thinking, every paranormal claim or piece of evidence, but rather a group of individuals whose assessments often demonstrate a high degree of variance.

IntroductIon

Among the general public, there is a significant uncertainty and prejudice against people who are seriously interested in parapsychology, or anomalistics in general,2 who take its topics seriously as research subjects, and who are actively engaged in the investigation of such phenomena. This may in part be because the field of anomalistics is quite heterogeneous and concerns various academic disciplines, with the assignment of a phenomenon to this field being made rather loosely by attributing a potentially anomalistic character to it (Hvelmann, 2015; Mayer & Schetsche, 2016; Mayer, Schetsche,

1 A more detailed version of this paper was published in German in the Zeitschrift fr Anomalistik, 16, in 2016.

2 Parapsychology can be considered as a component of anomalistics. While parapsychology has a strong connection to psychology, and is related to paranormal phenomena occurring with living organisms, and mainly human beings as well as the survival hypothesis, anomalistics is concerned with scientific anomalies in general, including also fields of investigation such as UFO research, cryptozoology, and historical anomalies (ancient astronauts etc.). However, it depends strongly on the context and judgement of single phenomena if it is assessed being part of the field of anomalistics or not.

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Among the general public, there is a significant uncertainty and prejudice against people who are seriously interested in parapsychology, or anomalistics in general,2 who take its topics seriously as research subjects, and who are actively engaged in the investigation of such phenomena. This may in part be because the field of anomalistics is quite heterogeneous and concerns various academic disciplines, with the assignment of a ph

Documents

Journal of the Society for Psychical Research - spr.ac.uk 81.4.pdf · VOLUME 81, NUMBER 4 JOURNAL RESEARCH OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL Consciousness OCTOBER 2017 Journal of the Society