Online Course Reading List

Reading List

 

An Introduction to Parapsychology
Reading List

The course readings are split into two types: Core Reading (the course textbook), and Specialist Reading (journal articles which are provided for reading online or to download). The core reading provides a general and accessible overview and review of research in specific areas. The specialist reading allows students to go into more depth on certain key topics.

Core Reading

The course textbook is An Introduction to Parapsychology 5th Edition, by H.J. Irwin and C.A. Watt (2007), published by McFarland. This can be purchased for approx. £27 (click here to purchase from Amazon.co.uk).

Specialist Reading

Week 1: Introduction and History
Alvarado, C.S. (1982). Historical perspectives in parapsychology: Some practical considerations. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research.

Week 2: Spontaneous Paranormal Experiences
Ring, K., & Cooper, S. (1997). Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the blind: A study of apparent eyeless vision. Journal of Near-Death Studies.

Week 3: Extrasensory Perception in the Lab
Milton, J. & Wiseman, R. (1999). Does psi exist? Lack of replication of an anomalous process of information transfer. Psychological Bulletin.
Bem, D.J., Palmer, J., & Broughton, R. (2001). Updating the Ganzfeld Database:
A Victim of Its Own Success? Journal of Parapsychology.

Week 4: Psychokinesis in the Lab
Bösch, H., Steinkamp, F.,  & Boller, E. (2006). In the eye of the beholder: Reply to Wilson & Shadish (2006) and Radin, Nelson, Dobyns and Houtkooper (2006). Psychological Bulletin.

Week 5: Latest Lab Developments
Schmidt, S., Schneider, R., Utts, J. & Walach, H. (2004).  Distant intentionality and the feeling of being stared at: Two meta-analyses. British Journal of Psychology.
Bem, D. J. (2011)Feeling the future: Experimental evidence for anomalous retroactive influences on cognition and affect. Journal of personality and social psychology

Week 6: Theories of Psi
Houtkooper, J. M. (2002). Arguing for an Observational Theory of paranormal phenomena. Journal of Scientific Exploration.

Week 7: Testing Psychic Claimants
Williams Kelly, E. & Arcangel, D. (2011). An investigation of mediums who claim to give information about deceased persons. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.
O’Keeffe, C., & Wiseman, R. (2005). Testing alleged mediumship: Methods and results. British Journal of Psychology.

Week 8: Belief in the Paranormal
Irwin, H.J. (1989). On paranormal belief: The psychology of the skeptic. In G.K. Zollschan, J.F. Schumaker & G.F. Walsh (Eds) Exploring the Paranormal: Perspectives on Belief and Experience.

Week 9: Thinking Critically About Parapsychology
Alcock, J. (2003). Give the null hypothesis a chance: Reasons to remain doubtful about the existence of psi. Journal of Consciousness Studies.

Week 10: Summing Up and Implications
Utts, J. (1991). Replication and meta-analysis in parapsychology. Statistical Science.
Watt, C. (2005). Presidential Address. Parapsychology’s contribution to psychology: A view from the front line. Journal of Parapsychology.

 

 

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