Studies of the I Ching: II. Additional Analysis

********** The Chinese book of divination, the I Ching, or "Book of Changes," contains 64 so-called hexagrams (six-line structures) and associated readings that are accessed in modem times by six throws of three coins. The user poses a question and then throws the coins to generate a hexagram and associated reading, which is ostensibly an answer or forecast to that question, thus suggesting that a paranormal ("future-telling") component may be involved in the I Ching process. Throwing three heads (or three tails) is regarded as propitious because they produce "changing lines" with their own unique readings (up to six changing lines can be thrown per hexagram). Changing lines produce a second hexagram and its associated reading, which thus furnishes additional information for the user. The I Ching has occasionally been used in parapsychological experimentation (e.g., Rubin & Honorton, 1971, 1972; Thalbourne, 1994; Thalbourne, Delin, Barlow, & Steen, 1992-1993). We also used the I Ching, but in a somewhat unorthodox way (see Storm & Thalbourne, 1998-1999), using a sample of 93 participants collected in 1998 (referred to in this article as "Sample 1998"). The purpose of that study was to find evidence in the I Ching process of a putative paranormal effect. To establish whether certain personality types were more successful than others at generating predesignated hexagrams and changing lines, we looked for relationships between these two variables and factors on the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire, orl6PF (Cattell, Eber, & Tatsuoka, 1970), and transliminality, the "hypothesised tendency for psychological material to cross (trans) thresholds (limines) into or out of consciousness" (Thalbourne & Houran, 2000, p. 853). Regarding transliminality, we hypothesized that paranormal information mig ht, in highly transliminal individuals, cross the "threshold" into consciousness. Participants in Sample 1998 preselected 16 of the 64 hexagram-descriptor pairs, bearing in mind the statement "Lately, or right now, I feel. " Coins were thrown to generate a hexagram, and it was found that outcome hexagrams matched designated hexagrams to a marginally significant degree: proportion of matches [P.sub. obs. ] = . 32 (p = .067), where [P.sub.MCE] = . 25 (the binomial test was used, where hit = 1 and miss = 0). When expressed as an effect size [pi] the proportion of matches was in excess of chance, [pi] = . 59, p = . 048, where [[pi]. sub.MCE] = . 50 (see Storm & Thalbourne, in press). Thalbourne (1996) hypothesized that transliminality scores would correlate with scores on a precognition task, but his result was not significant. However, Sanders, Thalbourne, and Delin (in press) showed that, for senders, telepathic transmission of emotional states correlated significantly with transliminality. In Storm and Thalbourne (1998-1999), we found a significant correlation between hitting and transliminality and a weak but marginally significant correlation between transliminality and changing lines. We concluded from these findings, as suggested in Thalbourne and Delin (1994, p. 24), that transliminality might be related to an anomalous dimension of human behavior underlying paranormal belief and ostensible paranormal ability (Storm & Thalbourne, 1998-1999, p. 113). More recently, however, Parker (2000) failed to demonstrate any correlation with paranormal ability and an earlier version of the transliminality scale. In regard to ESP-personality research, previous researchers have shown that factors on the 16PF, including Factor A (Warmth), Factor C (Emotional Stability), Factor E (Dominance), Factor F (Liveliness), Factor I (Sensitivity), Factor O (Apprehension), Factor [Q.sub. 4] (Tension), and Factor EX (Extraversion), correlated with paranormal performance (see Kanthamani & K. R. Rao, 1971, 1972, 1973; Nicol & Humphrey, 1953, 1955; K R. Rio, 1974; Sudhaker & P. K Rao, 1986). …