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ESP:
Target
Qualities /Personal Relationships
the target
itself but are shifted preferentially within the same
emotional set.
According to observational -^theory
, paranormal effects are
produced through the observation of an essentially random outcome
by a motivated human observer./ This viewpoint of observational
theory is sharply distinct
ftfsm /he traditional viewpoint
,
as the ef-
fects are assumed
to be produced by the checkers instead of the
subjects.
The interpretation yoKa correlation between a trait of
the subject,
say,
anxiety, a/d nk or her scoring on the ESP task
is traditionally a genuine relationship between anxiety and ESP
scoring.
Observationally ,/such a correlation has
to be regarded
as being produced by th/ observer of\he correlation.
As no feed-
back is given to the subject,
it means that the checker produces
the correlation.
This
balls
for better experimental control of the
observation procedure/
The present study,
entertaining both the
traditional paradigm aAd the observational paradigm
in distinct
hypotheses, however J offers no result favoring either one of them.
A TEST OF HEYMANS' THEORY ON PARANORMAL PHENOMENA
Sybo A.
Schouten
(Parapsychology Laboratory,
University of
Utrecht,
Sorbonnelaan
16,
3584CA
Utrecht,
The Netherlands)
Professor G. Heymans
(1857-1930) can be considered the
founder of the
scientific and experimental approach in parapsy-
,
chology in the Netherlands.
Internationally he is best known
for
the telepathy experiment with the subject van Dam,
carried out in
his Psychological Laboratory
at the University of Groningen to-
gether with his assistants Brugmans and Weinberg.
Less well known
are his theoretical views on paranormal phenomena and the rather
unique way by which he became involved in parapsychology.
Heymans was
a philosopher and based his philosophical posi-
tion on the work of Fechner.
In Fechner's ideas, which were fur-
ther developed by Heymans, the hypothesis of psychic monism or
"pan-psychism" takes a central position.
Psychic monism
is an
off-
spring of an idealistic world view that supposes that there is only
one fundamental reality and that
all physical phenomena are reduci-
ble
to the mental or psychic.
According to the psychic monistic
theory, paranormal phenomena such as telepathy are to be expected.
In addition, the theory provides
a number of predictions about vari-
ous properties of paranormal phenomena.
Therefore, Heymans be-
came interested in the work of the British SPR and turned to the
parapsychological literature of his day to study whether the proper-
ties of paranormal phenomena were in agreement with the theoretical
predictions he had arrived
at beforehand.
Psychic monism assumes that
all phenomena are basically men-
tal and consequently assumes
a "world-mind"
( Welbewusstsein)
,
that
which contains
all the mental.
It can be considered the equivalent
of what space is
for physical matter.
The world-mind is internally
perceived through awareness.
The consciousness of an individual
is part of this world-mind.
Consciousness can be thought of as
consisting of the individual's consciousness, which
is what the indi-
vidual
is aware of at
a given moment, and the peripheral conscious-
ness, which contains
all our memories and knowledge.
Elements of the peripheral consciousness are not isolated but
part of mental structures,
complexes of related images.
When hu-
man beings grow up,
their consciousness develops into more strong-
ly organized mental structures of images.
Because these mental
structures are based on experiences they mainly involve memories.
The peripheral consciousness consists of many of such mental struc-
tures which are in different degrees related to other structures by
associations
The content of the individual consciousness changes regularly.
Which images enter the individual consciousness
is governed by the
laws of association and depends on the nature and intensity of an
image,
its emotional character, and
its association with other images.
Especially strong are the perceptions,
and accordingly they have a
high probability of becoming the object of awareness.
Perceptions
evoke the mental structures of which they
are part.
Also
likely to
reach consciousness are recent events
, images strongly associated
with the present content of the consciousness, and strong emotions.
On the other hand, weak images of the peripheral consciousness
will
only become conscious
to the individual under favorable conditions;
for instance,
in the absence of sensory stimulation.
There is con-
stant competition among perceptions and mental structures of the
peripheral consciousness to occupy awareness.
Because nature
is considered as basically mental
it can be
assumed that the processes involved in the individual's conscious-
ness
also apply to the world-mind
.
There
is no fundamental dif-
ference between the two.
An individual is made up of various men-
tal structures which become more and more a structural unit when
the individual develops.
Such structural units, the individuals,
are in themselves again elements of a larger whole,
the world-mind.
That individuals are not aware of their association with other ele-
ments of the world-mind
is because in general only perceptions with
its
associated mental structures and elements of one's own peripheral
consciousness
will reach the individual consciousness.
Since these
mental structures
are
familiar, because they are based on the indi-
vidual's experiences of the past
,
a sensation of individualism
is
created.
But individuals share experiences and therefore associa-
tive connections are formed in the world-mind between mental struc-
tures of different individuals.
Hence,
a mental image in one indi-
vidual might give rise to an associated mental structure of another
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individual to which experiences not known to the
first individual
are connected.
The more important a mental event
is
to an indi-
vidual,
for instance because of its emotional loading,
the more as-
sociations to different mental structures in the peripheral conscious-
ness
it
will have and hence a higher likelihood
to become associated
to one of the associative connections shared by different individuals.
Also, because of its emotional character
it win have a higher
likeli-
ood of becoming evoked via associations in the other individual's
consciousness.
As a consequence, under certain conditions (Hev-
mans mentions dreams
,
fever and hypnosis) weaker elements of the
peripheral consciousness
to which such "strange" associations are
connected might reach consciousness.
In that ease we would ob-
serve an instance of telepathy.
,From
thS theory a number of predictions can be derived as
regards telepathy.
Telepathic experiences
will be rare but must
occur occasionally.
They can be expected
to occur when sensory
stimulation
is absent or has
little influence;
for instance,
in the
case of Ganzfeld conditions.
Associations are the vehicle by which
telepathic impressions become possible.
The more associations two
individuals have in common the higher the
likelihood that sometimes
via these associations elements from another person's peripheral
consciousness
will reach the other's consciousness.
Thus,
tele-
pathic experiences
will be more common between people who are
related and who share many experiences.
The importance of the
experience to
an. individual
will increase the possibility that
it be-
comes associated with a mental structure of the percipient;
there-
fore,
telepathic experiences
will relatively often be related
to im-
portant and serious events.
The telepathic experience
will have no
characteristic of its own because the mental structures of which
they are part have in principle the character of vague memories
or thoughts.
It
is
as
if the percipient suddenly remembers some-
thing.
Because the weak mental images to which the telepathic
elements are associated are most often memories,
the telepathic
message" should often start as a memory or be embedded within
memories.
Heymans' theory also leads
to some interesting predictions
as
regards the survival issue and
ghost experiences.
If a person
is
aware of a sensory stimulus, that awareness
will disappear once the
stimulus
is removed.
However,
a memory trace weaker than the
original perception remains,
which, however,
gradually weakens.
The same applies
to the mental structure that represents an indi-
vidual.
As long as the individual lives on, the development of his
mental structure continues.
Once this person dies the development
halts and the mental structure of that individual becomes gradually
weaker.
_ Hence a living person,
for instance a medium,
might again
7>?
S?° C1:
°n
gSt access
t0 the mentaI structure of the deceased
“J
has died not
t0°
1(™g before , and provide details
about that individual's
life.
This might create the impression of
lite after death and communication from beyond.
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ESP:
Target Qualities /Personal Relationships
In the same vein,
since the physical
is only the way external
mental units present themselves
to us,
it
is in principle possible
provided the necessary associative links
are available,
that the
’
mental structure of a deceased person appears as if a physical obiect
*
’
There
i
fore
'
ghosts
Will only show themselves in a passive
ay
they cant talk or converse and can only behave in the man-
ner the individual used to behave when
still
alive.
In Heymans' theory the concept of associative connections
have a
lot
in common the hkelihoid increases that an important
ment
l
C°mp 6X °
. one lndlvidual
will become associated with some
mental structure m the peripheral consciousness of the other
As-
fnvof
10^
31,6 m tW° aspects imPortant.
One is that the individuals
peaces
The oL°*
oonnecti°ns formed by common ex-
periences.
The other
is that important aspects of the
life of a oer-
son become associated with these associative connections.
?
A free-response study was carried out to test whether the
importance of this concept in ESP could be falsified.
Two different
One
set
rTf f
tS T™
employed with
21 Pdra of related subjects.
1 ° f ta
fgets <*»sisted of important experiences the target
person shared with the percipient while the other
set of targets
consisted of important events in the
life of the target person not
SCO*
WT
percipient -
According to Heymans^ theory, ESP
scoring should be higher in the condition in which shared experi-
ences are employed as targets.
No ESP was observed in the data
hence,
no conclusion could be drawn as regards the importance of
the concept of associations
for ESP.
EXPLORATION Of\oUASI-THERAPEUTIC PROCESS AS A
VEHICLE FOR FACILITATING ESP
James C.
Carpenter (Vstitute for Para/ychology , Box 6847
Durham, NC
27706)
/
’
thera
An exploratory research /Project
is described in which quasi-
therapeutic group process fe/xamined as a possible vehicle for ex-
pressing free-response implosions of an ESP target.
An analogy
in thera
T
using j/hWess to seek new self-understating
trihl nho/
seekingy^essVo hidden ESP targets.
A twelve-
^f relafivt
16S
t
WaS T
Tried °UV
ith tW° gTOUpS in wMch an
folWd h
UnStruJ^
red
’ quasiXtherapeutie group interaction was
followed by group /embers rankinV four potential target pictures
one of which had/een randomly seWcted by someone not
in the
group, during rite group session.
The
first two sessions used GESP
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