186
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a high concentration of Spiritists whose beliefs threaten the estab-
lished Catholic dogmas. However, when he uses parapsychological
evidence of certain phenomena
as a
scientific backup
to establish
facts, when
this same evidence
is
still very controversial for many
parapsychologists, his position
is untenable. Nonetheless,
his work
has
to be seen
in the
cultural and
ideological background from
which he has worked (Alvarado,
1991).
Another dimentionmf Brazilian psychical resefrch is the work by
researchers
with
SpirilVt
orientation. One exmnple
is
that
con-
ducted by the engineer Vid psychical research^- Hernani Guimar-
aes Andrade, who in
1'9(S founded the Br&wian Institute of Psy-
chobiophysical Research
'
'(WPP) . The name jris' chosen to make
it
clear that the Institute intferaed to exploreJoiological and physical
as well as purely psychical pranomena. Otw of the most significant
things about this Institute is thsmt emergejFfrom within the Spiritist
movement
(Playfair,
1975). Andtide,
aJfpiritist himself, has con-
ducted
well-planned and
detaile\ invocations of reincarnation
cases along the lines of Ian Stevei^onl# work. His poltergeist cases
are
particularly interesting—for ex\^ple, the one published
in a
monograph entitled 0 Poltergeist de Gj
volve very dramatic phenomena:
a;
persons, apparitions of strange cre*un
evaluating and interpreting the ca*, A
carnate agencies hypothesis, somgpmes wi
Ihos (1984). These cases in-
is, damage to furniture and
and spontaneous fires. In
jade leans toward the dis-
possible witchcraft com-
ponents (Alvarado,
1984b; Andfade,
19S
Amorim (1990) has remarked aj^ut Andra<3
cases:
Also,
as Michel-Ange
:’s interpretation of the
Andrade interprets the diflJFent types of occtfc-ences present in
this
case [the Guarulhos’s case] M supportive of a SpBitist world view in the
Umbanda tradition. The IMnbanda tradition has^veral million adher-
ents especially in the biggm cities. It combines Afri«n, Catholic, Indian,
and
Spiritist elements aju may be characterized aSLa
relatively extra-
ecclesiastic of popular Catholicism with ancient Afrc^jlrazilian sects, (p.
199)
According to Amcmm, not only does Andrade interpret his cases
along the Spiritist \hms but he also accepts the centralbeliefs of this
religion, such as t\m existence of all sorts of spirits, l^jeExus and
Umulums. He alw believes
that
the
sorcerer
is
able
practice
magic within the^terreiros
(a place specialized in these procedures)
to harass victim^tccording to Quimbanda laws (the black magic side
of the Umbanda religion).
Concerning Andrade’s interpretation of the aforementioned case
of Guarulhos, Amorim (1990) also states:
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parapsychology
in
Portuguese
(1967). A
basic
introductory
used in parapsychology,
it incj
tistical model used in experiij
There are other groups!
Thus, he
rejects the usual attributions of RSPK outbreaks to a living
agency. In defense of his position he points to the fact that a psycho-
logical examination of Noemia [a participant in the case], the most prob-
able RSPK agent, was conducted by two psychologists belonging to the
IBPP team. He states, “Mrs. Noemia didn’t display any form of psychi-
cal abnormality that could justify viewing heJas belonging to the ‘psy-
chokinetic’^tgent
a poltergeist’ category inJconformity with the theo-
retical patterns suggested by the current hypothesis.” ... He adds that
his macro-PK tests (\^of her capacities wffe also negative,
(p. 199)
It
is important, howler,
to point^ut that
to some extent the
cases investigated by Andmde and Ms associates seem to reflect the
influence of the beliefs andVdturtyf Brazilian society (Hess, 1990).
Andrade has also published^leJw the first systematic treatises of
mtitled
Parapsicologia
Experimental
I
tative method
ion of the sta-
ted in a more
; groups is the
oes Cientlficas
*ent approach,
issociated with
zilian research
io Francisco to
n 1990, which
as
researchers
ms to conduct
journal, called
resident, Wel-
as
well
as
in
om major ex-
e
English-lan-
guage jou#ials.
Ther®ire also other groups involved in parapsycH^>gy in Brazil
that areJoeyond the scope of this paper because of limitations of
space/and because of our
initial goal of evaluating Brazilian para-
psychology from the perspective of its impact on the Ibero-Ameri-
cay countries.
Argentina
For many years Argentina has been the top-ranking country in
Ibero-America in terms of experimental parapsychological research.
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The Journal of Parapsychology
However, research has diminished in the last few years, partly be-
cause of the recent deaths of two of the leading contributors, J. Ri-
cardo Musso and Enrique Novillo Pauli.
Early research began in Argentina about the same time the Duke
University Laboratory was
established
in
the United
States. The
1930s witnessed one of the most important events in the history of
Argentine parapsychology. In 1931, the first institute of psychology
was established at the University of Buenos Aires. The institute in-
cluded paranormal psychology as one of the areas to be investigated
by the department. Parapsychology appeared to be joined to psy-
chology from the beginning. The chairman of the psychology de-
partment, Enrique Mouchet, was interested in clairvoyance research
and had come
to the conclusion that
it was necessary
to include
paranormal psychology in the syllabus of courses offered by the de-
partment (Musso, 1973).
However, Argentinian researchers have had to struggle with the
traditional spiritualistic methodology that characterized the study of
psychical research in this country in the past. The research being
conducted in the young Duke Parapsychology Laboratory had a ma-
jor impact on the new generation of Argentinian researchers. The
move toward a more quantitative approach to the study of scientific
parapsychology was pioneered by a young engineer by the name of
Jos£ Fernandez, who was teaching physics at the University of Bue-
nos
Aires. Although Fernandez belonged
to
a
Spiritualist group
called ATMAN, he had been in search of an adequate methodology
to investigate the psychic phenomena manifested by mediums and
clairvoyants. He hoped to be able to apply statistical principles to the
responses given by the mediums. Fernandez presented the results
of these experiments in 1941 to a meeting of the Sociedad Cientlfica
Argentina. Fernandez’s efforts to introduce quantitative methodol-
ogy in Argentina had a major impact on the approaches that other
young researchers were to follow in establishing scientific parapsy-
chology there.
Another development during this period was the creation of the
Asociacibn Argentina Medica de Metapsiquica in 1946 by a group
of physicians headed by Orlando Canavesio. The aim of this society
was to evaluate the medical and legal status of parapsychology sci-
entifically and to promote its development in scientific circles as well
as to determine
its proper classification, that
is, to decide whether
the discipline belonged to psychology or physiology, or whether
it
could be considered to be a new branch of science.
Canavesio himself wrote his doctoral thesis on a study of elec-
troencephalographic records of gifted Apfljost/sdlliher Refers
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Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World
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lished a journal called Revista Medica de Metapsiquica summarizing
the research of the society. Included among the articles published
in the journal was a study of the use of dowsers by the government
to find water in towns where the lack of water had become a hard-
ship for
its inhabitants. During this period, the work of Canavesio
was important because of his connection to the government, a con-
nection that helped to legitimize parapsychological studies in Argen-
tina (Musso, 1973).
The creation of the Instituto de Psicopatologia Aplicada in 1948
by the Secretary of Public Health was another important develop-
ment. The aim of the government was to establish tight control over
the
Spiritist activities in Argentina, which were considered to be a
i
social
evil'. More specifically, the aim was to control the exploitation
of people engaged in nonscientific practices such as healing, and so
on.
The Institute created a subsidiary, the Comite de Investigaciones
Metapsfquicas, which was assigned to conduct experimental research
with
gifted
subjects,
specifically during mediumistic
sessions. The
Committee intended to explore the medical and legal implications
of Spiritist practices, as well as to determine whether genuine para-
psychological phenomena were exhibited during these sessions by
the gifted subjects. The Committee was also interested in uncover-
ing negative factors that might induce mental
illness, such as neu-
rosis, in the participants. More specifically, it seems that the real ob-
jective of the Committee was to determine whether the promoters
of these mediumistic sessions were practicing medicine illegally
(Parra, 1989).
In
1949 Jos£ Fernandez founded the Sociedad Argentina de
Parapsicologla. Fernandez, who was already known for his quanti-
tative approach to psychic phenomena, continued to promote the
statistical approach used by the Duke researchers. This approach
was reflected in the Society’s main objective, which was to study and
investigate parapsychological phenomena with emphasis on the de-
velopment of statistical methods. By then Fernandez had received
from Rhine a copy of Extra-Sensory Perception After Sixty Years (Pratt,
Rhine, Smith, Stuart, & Greenwood, 1940). The book had a major
impact on Fernandez, who applied Rhine’s mathematical models to
his own research. Fem&ndez
also circulated the book among
his
friends (Musso, 1973).
The Society conducted the first serious experiments on clairvoy-
ance in Argentina using ESP cards and
statistical procedures. The
study, with gifted
subjects, obtained
significant results. Fernandez
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The Journal of Parapsychology
Psicologia
Experimental. The
Society
also conducted
other
experi-
ments such as the one with the well-known clairvoyant Conrado Cas-
tiglione. The study used the empty-chair technique similar to that
used with Ludwig Khan and with Gerard Croiset (Musso, 1973).
The
first Instituto Argentino de Parapsicologia was established
in 1953. It brought together several men who represented the most
critical approach of the time, men such as Jose Fernandez, Orlando
Canavesio, J. Ricardo Musso, and Naum Kreiman. The Institute was
organized
to include a main
scientific research department, along
with several sections, such
as the medical-biological section and
a
physics and mathematics section. The principles of the Institute re-
flected the critical approach their members followed in conducting
their research. One of these was to subject every hypothesis to sci-
entific examination,
so
that only those
that would withstand the
most stringent tests would remain. In addition to the creation of the
Institute, this period of the 1950s was also characterized by a grow-
ing interest in publishing books on parapsychology. One of the first
systematic treatises on parapsychology in Spanish written by J. Ri-
cardo Musso (1954) was called En los Limiles de Id Psicologia: Desde el
Espiritismo hasta la Parapsicologia [On the Limits of Psychology: From
Spiritualism to Parapsychology]. Other developments included a pa-
per by Musso in 1957, which was published in a journal put out by
the ministry of education of the province of Buenos Aires.
It was
the
first time a paper on parapsychology had been published in a
government review. In addition, parapsychology was incorporated
as a course in five different universities. In 1960, Ricardo Musso was
awarded a professorship at Rosario University to teach parapsychol-
ogy, and, for the first time in any country, a course in parapsycho-
logy was made a requirement for a doctoral degree in psychology
(Rueda, 1989).
In 1962 the
Institute conducted studies confirming the sheep-
goat effect, using primary-school children as subjects. The results
were published in the Journal of Parapsychology (Musso, 1965). Other
important experiments included “An ESP Drawing Experiment with
a High Scoring Subject,” also published in the Journal of Parapsychol-
ogy (Musso & Granero,
1973). Moreover, Musso and his wife and
colleague, Mirta Granero, conducted an international experiment
on long-distance ESP called the “Antarctic Experiment.” Although
the results were not statistically significant they were important be-
cause the experiment involved subjects from twenty different coun-
tries (Musso, 1973, p.
168).
The
expansion
period of parapsychology was
interrupted
in
1966 when
the then current ArgenWPo^FP«Pf^l^e*-3/09/10
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Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World
191
thrown by a military coup; most
state
universities were forced
to
eliminate the study from their curricula. In spite of the prevailing
negative conditions standing in the way of university status for the
subject, a new quarterly publication was founded. The Cuademos de
Parapsicologia, perhaps the most important publication in the history
of Argentinian experimental parapsychology, took the responsibility
of disseminating a high level of academic parapsychology. Headed
by Naum Kreiman,
it has been the most professional organ of sci-
entific parapsychology in Argentina to the present time.
Owing to the military takeover of the government that elimi-
nated most of the parapsychology courses offered at the state uni-
versities, parapsychology did not enjoy the same status at the begin-
ning of the 1970s as
it had during the period of university
expansion of the 1960s. Some new developments during this period
kept the torch lit, however. Among the most important ones was the
creation of the Instituto de Parapsicologia in 1970.
It is headed by
Naum Kreiman, a bio-statistician and a co-founder of the Instituto
Argentino de Parapsicologia in the 1950s. Kreiman has played a key
role in the development of the quantitative approach to the study
of parapsychology for the last 30 years. From 1964 to the present
he has conducted numerous original experiments as well as repli-
cations of some of the most important experiments conducted in
foreign countries. With the help of his wife and collaborator, Dora
Ivnisky, and Ladislao M&rquez, he has conducted numerous exper-
iments that have been published in the Cuademos. Among them are
exploratory testing with ESP cards (Kreiman & Ivnisky, 1964); ESP
using photographs as targets (Kreiman, 1965); the sheep-goat effect
in ESP (Kreiman, 1972); the effect of feedback on ESP (Kreiman &
Ivnisky,
1973); ESP and memory (Kreiman,
1975); memory and
precognition (Kreiman, 1978); psi and volition (Kreiman & Ivnisky,
1980);
brain
laterality and ESP (Kreiman,
1981);
precognition of
human
actions
(Ivnisky &
Kreiman,
1981); and remote
viewing
(Kreiman, 1983).
Institute members such
as Dora
Ivnisky have done
extensive
work in keeping the Argentinian parapsychological community in-
formed of activities around the world by translating numerous ex-
periments and theoretical papers from languages other than Span-
ish from the Journal of Parapsychology and elsewhere. The diligent
experimental work done by Kreiman since the 1950s and continuing
to the present time makes him one of the most important laboratory
researchers in Argentinian and Ibero-American parapsychology.
Another important development during this period was the ere-
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Oi
ParapSyCholOgy a ‘ th' Cath°‘iC U " iVerSi‘y °f