186 The Jou a high concentration of Spiritists whose beliefs threaten the estab- lished Catholic dogmas. However, when he uses parapsychological evidence of certain phenomena as a scientifigbackup to establish facts, when this same evidence is still very cgfitroversial for many parapsychologists, his position is untenable. fNonetheless, his work has to be seen in the cultural and ideolofical background from which he has worked (Alvarado, 1991). Another dimension of Brazilian psychig researchers With Spiritist orientation. Al research is the work by e example is that con- clear that the Inst akplore biological and physical efia. One of the most significant things about this Instit epnerged from within the Spiritist cases along the lines of IaX are particularly interesting * ow example, the one published in a monograph entitled O Poliergi volve very dramatic phenome im: persons, apparitions of strang#¥ carnate agencies hypothesis, ‘ ie es with possible witchcraft com- ponents (Alvarado, 1984b; te, 1984). Also, as Michel-Ange Amorim (1990) has remarlgéd abouf§Andrade’s interpretation of the cases: se] as supportivd q e Umbanda tradi case [the Guarulhos’s Umbanda tradition. ents especially in th and Spiritist elem ecclesiastic of po 199) wade interpret his cases lines but he also accepts th central beliefs of this the existence of all sorts ofpirits, like Exus and also believes that the sorcereis able to practice e terreiros (a place specialized M these procedures) s according to Quimbanda laws (tl®black magic side of the Umbdhda religion). Concerning Andrade’s interpretation of the aforementioned case of Guarulhos, Amorim (1990) also states: ma FOP Pay ES For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000700040002-5, psychology in the Ibero -American World 187 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 Noémia [a participant in the case], the most prob- agent, was conducted by two psychologists belonging to the . He states, “Mrs. Noémia didn’t display any fprm of psychi- ity that could justify viewing her as belong retical pattern his macro-PK Wg Srazilian society (Hess, 1990). . e first systematic treatises of parapsyenovogy in Por¥ tistical model used in expe'ggffents with ESP cards. scientific approach to psyghica@ research. One of these groups is the recently established ECJIPSY i mstituto de Investigacées Cientificas em Parapsicologia. Th group dims $s to pursue a different approach, one separate from t}fe di fe University of Sao Francisco to psychology, held in 1990, which fersity as well as researchers . Khe group plans to conduct experim i iged in its new journal, called Revista ilei icologia. Mung to its president, Wel- i Man English as well as in ish. The journal will also include traMjations from major ex- imental and theoretical articles publish] in the English-lan- uage journals. There are also other groups involved in par§ psychology i in Brazil that are beyond the scope of this paper becau®t 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- can countries. Argentina For many years Argentina has been the top-ranking country in Ibero-America in terms of experimental parapsychological research, Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000700040002-5