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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 from the traditional viewpoint,
as the
ef-
fects
are assumed
to be produced by the checkers instead of the
subjects.
The interpretation of a correlation between a trait of
the subject,
say,
anxiety, and
his 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 the observer of the correlation.
As no feed-
back is given to the subject,
it means that the checker produces
the correlation.
This
calls
for better experimental control of the
observation procedure.
The present study,
entertaining both the
traditional paradigm and the observational paradigm in distinct
hypotheses, however,
offers no result favoring either one of them.
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
.
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A TEST OF HEYMANS' THEORY ON PARANORMAL PHENOMENA
I
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.
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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