Parapsychology is grounded in reality as it uses concepts that have basis in scientific fact to bridge what is considered to be unreasonable and reasonable, demonstrating how one’s perception of reality influences their experiences. The importance and validity of parapsychology is widely rejected by western society as many would claim that the paranormal phenomena (psi) that parapsychology attempts to explain, are topics that cannot yield scientific results. Through examining factors such as how evidence is gathered and explained through concepts grounded in scientific fact, how perception of the “paranormal” affect views on parapsychology as well as the role perception plays in assessing the validity of one’s reality, this essay will attempt to demonstrate how parapsychology is an authentic form of science, grounded in explainable reality.

The goal of parapsychology is to ultimately show how two opposing factors of reasoning, that being scientific fact and “unexplainable” phenomena are interconnected and in doing so, the ways in which it fits into explainable reality are demonstrated. To thoroughly understand how parapsychology is grounded in reality, one must examine how effectively the goal is achieved, if it is achieved at all.

One of the main arguments against parapsychology, as explained by C.L Harden in the article “Table-Turning, Parapsychology and Fraud,” is that it has an unscientific hypothesis and cannot be scientifically tested, thereby making it a pseudoscience (Harden, 1981, p.249). A pseudoscience is defined as a practice that claims to be scientific but is ultimately incompatible with scientific methods. At first glance, that would seem to explain parapsychology quite well; however, that is simply not the case. It is assumed that parapsychology tests psi specifically when in fact, it is how certain psi are able to manifest in an individual that is what parapsychology aims to explain. The term “psi” is derived from the 23rd letter in the Greek alphabet and is used to denote paranormal phenomena within parapsychology as it is written with the initials for “psyche” or “mind” and “soul.” As the name would suggest, psi is concerned with an individual’s psyche.

To understand how psi manifests, one must understand how the subject’s unconscious mind works and what influences it in order for psi phenomena to occur. The examination of the unconscious mind is not only a common theme in orthodox psychology, but it is also an objective that requires proper scientific testing in order to accurately diagnose or explain an individual’s state of mind and the factors that impact how they perceive themselves and their reality. In terms of parapsychology, it is not the actual phenomena that is to be subjected to scientific testing, but rather the individual’s psyche with regards to how a particular psi may occur within an individual.

Alejandro Parra’s “Negative Experiences in Childhood, Parental Style, and Resilience Among People Reporting Paranormal Experiences” suggests that one major way psi phenomena tend to develop, are as a copping mechanism individual’s may use to combat a sense of loss of control, which is often a result of trauma originating from their childhood. This hypothesis is not unscientific and can in fact be tested, that being the case, it cannot be a pseudoscientific endeavour, but rather a study grounded in the reality of the influences harmful external factors have on an individual’s psyche. The aim of Parra’s article and his study was to examine how the type of parental style used on those who claimed to experience paranormal events correlate with negative childhood experiences. Several surveys and experiments were done on participants aged 18 to 65 revolving around parental style, the individual’s resilience to trauma, the type of paranormal experiences they claim to have and how many participants have these experiences as a result of a childhood of abuse or neglect. Parra explains that: “Endorsement of extrasensory perception engenders an illusory sense of control over people, objects, and/or events. Such beliefs are seen as an unconsciously motivated, needs-serving, adaptive mechanism for alleviating feelings of vulnerability (Farias and Granqvist, 2007)” (Parra, 2019, p. 264).

Of the 665 participants tested in Parra’s study, the most common psi experiences seemed to be a sense of presence (58%), premonitory dreams (56%), telepathy (41%), mystical experiences (40%), apparitional experiences (38%), and out-of-body experiences (25%) (Parra, 2019, p. 265). With that in mind, Parra then tested how many of the participants experienced these psi phenomena due to abusive or neglectful parents. It was found through testing the rigidity and flexibility of mothers and fathers separately that participants who experienced a negligent or permissive parenting style, were more likely to report “feeling a presence” or “seeing ghosts” in adulthood.

Alternatively, those who experienced an overprotective, authoritarian parenting style were more likely to report seeing apparitions or having premonitory dreams (Parra, 2019, p. 268). Thus it was concluded that there is in fact, a correlation between a traumatic childhood and paranormality in adults and this is likely due to either the fear of said trauma or an irregular variation of the individual’s concept of reality that makes them develop such beliefs to cope with a diminished sense of control. However, the findings of this study do not necessarily mean that all individuals who hold some sort of trauma will have experienced a paranormal phenomena in their life. That being said, Parra’s study can be used to demonstrate how parapsychology is grounded in reality, as concepts recognized by psychologists, such as the effects of abuse or neglect, contribute to findings in parapsychology in scientific ways.

Parra’s study is a good example of how parapsychologists gather statistics and evidence that help them explain psi phenomena. It also provides one of many factors that explain how psi phenomena develops and manifests in individuals. Louisa E. Rhine’s “Subjective Forms of Spontaneous Psi Experiences” further illustrates the thoroughness parapsychologists demonstrate when conducting research. Using a total of 1073 cases, Rhine and her team were able to group participants based on the psi they reported experiencing, such as the kind of experiences recorded in Parra’s study. Four main categories were outlined as Intuitive, Hallucinatory, Unrealistic Dreaming and Realistic Dreaming, though 77 of the total cases were considered “borderline,” demonstrating characteristics of more than one group (Rhine, 2019, p.56).

She goes on to examine each group individually and how they process certain things based on the psychological characteristics they demonstrate, a process that is not unlike an orthodox psychological research study. In her own words: “The task was to observe the psychological form which the psi impression took in the consciousness of the individual concerned, to try to recognize any generalizable features that might be present in individual cases, and to see what groupings would result” (Rhine, 56). Both Parra and Rhine’s claim that the development and manifestation of paranormal phenomena comes from how an individual’s mind is influenced by external forces one can test and examine, ultimately makes the counterclaim that parapsychology is nothing more than a pseudoscience not grounded in reality, less compelling.

Parapsychological practices and studies are much more acknowledged in the East than it is the West, so much so that anything to do with the “paranormal” can be considered the “rejected knowledge” of the West. While the first counterclaim addresses the general nature of parapsychology, the second takes it a step further and focuses on the evidence parapsychology builds itself on. The claim that evidence supporting “paranormal phenomena” cannot be valid since the paranormal is unexplainable to science, is one that is often used to discredit findings in parapsychology. As Harden puts it: “The possibility of fraud needs to be taken seriously both because the field has a long history of deception and because, unless deception is ruled out, we are not entitled to suppose that there exists any data which cannot be accounted for by ‘normal’ means” (Harden, 1981, p.296). It is generally believed that the paranormal is beyond the scope of normal understanding, however, it is not so much the paranormal itself which is hard to understand. Rather, it is the beliefs surrounding it that prove to be unreasonable.

In Williams’ “Psi and the Problem of Consciousness,” it is mentioned that concepts such as consciousness are considered part of some spiritual reality but many would also believe that it is merely the complex reactions of subatomic particles (Williams, 259). This example leans into the fact that many other places, specifically in the East, are more likely to believe that consciousness is linked to the paranormal. For example, in places such as India or China, meditation is believed to promote a healthy mind and bring an individual closer to supernatural forces. At the same time, westerners believe that meditation has clear benefits in terms of mental and bodily health. Mediation has been recognized by the scientific community to have a solid basis in scientific fact as the evidence supporting its benefits are considered valid. However, meditation also has importance in parapsychology, as it is considered a way of heightening awareness, training the mind and self inducing a mode of consciousness in order to gain a particular benefit, especially in regards to training one’s ability to control different psi.

Even concepts such as hypnosis, are recognized to be valid in bringing about a particular state of consciousness and is often used as a therapeutic technique that heightens an individual’s suggestibility, which is also a concept that interconnects with themes in parapsychology.

However, there may not be much research into paranormal phenomena regarding meditation and hypnosis, but there is extensive research into dreams. As mentioned earlier, one of the most common psi experiences reported in Parra’s study was premonitory dreams, so for the purposes of this example, psi phenomena will be narrowed down to premonitory dreams.

To gain a better understanding of how a phenomena such as premonitory dreams can be a concept grounded in reality, one can apply Freud’s theory of dreams as wish fulfilment. According to Freud, the unconscious mind is primarily composed of the desires, wishes and fears which are components that his theory relies on. These repressed desires tend to manifest in dreams and when examined, can make individuals aware of certain needs or wishes that their conscious mind has censored. In Freud’s own words: “The dream takes the necessary actions that the waking mind did not and so it is a dream of convenience “(Freud, 11).

When one hears the words “premonitory dreams,” one assumes that the dream is of a prophetic nature and the individual who dreamt it was somehow able to tell the future, however this is not a logical conclusion. By examining Freud’s wish fulfilment theory, one can see that it is not so much a prophetic dream, but rather a manifestation of one’s repressed desires or traumas that cause their conscious minds to take on certain beliefs or perform actions in accordance with the dream. As Freud puts it, “the ancient belief that dreams reveal the future is not indeed entirely devoid of truth. By representing a wish as fulfilled the dream certainly leads us into the future” (Freud, 21). Freud’s theory of wish fulfillment demonstrates how the events and choices brought on by the acknowledgement of the information manifested in these “premonitory dreams” are not some mystical phenomena but rather a reaction in the individual’s own mind and how they perceive their own wants and needs.

The theory of wish fulfilling dreams intersects with previously discussed themes in parapsychology, such as the effects of repressed childhood trauma as explained by Parra and how unconscious activity can lead to the manifestation of conscious phenomena, a notion that is generally accepted in orthodox psychology. Thus, stating that evidence for parapsychology is invalid, would ultimately be rejecting concepts that are already scientifically recognized and grounded in reality. The rejection of such knowledge can be attributed to cognitive dissonance, wherein people are provided with evidence that conflict with beliefs and perceptions they may have had their entire life, so they dismiss said evidence to maintain it. In conclusion, this evidence rebuts the counterclaim that evidence supporting parapsychology is invalid.

As emphasized by concepts such as meditation and hypnosis, the effects of an individual’s unconscious mind is important when considering the functioning of the human mind and why some people experience reality differently than others. Williams’ examination of the importance of consciousness tells us that the concept of consciousness is concerned with matter and emotion rather than processes of intention and thought (Williams, 270). If this claim is to be believed, then the link between an individual’s perception of experiences in regards to psi, is affected by their perception of the reality around them. As noted in Parra’s article, his studies found that those who were brought up by negligent parents were more likely to believe in the paranormal (Parra, 2019, p. 268) and as mentioned earlier, not only does childhood experience mold adult belief and perception, but so does a society’s ideologies, hence the reason why parapsychology is so rejected in the West.

Dissociation as a separation or disconnect in mental processes, often seen in disorders such as multiple personality disorder are a factor in how a person processes their reality. Such disorders are often the result of an individual attempting to cope with a traumatic experience, making them more susceptible than others when it comes to the manifestation of different psi. To an individual like this, they may believe that they are absolutely certain of the psi experience they have, making it valid in their eyes. That is the truth of their reality, while to others, it may seem like a fantasy they’ve created. The truth of individual perception is seen as subjective and belief influences an individual’s perception of reality.

However, it can be argued that while paranormal phenomena tends to resemble states comparable to concepts grounded in reality such as meditation, dissociation, dreaming, etc, this does not necessarily prove that the objects of perception (ie. paranormal phenomena) are themselves grounded in reality. It is only through examining one’s own reality that an individual can gain a better understanding of the way their mind works in relation to external, internal and personal factors. As such, perception is a key component when assessing the validity of one’s experiences. To combat such varying perceptions and biases in beliefs, any parapsychology study must be subjected to extensive examination in order to reach a logical conclusion, otherwise the entire purpose of parapsychology as a study aiming to bridge boundaries of irrationality and explainable reality, becomes null.

In modern days the appeal of parapsychology has waned and become nothing more than a mystical notion in the minds of people across the West. However, through examining the points put forth in this essay, one can conclude that parapsychology is grounded in reality as it uses concepts that have basis in scientific fact to bridge what is considered to be unreasonable and reasonable, demonstrating how one’s perception of reality influences their experiences. Factors such as how evidence is gathered and explained through concepts grounded in reality, how perception of the “paranormal” affect views on parapsychology and the role perception plays in assessing the validity of one’s reality, are important components that establish the context for why parapsychology is an authentic form of science. It can be argued that “paranormal” activity cannot yield scientific evidence, thereby making parapsychology a pseudoscience, or that parapsychology experiments are poorly designed resulting in unfounded evidence.

However, by examining what shapes individual perceptions and how that affects one’s psychological and physical experiences, one can conclude that parapsychology is indeed grounded in reality. Much like how an individual’s beliefs and experiences allow them to perceive events in terms of paranormal activity, they can also shape how one views these paranormal phenomena, or psi, as a whole. As the evidence in this essay suggests, parapsychology seems to be much more recognized in the East than it is in the West due to different beliefs and human experience.

The rejection of the knowledge parapsychology provides essentially rejects the importance of the role the unconscious mind plays in an individual’s perception of reality, which is a very important component to any psychological research. Stating that evidence for parapsychology is invalid, would ultimately be rejecting concepts for which the physical and mental benefits are already scientifically recognized, such as meditation and hypnosis, which along with early childhood experience and dreams, are concepts that interconnect with themes in parapsychology with regards to how psi manifests itself through the unconscious mind. Psi such as clairvoyance, mediumship, premonitory dreams or even out of body experiences may seem like nothing more than illogical occurrences that have no basis in scientific fact.

However, parapsychology aims to explain what causes such events and how they occur. It is important to note that parapsychology does not conduct its studies and provide evidence that appeal more to emotion or subjective belief, such as through spiritualism, as this cannot provide concrete forms of evidence. Rather, it focuses on explaining psi in ways that appeal to reason and that which can be understood through explainable scientific fact.

As explained previously, it is impossible to prove the existence and importance of concepts as unbelievable as clairvoyance or precognition, etc, without first subjecting it to proper scientific testing and examination. The study of psi does not eliminate “non-paranormal” explanations for the results of its experiments and research. Ultimately, the goal of parapsychology is to interconnect these two opposing elements in order to illustrate the ways in which it fits into explainable reality.

Consequently, this intention requires rigorous testing and research into what causes the human mind to perceive psi experiences and why this came to be in different individuals. Therefore by examining the points put forth in this essay as well as how well parapsychological studies are able to achieve their goal, one can conclude that parapsychology must be grounded in reality; otherwise it would not be able to accomplish its overarching objective.

Hardin, C. L. “Table-Turning, Parapsychology and Fraud.” Social Studies of Science, vol. 11, no. 2, 1981, pp. 249–255. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/284867.

Parra, A. (2019). Negative Experiences in Childhood, Parental Style, and Resilience Among People Reporting Paranormal Experiences. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 207(4), 264-270.

Rhine, L.E. (2019). Subjective Forms of Spontaneous Psi Experiences. Journal of Parapsychology, 82(3), 54-86.

Sigmund Freud. On the Interpretation of Dreams, (10-15, 19-21)

Williams, G. (2013). Psi and the Problem of Consciousness. The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 34(3/4), 259-283. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43854396