Michael Anthony Thalbourne (24 March 1955 – 4 May 2010,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, South Australia) was an Australian

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

who worked in the field of

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near ...

. He was educated at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. His books include: ''A glossary of terms used in parapsychology'' (2003), ''The common thread between ESP and PK'' (2004), and ''Parapsychology in the Twenty-First Century: Essays on the future of Psychical Research'' (2005).Michael A. Thalbourne and Lance Storm (2005)
Parapsychology in the twenty-first century: essays on the future of psychical research
McFarland, p. 382.

Education and career

Thalbourne obtained his B.A. (Hons) at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, in 1976, and his PhD in parapsychology at Edinburgh University in 1981. From 1980 through 1987 when it closed Thalbourne researched at the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

. Thalbourne was a Visiting Research Fellow at the

from 1992 until 2007, and was President of the Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research. He was editor of the ''Australian Journal of Parapsychology''.

Research

Thalbourne extensively researched the psychology of belief in the paranormal, as well as attempted to elicit the paranormal itself under laboratory conditions. In the 1990s he wrote on the concept of

transliminality Transliminality (literally, "going beyond the threshold") was a concept introduced by the parapsychologist Michael Thalbourne, an Australian psychologist who was based at the University of Adelaide. It is defined as a hypersensitivity to psycholo ...

; his early work suggesting that this could be a trait linking such personality variables as belief in the paranormal, creative personality, mystical experience and psychopathology led him to describe this as a "common thread" linking these variables. His later work looked at the relationship between religiosity, dream-interpretation and transliminality and also how transliminality may relate to traits such as

psychoticism Psychoticism is one of the three traits used by the psychologist Hans Eysenck in his P–E–N model (psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism) model of personality. Nature Psychoticism is conceptually similar to the ''constraint'' factor i ...

. Thalbourne constructed a questionnaire which, as with Hood's M-Scale, assesses mystical experience, called the Mystical Experience Scale. Thalbourne also collaborated on empirical research projects with

Erlendur Haraldsson Erlendur Haraldsson (November 3, 1931 – November 22, 2020) was a professor emeritus of psychology on the faculty of social science at the University of Iceland. He published in various psychology and psychiatry journals. In addition, he publis ...

, and developed the

Australian Sheep-Goat Scale The Australian Sheep-Goat Scale (ASGS) is a questionnaire conceived by Michael Thalbourne to determine the extent to which the respondent believes in the paranormal. The description "Australian" is given because the test was devised in Adelaide, S ...

, a measure of the extent to which a person believes in the paranormal. Thalbourne also conducted research into kundalini. He published a scale to assess the kundalini experience with the world-renowned expert on panic attacks, Bronwyn Fox. More recently, he used a random number generator in connection with kundalini.Thalbourne, M.A. (2006). Kundalini and the output of a Random Number Generator. ''Journal of Parapsychology, 70'', 302-33. In his paper of 2006, he stated that he understands the term "Kundalini" to mean "the coiled one", and he refers to research into the near-death experience in connection with kundalini, and also refers to the Physio-Kundalini Scale, the 19-item scale devised by Bruce Greyson to assess kundalini experience.

Publications

Books

* Thalbourne, M.A. (1982). ''A glossary of terms used in

''. London: Heinemann. * Thalbourne, M.A. (2003). ''A glossary of terms used in

. 2nd ed.'' Charlottesville, VA: Puente Press. * Thalbourne, M.A. (2004). ''The common thread between ESP and PK''. New York: Parapsychology Foundation. * Thalbourne, M.A., & Storm, L. (Eds).(2005). ''

Parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near ...

in the Twenty-First Century: Essays on the future of Psychical Research''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. (pbk.) * Storm, L., & Thalbourne, M.A. (Eds.). (2006). ''The survival of human consciousness: Essays on the possibility of life after death.'' Jefferson, NC: McFarland. (pbk.)

Selected articles

Thalbourne has been published in all the major English-speaking parapsychological journals: * Thalbourne, M.A. (2009). Things that go bump, by day and by night: An expectancy effect? ''Australian Journal of Parapsychology, 9'', 97-109. * Thalbourne, M.A. (2009). Some notes on consciousness and claims of psi. ''Paranormal Review'', No. 51, 21–22. * Campos, R.C., Gonçalves, B., & Thalbourne, M. .(2009). Preliminary psychometric data for a Portuguese scale to assess history of depressive symptomatology with a college student sample. ''Psychological Reports, 104'', 1015–1018. * Goretzki, M., Thalbourne, M.A., & Storm, L. (2009). The questionnaire measurement of spiritual emergency. ''Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 41'', 81–97. * Thalbourne, M.A. (2009). Reports of paranormal experiences: Can transliminality tell us anything about them? ''Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 31'', 375–386. * Thalbourne, M.A. (2009). Transliminality, anomalous belief and experience, and hypnotizability. ''Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 37'', 45–56. * Thalbourne, M. A. (2009). Book review of Michael A. Jawer's ''The Spiritual Anatomy of Emotion. How Feelings Link the Brain, the Body, and the Sixth Sense. Australian Journal of Parapsychology, 9'', 215–219. * Thalbourne, M. A. (2009). Book review of Harvey J. Irwin's ''The Psychology of Paranormal Belief. A researcher's handbook. Australian Journal of Parapsychology, 9'', 219–223.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thalbourne, Michael 1955 births Australian psychologists Parapsychologists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh University of Adelaide faculty 2010 deaths