Terence Hines (born 22 March 1951) is a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pace ...

, New York, and

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...

at the

New York Medical College New York Medical College (NYMC or New York Med) is a private medical school in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1860, it is a member of the Touro College and University System. NYMC offers advanced degrees through its three schools: the Scho ...

; he is also a

science writer Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public. Origins Modern science journalism dates back to ''Digdarshan'' (means showing the di ...

. Hines has a BA from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, and an MA and PhD from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

. A fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, Hines is the author of ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal'' which focuses on the fields of

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...

and the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...

in the United States. He has also, controversially, authored papers expressing doubts about the existence of the

G-spot The G-spot, also called the Gräfenberg spot (for German gynecologist Ernst Gräfenberg), is characterized as an erogenous area of the vagina that, when stimulated, may lead to strong sexual arousal, powerful orgasms and potential female ejac ...

''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal''

Hines is the author of the book ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal'', which mostly focuses on

and the

in the United States. He distinguishes pseudoscience from science by describing it as a hypothesis inconsistent with the known laws of physics, but one which cannot be falsified. In his book, Hines argues that pseudoscience tends not to be updated in the face of newly obtained evidence, and he highlights the difficulty in clearly demarcating pseudoscience from the paranormal. He also postulates that if paranormal abilities such as

clairvoyance Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...

precognition Precognition (from the Latin 'before', and 'acquiring knowledge') is the purported psychic phenomenon of seeing, or otherwise becoming directly aware of, events in the future. There is no accepted scientific evidence that precognition is a ...

were possible, then surely one would expect casino and lottery incomes to be affected, although no such effect is observed. Hines is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, an organization that promotes skeptical inquiry of paranormal claims.

G-spot

In a 2001 comprehensive review article, Hines claimed that the evidence for the existence of the Gräfenberg spot ("

"), a spot that 84% of women believe exists, was too weak, and that claims of its existence were based on small sample sizes and not supported by biochemistry or anatomy (particularly the lack of extra nerve endings in the region). * * The original article is Most of the studies at that time had also been conducted by a single team. Hines asserted that if such a spot exists, it is not particular to the

Skene's gland In female human anatomy, Skene's glands or the Skene glands ( , also known as the lesser vestibular glands, paraurethral glands) are glands located around the lower end of the urethra. The glands are surrounded by tissue that swells with blood ...

s. He described the G-spot as a "sort of gynecologic UFO: much sought for, much discussed, but unverified by objective means". The initial review resulted in a large controversy with three publications quickly defending its existence.

Works

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References

External links

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Publications by Prof. Terence Hines
– Pace University Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Hines, Terence 1951 births Living people American philatelists Critics of alternative medicine Critics of parapsychology