C. E. M. Hansel
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Charles Edward Mark Hansel (12 October 1917 – 28 March 2011) was a British psychologist most notable for his criticism of parapsychological studies.


Early life and education

Hansel was born in 1917 in
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
, England and attended Bedford School as a child. He received a commission in the
RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
Equipment branch as an
acting pilot officer Acting pilot officer (A/Plt Off) is the lowest commissioned grade in the Royal Air Force. Acting pilot officer is not an actual military rank, therefore acting pilot officers are regraded to pilot officer instead of receiving a promotion. Unl ...
in April 1939, serving in England, Iraq, and Egypt. After his service, he attended Bournemouth Municipal College of Technology and Commerce, earning a BA, and
Fitzwilliam College Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college traces its origins back to 1869 and the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...
,
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
, where he studied Moral Sciences, Part II Psychology and earned his MA.


Parapsychology career

Following his graduation in 1949, Hansel joined the faculty at the
University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...
as a lecturer in Psychology. He later moved to
Swansea University Swansea University ( cy, Prifysgol Abertawe) is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. ...
where he became a Professor of Experimental Psychology and Head of the Department of Psychology. Hansel was a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Hansel's most well-known work is his book ''ESP: A Scientific Evaluation'' (1966), revised (1980, 1989). In it, he examined the areas of telepathy,
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 ...
, and
psychokinesis Psychokinesis (from grc, ψυχή, , soul and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), or telekinesis (from grc, τηλε, , far off and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person ...
and analysed a number of major
ESP ESP most commonly refers to: * Extrasensory perception, a paranormal ability ESP may also refer to: Arts, entertainment Music * ESP Guitars, a manufacturer of electric guitars * E.S. Posthumus, an independent music group formed in 2000, ...
experiments that claimed to have conclusively demonstrated the phenomenon. Hansel found that all of the research he examined suffered from poor experimental design which allowed for error, misinterpretation and fraud. He suspected that the data from the Soal-Goldney experiments, run by Samuel Soal, was fraudulent but parapsychologists refused to accept Hansel's charge. However, Hansel was later proven to be correct. Hansel noted that there was a history of "trickery" in psychical research and reached the conclusion that although trickery was not necessarily the cause of the results, as long as it could not be ruled out ESP could not be claimed to have been conclusively demonstrated. In his revised edition, Hansel (1980) points out that "after 100 years of research, not a single individual has been found who can demonstrate ESP to the satisfaction of independent investigators. For this reason alone it is unlikely that ESP exists".


Family

Hansel married in 1954 and had five children.


Reception

Hansel's book received positive reviews from scientists and
sceptics Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
. The physicist
Victor J. Stenger Victor John Stenger (; January 29, 1935 – August 25, 2014) was an American particle physicist, philosopher, author, and religious skeptic. Following a career as a research scientist in the field of particle physics, Stenger was associated ...
noted that "Hansel succeeded brilliantly in exposing the shoddiness of the experimental procedures of
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...
's laboratory."
Robert Sheaffer Robert Sheaffer (born 1949) is an American freelance writer and UFO skeptic. He is a paranormal investigator of unidentified flying objects, having researched many sightings and written critiques of the hypothesis that UFOs are alien spacecraft ...
stated that Hansel's criticisms were devastating to the claims of ESP and the book was a serious challenge to parapsychology. Philosopher
Antony Flew Antony Garrard Newton Flew (; 11 February 1923 – 8 April 2010) was a British philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, Flew worked on the philosophy of religion. During the course of his career he taught a ...
also gave a positive review, highlighting the failure of parapsychology to provide repeatable experiments. The work also received criticism with parapsychologist
John Beloff John Beloff (19 April 1920 – 1 June 2006) was an English psychology professor at Edinburgh University and parapsychologist. Biography Beloff was born and brought up in London, and was from a Russian Jewish family. His parents were Semion ...
claiming the book was little more than an attempt to explain away the evidence. Parapsychologist 
Gardner Murphy Gardner Murphy (July 8, 1895 – March 18, 1979) was an American psychologist who specialized in social and personality psychology and parapsychology.Martin Seymour-Smith, Andrew C. Kimmens. (1996). ''World Authors, 1900-1950, Volume 3''. H.W. Wi ...
 gave it a mixed-review but recommended the book "as valuable for the parapsychologist in pointing out ways in which he must tighten his research." Hansel's revised edition in 1989 contained further studies and an appendix with replies to his critics. The psychologist
David Marks David Lee Marks (born August 22, 1948) is an American guitarist who is best known for being an early member of the Beach Boys. While growing up in Hawthorne, California, Marks was a neighborhood friend of the original band members and was a freq ...
in his book '' The Psychology of the Psychic'' (2000) noted that his discovery of experimental error in parapsychological experiments confirmed the research of Hansel.


Publications

* * * * * * * * "Psychical History". ''Nature'' (August 1968). * * * * *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansel, C. E. M. 1917 births 2011 deaths British psychologists British sceptics Critics of parapsychology People from Bedford People educated at Bedford School Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Manchester Academics of the University of Manchester Academics of Swansea University Alumni of Bournemouth University Military personnel from Bedford Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force officers