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Society For Psychical Research
The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to conduct organised scholarly research into human experiences that challenge contemporary scientific models." It does not, however, since its inception in 1882, hold any corporate opinions: SPR members assert a variety of beliefs with regard to the nature of the phenomena studied. Origins The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) originated from a discussion between journalist Edmund Rogers and the physicist William F. Barrett in autumn 1881. This led to a conference on 5 and 6 January 1882 at the headquarters of the British National Association of Spiritualists, at which the foundation of the Society was proposed. The committee included Barrett, Rogers, Stainton Moses, Charles Massey, Edmund Gurney, Hensleigh Wedgwood and Frederic W. H. Myers. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-profit Organisation
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or social benefit, as opposed to an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a Profit (accounting), profit for its owners. A nonprofit organization is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization's purpose, not taken by private parties. Depending on the local laws, charities are regularly organized as non-profits. A host of organizations may be non-profit, including some political organizations, schools, hospitals, business associations, churches, foundations, social clubs, and consumer cooperatives. Nonprofit entities may seek approval from governments to be Tax exemption, tax-exempt, and some may also qualify to receive tax-deductible contributions, but an enti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Gauld
Alan Gauld (born 1932) is a British parapsychologist, psychologist and spiritualist writer best known for his research on the history of hypnotism and mediumship. Biography Gauld was born in Portland, Dorset. In the late 1950s, he attended Harvard University. He obtained an M.S. in 1958 and a PhD in 1962 from Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He taught psychology at the University of Nottingham and was the President of the Society for Psychical Research from 1989 to 1992. Gauld has generally been skeptical of physical mediumship. He has claimed that ectoplasm materializations seem to "smack very strongly of fraud and conjuring", such as made from cheesecloth or net curtain. He states however that he believes there is genuine evidence for movement of objects during séances including the phenomena produced with the medium Daniel Dunglas Home. This is in opposition to other researchers who have declared that Home was fraudulent. He has criticized the Scole experiment, a series ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telepathy
Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), and has remained more popular than the earlier expression ''thought-transference''.Glossary of Parapsychological terms – Telepathy – Parapsychological Association. Retrieved December 19, 2006. Telepathy experiments have historically been criticized for a lack of proper controls and repeatability. There is no good evidence that telepathy exists, and the topic is gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dissociation (psychology)
Dissociation is a concept which concerns a wide array of experiences, ranging from a mild emotional detachment from the immediate surroundings, to a more severe disconnection from physical and emotional experiences. The major characteristic of all dissociative phenomena involves a detachment from reality, rather than a false perception of reality as in psychosis. The phenomena are diagnosable under the ''DSM-5'' as a group of disorders as well as a symptom of other disorders through various diagnostic tools. Its cause is believed to be related to neurobiological mechanisms, trauma, anxiety, and psychoactive drugs. Research has further related it to suggestibility and hypnosis. History French philosopher and psychologist Pierre Janet (1859–1947) is considered to be the author of the concept of dissociation. Unlike some conceptions of dissociation, Janet did not believe that dissociation was a psychological defense. Janet claimed that dissociation occurred only in person ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypnotism
Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychological Association Division 30 defined hypnosis as a "state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness characterized by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion". For critical commentary on this definition, see: There are competing theories explaining hypnosis and related phenomena. ''Altered state'' theories see hypnosis as an altered state of mind or trance, marked by a level of awareness different from the ordinary state of consciousness. In contrast, ''non-state'' theories see hypnosis as, variously, a type of placebo effect,Kirsch, I., "Clinical Hypnosis as a Nondeceptive Placebo", pp. 211–25 in Kirsch, I., Capafons, A., Cardeña-Buelna, E., Amigó, S. (eds.), ''Clinical Hypnosis and Self-Regulat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Skeptic Encyclopedia Of Pseudoscience
''The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'' is a two-volume collection of articles that discuss the Skeptics Society's scientific findings of investigations into pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The editor, Michael Shermer, director of the Skeptics Society, has compiled articles originally published in Skeptic magazine with some conceptual overviews and historical documents to create this encyclopedia. It was published by ABC-CLIO in 2002. About the editor Michael Shermer is an American science writer and science historian. He gained Bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology before completing a PhD in the history of science. The author of more than 18 books on skepticism and science, Shermer is the founder of The Skeptics Society—which began in Los Angeles but now has an international membership—and the editor of its magazine ''Skeptic''. Between April 2001 to January 2019, he was a monthly contributor to Scientific American magazine with a column calle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian of science, executive director of The Skeptics Society, and founding publisher of '' Skeptic'' magazine, a publication focused on investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The author of over a dozen books, Shermer is known for engaging in debates on pseudoscience and religion in which he emphasizes scientific skepticism. Shermer was the co-producer and co-host of ''Exploring the Unknown'', a 13-hour Fox Family television series broadcast in 1999. From April 2001 to January 2019, he contributed a monthly ''Skeptic'' column to ''Scientific American'' magazine. Shermer was raised in a non-religious household, before converting to Christian fundamentalism as a teenager. He stopped believing in God during graduate school, influenced by a traumatic accident that left his then-girlfriend paralyzed. He identifies as an agnostic and an atheist,Shermer, Michael (June 2005)"Why I Am An A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th century, one of the most influential philosophers and is often dubbed the "father of American psychology." Born into a wealthy family, James was the son of the Swedenborgian theologian Henry James Sr. and the brother of both the prominent novelist Henry James and the diarist Alice James. James trained as a physician and taught anatomy at Harvard, but never practiced medicine. Instead, he pursued his interests in psychology and then philosophy. He wrote widely on many topics, including epistemology, education, metaphysics, psychology, religion, and mysticism. Among his most influential books are '' The Principles of Psychology'', a groundbreaking text in the field of psychology; '' Essays in Radical Empiricism'', an important text in phil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewis Charles Powles
Lewis Charles Powles (29 January 1860 – 6 July 1942) was a British artist. Early life and education Powles was born in Cirencester, England, in January 1860, one of six children. (Document) His father was Rev. Henry C. Powles. Powles attended Oxford, where he studied Mathematics under Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, author of ''Alice in Wonderland''. Powles gained his MA from there in 1898. Powles had formal art studies under Hubert von Herkomer, followed by studies in Munich. Career Powles was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1903. Powles travelled extensively throughout Europe, as well as to Canada. His works are in the Bushey Museum and Art Gallery, the Ferens Art Gallery, the National Trust, Lamb House, the Royal Welch Fusiliers Regimental Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Royal Collection Trust. Powles is most well known for his watercolour landscapes, although he painted a number of oil portraits. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Richet
Charles Robert Richet (; 25 August 1850 – 4 December 1935) was a French physiologist at the Collège de France and immunology pioneer. In 1913, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of his work on anaphylaxis". Richet devoted many years to the study of paranormal and spiritualist phenomena, coining the term " ectoplasm". He believed in the inferiority of black people, was a proponent of eugenics, and presided over the French Eugenics Society towards the end of his life. The Richet line of professorships of medical science continued through his son Charles and his grandson Gabriel. Gabriel Richet was also one of the pioneers of European nephrology. Career He was born on 25 August 1850 in Paris the son of Alfred Richet. He was educated at the Lycee Bonaparte in Paris then studied medicine at university in Paris. Richet spent a period of time as an intern at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, where he observed Jean-Martin Charcot's work with then so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Lodge
Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge (12 June 1851 – 22 August 1940) was an English physicist whose investigations into electromagnetic radiation contributed to the development of Radio, radio communication. He identified electromagnetic radiation independent of Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, Heinrich Hertz's proof. At his 1894 Royal Institution lectures ("''The Work of Hertz and Some of His Successors''"), Lodge's demonstrations on methods to transmit and detect radio waves included an improved early radio receiver he named the "coherer". His work led to him holding key patents in early radio communication, his "syntonic" (or tuning) patents. Lodge was appointed the assistant professor of applied mathematics at Bedford College, London in 1879, became the chair of physics at the University of Liverpool, University College Liverpool in 1881, and was the principal of the University of Birmingham from 1900 to 1919. Lodge was also pioneer of Spiritualism (movement), spiritualism. His pseudoscientifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Crookes
Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was an English chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing the Crookes tube, which was made in 1875. This was a foundational discovery that eventually changed the whole of chemistry and physics. He is credited with discovering the element thallium, announced in 1861, with the help of spectroscopy. He was also the first to describe the spectrum of terrestrial helium, in 1865. Crookes was the inventor of the Crookes radiometer but did not discern the true explanation of the phenomenon he detected. Crookes also invented a 100% ultraviolet blocking sunglass lens. For a time, he was interested in Spiritualism (movement), spiritualism and became president of the Society for Psychical Research. Biography Crookes's life was one of unbroken scientific activity that extended over sixty-seven years. He wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
