Parapsychology, or the study of psychological phenomena, has its skeptics. But it also has a body of scientists, professionals, and institutes who devote their time to researching and supporting it.
“The science behind parapsychology is one that has a lot of controversy behind it,” said Andrew Nichols, the director of the American Institute of Parapsychology.
Parapsychology is the study of unusual events associated with human experience, including telepathy, psychokinesis, and near-death experiences.
Trying to establish legitimate degrees and credentials through standard testing is one of Nichols’ main goals at the American Institute of Parapsychology. Although the institute hasn’t received much official recognition, its membership includes academics and researchers among others from around the world.
Despite this, parapsychology likely won’t be accepted as an independent study any time soon, according to Nichols. He said European societies are more open-minded to the concept — there are labs associated with parapsychology in universities in Holland and Germany.
“I get constant emails from people asking me about jobs in parapsychology,” Nichols said.
“But there are so few positions in terms of full-time employment in careers so I tell them to pursue it as a sideline, and don’t give up your day job.”
Beverley Janus founded the Institute for Parapsychological Studies in Toronto.
She said she began the organization so she could provide interested students with opportunities for accredited courses.
“It is so multi-faceted,” Janus said. “Many people go into parapsychology from all sorts of different backgrounds such as physics, engineering, psychology, sciences, and so on.”
Public awareness in parapsychology has increased over time, as “it is no longer regarded as an infringed group of people . . . [it] is now considered a quite common human experience,” Nichols said.
It’s for this reason that society must have trained professionals to help people who may have had parapsychological experiences, since some can be frightening, Nichols said.
“These are an important aspect of the human experience and they deserve to be studied, just like any other social science that deserves to be studied,” he said.
“Our idea is that it is human evolution,” said Lisa Bennett of the Rhine Research Center.
The organization has been studying parapsychology for the past 70 years, according to its website.
“We have to try to find out exactly how it (parapsychology, psycho-kinesis, telepathy) works,” Bennett said.
“It has been scientifically proven through research and laboratories that there is something going on, and our job is to try and explain it.”
Janus said she believes everybody is psychic, in one way or another.
“In a greater or lesser degree, such as music or art, some people have more or less talent,” she said. “If you practice, it will get better and more accessible, as the whole point is to be able to use it to our advantage.”
