Category Archives: Subjective Paranormal Experience

The Psi Hypothesis Has Been Blown Sky High – It’s Nothing Less Than Catastrophic – One-hundred Years of Laboratory Research Have Yielded Zero Confirmable Findings

For Parapsychology, this 100% failure rate across the entire gamut of laboratory studies is nothing less than catastrophic. Parapsychology appears to have lost its way. A more fruitful approach is necessary. Ideas about this will follow.

‘That Dude’ Strikes Again

That Dude has struck again. A second review of another of my books appeared on Amazon on 14 April 2021. On this second strike, this author is making a little progress: ‘That Dude’ actually awarded my book 2.0 out of 5 stars instead of just one! I graciously accept this 100% increase in my book’sContinue reading “‘That Dude’ Strikes Again”

An Anomaly of Ceaseless Wonder

Psi is an anomaly of ceaseless wonder and mystery. The psi hypothesis remains neither confirmed nor disconfirmed but it connects us to our fellow beings, to nature and the cosmos at large. David F Marks, Psychology and the Paranormal, 2020, p. 313. A recent post featuring Adrian Parker shows the openness of a thought leaderContinue reading “An Anomaly of Ceaseless Wonder”

Psi as a Spontaneous Phenomenon

Originally published by leading parapsychologist ADRIAN PARKER as ‘Informal Psi Tests’ in the Paranormal Review 96, 16. Adrian is President of the Society of Psychical Research, London, and Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The veteran psi-critic David Marks has recently published a book Psychology and the Paranormal in which he has taken aContinue reading “Psi as a Spontaneous Phenomenon”

The Origins of Subjective Anomalous Experience

Text and Figures 2.1 -2.4 © David F Marks, 2022 Reproduced from Chapter 2 of Psychology and the Paranormal by David F Marks (2020), Sage, London. In any developed science, there is, of necessity, a wide gap between the diverse facts of observation and those few types of observed fact which form the basis ofContinue reading “The Origins of Subjective Anomalous Experience”

The Paradoxical Nature of Coincidence

I am no mystic. By nature, I believe that I am inclined towards scepticism. Occasionally, however, events have occurred that appear to defy reason or scientific explanation. Coincidence is a good example. The traditional scientific explanation holds that coincidences are inevitable within the laws of chance. An alternative explanation entertains the possibility of an as-yetContinue reading “The Paradoxical Nature of Coincidence”

Hans Eysenck and Carl Sargent’s Dishonesty in Parapsychology

Context I write this blog as a long-term investigator into psychology and the paranormal. This post concerns a saga of intellectual dishonesty by the late Cambridge University psychologist, Carl Sargent, and his mentor, Professor Hans J Eysenck, of King’s College London. A diary of events weaves a dark story that many wish the world wouldContinue reading “Hans Eysenck and Carl Sargent’s Dishonesty in Parapsychology”

Why ESP can never be found inside the laboratory. A new approach to the investigation of the paranormal

From the Preface [An ESP experiment] “immediately appeals to his [or her] unconscious readiness to witness a miracle, and to the hope, latent in all [people], that such a thing may yet be possible. Primitive superstition lies just below the surface of even the most tough-minded individuals, and it is precisely those who most fight…” Continue reading “Why ESP can never be found inside the laboratory. A new approach to the investigation of the paranormal”

“God Spoke To Me”: Subjective Paranormal Experience and the Homeostatic Response To Early Trauma

Citation: Marks DF. “God Spoke to Me”: Subjective Paranormal Experience and the Homeostatic Response to Early Trauma. Imagination, Cognition and Personality. 2021;40(3):223-272. doi:10.1177/0276236620934003 Available here. There is a strong connection between subjective paranormal experience and childhood trauma. In this paper I hypothesise that a perception of control in relation to the trauma is brought by homeostasisContinue reading ““God Spoke To Me”: Subjective Paranormal Experience and the Homeostatic Response To Early Trauma”