Attitudes toward the Existence and Scientific Investigation of Extrasensory Perception

Summary

An attempt to identify a possible delimiting condition of extrasensory perception was made by examining the relationship among S s' beliefs regarding the existence of ESP, their beliefs concerning the appropriateness of the scientific investigation of ESP, and their performance on a clairvoyance task. It was predicted that S s' beliefs regarding the existence of ESP would interact with their beliefs concerning the appropriateness of scientific research so that S s who believed in ESP would score significantly above chance on the clairvoyance task and S s who did not believe in ESP would score significantly below chance only when they believed scientific research on ESP was appropriate. When scientific research was believed to be inappropriate S s were predicted to score at chance levels regardless of their beliefs regarding the existence of ESP. No evidence was found to support this hypothesis or the existence of ESP.