Parapsychology

[passionatefool]

I was talking to my psychology teacher today and he was telling us about how powerful the mind is. He said something about if we drive to the mall (or any other places) and just think or believe that there will be a front parking lot, there will always be one. I wasn't exactly sure what it was called. I then out of curiosity asked him for his opinion on stuff such as telekinesis and telepathy. He told me there is a whole field of study about it called parapsychology and people even get degree in it. He said that it isn't accepted in science (he said the reason why but my mind wandered off) but it doesn't mean it isn't true.

So what is your opinion on it? Just a bunch of BS or is there more to it?

[KichigaiNeko]

Scientifically it has not been proven to have any validity.

Having said that, there may be something of an expectation (?) of the mind with a connection to survival; the same as persons living in close proximity (i.e. Family and very close friends) are often able to "read" your emotional state to the point where it really is the current thought you have. Again I am thinking it is a survival/ hunting mechanism.

It is an interesting field but one I think Mr Randi is sure to keep his $$ in prize money
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi

[passionatefool]

Scientifically it has not been proven to have any validity.

Having said that, there may be something of an expectation (?) of the mind with a connection to survival; the same as persons living in close proximity (i.e. Family and very close friends) are often able to "read" your emotional state to the point where it really is the current thought you have. Again I am thinking it is a survival/ hunting mechanism.

It is an interesting field but one I think Mr Randi is sure to keep his $$ in prize money
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi

I love Mr. James Randi. I saw video of him debunking an association that claimed telepathy is real.

I have no doubt thatt he brain is powerful and there are many things that we are yet to understand. I don't really have an opinion on things like telekinesis or telepathy though.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

He said something about if we drive to the mall (or any other places) and just think or believe that there will be a front parking lot, there will always be one. I wasn't exactly sure what it was called.

The philosophy is called 'solipism'. My name for it is 'magical thinking'. Your teacher should know better.

The practice your teacher is talking about has been known by a lot of names, at least since the late nineteen century,and many books have been written about it.

Most recently,there was "You'll See It When You Believe It" by 'Dr' Wayne Dyer,and of course "The Secret". The claims are that we create our own reality and that we can interact with the universe by thought alone,asking for whatever we want,and that the universe will provide. It's woo.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Wayne Walter Dyer (born May 10, 1940) is an American self-help advocate, author, and lecturer.

Since 2000, he has appeared many times on PBS during their pledge drives. Some viewers, however, have criticized these appearances, suggesting "that PBS might be seen as lending its prestige to Dyer's spiritual views and aligning itself with his teachings". Other criticisms included skepticism of his status as a "spiritual mentor" and characterizing his teachings as consisting of superficial platitudes. Some viewers also expressed displeasure at the idea that Dyer himself must be profiting financially from this exposure of teachings that they considered to be non-rigorous and lacking practical or intellectual value.[8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Dyer

The Secret is a 2006 film[1] produced by Prime Time Productions, consists of a series of interviews related to the idea of thinking. It states that everything one wants or needs may be accomplished by believing that one will receive that outcome, repeatedly thinking about it, and maintaining positive emotional states to "attract" it. Distributed through DVD, and online (through streaming media), the film and the subsequent publication of a book by the same name and of the same topic as the fi, has attracted interest from media figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, and Larry King as well as criticism from the mainstream press.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_(2006_film)

[KichigaiNeko]

Oh now it is "If you believe it YOU WILL see it" ...

Yeah I know "Spare Me!"

To be honest..the whole 'parking spot thingy' is inconsistent to scientific research...aka not repeatable to any valuable level.

You may be venturing into a land that has no boundaries so I would suggest you have a very good map passionate.

[Doubting Thomas]

ESP, telekinesis, and all that woo stuff has pretty much been debunked, which is why it's not accepted in normal scientific circles. I'm surprised that anyone can actually get a degree in it, but about the only job you'll be able to get is hunting for ghosts on the SyFy channel.

I do believe that people are at times able to read other's thoughts, but not through any form of magical woo like ESP. If you live with someone long enough you get to know what they're thinking as they're thinking it. Visual clues that you don't realize you're reading have a lot to do with it. This is why the idea of ESP was invented. But in controlled laboratory conditions, it's always shown to not work.

[passionatefool]

Thanks for the responsr guys. Im surprised that my psychology teacher who is also a psychiatrist and have his own counselling business believing in parapsychology.

[Epimethean]

Platform 9 & 3/4. Yeah. Right.

[Minimalist]

There's always an open parking spot up front.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Thanks for the responsr guys. Im surprised that my psychology teacher who is also a psychiatrist and have his own counselling business believing in parapsychology.

Probably a Jungian. Old Carl Jung was pretty dippy;it was he who coined the term 'sychronicity' (meaningful coincidence). Two of his other ideas were 'the collective unconscious' and the 'racial archetype'. He also believed in poltergeists .He and Herr Doktor Freud did not get along.


Worth keeping in mind that psychiatric 'theories' of mind are not based on empirical evidence. That includes Freud's Ego,Id ,Super Ego,and his notion of the subconconscious so many blithely accept.


00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Collective unconscious is a term of analytical psychology, coined by Carl Jung. It is proposed to be a part of the unconscious mind, expressed in humanity and all life forms with nervous systems, and describes how the structure of the psyche autonomously organizes
experience. Jung distinguished the collective unconscious from the personal unconscious, in that the personal unconscious is a personal reservoir of experience unique to each individual, while the collective unconscious collects and organizes those personal experiences in a similar way with each member of a particular species.

Archetypes and collective representations
Jung considered that 'the shadow' and the anima/animus differ from the other archetypes in the fact that their content is more directly related to the individual's personal situation'[3], and less to the collective unconscious: by contrast, 'the collective unconscious is personified as a Wise Old Man'.[4]
Jung also made reference to contents of this category of the unconscious psyche as being similar to Levy-Bruhl's use of collective representations or "représentations collectives," Mythological "motifs," Hubert and Mauss's "categories of the imagination," and Adolf Bastian's "primordial thoughts."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious