A more or less (with the emphasis on the less)
accepted branch of psychology concerned with paranormal phenomena; that is,
those that are presumed to be unexplainable using known laws and principles.
Generally included are extrasensory perception (ESP), telepathy, precognition,
telekinesis, clairvoyance, and the like. Although there is a great deal of
interest in parapsychology and many actively pursue the scientific basis of the
various claims that have been made, the majority of psychologists are deeply
skeptical and for good reason. First, the results of the individual experiments
that have reported positive findings have proven notoriously difficult to
replicate. Second, no mechanism has ever been proposed that could explain these
purported paranormal phenomena in any way that is coherent in view of the rest
of scientific knowledge. Precognition, for example, invites the hypothesization
of time travel by the mind. Third, and this reason is perhaps unfortunate, many
charlatans and fakes argue strongly for paranormal phenomena and many of the
purported effects have been shown to be the result of outright fraud.
