Society for Psychical Research
Encyclopedia
The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a non-profit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand "events and abilities commonly described as psychic
or paranormal
by promoting and supporting important research in this area" and to "examine allegedly paranormal phenomena in a scientific and unbiased way."
, Frederic William Henry Myers
, William Fletcher Barrett
, Henry Sidgwick
and Edmund Dawson Rogers
. The SPR was the first organisation of its kind in the world, its stated purpose being "to approach these varied problems without prejudice or prepossession of any kind, and in the same spirit of exact and unimpassioned enquiry which has enabled science to solve so many problems, once not less obscure nor less hotly debated."
Initially six committees were established: on Thought-Transference
, Mesmerism and similar phenomena, Mediumship
, Reichenbach Phenomena (Odic Force)
, Apparitions and Haunted Houses, physical phenomena associated with séance
s, and the Literary Committee which studied the history of these phenomena. One significant undertaking was the Census of Hallucinations, in which 15,000 people were asked to report on hallucinatory experiences while awake and in good health. Some 10% of those reported such experiences, and a small number of 'veridical hallucinations' were reported - that is, hallucinations which appeared to convey information not known to the person hallucinating at the time, which was believed by the authors to be suggestive of telepathy.
Critical SPR investigations into purported mediums
and the exposure of fake mediums led to a number of resignations in the 1880s by Spiritualist members, but the Society continued to investigate mediums, studying Leonora Piper
and Eusapia Palladino
among others. In 1885 the report of the Committee on Theosophical Phenomena expressed the opinion that the founder of the Theosophical Society
, Helena Petrova Blavatsky, was "neither the mouthpiece of hidden seers, nor... a mere vulgar adventuress; we think she has achieved title to permanent remembrance as one of the most accomplished, ingenious and interesting imposters in history". This report, which had a marked effect on Theosophy
, remains as with all SPR reports the opinion of the member concerned; the SPR holds no corporate opinions.
It gained the SPR a reputation for being scientific and highly critical. Mrs Salter recorded W. B. Yeats as saying "It's my belief that if you psychical researchers had been about when God Almighty was creating the world, he couldn't have done the job".
The SPR is frequently referred to in Victorian and Edwardian literature as "the Psychical Research Society". The term psychical was adopted to distinguish the purported phenomena from those classified as psychic, (that is simply mental processes such as thought, memory, etc.) and the SPR were to introduce a number of other neologisms which have entered the English language
, such as 'telepathy
', which was coined by Frederic Myers.
, Cambridgeshire
, England. It publishes the peer reviewed quarterly Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (JSPR), the irregular Proceedings and the magazine Paranormal Review. It holds an annual conference, regular lectures and two study days per year and supports the LEXSCIEN on-line library project.
The SPR states its principal aim as "understanding events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal by promoting and supporting important research in this area." It does not however, since its inception in 1882, hold any corporate opinions: SPR members have a variety of beliefs or lack thereof about the reality and nature of the phenomena studied, and many prominent sceptics have been active members of the Society.
, Frederick Myers, Charles Dodgson, Alfred Russel Wallace
, W. B. Yeats, C. G. Jung, William James
, Arthur Balfour
, Archie Roy
, Rupert Sheldrake
, Richard Wiseman
, Susan Blackmore
, Dean Radin
, Alastair Sim
, Peter Underwood
and Charles Tart
.
In 1893, the year that Arthur Balfour was president of the SPR the author Arthur Conan Doyle
joined the society.
Investigators of spontaneous phenomena (hauntings, etc.) have included Guy Lyon Playfair
and Maurice Grosse
, who investigated reports of the Enfield Poltergeist
. and Tony Cornell
who conducted extensive investigations over many decades.
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
or paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
by promoting and supporting important research in this area" and to "examine allegedly paranormal phenomena in a scientific and unbiased way."
History
The SPR was founded in 1882 in London by a group of eminent thinkers including Edmund GurneyEdmund Gurney
Edmund Gurney was an English psychologist and psychic researcher.-Early life:He was born at Hersham, near Walton-on-Thames. He was educated at Blackheath and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took a high place in the classical tripos and obtained a fellowship. His work for the tripos was...
, Frederic William Henry Myers
Frederic William Henry Myers
Frederic William Henry Myers was a classical scholar, poet, philosopher, and past president of the Society for Psychical Research.-Early life:...
, William Fletcher Barrett
William Fletcher Barrett
Sir William Fletcher Barrett was an English physicist and psychical researcher.-Life:He was born in Jamaica where his father, William Garland Barrett, who was an amateur naturalist, Congregationalist minister and a member of the London Missionary Society, ran a station for saving the souls of...
, Henry Sidgwick
Henry Sidgwick
Henry Sidgwick was an English utilitarian philosopher and economist. He was one of the founders and first president of the Society for Psychical Research, a member of the Metaphysical Society, and promoted the higher education of women...
and Edmund Dawson Rogers
Edmund Rogers
Edmund Dawson Rogers , was an English journalist and spiritualist...
. The SPR was the first organisation of its kind in the world, its stated purpose being "to approach these varied problems without prejudice or prepossession of any kind, and in the same spirit of exact and unimpassioned enquiry which has enabled science to solve so many problems, once not less obscure nor less hotly debated."
Initially six committees were established: on Thought-Transference
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
, Mesmerism and similar phenomena, Mediumship
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
, Reichenbach Phenomena (Odic Force)
Odic force
The Odic force is the name given in the mid-19th century to a hypothetical vital energy or life force by Baron Carl von Reichenbach...
, Apparitions and Haunted Houses, physical phenomena associated with séance
Séance
A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...
s, and the Literary Committee which studied the history of these phenomena. One significant undertaking was the Census of Hallucinations, in which 15,000 people were asked to report on hallucinatory experiences while awake and in good health. Some 10% of those reported such experiences, and a small number of 'veridical hallucinations' were reported - that is, hallucinations which appeared to convey information not known to the person hallucinating at the time, which was believed by the authors to be suggestive of telepathy.
Critical SPR investigations into purported mediums
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
and the exposure of fake mediums led to a number of resignations in the 1880s by Spiritualist members, but the Society continued to investigate mediums, studying Leonora Piper
Leonora Piper
Leonora Piper was a famous trance medium in the area of Spiritualism. Piper was the subject of intense interest and investigation by American and British psychic research associations during the early 20th century, most notably William James and the Society for Psychical Research. She claimed to...
and Eusapia Palladino
Eusapia Palladino
Eusapia Palladino was a Spiritualist medium from Naples in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ....
among others. In 1885 the report of the Committee on Theosophical Phenomena expressed the opinion that the founder of the Theosophical Society
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in 1875 to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments has several successors...
, Helena Petrova Blavatsky, was "neither the mouthpiece of hidden seers, nor... a mere vulgar adventuress; we think she has achieved title to permanent remembrance as one of the most accomplished, ingenious and interesting imposters in history". This report, which had a marked effect on Theosophy
Theosophy
Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
, remains as with all SPR reports the opinion of the member concerned; the SPR holds no corporate opinions.
It gained the SPR a reputation for being scientific and highly critical. Mrs Salter recorded W. B. Yeats as saying "It's my belief that if you psychical researchers had been about when God Almighty was creating the world, he couldn't have done the job".
The SPR is frequently referred to in Victorian and Edwardian literature as "the Psychical Research Society". The term psychical was adopted to distinguish the purported phenomena from those classified as psychic, (that is simply mental processes such as thought, memory, etc.) and the SPR were to introduce a number of other neologisms which have entered the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, such as 'telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
', which was coined by Frederic Myers.
Today
The Society is run by a President and a Council of twenty members, and is open to interested members of the public to join. The organisation is based at 49 Marloes Road, Kensington, London, with a library and office open to members, and with large archival holdings in CambridgeCambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, England. It publishes the peer reviewed quarterly Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (JSPR), the irregular Proceedings and the magazine Paranormal Review. It holds an annual conference, regular lectures and two study days per year and supports the LEXSCIEN on-line library project.
The SPR states its principal aim as "understanding events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal by promoting and supporting important research in this area." It does not however, since its inception in 1882, hold any corporate opinions: SPR members have a variety of beliefs or lack thereof about the reality and nature of the phenomena studied, and many prominent sceptics have been active members of the Society.
Notable members
Past and current notable members of the SPR include Henry SidgwickHenry Sidgwick
Henry Sidgwick was an English utilitarian philosopher and economist. He was one of the founders and first president of the Society for Psychical Research, a member of the Metaphysical Society, and promoted the higher education of women...
, Frederick Myers, Charles Dodgson, Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
, W. B. Yeats, C. G. Jung, William James
William James
William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...
, Arthur Balfour
Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...
, Archie Roy
Archie Roy
- Career :Professor Archie Edminston Roy , was educated at Hillhead High School and the University of Glasgow. He is married to Frances with three sons; Dr. Archie W N Roy, Ian Roy and David Roy....
, Rupert Sheldrake
Rupert Sheldrake
Rupert Sheldrake is an English scientist. He is known for having proposed an unorthodox account of morphogenesis and for his research into parapsychology. His books and papers stem from his theory of morphic resonance, and cover topics such as animal and plant development and behaviour, memory,...
, Richard Wiseman
Richard Wiseman
Richard Wiseman is Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.Wiseman started his professional life as a magician, before graduating in Psychology from University College London and obtaining a Ph.D...
, Susan Blackmore
Susan Blackmore
Susan Jane Blackmore is an English freelance writer, lecturer, and broadcaster on psychology and the paranormal, perhaps best known for her book The Meme Machine.-Career:...
, Dean Radin
Dean Radin
Dean Radin is a researcher and author in the field of parapsychology. He has been Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences , in Petaluma, California, USA, since 2001, and is on the Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychology at Sonoma State University, on the Distinguished...
, Alastair Sim
Alastair Sim
Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE was a Scottish character actor who appeared in a string of classic British films. He is best remembered in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 film Scrooge, and for his portrayal of Miss Fritton, the headmistress in two St. Trinian's films...
, Peter Underwood
Peter Underwood (parapsychologist)
This article is about the English paranormalist. For the Chief Justice of Tasmania, see Peter Underwood .Peter Underwood FRSA is an English author, broadcaster and paranormalist. Underwood was born in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire on May 16 1923. He is a prolific author on books covering...
and Charles Tart
Charles Tart
Dr. Charles T. Tart is an American psychologist and parapsychologist known for his psychological work on the nature of consciousness , as one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology, and for his research in scientific parapsychology. He earned his Ph. D...
.
In 1893, the year that Arthur Balfour was president of the SPR the author Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
joined the society.
Investigators of spontaneous phenomena (hauntings, etc.) have included Guy Lyon Playfair
Guy Lyon Playfair
Guy Lyon Playfair is a freelance writer and translator best known for his books about parapsychology.Additionally, he's worked for several U.S., British and Brazilian magazine, newspapers and publishing houses. From 1967 to 1971 he worked in the press section of the U.S. Agency for International...
and Maurice Grosse
Maurice Grosse
Maurice Grosse was a British paranormal investigator famous for his involvement in the Enfield Poltergeist case.-Early life:Grosse was educated at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London...
, who investigated reports of the Enfield Poltergeist
Enfield Poltergeist
The Enfield Poltergeist was a period of apparent poltergeist activity in London, England between August 1977 and September 1978, with an added outburst in August 1980.-Activity :...
. and Tony Cornell
Tony Cornell
Anthony Donald Cornell was a prominent figure in the investigations of ghosts and other paranormal activity across the United Kingdom during the later part of the twentieth century...
who conducted extensive investigations over many decades.
Other societies
A number of other psychical research organisations use the term 'Society for Psychical Research' in their name.- Australia - In 1979 the Australian Society for Psychical Research was founded.
- Austria - Founded in 1927 as the Austrian Society for Psychical Research, today the Austrian Society for Parapsychology.
- Canada - From 1908 to 1916 the Canadian Society for Psychical Research existed in TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. - Denmark - Selskabet for Psykisk Forskning (The Danish Society for Psychical Research) was founded in 1905.
- France - In 1885, a society called the Société de Psychologie Physiologique (Society for Physiological Psychology) was formed by Charles Richet, Théodule-Armand RibotThéodule-Armand RibotThéodule-Armand Ribot , French psychologist, was born at Guingamp, and was educated at the Lycée de St Brieuc.In 1856 he began to teach, and was admitted to the École Normale Supérieure in 1862...
and Léon Marillier. It existed until 1890 when it was abandoned due to lack of interest. - Netherlands - The Studievereniging voor Psychical Research (Dutch for Society for Psychical Research) was founded in 1917.
- Poland - The Polish Society for Psychical Research was very active before the second world war.
- Scotland - The Scottish Society for Psychical Research is active today.
- Sweden - Sällskapet för Parapsykologisk Forskning (the Swedish Society for Parapsychological Research) was founded in 1948.
- USA - An American branch of the Society was formed as the American Society for Psychical ResearchAmerican Society for Psychical ResearchThe American Society for Psychical Research is an organisation dedicated to parapsychology based in New York, where it maintains offices and a library. It is open to interested members of the public to join, and has a website...
(ASPR) in 1885, which became independent in 1906. A splinter group, the Boston Society for Psychical Research existed from May 1925 to 1941.
See also
- American Society for Psychical ResearchAmerican Society for Psychical ResearchThe American Society for Psychical Research is an organisation dedicated to parapsychology based in New York, where it maintains offices and a library. It is open to interested members of the public to join, and has a website...
- International Association for Near-Death StudiesIANDSThe International Association for Near-Death Studies is an organization for studying and disseminating information on the phenomena of the near death experience . IANDS was founded in the USA in 1981. Today it has grown into an international organization, which includes a network of more than 50...
- Parapsychological Association
- List of parapsychology topics