Clairvoyance, Telepathy, and Psychology

i~ r' REVIEWS CLAIRVOYANCE, TELEPATHY, AND PSYCHOLOGY-* S. N. F. CHANT New Frontiers ofthe Mind presents the findings of a seven-years· investigation of extra-sensory perception, or " clairvoyance, .and telepathy, conducted at Duke University. .In the experiments reported, a pack of twenty-five cards was used in which five different designs, namely a circle, a square, wavy lines, a cross, and a st~r, each appeared five times. As a rule the subjects were required to name the design on each card as the experimenter drew and held them face down, or while they remained stacked before him. If the subject's accuracy was reliably greater (in the statistical sense) than the most likely chance result, such an occurrence was accept~d as a demonstration of clairvoyance. When. the experimenter merely thought of the order of a pack of such cards " and the subject checked his guesses against 'this, the test was one of telepathy. New Frontiers of the Mind is fairly representative of a large group of publications which may be critically evaluated from various standpoints. .In the first place it ·may be considered solely as a source of entertainment. From this standpoint its value has been amply demonstrated by its wide circulation and its prominence in c~rrent newspaper items and radio programmes. In addition it may be thought to have a' certain informative value. It can be readily conceded to possess this value with regard to that type of information which provides pleasant conversational material for luncheons, teas, and bridge parties. These two values, provide sufficient justification for recommending the book for general reading. Beyond these values, however, Dr. Rhine and numerous readers maintain that the book has .scientific importance. ,This , raises quite a different c1aim. The scientific value of such a book is nota matter to be decided by the general public. Only persons of scientific training are qualified to pass upon its importance. In so doing, the scientist is concerned with two ,main questions: thescientific reliability of the information presented,. and the scientific significance of such information. The first of these considerations requires a critical appraisal ·of the .acceptability of the method employed for obtaining the infor- *N~w .Frontiers ~j tie Mind, by J. B. Rhine, Oxford University Press, 1937. 265 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY rnation. This turns upon the adequacy of the control of the experimental situation "and the extent to which the results have _ been confirmed by other observers. Certain criticisms have been made with reference to the translucence of the cards, bias on the part of the experimenters, and the casual nature of the general working conditions. Attempts to confirm the findings have yielded contradictory results; some investigators verifying the findings, others denying them. Broadly speaking, however, Dr. Rhine's results are as scientifically reliable as is a considerable amoun~ of information, of a more conventional sort, which is accepted in scientific psychology. Had his results not been so contradictory to the general standpoint of conventional psychology there would have been little criticism of his experimental method. The adequacy of the method, however, does not guarantee the significance of the results. Dr. Rhine probably could have reported with an exceedingly high degree of scientific reliability that all his subjects came for the tests wearing shoes, but such a report would not have had much significance. Such a finding would have been too irrelevant to the matter under consideration. ' In the investigations reported, Dr. Rhine has presented his findings in a form which so reduces their significance as to make them almost negligible. We must assume that he would not have done this unless forced to by the nature of his findings. Hadhe been able he would have chosen some better way for bringing out their significance. This does not say much for his find~ngs. In order to indicate their significance, he has made use 6£ the ' theory of probability. For this purpose he calculated the most likely number of correct calls which "would occur according to chance, and compared his subjects' calls with this prediction. If a subject's correct"calls were reliably greater, in the statistical sense, than what would be expected on the basis of...