Abstract

Reports further developments in the case of W. J. Levy, former director of the Institute for Parapsychology, who had falsified the results of a study of psychokinesis in rats. The extent of the falsification, attempts to replicate Levy's studies, and reactions to and consequences of the case are examined. It is noted that no sound or significant results have thus far been found in any portion of the study with which Levy was associated. Failures to replicate Levy's findings are described, although some of his earlier research appears to have been successfully repeated; however, all of the independent replications have involved modifications of Levy's procedures. The often sympathetic and essentially fair-minded reactions to Levy's falsifications are related to the efforts of parapsychologists to fully validate their field. The long-term effects of the case on parapsychology as a whole will probably depend on the unity of response among researchers in the field and the extent to which the entire issue of falsification is examined in research journals and laboratories. A bibliography of Levy's work is appended.