Abstract

Used a manual ganzfeld technique to investigate factors that might relate to obtaining a significant psi effect. Ss were recruited through a newspaper advertisement, from New Age groups and from 1st year psychology classes with the entry criterion being the reporting of spontaneous paranormal experiences. The 1st series (N = 30) was run without the auditory monitoring of Ss\' responses and obtained a 20% hit rate. The 2 main studies (each N = 30) incorporated the auditory monitoring facility and both obtained a 37% hit rate. There was evidence of an experimenter effect throughout with the 1st author\'s scoring rate being 40% for the experiment as a whole and 43% for the 2 main auditory monitored studies. Analysis of the data strongly indicated this was achieved by avoiding the use of psychology students in the quota of participants he tested. The New Age (N = 30) and Paranormal Experience groups (%iN = 36) were about equally successful, but the psychology students (N = 20!) as a group produced only 1 hit. Ss returning for a 2nd ganzfeld trial also appeared to be more successful. Results support the ganzfeld as a replicable technique of obtaining a psi effect with Ss from the general population who have prior paranormal experiences.