Abstract

Discusses ESP--as an extrasensory perception or just the effect of subjective probability. The first part discusses the neuropsychological correlates of belief in a 'paranormal' or magical causation of coincidences. In particular, we review experimental evidence demonstrating that believers in ESP and kindred forms of paranormal phenomena differ from disbelievers with respect to indices of sequential response production and semantic-associative processing. The second part of the paper highlights how fundamental limitations in concept of randomness constrain the analysis and interpretation of forced-choice experiments in the field of parapsychology. Integrating Parts I and II, we propose that parapsychology should abandon the traditional, causal view of ESP as extrasensory perception; it should be recognized that the object under study is individual differences in guessing behavior. By adopting a non -causal approach, the basic critiques of the traditional conceptualization of ESP become superfluous and the interpretation of secondary effects can more parsimoniously be explained. By exploring the factors that systematically influence ESP as an Effect of Subjective Probability, a new parapsychology could ultimately advance to a respectable discipline within the behavioral sciences.