Extrasensory Perception is divided into two volumes, the first titled History, Controversy, and Research and the second Theories of Psi. It is introduced by Professor James Fallon, who describes himself as a “basic sciences hard-boiled neuroscientist” who generally considers psi (psychic power) to be little more than wishful thinking. However, he is so impressed by what he refers to as the sophistication demonstrated in this work—in terms of experimental design, statistical analysis, protection against fraud, and so forth— that he plans to make it required reading for his first-year graduate students. Such a positive endorsement by a self-described skeptic—combined with the work’s subtitle, Support, Skepticism, and Science—raises expectations of a rigorous and dispassionate examination of the evidence for extrasensory perception (ESP) and of the major methodological criticisms that it has engendered.
And therein lies the disappointment. While ESP proponents will no doubt be delighted by the parade of apparent data and theory in support of psi, skeptical criticism of parapsychological research is given short shrift indeed. Given that the first volume is titled History, Controversy, and Research, one might expect to find a detailed discussion and possible rebuttal of the many careful methodological criticisms leveled at ESP research by Ray Hyman, Susan Blackmore, David Marks, Richard Wiseman, and others, including me. However, of the fourteen chapters in this first volume, only three present a critical perspective, while the second volume virtually ignores criticism altogether.
While those three chapters are well-presented and make valuable contributions in their own right, none focuses on the many specific methodological shortcomings that plague such research. In the first of them, philosopher Richard Corry concludes that while there is nothing impossible about ESP, “evidence for ESP must meet a high standard, a standard that it does not seem to have reached.” He goes on to offer a thoughtful analysis of the difficulties involved in interpreting parapsychological data, but he does not address in any detail why he believes that such a standard has not been met. Next, a chapter by psychologist Christopher French provides worthy insights into how people with similar backgrounds in science can differ so much in terms of their acceptance or rejection of supposed evidence for psi. He also discusses how cognitive biases and neuroscience can best explain many ostensibly paranormal experiences.