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2010, Volume 10(1), pp.
5-39
The
Australian Sheep-Goat Scale: Development and Empirical Findings
MICHAEL A. THALBOURNE
ABSTRACT: The
phrase “the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale”, or ASGS for short, refers
to a questionnaire measure (or family of measures) of belief in
various aspects of the paranormal, such as extrasensory perception
(ESP), life after death, and psychokinesis (PK). The term “sheep” is
traditionally used for “believer” in some aspect of psychic
phenomena, while “goat” is used for “disbeliever”. Paranormal
phenomena have in common the fact that they contradict C. D. Broad’s
(1978) Basic Limiting Principles about the existence and operation
of mind in the mathematico-physical world, and are therefore in some
sense anti-scientific. This paper describes the evolution of the
ASGS from a 10-item instrument to an 18-item measure. Since the
beginnings of the ASGS in 1976, versions of the scale have been
administered frequently, and a summary is here provided of relevant
empirical findings, both parapsychological and psychological.
Finally, a new and improved 26-item version of the scale is offered,
based upon, and named for, attitude towards the Basic Limiting
Principles.
2010, Volume 10(1),
pp.
41-68
Shamanic-Like
Journeying and Psi: II. Mental Boundaries, Phenomenology, and the
Picture-Identification Task
ADAM J. ROCK & LANCE STORM
ABSTRACT: Storm and
Rock (2009a) argued that it would be worthwhile investigating
psi-conducive treatments other than the Ganzfeld. We thus proposed our
imagery cultivation model. To test our model, Storm and Rock (2009b)
randomly assigned non-shaman participants (N = 108) to one of two
conditions: (1) a control condition (n = 53) consisting of sitting
quietly with eyes open; or (2) a treatment condition (n = 55)
involving shamanic-like journeying instructions followed by 15 minutes of
monotonous drumming (8 bps). Participants described verbally, and then
ranked, a randomly-selected concealed line-drawing held during the
condition. The direct hit rate was significant, 34.5% (PMCE
= 25%) in the shamanic-like condition, but the hit rate for the control
condition was at chance, 22.6%. In the present
study, we hypothesised that direct hits correlates with Mental Boundaries
(Rawlings, 2001-2002; Boundary Questionnaire Short Form) and
subjective experience (Pekala, 1991; Phenomenology of Consciousness
Inventory). We also investigated differences between conditions and
‘thin’ vs. ‘thick’ Mental Boundary participants regarding subjective
experience. Direct hits did not correlate significantly with Mental
Boundaries, but correlated significantly with PCI major dimension,
Internal Dialogue, for the shamanic-like group, but not the control group.
Significant differences between the shamanic-like and control groups were
found on three PCI major dimensions (higher
Negative Affect, Altered Experience, and Imagery in the shamanic-like
group) and four minor dimensions (higher
Anger, Body Image, Perception, and Meaning in the shamanic-like group).
Significant differences between ‘thin’ and ‘thick’ Mental Boundaries were
found on two PCI major dimensions (lower
Negative Affect and higher Volitional Control in thin Mental Boundaries),
but not on minor dimensions. Our findings
suggest that subjective experience can be changed using a shamanic-like
journeying treatment, and aspects of these changes may be psi-conducive.
2010, Volume 10(1),
pp. 70-81
Transliminality:
A Fundamental Mechanism in Psychology and Parapsychology
MICHAEL A. THALBOURNE
ABSTRACT: The
concept of transliminality has been variously defined, but usually with
the implication that it involves greater incursions from the subliminal
consciousness, “across the threshold”, into supraliminal awareness. The
concept was derived from a series of factor analyses and eventually
embraced the variables paranormal belief and experience, mystical
experience, creative personality, manic experience, magical ideation,
absorption, fantasy proneness, hyperaesthesia, and (positive) attitude
towards dream interpretation. This paper reviews the evidence and
conceptualization leading to the concept of transliminality. It analyses
the various constituents of transliminality, suggesting its relevance to
psychological and parapsychological research and to the concept of
psychosis.
2010, Volume 10(2),
pp. 120-138
Unusual
Perceptual Experiences and ESP under Psychomanteum Stimulation:
Imagery/Hallucination Proneness and Schizotypal Personality Measures
ALEJANDRO PARRA & JORGE VILLANUEVA
ABSTRACT: Although
the psychomanteum, originally designed to facilitate reunion experiences
with deceased individuals, is not normally employed to test ESP, it may be
that it is psi-conducive. This study aimed to test psi performance in
high-scoring participants on measures of unusual perceptual experiences and
unusual thinking styles. One hundred twenty eight participants were asked to
verbalize their mental impressions as much as possible after psychomanteum
stimulation. A number of significant results were found. Participants who
scored high on visual imagery, visual, auditory, and tactile hallucination,
tended to psi-hit. Only the high-scoring visual imagery, visual and tactile
hallucination groups (but not the auditory hallucination group) scored
significantly higher than the low-scoring groups. Given that suggestion may
have a causal role in the experience of anomalous perception, it is
plausible that the incidence of psi in the psychomanteum is a function of
explicit suggestions for such experiences presented during the facilitation
procedure, which may be augmented by restricted stimulation and
dissociation.
2010, Volume 10(2),
pp. 140-152
Is the ‘Sense
of Being Stared At’ an Artefact of Response Bias?
ADAM J. ROCK
ABSTRACT: Despite a
few notable exceptions (e.g., Radin, 2004), the issue of response bias
has been ignored in studies investigating the sense of being stared at.
In one recent ‘sense of being stared at’ study, Ferris and Rock (2009)
synthesised Ganzfeld and remote staring methodologies and
reported various significant results concerning stare and no-stare
hit rates. The aim of the present study was to use Ferris and
Rock’s data-set to examine the potential issue of response bias associated
with their receivers’ stare and no-stare guesses. The response bias
corrected results presented in this paper are evaluated in light of Ferris
and Rock’s initial findings .
2010, Volume 10(2),
pp. 154-176
A Study on
Coincidences
THOMAS MOORE, MICHAEL A. THALBOURNE, & LANCE STORM
ABSTRACT: An
experiment was conducted to determine if two personality factors,
egocentricity and paranormal belief, influenced people’s assertions about
ostensible psychic factors involved in coincidences. Participants (N
= 75) were presented with six coincidences from two literary sources (Jung,
1973; Plimmer & King, 2004), and were then asked to rate them on degree of
paranormality. Since some people believe that some coincidences are too
astounding to have normal explanations, it was theorised that there is a
relationship between paranormal belief and attribution of psychic causes to
coincidences. The egocentricity bias is a bias brought about by egocentrism,
which is defined as the belief that another person’s perceptions and
knowledge bases are the same as one’s own (Falk, 1989). It was theorised
that egocentricity influences the degree to which coincidences are thought
to be caused by psychic factors. In the present study, egocentricity was
measured on the Selfism Scale (Phares & Erskine, 1984). Participants were
divided into ‘High’-, ‘Medium’-, and ‘Low’-Selfism groups, and were
designated paranormal believers (sheep), or paranormal non-believers
(goats), based on Australian Sheep-Goat Scale scores (Thalbourne, 1995a,b).
The High-Selfism group rated the coincidences significantly higher on
paranormality than the other two groups, and there was a sheep-goat effect
(sheep rated the coincidences higher on paranormality than goats).
Alternative explanations of the results are discussed, and recommendations
made for future research .
2010, Volume 10(2),
pp. 178-193
Spontaneous
Cases Concerning Telephone Calls and Text Messages
CALLUM E. COOPER
ABSTRACT: The author
provides some accounts of phenomena relating to telephone and text message
experiences suggestive of survival of death as discussed by Rogo and Bayless
(1979), and recently by Cooper (2010a). The paper also includes supposedly
anomalous experiences for consideration that simply involve the living and
are not dissimilar in their characteristics to cases of ‘Telephone
Telepathy’. Possible explanations are considered and discussed. Issues of
collecting and researching spontaneous cases are also discussed.
2010, Volume 10(2),
pp. 194-208
Transliminality: A Bibliography 1991-2010
MICHAEL A. THALBOURNE & LANCE STORM
ABSTRACT: Theoretical, methodological and empirical work on the construct of
transliminality (psychological material crossing the threshold into
consciousness) began in 1991. Since that time the number of articles on the
topic has grown considerably and continues to grow and has now reached about
74 as of our last online search. For the benefit of researchers and students
of transliminality, this article provides a bibliography of all published
articles to date, together with selected abstracts (and comments thereof
where appropriate). The transliminality concept is being widely used in
diverse areas of research, though it may be too soon to educe common themes
from that research, apart from the central theme of “threshold-crossing”.
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