STATUS OF ESP RESEARCH

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Body:  Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090013-9
 Introduction
 STATUS OF ESP RESEARCH
 I  ORDd
 ESP and general psychic
 a                                research has been of
 concern to funding and operating agencies, both public interest and and at times The Potential contributions of                                   Private,
 this research has been most diffic
 to assess because the investigations                                 ult
 under                                     have not always been conduc--ad
 appropriate and carefully monitored conditions nor have the
 the type of funding that other social science                        y received
 Thus the ESP community tends                     areas have found available,
 to be more private, inbred,
 evaluate,                                                        and difficult to
 This investigator hashad the opportunity
 reasonably well acquainted with major ESP Centers and researchers.-  This
 Opportunity resulted from his position with
 funding and                                      a foundation willing to Offer
 advice to the ESP
 field. He has served
 consultant to                                             as formal and informal
 such people as
 Carolina                        J.B. Rhine and his Institute
 formerly Para                                        in Durham, North
 Psychological Laboratory, Duke University); to
 Gaither Pratt of. the University Of Virginia, and to
 attended the national                                    others. He has
 and international meetings of the Para
 Association as a member in                                       PSYcholo
 good standin                                 gical
 in the ESP and                               for over 10 years.  His interest
 Psychic phenomena
 areas has been that of
 as an advocate nor a debunker                               an observer not
 This philoso
 known to the                                     phical Positionhas been well
 Parapsychological researchers., thus has
 to them personally or                                    Posed no threat
 Professionally.  He holds therefore
 relationship to evaluate the trends                            a unique
 in this field.
 Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090013-9
 Approved For Releac .'2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R0002   90013-9
 Study Objectives
 To determine the status of ESP.and psychic phenomena research
 and studies and to evaluate potential application of published
 and private findings.
 The general area of psychic phenomena gained tentative acceptance
 in the late 60s and early 70s and its investigators have been able to
 publish in more journals of other disciplines than in the past.  Previously
 their reports were principally restricted to journals of parapsychology
 and psychic phenomena.  In addition, parapsychology is now a division of the
 AAAS and some articles have appeared in their publication Science.  Articles
 have appeared in the public press such as Newsweek, Time, and other
 magazines describing the research efforts of such prestigeful groups as
 Stanford Research Institute on the psychic phenomena.  The Department of
 Defense publicly commented on such research studies and attempted to
 evaluate to some degree the application of such findings.  Unfortunately
 such critiques have been limited to only a few research efforts in the
 general field.
 It is suggested in this proposal that a more systematic review
 be made not only by examination of published research but by inter-
 views with researchers in the field.  Potential insights of such
 individuals would give us much more understanding and comprehensive knowledge
 of this field than just published reports.
 It is anticipated that this investigator, with his history as an
 observer in the field, would have good access to such populations.
 Such a review written would be more objective, less dramatic than those
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 Approved For ReleW 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000   090013-9
 written by the news media for popular consumption.    It could identify
 potential areas for future research emphasis and replication.  A
 systematic investigation of psychic phenomena research would also
 identify potentially productive research personnel entering the field.
 It is important that such a review be done without either threatening
 research personnel nor raising their hopes for more "respectable" funding
 than they have been able to find in the past. Obviously such a review
 should help eliminate some of the myths associated with this devilishly
 attractive and yet disappointing area of investigation.  At the same time
 potentially important leads regardless of their approaches or implications
 could be carefully evaluated.
 Approach
 Such a study must be conducted at a reasonably personal but objective
 level.  It must be low-key but thorough.  (1) a literature survey of
 domestic and selected foreign sources should be examined and recorded
 as an annotated bibliography; (2) interviews with both domestic and
 foreign investigators should be conducted to identify important ongoing
 projects; (3) major meetings of parapsychological association and other
 associations should be attended and reported; (4) appropriate visits
 should be arranged to examine procedures and methodologies being used
 by ESP and psychic phenomena investigators; (5) a report of these
 findings should be submitted at the end of the project.
 *A recent article in the New York Times (20 August 1974) best
 illustrates the need for the low key and personal approach.  The story
 discusses the exposure of Dr. Levy, a well respected parapsychologist as
 a data manipulator.  In few "scientific fields" is this type of event a
 reasonably common experience.  Only through personal contact and trust
 can any hopefully effective study be made of these phenomena avoiding
 the morass of personal enthusiam and lifetime commitment.
 Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-Rt P96-00787R000200090013-9
 Approved For Rele    2000/08/10: CIA-RDP96-00787R00090090013-9
 Contributions of the Study
 The value of the study generally appear in the text above.  Its
 principal contribution explicitly would be the status report and an
 objective evaluation of where the, investigators in the ESP and psychic
 phenomena area have been, where they are now, and what is predicted to
 be general trends in the future.  These findings obviously would apply
 to potential utilization of such research for practical application by
 a variety of public and private organizations.
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 Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090013-9