ESP

ESP

ESP, or extrasensory perception, is a claim of perception that takes place without use the ordinary sensory channels like sight, hearing, smell, touch, or taste.   Someone who contends that they have these abilities is known as a psychic.   Parapsychology, the scientific study of ESP, ghosts, and other things that do not fall into the realm of ordinary psychology, was developed by J.B. Rhine.   He was a professor from Duke University who generated the term ESP in 1927.   There are different types of ESP, including telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.
Telepathy, which means distant feeling, is the process of reading another person’s mind.   Dr. Rhine developed a telepathy test known as the Zener Cards.  
These were cards containing pictures of shapes.   The person claiming to be telepathic has the responsibility of identifying which shape another person has just looked at and is thinking about.   Another type of extrasensory perception is known as clairvoyance, meaning clear sight.   People with this type of ESP claim to be able to see things that are not really there.   Psychic detectives testify that they are clairvoyant, as they believe they can find missing   people and lost objects.   The third and final type of ESP that will be discussed is precognition.   This is known as the ability to see into the future.   People with precognition claim that they can predict what will happen at a later date and time.
In the early stages of researching psycho phenomena, the methods used had major downfalls.   These downfalls resulted in useless results (Randi, 1980, 1982).   It is easy to be a critic of the different types of ESP due to the inconsistencies of scientific evidence.   Supporters believe that ESP does not work upon request due to known skepticism during testing.   One known research technique is the ganzfeld experiment.   This technique involves the person who claims to have ESP being placed in a room wearing goggles and white noise producing earphones.   A person...