science

Parapsychological Association

Parapsychological Association is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Parapsychological Association rather than just read about it. In short: The Parapsychological Association (PA) was formed in 1957 as a professional society for parapsychologists following an initiative by Joseph B. Rhine.

Key takeaways

Parapsychological Association belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Parapsychological Association to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Parapsychological Association from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Parapsychological Association (PA) was formed in 1957 as a professional society for parapsychologists following an initiative by Joseph B. Rhine. Its purpose has been "to advance parapsychology as a science, to disseminate knowledge of the field, and to integrate the findings with those of other branches of science." The work of the association is reported in the Journal of Parapsychology and the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. The Parapsychological Association became affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1969, and it is still an affiliate as of 2019.

History The Association was created in Durham, North Carolina, on June 19, 1957. Its formation was proposed by Rhine, then the director of the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, at the Workshop in Parapsychology held there. Using the occasion afforded by the wide representation of the field, Rhine proposed that the group form itself into the nucleus of an international professional society in parapsychology. Its first president was R. A. McConnell, then of the Biophysics Department at the University of Pittsburgh, and the first vice-president was Gertrude R. Schmeidler of the Department of Psychology of the City College of New York. Rhea White was named secretary-treasurer. Four others were elected to the council, bringing the total to seven: Margaret Anderson, Remi J. Cadoret, Karlis Osis, and W. G. Roll. One of the co-founding supporters of PA was anthropologist Margaret Mead. In 1984, Richard Feynman spoke at the annual convention of the association.

Activities In 1969, the association became formally affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The work of the association is reported in the Journal of Parapsychology and the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. The Association confers the Outstanding Career Award to recognize members who have sustained 20 years of research or service contributions to advance the discipline. The current president of the PA is American clinical psychologist James C. Carpenter.

Criticism The association has its critics, including physicist John Archibald Wheeler, who tried (without success) to convince the AAAS to expel the organization in 1979. During his presentation, Wheeler incorrectly stated that J. B. Rhine had committed fraud as a student. Wheeler retracted that statement in a letter to the journal Science.

See also American Society for Psychical Research International Association for Near-Death Studies Society for Psychical Research List of parapsychology topics

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Parapsychological Association

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Parapsychological Association claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Parapsychological Association before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Parapsychological Association ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Parapsychological Association

In research: Parapsychological Association appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Parapsychological Association in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Parapsychological Association is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American organizations established in 1957, Parapsychology, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Parapsychological Association outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Parapsychological Association in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Parapsychological Association means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Parapsychological Association out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Parapsychological Association in simple terms?

The Parapsychological Association (PA) was formed in 1957 as a professional society for parapsychologists following an initiative by Joseph B. Rhine.

Why does Parapsychological Association matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Parapsychological Association?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Parapsychological Association.