Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of Utrecht, 1983. / Abstract in Dutch. Includes indexes. Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-110).

Psi is the phenomenon of apparently responding to or receiving information by means other than the recognised senses. Psi information may influence human behaviour, without the individual intending this or even being aware of it. This thesis seeks to investigate nonintentional behavioural responses to psi. We present five empirical studies that investigated nonintentional behavioural responses to psi information. In each study, the psi information was hidden from participants, in that the participants neither had sensory access to it, nor did they know that it existed. Two different combinations of psi information and a behavioural response were examined. The first was the influence of hidden psi information on psychological task performance. The second was the influence of covert, remote observation by hidden observers on the social facilitation effect. In all the studies, the effects of individual differences in participants’ personalities were also considered. In Experiment 1 we investigated whether hidden targets influenced participants’ judgements of the lengths of lines. There was no overall psi effect, but we found a replication of a response bias effect and a significant correlation between psi and participants’ extraversion. In Experiment 2 we investigated whether hidden targets influenced participants’ speed on a maths task. There was no overall psi effect and no correlations between personality and psi scores. We reviewed previous research literature on social facilitation from the novel angle of investigating whether being watched can, in and of itself, lead to the social facilitation effect. Experiments 3, 4, and 5 developed the paradigm of testing for a social facilitation effect from remote observation, investigating whether remote observation leads to the same behavioural changes as knowingly being observed by a physically present person. We compared participants’ performance on psychological tasks under different observation conditions: alone, remotely observed by a hidden observer, and observed by a physically present observer. The expected social facilitation effect was not found in these experiments, leading to a series of improvements to the sampling, methodology, and tasks over the course of these experiments. As the social facilitation effect from a physically present observer was not reliably replicated, these experiments were not conclusive tests of whether there is a social facilitation effect from remote observation. However, there was an indication in Experiment 3 that remote observation does not exert a significant behavioural effect. Considered together, our studies explored novel approaches to examining nonintentional behavioural responses to psi. The significant correlation between participants’ extraversion and psi is, to our knowledge, the first time this effect has been found in a nonintentional psi experiment. This, and the replication of the response bias effect, represent important advances in parapsychology. Our experiments are also the first to test the assumption, inherent in many research designs, that covert observation does not affect participants’ behaviour. Overall, our findings did not support the psi hypothesis.

<p>This study was an attempt to replicate the positive results of a precognitive habituation (PH) experiment devised by Bem (2003). The procedure is based on the subliminal mere exposure (SME) design. In an SME procedure subjects are exposed to image-pairs in a preference task, after being exposed to one of those images (the target) subliminally. The target is preferred significantly more often due to the mere exposure effect. In the PH procedure the preference task precedes the exposure and images are of negative and erotic valence. It was hypothesized that due to exposure (in the future), subject preference will increase for negative and decrease for the erotic target images, especially for subjects classified erotically or negatively reactive (Bem, 2003). Also, that an overall (negative and erotic) effect would be shown. The results were not significantly above chance expectation for any of the hypotheses (50.0%; 47.2%, p = .149; 50.8%, p = .279).</p>

No description available.

<p>This study is an attempt to conceptually replicate a study by Ramakers, Stevens and Morris (2005) using a measure of electrodermal activity skin conductance (EDA) to evaluate the possibility of telepathy occurring between biologically and/or emotionally related senders and receivers. Ten negatively valenced and highly arousing target pictures were mixed with 10 blank control pictures in 10 blocks, with one of each kind in each block. The order of presentation of the target and control pictures within the block was determined randomly by a computer program. The series of 20 pictures were shown for the sender on a computer screen. Relaxation for the receiver was facilitated by soft music. It was hypothesized that there would be significantly more variance in the receiver EDA when the sender was exposed to negative arousing pictures, than to blank pictures. The results failed to show a significant difference in EDA variance between negative arousing and blank pictures, and did thus not support the telepathy hypothesis. It was recommended that future replications allocate more time for relaxation for the receiver.</p>

This study was an attempt to replicate the positive results of a precognitive habituation (PH) experiment devised by Bem (2003). The procedure is based on the subliminal mere exposure (SME) design. In an SME procedure subjects are exposed to image-pairs in a preference task, after being exposed to one of those images (the target) subliminally. The target is preferred significantly more often due to the mere exposure effect. In the PH procedure the preference task precedes the exposure and images are of negative and erotic valence. It was hypothesized that due to exposure (in the future), subject preference will increase for negative and decrease for the erotic target images, especially for subjects classified erotically or negatively reactive (Bem, 2003). Also, that an overall (negative and erotic) effect would be shown. The results were not significantly above chance expectation for any of the hypotheses (50.0%; 47.2%, p = .149; 50.8%, p = .279).

This study is an attempt to conceptually replicate a study by Ramakers, Stevens and Morris (2005) using a measure of electrodermal activity skin conductance (EDA) to evaluate the possibility of telepathy occurring between biologically and/or emotionally related senders and receivers. Ten negatively valenced and highly arousing target pictures were mixed with 10 blank control pictures in 10 blocks, with one of each kind in each block. The order of presentation of the target and control pictures within the block was determined randomly by a computer program. The series of 20 pictures were shown for the sender on a computer screen. Relaxation for the receiver was facilitated by soft music. It was hypothesized that there would be significantly more variance in the receiver EDA when the sender was exposed to negative arousing pictures, than to blank pictures. The results failed to show a significant difference in EDA variance between negative arousing and blank pictures, and did thus not support the telepathy hypothesis. It was recommended that future replications allocate more time for relaxation for the receiver.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Acadia University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 132-135). Also available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Acadia University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-135). Also available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Tübingen.