Parapsychology designates the study of paranormal phenomena which, outside the framework of classical psychology, involve the psyche and its interaction with the environment.

Far from astrologers, seers and other mediums, parapsychologists claim to be scientists. They work on subjects far from being consensual, of course, but with scientific methods and within the framework of academic research. They do not promise “revelations”.

Parapsychology is not about anything that is bizarre or unexplained. She is not interested in UFOs, monsters, vampires or witchcraft. Only to phenomena which suggest that the mind can interact with its environment, following laws which do not seem to fall within the scope of classical physics or psychology. This may be :

• telepathy : transmission of thoughts or emotional states between two people, at a distance and without a known means of communication;
• clairvoyance: perception of objects or events not directly visible in space;
• precognition or retrocognition: perception of objects or events to come or have occurred in the past, without having available elements of information allowing them to be considered;
• psychokinesis: action of thought on matter, without there being any physical contact. This can be telecinesis (movement of objects) or psychokinesis (deformation of objects).

Telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition or retrocognition are grouped together in the category of extra-sensory perceptions. Parapsychologists also study other related phenomena, such as seeing apparitions, poltergeists, psychic healings, near-death experiences, or exits from the body.

Parapsychology aims as much to find an explanation for all these “psi experiences” as to verify that they are true, and do not belong to “tricks” of magicians.

Even if this discipline, which gives little results, is contested, it remains taught in some universities, and remains recognized as a legitimate field of research by the American Academy of Sciences (AAAS).

Anyone can call themselves a parapsychologist. Riding on the success of pseudo-sciences, many “psychic experts” do not hesitate to do so, offering their clients to help them develop their psychic powers, to access their previous lives or to communicate with them. spirits. We must be wary of it. “Genuine” parapsychologists, those who conduct scientific studies to try to understand the cases reported to them, themselves find it difficult to prove that these psi phenomena exist.

The sciences having already made it possible to answer many metapsychical questions, researchers in parapsychology are not very numerous today: the Parapsychological Association, recognized by the AAAS, has only about 200 members throughout the world.

If you are convinced that you are a “psi subject” or that you have had a paranormal experience, you can contact them. In France, the International Metapsychic Institute (IMI) notably offers an Orientation and Support Service for People Sensitive to Exceptional Experiences (SOS PSEE), intended to listen to this type of testimony. You will not necessarily have the answer to your questions, but if your experience interests these scientists, it may feed their studies.

First, parapsychologists collect testimonies about the allegedly paranormal experiences they hear about, in order to study them. They try to identify their characteristics, the conditions under which they manifest themselves, etc. Then they try to find an explanation for them. Many cases are linked to normal phenomena which were misinterpreted by witnesses. Others are still puzzles: they undoubtedly correspond only to coincidences, but they could also be true scientific revolutions. They may be explained later by new scientific laws.

When studying a hypothetical faculty of the mind to perceive information by means other than the five senses that we know, parapsychologists are very attached to strictly follow scientific methodologies. Strangely, many parapsychological studies therefore fully meet the standards demanded by scientific publications. The disagreement with other scientists therefore relates not to the method, but to the interpretation of the results, which often suffers from significant selection bias: we are always more motivated to publish positive statistical results than negative… Thus, if we only tested true theories, but by publishing only the few statistically significant releases that show what you want to demonstrate, 100% of those publications would be false, even with a scientific method.

It is moreover the subject of study of another category of parapsychologists, formed by the skeptics. These zeteticians, hunters of fake news, track down all the flaws coming from a too direct adhesion to appearances, to what is probable but not necessarily true. This is what the only laboratory in France working on paranormal phenomena does: the zetetics laboratory at the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis.

Parapsychology is multidisciplinary. It is of interest to psychologists as well as physicists, anthropologists and ethnologists. Parapsychology degrees are rare in Europe. Only the University of Edinburgh offers a doctorate in this area. The Catholic University of Lyon offers a course entitled “Sciences, society and so-called paranormal phenomena”.

But there are few places: scientific parapsychology is a tiny field, with only a few dozen positions in the world, mostly part-time, and very little funding. The chances of finding suitable work there are really minimal.