Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab
| Part of a series on the |
| Paranormal |
|---|
The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) was a research program at Princeton University that studied engineering anomalies, anomalistic psychology, and parapsychology.[1] Established in 1979 by Robert G. Jahn, then Dean of Engineering and Applied Science, PEAR closed in February 2007, concluding over 25 years worth of research.[2] The program was and remains highly controversial.[3]
PEAR engaged in a wide number of parapsychological exercises on topics such as psychokenesis (PK) and extrasensory perception (ESP) using a variety of random physical systems.[4][5] The program, contentious with critics from its inception, had a strained relationship with Princeton University and was characterized as "an embarrassment to science" by Robert L. Park, a physicist from the University of Maryland.[2][6][7] PEAR's work was rejected by many peer-reviewed journals: "One editor famously told Dr. Jahn that he would consider a paper "if you can telepathically communicate it to me.""[8] Its work has been described as pseudoscience by some.[who?][7][9][10][11][12] Others disagree: "I don’t believe in anything Bob is doing, but I support his right to do it," said Will Happer, a professor of physics at Princeton.[13]
Parapsychological experiments with random numbers
PEAR employed electronic random event generators (REGs) to explore the ability of test subjects to use telekinesis to influence the random output distribution of these devices to conform to their pre-recorded intentions to produce higher numbers, lower numbers, or nominal baselines.[14][non-primary source needed] Most of these experiments utilized a microelectronic REG, but experiments were also conducted with "a giant, wall-mounted pachinko-like machine with a cascade of bouncing balls".[2] PEAR's activities have been criticized by some[who?] for their scientific methodology, level of rigor, and overuse of statistics without a causal agent.[15]
In 1984, the United States National Academy of Sciences, at the request of the US Army Research Institute, formed a scientific panel to assess the best evidence from 130 years of parapsychology. Part of its purpose was to investigate military applications of PK, for example to remotely jam or disrupt enemy weaponry. The panel heard from a variety of military staff who believed in PK and made visits to the PEAR laboratory and two other laboratories that had claimed positive results from micro-PK experiments. The panel criticized macro-PK experiments for being open to deception by conjurors, and said that virtually all micro-PK experiments "depart from good scientific practice in a variety of ways". Their conclusion, published in a 1987 report, was that there was no scientific evidence for the existence of psychokinesis.[16] The psychologist C. E. M. Hansel who evaluated Jahn's early psychokinesis experiments at the PEAR laboratory wrote that a satisfactory control series had not been employed, they had not been independently replicated and the reports contained lack of detail. Hansel noted that "very little information is provided about the design of the experiment, the subjects, or the procedure adopted. Details are not given about the subjects, the times they were tested, or the precise conditions under which they were tested."[17]
In all cases, the observed effects were very small (about one tenth of one percent), but over extensive databases they compounded to statistically significant deviations from chance behavior.[15] In PEAR's original book, Margins of Reality, some have noted that the baseline for chance behavior used did not vary as statistically appropriate (baseline bind). PEAR researchers attributed this baseline bind to the motivation of the operators to achieve a good baseline.[18] It has further been noted that in the original experimentation, a single test subject (presumed to be a member of PEAR's staff) participated in 15% of PEAR's trials, and was responsible for half of the total observed effect. Others, however, have disputed this claim.[15]
PEAR's results have further been criticized for deficient reproducibility. In one instance two German organizations, working with Robert G. Jahn failed to reproduce PEAR's original results, though anomalistic phenomena were still noted in the resultant data.[18] An attempt by York University's Stan Jeffers to replicate the parapsychological effects of PEAR's results also failed, though his study used a different methodology than that of the PEAR researchers.[15]
References
- ^ Pigliucci, Massimo (2010-05-15). Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. University of Chicago Press. p. 77. ISBN 9780226667874.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help)CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - ^ a b c Carey, Benedict (2007-02-10). "A Princeton lab on ESP plans to close its doors". The New York Times.
- ^ *Burnett, D. Graham (Summer 2009). "Games of chance". Cabinet. No. 34 Testing.
- ^ Hopkins, Peter L. (2002-04-11). "Princeton studies mind reading - or did you already know that?". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
- ^ "Experiments". princeton.edu. Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research.
- ^ Siegel, Robert (host); Norris, Michele (host); Dunne, Brenda (guest) (2007-02-12). "ESP research lab closes after 28 years". All Things Considered. National Public Radio. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
- ^ a b Reed, J.D. (2003-03-09). "Mind over matter". The New York Times.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/science/10princeton.html?pagewanted=all
- ^ Merolla, Lisa (2007-02-23). "'Pseudoscience' lab closes at Princeton". The Daily Free Press. Boston.
- ^ Marek, Anthony (2007-02-28). "When is 'research' not really research?". Washington Square News. New York. UWIRE.
- ^ Oling-Smee, L (2007-03-01). "The lab that asked the wrong questions". Nature. 446 (7131): 10–1. doi:10.1038/446010a. PMID 17330012.
- ^ Alcock, JE (2003). "Give the null hypothesis a chance: Reasons to remain doubtful about the existence of Psi" (PDF). Journal of Consciousness Studies. 10 (6–7): 29–50.
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/science/10princeton.html?pagewanted=2
- ^ Jahn, RG; Dunne, BJ; Nelson, RD; Dobyns, YH; Bradish, GJ (1997). "Correlations of random binary sequences with pre-stated operator intention: A review of a 12-year program" (PDF). Journal of Scientific Exploration. 11 (3): 345–67.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|displayauthors=ignored (|display-authors=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d Carroll, Robert Todd (2013-04-16). "The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR)". The Skeptic's Dictionary (online ed.).
{{cite book}}: External link in|chapterurl=|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help) - ^ Frazier, Kendrick (1990-12-31). "Improving Human Performance: What About Parapsychology?". The Hundredth Monkey and Other Paradigms of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. pp. 149–61. ISBN 9780879756550.
- ^ Hansel, C.E.M. (1989). The Search for Psychic Power. Prometheus Books. pp. 187–95. ISBN 0879755164.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ a b Jeffers, Stanley (May–June 2006). "The PEAR proposition: Fact or fallacy?". Skeptical Inquirer. 30 (3). Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
