Presidential Address: Parapsychology's contribution to psychology: A view from the front line

Parapsychology can build bridges to many different scientific disciplines. Demonstrating that it can make valuable contributions to mainstream science will help establish parapsychology's relevance and credibility. Taking psychology as an example, the article gives cases from parapsychology's past and present in which the study of apparent anomalous communication or influence may lead to developments that are of mainstream benefit. First, at a time when experimental psychology was beginning to focus on measuring simple perceptual, cognitive, and motor functions, early Psychical researchers helped develop ideas of the mind in psychology. Second, the methodological challenges facing those investigating paranormal claims have led to important developments, such as the use of blind methods that have become widely adopted by the mainstream. Constructive engagement with critics can help identify methodological improvements that have the potential to benefit parapsychology as well as other mainstream areas that are dealing with similar problems such as difficult-to-replicate effects. Last, to build a more persuasive case for psi, parapsychologists need to work together to systematically investigate promising methodologies rather than hopping from one method to another. Preregistering studies as pivotal or exploratory would help to avoid the current problem of controversy over interpretation of meta-analyses conducted with knowledge of study results.