Parapsychology

Parapsychology is an attempt to study supposed paranormal phenomenon involving the human mind. This includes such things as psychokinesis, clairvoyance, and telepathy. The goal is to apply the rigors of the scientific method and the advancements learned in studying the human mind learned in psychology to the world of the paranormal. In practice most of the experiments are of very poor quality design. They use poor controls (if any at all), usually have small sample sizes, ill defined terms and procedures, and rarely apply the concepts of double-blind studies.

The most famous example of bona fide parapsychology is probably the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab (PEAR). Pear attempted to prove that human thought could manipulate the functioning of machines. They used devices designed to generate random phenomenon, and then had subjects focus on disrupting that random pattern. They claimed to have shown that the experimental group of subjects focusing on disruption made the machine perform non-randomly in the direction the person was focusing. However, review of their procedures and data but that conclusion into serious doubt. All of the "effect" was due to a single observer who was a member of the lab. The PEAR group was recently shut down and is no longer in operation.

Skeptics regard parapsychology as a Pseudoscience, due to its continuous lack of verifiable results.

Christians regard parapsychology in much the same way as other skeptics, but when the so-called "black arts" are employed, it is seen as evil. Conjuring and other black arts are forbidden in the Bible.