Journal of Parapsychology
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1 J OURNAL OF P ARA P SYCHOLOGY R HINE R ESEARCH C ENTER Volume 82, Number 1 Spring 2018 ISSN 0022-3387 1 Journal of Parapsychology Volume 82, Number 1 Spring 2018 ISSN 0022-3387 2 Journal of Parapsychology Editor-in-Chief Previous Editors Etzel Cardeña, Lund University, Sweden Founding editors: William McDougall and Joseph Banks Rhine. Past editors: Betty M. Humphrey, Gardner F. Murphy, John A. Associate Editors Palmer, Dorothy H. Pope, J. G. Pratt, K. Ramakrishna Rao, Lou- John Palmer, Rhine Research Center, USA isa E. Rhine, Bernard F. Riess, W. G. Roll, C. E. Stuart Chris A. Roe, University of Northampton, UK Caroline Watt, University of Edinburgh, UK Editorial Staff Statistical Associate Editor Nikolaos Koumartzis, Layout Editing Jessica Utts, University of California, Irvine, USA Robert Gebelein, Business Manager Book Reviews Editor Shawnee Phillips, Finances Carlos Alvarado, Sofia University. The Journal of Parapsychology, founded in 1937, is published 2-3 Editorial Board times a year by The Rhine Research Center, 2741 Campus Walk Carl Martin Alwood, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Ave., Building 500, Durham, NC 27705. The Journal publishes Pascal Baseilhac, Ki France, Tours, France original reports of experimental research in parapsychology, as Vilfredo De Pascalis, Sapienza Universitá di Roma, Italy well as research reviews, methodological, theoretical, and histor- Renaud Evrard, University of Lorraine, France ical papers, abstracts, and selected invited addresses from Para- Miguel Farias, Coventry University, UK psychological Association conventions, book reviews, and letters. Morris Freedman, University of Toronto, Canada. Christopher C. French, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK Print and electronic version of the Journal are available. Infor- Harvey Irwin, University of New England, Australia mation on subscriptions: http://www.rhine.org/what-we-do/ Graham Jamieson, University of New England, Australia journal-of-parapsychology.html. Orders for subscriptions or Menas Kafatos, Chapman University, USA back issues, correspondence, and changes of address: jour- Edward F. Kelly, University of Virginia Health System, USA [email protected], or Journal of Parapsychology, 2741 Campus Jeffrey J. Kripal, Rice University, USA Walk Ave., Building 500, Durham, NC 27705. Postmaster: Send Tanya Marie Luhrmann, Stanford University, USA address changes to the Journal of Parapsychology, 2741 Cam- David Luke, University of Greenwich, UK pus Walk Ave., Building 500, Durham, NC 27705. Subscribers: Steven Jay Lynn, Binghamton University (SUNY) Send change of address notice 30 days prior to the actual David Marcusson-Clavertz, Pennsylvania State University, change. The Journal will not replace undelivered copies result- USA ing from address changes. Gerhard Mayer, Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie Copyright and permission. Authorization to photocopy items und Psychohygiene, Germany for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use Christine Mohr, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland of specific clients, is granted by the Rhine Research Center, K. Ramakrishna Rao, GITAM University, India. provided that the base fee is paid directly to Copyright Robert Rosenthal, Harvard University, USA Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Dr., Danvers, MA 01923, Stefan Schmidt, Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, Germany www.copyright.com. For those organizations that have Christine Simmonds-Moore, University of West Georgia, USA been granted a photocopy license by CCC, a separate sys- Jerry Solfvin, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, USA tem of payment has been arranged. The Journal is the offi- Paul Stoller, West Chester University, USA cial publication of the Parapsychological Association, and is Rex G. Stanford, St. John’s University, USA indexed in CROSSREF, EBSCO, PSYCINFO, AND SCOPUS. Patrizio Tressoldi, Università di Padova, Italy Copyright © 2018 by the Rhine Research Center Mario Varvoglis, Institut Métapsychique International, Paris, France ISSN: 0022-338 Max Velmans, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK Robin Wooffitt, The University of York, UK Wellington Zangari, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil 3 3 Journal of Parapsychology, Vol. 82, No. 1 © 2018, The Rhine Research Center Table of Contents Editorial Keeping Up Is Hard to Do 5 Etzel Cardeña Articles A Test of Reward Contingent Recall 8 David J. Vernon Belief in the Paranormal: A State, or a Trait? 24 Harvey J. Irwin, Anthony D. G. Marks, and Christian Geiser Creation and Validation of the Belief in the Supernatural Scale 41 Malcolm B. Schofield, Ian S. Baker, Paul Staples, and David Sheffield Open Data in Parapsychology: Introducing Psi Open Data 65 Adrian Ryan Book Reviews Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence (2nd ed.) 77 By Etzel Cardeña, Steven Jay Lynn, and Stanley Krippner (Eds.) Chris A. Roe Reincarnation in America: An Esoteric History 84 By Lee Irwin James G. Matlock Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for an Afterlife 87 By Leslie Kean Etzel Cardeña ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ ΤΑΝΑΓΡΑΣ: ΤΟ ΧΑΜΕΝΟ ΗΜΕΡΟΛΟΓΙΟ [Angelo Tanagras: 91 The Lost Diary]. Research and comments by Nikolaos Koumartzis. Mario Varvoglis 4 Correspondence Marco Zdrenka 93 Instruction to Authors 95 We thank Eberhard Bauer (German), Etzel Cardeña (Spanish), and Renaud Evrard (French) for their translations. 5 Journal of Parapsychology © The Rhine Research Center 2018, Vol. 82, No. 1, 5-7 http://doi.org/10.30891/jopar.2018.01.01 Keeping Up Is Hard to Do Etzel Cardeña In a past editorial (Cardeña, 2017) I made the case that those engaged in psi research, as in all other scientific endeavors, must have a good knowledge of their field’s previous research and theoretical work. In this Editorial I turn to the present and future. It has become somewhat of an in-group meme that psi research has been at the forefront of methodological innovations. There is considerable truth to that statement. To give but a few examples (see also Cardeña, in press): a) in his encyclopedia entry on telepathy, James (1899) illustrated how aware were the foremost psychical re- searchers of his time of potential nonconscious artifacts in research, b) the French Nobel prizewinner Charles Richet was the probable originator of randomization in research design, in his experiments on psi (Hacking, 1988), c) Pratt and others collaborated with statisticians to put their endeavors on a secure footing and produced the first comprehensive meta-analysis (Pratt, Rhine, Smith, Stuart, & Greenwood, 1940; see also Gupta & Agrawal, 2012); d) the recent outcry in psychology and other dis- ciplines about QRPs (questionable research practices), including selective reporting, had already been discussed decades ago in psi-related publication policies and data analyses (e.g., Johnson, 1976; Office of Technological Assessment, 1989, p. 337), and e) parapsychology as a field is much better at using “masking” procedures than mainstream psychology and other fields (Watt & Nagtegaal, 2004). And as a more modest contribution, I will draw attention to the recent requirements by the Journal of Parapsychology to require demographic and attitudinal information from researchers interacting with participants. Although we have had evidence in psychological research for decades that the re- searchers’ gender, attitudes, and other characteristics can affect the performance of participants (e.g., Rosenthal & Rubin, 1978; Schlitz, Wiseman, Watt, & Radin, 2006; Silverman, 1974), I am not aware of any other scientific journal requiring this essential information. Past achievements in science, however, do not suffice in an ever-moving landscape, with increasing number of practitioners, changing standards, and advances in statistical, reporting, and technological procedures. When looking at the best standards, however, some parapsychology work has lagged. To give an immediate example, this issue of the Journal of Parapsychology inaugurates the use of digital object identifiers (DOIs), a way to help cross-reference publications that has become standard in sci- entific journals (see Ryan, this issue) but has been missing in most parapsychology journals. As a recent editor, I have also received submissions that have used dated statistical procedures and/or shown little awareness of advances in related fields. That is not, of course, the case of some submissions (e.g., Irwin, Marks, & Geiser, this issue; Schofield, Baker, Staples, & Sheffiedl, this issue), but reminds me of one of the most serious problems in the field, namely its insularity from what occurs in other areas of science. The wonderful Bial Foundation biannual symposia (full disclosure, I am an unpaid scientific advisor of 6 CARDEÑA its Board), which gather many of the foremost researchers in parapsychology and various other disci- plines, help the former to become aware of advances in other areas, but the field needs much more than that. I urge individual researchers as well as organizations (e.g., the PA, the SSE, the SPR, as well as Bial) to come up with enticements for psi researchers and open scientists in other areas to collaborate. For example, a good percentage of Bial Foundation biannual grants could be reserved for projects that integrate psi and mainstream components. This will help not only to break down the field’s insularity but also to keep psi researchers up to date in the advances of more mainstream areas. Another aspect that we need to embrace is the ongoing push for study registries and open data (see Ryan, this issue). As one of the contributions in this issue