Syllabus: People in Parapsychology

Course Description

This 4 week course will explore some of the important people who helped to build the field of parapsychology and who made major breakthroughs that revolutionized the sciences. This course focuses on the people, their lives and their contributions, to give depth to our understanding of the evolution of parapsychology from the 19th century through modern times.

This course will include some of the original psychical researchers, the early years of parapsychology in academic environments, major contributors through the mid to late 20th century, and some more recent researchers who have made thier marks on the field.

The focus of this course will be the people of parapsychology, but the list of people who are included may change each time it is taught based on the preferences of the instructor.

Course Outline

  • Weekly Course Topics

    • Week 1: People of the early days of psychical research

      • What & who this course is about
      • The founders of psychical research
        • Henry Sidgwick
        • Frederic Myers
        • Edmund Gurney
        • Eleanor Sidgwick
        • William Barrett
        • William Crookes
        • Frank Podmore
        • James Hyslop
        • Oliver Lodge

    • Week 2: Into the Age of Experimentation & Parapsychology

      • John Coover: Experiments in Psychical Research
      • William McDougal
      • Focus on the Rhines: J.B. & Louisa
      • J.G. Pratt
      • Gardner Murphy
      • Focus on Gertrude Schmeidler

    • Week 3: Investigating the Paranormal

      • Focus on: Nandor Fodor
      • Hereward Carrington
      • Harry Price
      • Focus on: William G. Roll
      • Arthur Hastings
      • Tony Cornell
      • Karlis Osis
      • Focus on: D. Scott Rogo
      • A Decade of AAAS Symposia on Parapsychology
      • Criticism and Controversy: The Wheeler Incident & Career Skepticism
      • Revisiting Proof: A Renewed Focus on Foundational Research

    • Week 4: The Late 20th Century

      • Focus on: Eileen Garrett
      • Helmut Schmidt
      • Focus on: Charles Tart
      • Focus on: Stanley Krippner
      • Montague Ullman
      • Focus on: Ian Stevenson
      • John Palmer
      • Rex Stanford
      • Focus on: Charles Honorton
      • Robert Morris

Course Materials

Suggested Readings:

There is no specific text for this class, however, students will be provided with short readings or videos which will help them to better understand content of the lectures.

Course Activities

  • Students will be expected to view the class broadcasts or the recordings of the classes each week.
  • Students will be expected to participate in weekly discussion forums and activities. Each student will be expected to provide an original posting each week and to respond to at least one other student in the discussion forums. Greater participation in this area will be considered during class evaluations.
  • A final project, described in the courseroom, is due after the final week of class.

Evaluations and Grading

Students who are taking the course for a grade will be assessed based on thier participation and performance on the assigments. The coures is evaluated on a passing or no credit basis. A score of 70 is a passing grade.

Participation in the forums is a large component of the grading, and substantive postings are necessary to get full credit for each discussion topic.

The following activities will be considered to contribute to the courses as follows:

Discussions (Total 72%): 18 points for each of the 4 weeks including responses to other people's posts

Final Project (30%) - brings the total to 102%