•  70
    Beyond the BICS Essay Contest: Envisioning a More Rigorous Preregistered Survival Study
    with Etienne LeBel and Keith Augustine
    Journal of Scientific Exploration 36 (2): 436-447. 2022.
    Prior experimental studies of anomalous information reception (AIR) have been touted as strong evidence for postmortem survival of consciousness yet are plagued by several methodological weaknesses that preclude clear evidence of positive results. The present team provides an adversarial collaboration to identify and compensate for the major limitations of these previous approaches. We outline a more rigorous preregistered study design that eliminates or minimizes researcher bias in (a) data cle…Read more
  •  4
    Testing Telepathy in the Medium/Proxy-Sitter Dyad: A Protocol Focusing on the Source-of-Psi Problem
    with Lance Storm
    Journal of Scientific Exploration 29 (4). 2015.
    Numerous mediumship studies (e.g., Beischel & Schwartz, 2007; Kelly & Arcangel, 2011; Rock, Beischel, Boccuzzi, & Bisuso, 2014) have reported statistically significant results and, thus, suggest that various contemporary mediums are able to demonstrate anomalous information reception (AIR) under laboratory conditions. Importantly, however, such studies are unable to address the source of mediums’ AIR. Indeed, the source-of-psi problem (survival-psi and living agent psi being the most likely cont…Read more
  •  2
    Thematic Analysis of Research Mediums’ Experiences of Discarnate Communication
    with Julie Beischel and Gary E. Schwartz
    Journal of Scientific Exploration 22 (2). 2010.
    Mediums claim to be able to report accurate and specific information about the deceased loved ones (termed discarnates) of living people (termed sitters) even without any prior knowledge about the sitters or the discarnates and in the complete absence of any sensory feedback. Despite recent experimental research investigating this phenomenon (e.g., Beischel & Schwartz, 2007a), no systematic qualitative studies have been conducted. Consequently, eight research mediums were asked to describe in as…Read more
  •  2
    Proposed Criteria for the Necessary Conditions for Shamanic Journeying Imagery
    with Stanley Krippner
    Journal of Scientific Exploration 22 (2). 2010.
    Despite renewed interest in shamanic patterns of phenomenal properties such as journeying imagery, these phenomena are neither well defined nor sufficiently understood. Consequently, we propose criteria pertaining to four necessary conditions for a visual mental image to qualify as a shamanic journeying image. Finally, we demonstrate how these necessary conditions may be used to extrapolate a scoring system that allows one to empirically test, via falsificationism, a visual mental image’s ostens…Read more
  •  1
    Altered Experience Mediates the Relationship between Schizotypy and Mood Disturbance during Shamanic-Like Journeying
    with Gavin Abbott and Nicolas Kambouropoulos
    Journal of Scientific Exploration 22 (3). 2010.
    Studies have found that shamanic practices are associated with statistically significant reductions in mood disturbance relative to baseline. However, contrary results were obtained for non-shamanic practitioners exposed to shamanic-like techniques. These inconsistent results may be partially due to a personality trait referred to as schizotypy, which has been demonstrated to influence susceptibility to shamanic-like techniques. Furthermore, given that an integral feature of shamanism is the pro…Read more
  •  1
    The present study aimed to extend the fi ndings of a previous, randomized placebo-controlled pilot study (F. E. Permezel and A. J. Rock, Australian Journal of Parapsychology 9(1):71–95, 2009) which examined the effect of a subtle energy technique, Quantum BioEnergetics (QBE), and a personality trait, Mental Boundaries, on Positive and Negative Affect. In the present study, 94 participants were administered the Boundary Questionnaire Short Form to quantify Mental Boundaries and the Phenomenology …Read more
  •  4
    Letters to the Editor
    with Carlos S. Alvarado, Elizabeth C. Roxburgh, R. O. E. Chris A., Julie Beischel, and Gary E. Schwartz
    Journal of Scientific Exploration 23 (3). 2010.
    On Duncan MacDougall’s Experiment on the Loss of Weight at Death - ALVARADO Thematic Analysis of Mediums’ Experiences - ROXBURGH & ROE Is There Madness in Our Mediumship Methods? A Response to Roxburgh and Roe - ROCK, BEISCHEL, SCHWARTZ.
  •  7
    Phenomenology of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine Use: A Thematic Analysis
    with Christopher Cott
    Journal of Scientific Exploration 22 (3). 2010.
    N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is an endogenous hallucinogenic compound in the same chemical class as the more common psilocybin and the neurotransmitter serotonin. Despite previous experimental research assessing the subjective effects of DMT (e.g., Strassman et al., 1994), no qualitative studies have been conducted. Consequently, 19 DMT users were asked to provide thorough descriptions of the subjective effects of DMT via an online survey. A thematic analysis using various principles of phenomen…Read more
  •  18
    Why does the universe exist? An advaita vedantic perspective
    International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 24 (1): 69-76. 2005.
    Debates concerning causal explanations of the universe tend to be based on a priori propositions . The present paper, however, addresses the metaphysical question, “Why does the universe exist?” from the perspective of a school of Hindu philosophy referred to as advaita vedanta and two of its a posteriori derived creation theories: the theory of simultaneous creation and the theory of non-causality . Objections to advaita vedanta are also discussed. It is concluded that advaita vedanta has the p…Read more
  •  5
    Does the Concept of “Altered States of Consciousness” Rest on a Mistake?
    with Stanley Krippner
    International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 26 (1): 33-40. 2007.
    Block has argued that the multiplicity of meanings ascribed to consciousness is due to the erroneous treatment of very different concepts as a single concept. Block distinguished four notions of consciousness intended to encapsulate the various meanings attributed to the term: phenomenal, access, self, and monitoring consciousness. We argue that what is common to all of these definitions is the implicit distinction between consciousness and the content of consciousness. We critically examine the…Read more
  •  5
    Towards a Transpersonal Psychology of Daoism: Definitions, Past Research, and Future Directions
    with Christopher Cott
    International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 28 (1): 119-133. 2009.
    This paper is aimed at facilitating the study of Daoism, a collection of Chinese philosophical beliefs and psychospiritual practices with a history of thousands of years and a living community that stretches throughout East Asia, from a transpersonal psychology perspective. Transpersonal psychologists who wish to embark upon a study of Daoist phenomena must first be cognizant of the often nebulous parameters of the Daoist field of inquiry. Therefore, an overview is offered of the two primary Dao…Read more
  •  2
    Some Rudimentary Problems Pertaining to the Construction of an Ontology and Epistemology of Shamanic Journeying Imagery
    with Stanley Krippner
    International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 27 (1): 12-19. 2008.
    Attempts to elucidate the kinds of “thing” or “things” to which the term shamanic journeying image is referentially linked must grapple with two related questions: what is the fundamental nature of shamanic journeying images, and how might the origin of a shamanic journeying image be found? The first question is ontological, concerned with the nature and essence of shamanic journeying images. In contrast, the second is epistemological and methodolgical, concerned with how to acquire knowledge of…Read more
  •  66
    Ego boundaries, shamanic-like techniques, and subjective experience: An experimental study
    with Jessica M. Wilson, Luke J. Johnston, and Janelle V. Levesque
    Anthropology of Consciousness 19 (1): 60-83. 2008.
    The subjective effects and therapeutic potential of the shamanic practice of journeying is well known. However, previous research has neglected to provide a comprehensive assessment of the subjective effects of shamanic-like journeying techniques on non-shamans. Shamanic-like techniques are those that demonstrate some similarity to shamanic practices and yet deviate from what may genuinely be considered shamanism. Furthermore, the personality traits that influence individual susceptibility to sh…Read more
  • This study explored ostensibly shamanic journeying imagery by assessing visual images across induction techniques ; determining combination of induction technique and instructions most associated with religious imagery; and investigating the origins of visual imagery. Six participants were randomly assigned to factorial combinations of a 3 x 4 mixed design and were administered the Modified Affect Bridge to explore the origins of mental imagery reported during the experimental conditions. Phenom…Read more
  •  6
    Teaching Research Methods and Statistics in eLearning Environments: Pedagogy, Practical Examples, and Possible Futures
    with William L. Coventry, Methuen I. Morgan, and Natasha M. Loi
    Frontiers in Psychology 7. 2016.
  •  20
    Introducing StatHand: A Cross-Platform Mobile Application to Support Students’ Statistical Decision Making
    with Peter J. Allen, Lynne D. Roberts, Frank D. Baughman, Natalie J. Loxton, Dirk Van Rooy, and James Finlay
    Frontiers in Psychology 7. 2016.