Episode 15: Halloween special on parapsychology

Welcome to a very spooky episode of The Studies Show, on the topic of parapsychology. Tom and Stuart discuss telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and more, and look at some of the most recent attempts by scientists to show that these weird—and did we mention spooky?—psychic phenomena are real. Can it really be the case that studies claiming the existence of psychic powers get published in mainstream scientific journals? What does this mean for how seriously we take scientific journals? And is Stuart right that a parapsychology study published earlier this year might be the best psychology study ever?Happy Halloween! 🎃The Studies Show is brought to you by Works in Progress, the best place on the internet to read about science, technology, and human progress. As well as its main website, Works in Progress has a Substack called Notes on Progress, with shorter—but no less fascinating—pieces on similar themes. You can find Notes on Progress at this link.The Studies Show is also sponsored by the i, the UK’s smartest daily newspaper. You can get a money-off deal on your digital subscription—which includes full access to all Stuart’s science writing—by following this special podcast link.Show notes* Article on parapsychology calling it “the unwitting jester in the court of academia”* 2021 “umbrella review” of many parapsychology meta-analyses* 2023 in-progress meta-analysis of ganzfeld telepathy research* Book chapter discussing parapsychology and quantum physics* Study showing how meta-analysis can overstate effect sizes* Daryl Bem’s famous 2011 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology* Critical analysis by Tal Yarkoni of Bem’s experiment and his statistics* Failed replication of Experiment 9 from that study by Stuart, Chris French, and Richard Wiseman* The Transparent Psi Project study from 2023* Audit of the Transparent Psi Project finding a few mistakes (now corrected in the original study)* Example of high-quality research practices in parapsychology: a “registered report” from the 1970sCreditsThe Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe