photography. They eliminated the possibility of fraud with blind and double blind methods and documented the data and experiments very carefully.
Extract 2
EVIE: OK, following on from what Majed has said about trying to make experiments as objective as possible, I’d like to talk about the experimenter effect on the results of experiments in Direct Mental Interaction with Living Systems. My research is an example of micro-PK. There’s been a lot of discussion about whether the attitude of the experimenters can affect the actual responses of the participants in laboratory experiments into DMIL. Two researchers, Wiseman, who is a sceptic, and Schlitz, a believer in psi, carried out two joint experiments to find out if the experimenter’s belief in psi affected participants’ scores in remote staring experiments. In each series of experiments, they reproduced the laboratory conditions by using the same equipment and techniques ... CCTV, skin sensors, randomization and double blind procedures. The only difference was that in one experiment Wiseman did the staring, and Schlitz did the staring in the other. On both occasions, they found that Wiseman’s participants had lower scores than Schlitz’s. At first, it looked as though they had fairly clear-cut proof of the experimenter effect. But the third time they collaborated, the results were not significant enough to prove their theory. So, it looks as though experimenter–participant interaction is more complex than it seems.
Extract 3
JACK: Right. Thank you, Evie. I’m going to expand the topic by mentioning another type of mind over matter. This is another example of micro-PK. I’ve been looking at meditation and how it’s possible to influence the body with the mind. The most carefully controlled experiments that I could find go back to 1970, when Elmer and Alyce Green invited Swami Rama, an Indian master of yoga, to demonstrate how he could raise and lower the temperature in different parts of his hand, and lower his pulse until it was almost undetectable. The researchers took a lot of precautions to prevent fraud or tricks. They attached psycho-physiology equipment, including a cardiotachometer, and a thermistor to the yogi to measure his heart rate and the temperature on either side of his hand. Two of the researchers stayed in the room with the Swami, so he couldn’t cheat while all his physical responses were being measured on the equipment in a separate room. What’s amazing is that they found that he really could control his pulse and the temperature in his hand.
200
Extract 4
LEILA: That’s really interesting. My topic is quite closely connected because I was interested in the idea of distant healing. I found two examples of laboratory experiments … one investigates touch reiki and the other studies distant healing. I decided to include reiki because it’s an energy field treatment that involves balancing a person’s energy either by touching them or by focusing on them from a distance. The first one tested the biological reactions of healthy participants to touch reiki. This study used the same participants twice and tested for changes in their saliva, skin temperature and blood pressure. The results showed that reiki had a replacing effect on the participants, but there wasn’t enough biological evidence to suggest that it could actually have an effect on their immune system. The second study, this time in distant healing for patients with AIDS, involved healers and patients who had never met. To make sure the data analysis would be objective, this study was designed as a randomized double blind trial. Patients were tested for their initial resistance to AIDS and interviewed to establish their psychological state and their attitude to distant healing. Again, the results weren’t significant enough to demonstrate a relationship between distant healing and improvements in health.
Exercise F
1 Set for pairwork. Tell students to study the Distant Healing and Biofeedback web page (B) on page 91 of the Course Book. Feed back with the whole class.
2 Set for small group discussion. Feed back with the whole class.
Answers Possible answers:
1 FocusOnMatter is interested in scientific research into distant healing and biofeedback.
2 a Biofeedback can be studied scientifically by measuring changes in body chemistry and physical responses.
b energy field treatment, prayer, psychic healing and therapeutic touch are all difficult to investigate because:
i. they rely on subjective reports from individuals on improvements in their health
ii. there are so many other unquantifiable variables, like spontaneous remission, reduction in stress, suggestibility and coincidence that could account for improvements
c The suggestibility and coincidence projects are relevant to research into all types of healing.
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