Psychology 110 E S P Lab Camosun College
Dr. R.G. Tonks
In this week's lab you will be performing an experiment on Extra Sensory Perception (ESP). You will be working in pairs and will need to have a set of playing cards. There are three types of ESP that you will be testing in this study (Telepathy, Clairvoyance, and Precognition). Telepathy is communication between minds while clairvoyance is seeing what is not visible or present. Precognition is knowing the future.
As a researcher you will need to find another person to help you with this study. Each person should have an opportunity to perform each of these tasks at least once and you will record the correct and incorrect responses (hits & misses). Take a regular deck of playing cards and remove the Ace, King, Queen, Jack & 10 from each of the four suites. Be sure to show the participants these twenty playing cards and indicate that the suite (clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades) is the important feature, not the denomination.
Telepathy testing involves having one person in the pair look at a card and concentrate on the design for about 15 seconds and have another person try to "read their mind." Record the responses in the first table below; later indicate hits (correct) or misses (incorrect). After each trial return the card and shuffle.
Clairvoyance testing involves having the shuffled deck of cards placed one by one face down on the table. The reader is to identify the cards without anyone looking at them. Record the symbols that are 'perceived' in the second table below as in the first experiment, then score them after the entire set has been revealed.
Precognition testing involves the prediction of cards before they are shuffled and placed on the table. Be sure to record the symbols in the third table below and score the set for hits and misses.
Repeat the three types of ESP studies in order that each person has
an opportunity to do each one. If you find that someone shows special abilities,
make the task more difficult by trying to get both the suite and the name
of the card.
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| 1 | 11 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 11 | ||||||
| 2 | 12 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 12 | ||||||
| 3 | 13 | 3 | 13 | 3 | 13 | ||||||
| 4 | 14 | 4 | 14 | 4 | 14 | ||||||
| 5 | 15 | 5 | 15 | 5 | 15 | ||||||
| 6 | 16 | 6 | 16 | 6 | 16 | ||||||
| 7 | 17 | 7 | 17 | 7 | 17 | ||||||
| 8 | 18 | 8 | 18 | 8 | 18 | ||||||
| 9 | 19 | 9 | 19 | 9 | 19 | ||||||
| 10 | 20 | 10 | 20 | 10 | 20 | ||||||
| H | M | H | M | H | M | ||||||
Please consider the following questions inpreparing your lab report:
What is the probability of getting a hit if one simply guesses?
How many hits and misses did you (& your partner) get on each task?
What was the average rate of hits and misses?
Did anyone exhibit ESP?
Can you prove the existence of ESP?
Why or Why not?
Hint: If a person scores a statistically significant larger number of hits than misses (than is expected by pure chance) then we can be confident that something improbable is happening but we still don't know why. Aside from real ESP ability what else might influence the results of a study like this?