This is a difficult question to answer because it fails to account for people who genuinely believe they possess psychic powers. A fine illustration of this is Derek Ogilvie, who believes he can telepathically communicate with young infants. In the 2007 Channel 5 TV documentary ‘Extraordinary People: The Million Dollar Mind Reader’, Ogilvie failed to prove that he was actually able to read babies' minds. Thus, many proclaimed psychics sincerely believe they own powers, but are unable to demonstrate their alleged abilities to the satisfaction of scientific experts.
On occasion scientists will endorse psychic claims, such as Targ and Puthoff’s validation of Uri Geller. In a 1974 Nature article, ‘information transmission under conditions of sensory shielding’, Targ and Puthoff’s commented that Geller (during his time at the Stanford Research Institute, SRI) ‘demonstrated his paranormal perceptual ability in a convincing and unambiguous manner’. Other paranormal researchers (particularly, James Randi and Ray Hyman) refuted their claims and documented methodological weaknesses and problems. Specifically, Randi referred to the testing environment as ‘a chaotic atmosphere conducive to cheating’. Correspondingly, Marks and Kammann in their 1980 book, ‘The Psychology of the Psychic’, reported that while at SRI, Geller was able to peek at drawings he was asked to psychically reproduce through a hole in the laboratory wall.
It is difficult to assess psychics because the term refers to a range of professed parapsychological abilities. In the paranormal sense, psychics are individuals who claim to have the ability to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to obtain information. That is acquire information mentally, without the use of normal senses. An example of this is remote viewing, the alleged capability to seek impressions of distant and unseen targets via the mind. Relatedly, precognition involves obtaining direct knowledge or perception of the future (e.g., Chris Robinson, Dream Detective). Collectively, these powers represent clairvoyance, the alleged ability to gain information through extrasensory perception.
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Clairvoyance, more controversially still, refers also to the ability to communication with spirits of the dead and living human beings. Whilst the scientific community generally dismiss psychic powers there is widespread general belief in telepathy and ESP. In addition, a significant proportion of the population believe in the powers of mediums and spiritualists. Furthermore, a large percentage of people actually report experiences. In a UK survey of 1215 respondents, Dagnall and Drinkwater (2016) reported that 23% claimed to have ESP- related experiences and 13% had communications with the deceased.
Notable examples of fakes and frauds further discredit the history of spiritualism (e.g., Mina Crandon and Lajos Pap). Similarly, psychical research on ESP includes high profile cases of fakery. For example, James Hydrick. James Randi, famous scientific skeptic and debunker, first exposed Hydrick as a trickster on an American television programme, ‘That's My Line’. Later Hydrick confessed to journalist and professional magician Dan Korem that his demonstrations of psychic page turning and pencil movement were tricks learned in prison.
Another notable example is James Randi and Steve Shaw (aka the illusionist Banachek) 1986 exposé of televangelist Peter Popoff. His wife, Elizabeth, was using a wireless radio transmitter to broadcast information about sermon attendees to Popoff, who was listening via an earpiece. This case was a cynical and cruel fraud, which exploited the vulnerability of sick and frail individuals.
These examples are clear examples of psychic frauds. Interestingly, fake or genuine, no one was able to best the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge offered by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). This was a prize of one million U.S. dollars to anyone, who can demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under predetermined scientific testing criteria. The challenge ran between 1964 and 2015.
Interestingly, fake or genuine, no one was able to best the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge offered by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). This was a prize of one million U.S. dollars to anyone, who can demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under predetermined scientific testing criteria. The challenge ran between 1964 and 2015.
Accordingly, many of the apocryphal tales about psychic accuracy draw upon anecdotal evidence and subjective interpretation. The veracity of these accounts is difficult to assess because of poor/absent documentation and memory changes associated with the passage of time. Perceptual factor make this process more difficult still. Richard Wiseman in his 1995 article (‘Recalling pseudo‐psychic demonstrations’) with Robert Morris reported that paranormal believers (sheep) recall different aspects of pseudo- psychic demonstrations to disbelievers (goats). Accordingly, believers had a tendency to rate demonstrations as more paranormal and misinterpret conjuring tricks as genuine psychic phenomena.
Whilst believers in psychics remain convinced that they possess authentic abilities, skeptics argue robustly that psychics are fakes or misguided. Some parapsychologists and physicists provide evidence for the existence of psychic ability. Particularly, Daryl Bem has continued to produce high quality research supporting the existence of psychic phenomena. Overall, experiments indicate a small significant effect is evident across studies. The small number of supportive papers in quality journals has failed to change general opinion that psychic powers do not genuinely exist. Consequently, within society, explanations that are more mundane prevail and predominate.
Co-authored with Neil Dagnall, Manchester Metropolitan University