Ganzfeld

Question 1

What does ESP stand for?

Answer 1

Extra sensory perception

Question 2

Who designed the Ganzfeld procedure?

Answer 2

Honorton

Question 3

What did Honorton do?

Answer 3

Design the Ganzfeld procedure and conduct a meta-analysis of 28 Ganzfeld studies

Question 4

What is the Ganzfeld procedure based on?

Answer 4

The assumption that everyone is capable of ESP, but in most of us the ESP signal is weak and is ‘drowned out’ by the input from our sense

Question 5

What is the aim of the Ganzfeld procedure?

Answer 5

The test telepathy in a controlled, scientific manner and to reduce the interference from our sense by putting someone in a state of sensory deprivation to allow ESP images to come through

Question 6

What is the method of the Ganzfeld procedure?

Answer 6

There are two participants, a sender and a receiver.
The receiver is placed in the room alone and is told to relax in a comfortable chair. Halved ping pong balls are placed over their eyes and a red light is shone onto their face. They also wear headphones which play white noise so that they experience sensory deprivation. This ensures that signals received by the participants come from their mind, not from audible or visible stimulus.

The sender is in another room and chooses a card from a pack of Zener cards and a attempts to mentally transmit the shape to the receiver

The receiver has to concentrate on the mental imagery that forms in their mind and say which card has been transmitted.

The results are recorded and when the procedure is finished the researchers collate the data for analysis.

In the data analysis section the researchers calculate whether that amount of correct answers significantly deviate from chance - (atleast 20% should be correct)

Question 7

What happens to the receiver in the Ganzfeld procedure?

Answer 7

The receiver is placed in the room alone and is told to relax in a comfortable chair. Halved ping pong balls are placed over their eyes and a red light is shone onto their face. They also wear headphones which play white noise so that they experience sensory deprivation. This ensures that signals received by the participants come from their mind, not from audible or visible stimulus.

The receiver has to concentrate on the mental imagery that forms in their mind and say which card has been transmitted.

Question 8

What happens to the sender in the Ganzfeld procedure?

Answer 8

The sender is in another room and chooses a card from a pack of Zener cards and a attempts to mentally transmit the shape to the receiver

Question 9

What is the final stage of the Ganzfeld procedure?

Answer 9

The results are recorded and when the procedure is finished the researchers collate the data for analysis.

In the data analysis section the researchers calculate whether that amount of correct answers significantly deviate from chance - (atleast 20% should be correct)

Question 10

Briefly, what are the stages of the Ganzfeld procedure?

Answer 10

Receiver and sender in different rooms
Receiver listens to white noise, has halves of ping pong balls placed over eyes, has red light shine onto face (sensory deprivation)
Sender selects a card from Zener cards and attempts to mentally transmit it
Results are recorded
Results collated for analysis - does result significantly deviate from chance?

Question 11

Who carried out Ganzfeld studies?

Answer 11

Honorton

Question 12

What were Honortons findings?

Answer 12

He reported a 38% success rate of the 28 Ganzfeld studies involved in his meta-analysis. (A performance of 25% was expected). Honorton concluded that this provided evidence for the existence of ESP ability.

Question 13

What is the problem with Honorton’s study?

Answer 13

Honorton himself designed the Ganzfeld procedure so investigator bias may have affected the results. He may have disregarded some of the results which did not credit the procedure in order to provide evidence for ESP ability. Those researching the opinion usually have some opinion on it.

28 studies is also a small sample, it could be that these participants/ results were just flukes.

Question 14

What did Hyman do?

Answer 14

Challenge Honorton and claimed there were serious flaws in the studies in that they were unscientific due to the lack of control and potential for fraudulent activity. He suggested the positive results were due to a sensory leakage such as the receiver hearing an exchange between the sender and experimenter

Question 15

What is ESP?

Answer 15

Extra sensory perception refers to the perception of objects or events without any of the known physical senses being involved

Question 16

What did Hyman and Honorton do?

Answer 16

Adapted the Ganzfeld procedure to increase the scientific credibility of it

Question 17

What is the autoganzfeld technique?

Answer 17

An updated version of the Ganzfeld procedure to increase the scientific credibility of it. Now the card is randomly selected by a computer and the results are recorded by a computer. The researcher is kept separate from the participants and only analyses the data.

Question 18

What study is linked to the autoganzfeld technique?

Answer 18

Bem and Honorton

Question 19

What was Bem and Honortons procedure?

Answer 19

They carried out a meta analysis of 11 autoganzfeld studies. The research used was selected on the basis that they stuck to the very strict experimental procedures e.g compute administration, sound proofed rooms one way intercom communication, led lined walls.

Question 20

How was the research in Bem and Honortons study selected?

Answer 20

The research used was selected on the basis that they stuck to the very strict experimental procedures e.g compute administration, sound proofed rooms one way intercom communication, led lined walls.

Question 21

What were Bem and Honortons findings?

Answer 21

We would expect a 25% hit rate as the receivers were selecting one image from four.
Hit rates ranged from 24% to 54%
The average percentage was 32.5%

Question 22

What do Bem and Honortons findings suggest?

Answer 22

That telepathy does exist

Question 23

What is forced choice?

Answer 23

Forced choice is when you select one of the options provided

Question 24

What is free choice?

Answer 24

When you imagine anything and the receiver has to guess

Question 25

Explain the problem with forced choice cards such as zener cards…

Answer 25

The probability of being correct is higher because the participants know the cards. It’s also in human nature to to chose something in the middle, such as a middle card, making the probability even higher. Therefore, free choice is better and more reliable

Question 26

What are the controversies surrounding the Ganzfeld technique?

Answer 26

The file drawer effect
Experimenter bias
Prior laboratory experience
Regular mediation

Question 27

What is the file drawer effect?

Answer 27

When researchers only select the studies with positive results so that it supports their theory

Question 28

What psychologists are related to the file drawer effect?

Answer 28

Radin and Schlitz

Harris and Rosenthal

Question 29

What did were Radin and Schlitz’s findings?

Answer 29

They found from their meta-analysis that the overall ‘hit rate’ was so strong that the probability of chance being the casual factor was about a trillion to one

Question 30

What did Harris and Rosenthal do?

Answer 30

The criticised Radin and Schlitz findings by saying they suffered from the file drawer effect. They studies double the number of session and found an average hit rate of 28%, compared to 25% expected by chance, suggesting Harris had been selective about their results.

Question 31

Explain how prior laboratory experience affects success rates…

Answer 31

Participants who have previously taken part in any laboratory based studies tend to have higher success rates, this is most likely because their emotions would be more neutral as it is not a new exciting/anxious setting

Question 32

How does regular mediation affect success rates?

Answer 32

People who regularly meditate tend to have huge success rates. Parapsychologists would say this is because they have more alpha brain waves

Question 33

What study is related to experimenter bias?

Answer 33

Rosenthal and Harris

Question 34

What were Rosenthal and Harris’ findings?

Answer 34

They manipulated the atmosphere during the study and found those who had been treated warmly had higher ESP scores than those who were treated abruptly

Question 35

What do Rosenthal and Harris’ results suggest?

Answer 35

Get help from Lee

Question 36

What metholodgical problem affects the success of Ganzfeld?

Answer 36

There are problems with free choice and forced choice design. The researcher may be bias when interpreting the free choice drawing and interpret something or parts of the drawing with are marginally similar to the target. Also, with forced choice, it is human nature to select things which are central/in the middle. This combined with the fact there’s only 4/5 options increases the probability of being correct