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I have teamed up with a graduate psychologist who has written for national paranormal publications to deveope this Parapsychology certificate and Diploma home study course. Together we have combined our expertise and knowledge to bring you a solid grounding in this fasinating area.The course is ideal for the beginner or those with just an interest in the area of paranormal who wish to formalise there understanding.
In fact by reading the rest of this page you have already got a grounding in the foundations of this fascinating subject area. What is more you have also completed a part of the course itself!
The course can be done at your own pace and the assignments are designed to develope your understanding and you as a student of this branch of psychology.
All assignments are marked by a professional tutor and feedback returned to you. Successful completetion leads to either the certificate or upon completion of an dissertation of you and your tutors choice , the diploma. Course materials are provided as is a book and a list of recommended reading and sites.
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The term parapsychology was coined in or before 1889 by psychologist Max Dessoir. It was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research, to indicate a significant shift toward laboratory methodologies in their work. The term originates from the Greek: παρά para meaning "alongside", and psychology. Parapsychologists call the psychic phenomena that they search for psi, a term intended to be descriptive without implying a mechanism.[12]
History
Early psychical research
![American psychologist and philosopher William James (1842–1910) was an early psychical researcher.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Wm_james.jpg/150px-Wm_james.jpg)
The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was founded in London in 1882. The formation of the SPR was the first systematic effort to organize scientists and scholars for a critical and sustained investigation of paranormal phenomena. The early membership of the SPR included philosophers, scholars, scientists, educators and politicians, such as Henry Sidgwick, Arthur Balfour, William Crookes, Rufus Osgood Mason and Charles Richet.
The SPR classified its subjects of study into several areas: telepathy, hypnotism, Reichenbach's phenomena, apparitions, haunts, and the physical aspects of Spiritualism such as table-tilting and the appearance of matter from unknown sources, otherwise known as materialization. One of the first collaborative efforts of the SPR was its Census of Hallucinations, which researched apparitional experiences and hallucinations in the sane. The census was the Society's first attempt at a statistical evaluation of paranormal phenomena, and the resulting publication in 1886, Phantasms of the Living is still widely referenced in parapsychological literature today. The SPR became the model for similar societies in other European countries and the United States during the late 19th century. Largely due to the support of psychologist William James, the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) opened its doors in New York City in 1885.
Today, the SPR and ASPR continue the investigation of psi phenomena. The SPR's purpose is stated in every issue of its Journal—being "to examine without prejudice or prepossession and in a scientific spirit those faculties of man, real or supposed, which appear to be inexplicable on any generally recognized hypothesis."