Mind Over Matter? Telepathy Gets a Second Look

● P. A. LamalTeaching of Psychology, 1989★ Peer-Reviewed

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✦ Imagine …

Should psychology classes teach about psychic phenomena?

Picture this: You're flipping through a psychology textbook, learning about memory, perception, and consciousness — but there's something missing. Despite surveys showing that most people believe in telepathy, precognition, or other psychic phenomena, these topics are virtually absent from academic psychology education. In 1989, researcher P.A. Lamal noticed this curious gap and asked a provocative question: Should we be teaching students about parapsychology, even if it's controversial? His analysis revealed a striking disconnect between what people believe and what psychology professors choose to discuss.

Psychology textbooks largely ignore parapsychology despite widespread public belief.

In 1989, psychology educator P.A. Lamal noticed a curious gap in how psychology was being taught. While surveys showed many people believed in psychic phenomena, most introductory psychology textbooks completely avoided the topic. This created a disconnect between student interests and academic curriculum.

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There's a significant gap between widespread public belief in psychic phenomena and their near-complete absence from psychology education.

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Key Findings

Lamal confirmed that despite widespread public belief in psychic phenomena, most psychology textbooks ignored the field entirely.
He argued this represented a missed educational opportunity and provided suggestions for how instructors could address parapsychology in a balanced, critical thinking framework.

What Is This About?

Rather than conducting an experiment, Lamal wrote an educational commentary examining how parapsychology was being handled in psychology education. He analyzed the gap between public interest in psychic phenomena and their absence from standard textbooks. He then proposed ways that educators could incorporate parapsychological topics into their teaching through literature reviews and classroom exercises.

Methodology

This is an educational commentary discussing how parapsychology should be addressed in psychology teaching, not an empirical study.

Outcomes

The author provides recommendations for incorporating parapsychological topics into psychology education through literature and exercises.

How Good Is the Evidence?

Anecdotal5/100

AnecdotalPreliminarySolidStrongOverwhelming

Educational reformers argue that ignoring popular but scientifically questionable topics leaves students unprepared to think critically about claims they encounter daily. Traditional educators worry that giving classroom time to parapsychology legitimizes pseudoscience. Both sides agree that critical thinking skills are important, but disagree on the best way to develop them.

↔ Interpretation Spectrum

Mainstream: Psychology education should focus on established science and avoid legitimizing fringe topics. Moderate: Controversial topics like parapsychology can be valuable teaching tools for critical thinking if handled properly. Frontier: Student interest in psychic phenomena represents genuine curiosity that education should nurture rather than dismiss.

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Common Misconception

This isn't about whether psychic phenomena are real — it's about whether psychology education should address topics that interest students, even controversial ones, as opportunities for critical thinking.

Convincing Checklist

2 of 5 criteria met

Met2/5

✗Large sample (N>100)

✓Peer-reviewed journal

✗Replicated

✗Significant effect

✓DOI available

To settle whether parapsychology belongs in psychology curricula would require studies comparing learning outcomes between students who receive critical analysis of controversial topics versus those who don't. This commentary provides the theoretical framework for such studies but doesn't test the ideas empirically.

Although belief in parapsychology seems to be widespread, most introductory psychology textbooks ignore it. The use of relevant literature and exercises in teaching is discussed.
Stance: Mixed

What Does It Mean?

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What's fascinating is how this 1989 paper predicted debates we're still having today about 'alternative facts' and scientific literacy. Lamal essentially asked: Is ignoring controversial topics the best way to teach critical thinking?

It's like teaching a course on nutrition while completely avoiding discussion of popular diet trends that students ask about — there's value in addressing these topics critically rather than ignoring them.

If Lamal's approach were widely adopted, psychology education might better prepare students to navigate a world filled with extraordinary claims. This could lead to more scientifically literate citizens who can distinguish between rigorous research and wishful thinking. However, it would require educators to walk a delicate line between open-minded inquiry and scientific skepticism.

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Science Literacy Tip

Educational commentaries provide valuable perspectives on teaching but shouldn't be confused with empirical research — they offer ideas that could be tested rather than tested conclusions.

Understanding Terms

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Educational commentary

A scholarly article that discusses teaching methods and curriculum issues rather than reporting new research findings

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Critical thinking pedagogy

Teaching approach that uses controversial or questionable claims as opportunities to develop analytical reasoning skills

What This Study Claims

Findings

Most introductory psychology textbooks do not address parapsychological topics

moderate

Interpretations

Belief in parapsychology appears to be widespread among the general population

weak

Implications

Parapsychology can be incorporated into psychology education through relevant literature and exercises