Windbridge Research Center Presentation at SSE/IRVA 2018

A presentation titled “Living-Agent Psi is Dead: Limitations of the Language used to Describe Mediumistic Phenomena” by Director of Research Dr. Julie Beischel was accepted by the program committee of the 2018 joint conference between the Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE) and the International Remote Viewing Association (IRVA). The conference will take place June 6-10, 2018, at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Dr. Beischel’s presentation is scheduled for Friday, June 8th. Day passes and student rates for this conference are available. For more information, to register, and for a hotel discount code, see: https://www.scientificexploration.org/2018-conference

Dr. Beischel’s abstract for this presentation is included below.

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Title:
Living-Agent Psi is Dead: Limitations of the Language used to Describe Mediumistic Phenomena

Abstract:
Mediums report experiencing regular communication from the deceased and this phenomenon has been a normal and useful aspect across cultures all over the world since antiquity. Modern mediumship research has included accuracy testing of the information reported by mediums under blinded laboratory conditions with statistically significant results. It has been posited that mediums are using clairvoyance, precognition, or telepathy with the living to acquire accurate information about the deceased. A recent study examined mediums’ experiences during mediumship readings for the deceased and during psychic readings for/about the living. Participant responses from 113 self-identified mediums and 14 Windbridge Certified Research Mediums were quantitatively analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) text analysis software and qualitatively analyzed using a content analysis methodology. Statistically significant (p<0.01) differences were seen for LIWC categories including social and perceptual processes and insight. Qualitative content analysis found that mediumistic experiences include a triangulation of the communication and that psychic experiences include the information flowing from various sources including from the deceased. Further analysis demonstrated that the level of development of the self-identified mediums was significantly less than that of the Windbridge mediums (z=4.931, p<0.01) and indicates that blocking unwanted communication from the deceased is a learned skill. Together, these findings strongly call into question the continued use of terminology separating mediums’ experiences into categories that do and do not involve communication with the deceased. Going forward, it will be necessary for language to reflect empirical data and the experiences of modern mediums rather than philosophical conjecture.