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As noted in the discussion following from @Luxnir(talk), it would be more neutral to provide information on both sides of the scientific debate on parapsychology at the get-go instead of solely references to its criticism. The American Academy for the Advancement of Science, which is the premiere scientific consortium in the world (as well as the APA), openly recognizes the exploration of parapsychological phenomena as a legitimate field of scientific inquiry. I also added references to its criticism in the first paragraph and at the end of the relevant paragraph. Here are my suggested additions to the introduction; I welcome alternative viewpoints and discussion: LetoDidac (talk) 03:58, 11 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that the text you proposed is more neutral, balanced, and informative. Well written too.
The adjective "parapsychic" doesn't seem to get much use. Might be better to say "The most prominent research society in parapsychology today. . ."
The most prominent parapsychic research society today is the Parapsychology Association, which is a member society of the American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS), the umbrella association of American scientific professional societies. The AAAS recognises parapsychology as a legitimate field of study because it follows accepted scientific procedures such as blinds, double blinds, and other standard scientific devices; because of the highly controversial nature of the topic, the AAAS submitted the decision to a vote, which landed 5:1 in favor of recognition. [2] In 2018, a comprehensive review of the discipline was published in a peer-reviewed article of American Psychologist, a major psychology journal. [3] Despite recognition of its attempted scientific procedures, the actual findings of the discipline are still considered implausible by many, if not most scientists, and critics often dismiss them as pseudoscience.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
^ Cardeña, E. (2018). "The Experimental Evidence for Parapsychological Phenomena: A Review". American Psychologist. 73 (5): 663–677. doi:10.1037/amp0000236.
^ name="AlcockSI">Reber, Arthur; Alcock, James (2019). "Why parapsychological claims cannot be true". Skeptical Inquirer. 43 (4): 8–10. The lure of the 'para'-normal emerges, it seems, from the belief that there is more to our existence than can be accounted for in terms of flesh, blood, atoms, and molecules. A century and a half of parapsychological research has failed to yield evidence to support that belief.
^Friedlander, Michael W. (1998). At the Fringes of Science. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. p. 119. ISBN978-0813322001. Parapsychology has failed to gain general scientific acceptance even for its improved methods and claimed successes, and it is still treated with a lopsided ambivalence among the scientific community. Most scientists write it off as pseudoscience unworthy of their time.
^Pigliucci, Massimo; Boudry, Maarten (2013). Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 158. hdl:1854/LU-3161824. ISBN978-0226051963. Many observers refer to the field as a 'pseudoscience'. When mainstream scientists say that the field of parapsychology is not scientific, they mean that no satisfying naturalistic cause-and-effect explanation for these supposed effects has yet been proposed and that the field's experiments cannot be consistently replicated.
^Alcock, James (1981). Parapsychology – Science Or Magic?: A Psychological Perspective. Oxford, England: Pergamon Press. pp. 194–196. ISBN978-0080257730.
According to the Mertonian norms in science wins he/she who is able to convince most skeptics. This has not happened for parapsychology. If Albert Einstein had the success which parapsychology had till now, he would have been largely forgotten. tgeorgescu (talk) 04:47, 11 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]