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Psychic powers debunked
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Mind Over Science: An Exploration into the World of Psi
That our perception of the world is predominantly governed by the senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell is not disputed. However, scientists and amateur academics alike have historically disagreed about the existence of any additional senses, with the most contentious debate surrounding the phenomenon generally referred to as ESP, or "psi." Despite the vast number of people who claim to have or to have witnessed psychic abilities, the corresponding research has found little that is empirically valid or significant to corroborate the wealth of more anecdotal evidence. To establish their validity, it would be necessary to show how they occur in the sensory system - how the input is received and how the subsequent outputs are generated - and so far there is no evidence for the presence of a mechanism specified for this task. Regardless of the extent to which skeptics can take their argument, that so many people over time have reported some degree of extrasensory perception somewhat justifies an inquiry into its history as a cultural and scientific phenomenon as well as any potential empirical proof.
The very definition of that which is generally thought of in popular culture as a "sixth sense" is worth noting, given that its name - extrasensory perception - implies a capability of receiving external information through pathways that are not explicitly sensory. However, our understanding of sensation as it stands now depends on the existence of receptors within the nervous system that are specified for the respective types of sensation (1,2). An input can only be received and integrated if there exists within a system the proper kind of receptor, be it mechano-...
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10) IRVA: The History of Remote Viewing
http://www.irva.org/papers/CRVHistory.shtml
11) IRVA: Controlled Remote Viewing Methodology
http://www.irva.org/papers/MethodCRV.shtml
12) IRVA: CIA-Initiated Remote Viewing at Stanford Research Institute
http://www.irva.org/papers/CIA_RV_SRI.shtml
13) Jessica Utts: An Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioning
http://anson.ucdavis.edu/~utts/air2.html
14) Boundary Institute
http://www.boundaryinstitute.org/
15) Cognitive Sciences Laboratory: Research for the Future
http://www.lfr.org/LFR/csl/
16) The Skeptic's Dictionary: Psi
http://www.skepdic.com/psi.html
17) James Randi Educational Foundation: Million Dollar Challenge
http://www.randi.org/research/challenge/challtxt.html
18) The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality
http://www.csicop.org/si/9603/claims.html
In the magic of the mind author Dr. Elizabeth loftus explains how a witness’s perception of an accident or crime is not always correct because people's memories are often imperfect. “Are we aware of our minds distortions of our past experiences? In most cases, the answer is no.” our minds can change the way we remember what we have seen or heard without realizing it uncertain witnesses “often identify the person who best matches recollection
Merleau-Ponty distinguishes three aspects of the psychological process; basic sensations, perception, and the associations of memory (Merleau-Ponty, 1994). Basic sensations receive raw information from the world and transduce them for our perceptual processes. Perception unifies the infinite amount of information about our environment, from our environment, into a meaningful structure. Perception is interpretive, but its presentation of the world is as distal and objective. There are three central features of perception for Merleau-Ponty. First, perception is synthesized independently by the body and not by the mind (consciousness).
(2012). Perception, conscious and unconscious processes. In F. G. Barth, P. Giampieri-Deutsch & H. Klein (Eds.), Sensory perception: Mind and matter; sensory perception: Mind and matter (pp. 245-264, Chapter xi, 404 Pages) Springer Science + Business Media/SpringerWienNewYork, Vienna. Retrieved from http://vortex3.uco.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.vortex3.uco.edu/docview/1037892527?accountid=14516
William Cullen Bryant was an American poet, born on November 3, 1794, in the rural town of Cummington, Massachusetts, to encouraging and supportive parents. He was widely recognized as child-prodigy, for the publication of his first poem in the Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Massachusetts at the age of twelve(Byam and Levine, 491). It was no more than a year later that he wrote the long anti-Jefferson poem, The Embargo, that was printed as a pamphlet by his father. In the year 1810, Bryant was admitted into Williams College but stopped attending after his father could no longer afford the expenses. Despite this, Bryant continued to write poetry as he prepared for a legal career by working in a law office and was admitted into the bar in 1815. Unlike poets such as Poe, Emerson, and Whitman who poetic manifestos in celebration of their individual approaches to poetry, Bryant quietly published his works without making claims of its importance (Byam and Levine, 491).
Have you ever suffered or known anyone that has suffered from attention deficit disorder? A.D.D. is a biologically based condition causing a persistent pattern of difficulties, which includes three types of behavior. These three types are difficulty attending or focusing on a specific task, difficulty inhibiting behavior, and difficulty controlling impulses. In 1950 the prescription drug Ritalin was patented and manufactured by the CIBA-Geigy Corporation. This drug stimulates the central nervous system, with effects similar to but less potent than amphetamines and more potent than caffeine (Bailey 1). Several million children are being treated with Ritalin on the grounds that they have attention deficit disorder and are suffering from there inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity. In the past decade, there has been growing evidence that Ritalin has had negative effects on a child’s mind and behavior leading to such disorders like psychosis, mania, drug abuse, and addiction. It suppresses creative and spontaneous activity making them more docile and obedient because of the way that Ritalin produces malfunctions in their brain rather than improving its function (Breggin 124). Prescribing Ritalin to children with diagnosed attention deficit disorder brings more negative side effects than solutions and leads to addiction.
Political correctness and the constant fear of impending litigation from any number of sources has forced society to find other means through which they can control their children. Though other avenues for treatment exist, recent developments in educational and familial systems have produced a situation where children are over prescribed stimulant medications to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder for educational purposes. For that reason, we must consider the appropriate treatment for ADHD in education. Four main aspects to this issue need to be discussed in order to fully understand the situation: a description of ADHD, the symptoms of ADHD, the statistical information regarding the over prescription and a description/history of stimulant use, and some possible alternatives to drug therapy.
ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is a psychological disorder prone to ethical issues within its treatments through the use of Methylphenidate otherwise known as Ritalin, Ritalin is the current leading form of pharmacological treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and there has seen a dramatic increase in prescription rate over the past ten years, which have raised some ethical issues with its prescription. There are no present biological basis for ADHD diagnosis results in physicians making their diagnoses based on behavioural symptoms such as hyperactivity and inability to focus. Considering that these symptoms are behaviours that anyone may express at one point in their life, the risk of over-diagnosis of the disease increases. This may subsequently lead to over-prescription of Ritalin. Diagnosing ADHD is particularly difficult in young children as its symptoms are based on judgements of behaviour relative to other children who portray ‘normal behaviour’, however the symptoms of ADHD can be seen as normal behaviour for children as it normal for some children to be hyperactive. A review of prescription data for 300,000 children ages 19 and younger showed that, for the first time in history, spending for medications for childhood behaviour problems was more than the expenditure on any other child drug category, including drug like antibiotics. This evidence raises concerns over the possibility of Ritalin and its over-prescription for ADHD, especially in children as the disorder is mainly seen in childhood. Defining ADHD is still subjected to debate, and it has been observed that diagnosis of the disease is increasing as the diagnostic criteria changes, thereby leading to an over-diagnosis ...
The only other force that could possibly rival the Knights Hospitaller in strength was the Knights Templar. Because of this it was fitting that the two groups rivaled each other. The Templars were also fierce f...
The breath-taking expansion of police power that the United States government took after 9/11 now poses as a troubling issue. Americans need to address the issues of government surveillance because it affects t...
Sinha,, G. (2001, June). New evidence about Ritalin: What every parent should know. Popular Science, 48-52.
Overview This paper will discuss the mind-body connection and its relevance to health care professionals and to the public. It will explore the history of the mind-body connection, as well as state research that has been done on the subject. The reader will gain an understanding of the various techniques used in mind-body therapy, as well as their effectiveness. What is the Mind-Body Connection?
By understanding the chemistry of Ritalin, one can suggest a possible answer to this medical dilemma. In brief, Ritalin is a stimulant which targets the brain stem arousal system and the cortex of the brain by hindering the reabsorption of dopamine (a neurotransmitter/chemical given off by nerve cells to send signals to other nerve cells) into the presynaptic neuron. This occurs when Ritalin fixes onto the dopamine and thus increases the concentration of dopamine at the synapse (a minute gap between the joining of two neurons) and allows one to focus for longer.
The mind has an incredible power. We see it as we go through our everyday activities, constantly displaying the wonders of logic, thought, memory and creativity. Yet, can the mind be more powerful than we know? Is it possible to reduce or even eliminate pain, illness and disease by using the natural powers it possesses? Can the mind heal?
With each of our senses (sight, smell, touch, taste, and hear), information is transmitted to the brain. Psychologists find it problematic to explain the processes in which the physical energy that is received by the sense organs can form the foundation of perceptual experience. Perception is not a direct mirroring of stimulus, but a compound messy pattern dependent on the simultaneous activity of neurons. Sensory inputs are somehow converted into perceptions of laptops, music, flowers, food, and cars; into sights, sounds, smells, taste ...
The five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell are all sensations throughout the human body. Sensation is the involvement of sensory receptors as well as the central nervous system in order to allow us to experience outside stimuli. The system that allows us to experience sensation is the sensory system.