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The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a non-profit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand "events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal by promoting and supporting important research in this area" and to "examine allegedly paranormal phenomena in a scientific and unbiased way."〔(SPR website )〕 It does not however, since its inception in 1882, hold any corporate opinions: SPR members have a variety of beliefs or lack thereof about the reality and nature of the phenomena studied, and some sceptics have been active members of the Society.〔Renée Haynes. (1982). ''The Society for Psychical Research 1882-1982: A History''. London: MacDonald & Co.〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Join the SPR! )〕 ==History== The SPR was founded in 1882 in London by a group of eminent thinkers including Edmund Gurney, Frederic W. H. Myers, William F. Barrett, Henry Sidgwick, and Edmund Dawson Rogers. The SPR was the first organisation of its kind in the world, its stated purpose being "to approach these varied problems without prejudice or prepossession of any kind, and in the same spirit of exact and unimpassioned enquiry which has enabled science to solve so many problems, once not less obscure nor less hotly debated."〔Ivor Grattan-Guinness. (1982). ''Psychical Research: A Guide to Its History, Principles and Practices: In Celebration of 100 Years of the Society for Psychical Research''. Aquarian Press. p. 19. ISBN 0-85030-316-8.〕 Initially six committees were established: on Thought-Transference, Mesmerism and similar phenomena, Mediumship, Reichenbach Phenomena (Odic Force), Apparitions and Haunted Houses, physical phenomena associated with séances, and the Literary Committee which studied the history of these phenomena.〔Alan Gauld. (1968). ''The Founders of Psychical Research''. Routledge & K. Paul.〕 Critical SPR investigations into purported mediums and the exposure of fake mediums led to a number of resignations in the 1880s by Spiritualist members〔 but the Society continued to investigate mediums, studying Gladys Osborne Leonard, Eusapia Palladino, Leonora Piper, Rudi Schneider among others.〔Jenny Hazelgrove. (2000). ''Spiritualism and British Society Between the Wars''. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0719055591〕 Much of the early work involved investigating, exposing and in some cases duplicating fake phenomena. Richard Hodgson (parapsychologist) distinguished himself in that area. In 1884 Hodgson was sent by the SPR to India to investigate Helena Blavatsky and concluded that her claims of psychic power were fraudulent.〔Nevill Drury. (2006). ''The Dictionary of the Esoteric: 3000 Entries on the Mystical and Occult''. Watkins. p. 144. ISBN 978-1842931080〕 Among the phenomena that Hodgson investigated was the supposed miraculous Theosophical letters from the Mahatmas which were said to magically appear over a four-year period in a cabinet in the Shrine Room at the Theosophical headquarters in Madres.〔John Melton. (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 210-211. ISBN 978-1578592098〕 Hodgson in his report wrote that the letters were frauds and had been written by Blavatsky herself who had put them in the cabinet from an opening in her bedroom located behind the Shrine room.〔 In April 1986, Vernon Harrison examined the evidence of the case and outlined flaws in Hodgson's work. Harrison concluded that the letters were forgeries but were not written by Blavatsky but by ex-employees for revenge. On May 8 of that year the SPR issued a press release in support of Harrison's findings, and rejecting the Hodgson report.〔Arthur Berger. (1988). ''Lives and Letters in American Parapsychology: A Biographical History, 1850-1987''. McFarland. p. 19〕 In 1886 and 1887 in a series of publications the SPR exposed the tricks of many mediums. One of the most interesting exposures of that period was carried out by Hodgson with his friend, S. J. Davey. Originating the “fake séance” technique for educating the public (including SPR members), Davey gave sittings under an assumed name, duplicating the slate-writing phenomena produced by a medium named William Eglinton, and then proceeded to point out to the sitters the manner in which they had been deceived. Because of this, some spiritualist members such as William Stainton Moses resigned from the SPR.〔Janet Oppenheim. (1988). ''The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850-1914''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 139-140. ISBN 978-0521347679〕 Due to the exposure of William Hope and other fraudulent spiritualists, Arthur Conan Doyle led a mass resignation of eighty-four members of the Society for Psychical Research, as they believed the Society was opposed to spiritualism.〔G. K. Nelson. (2013). ''Spiritualism and Society''. Routledge. p. 159. ISBN 978-0415714624〕 According to D. Scott Rogo "For years a feud existed between the Spiritualists who saw the SPR as unnecessarily sceptical and the SPR which saw Spiritualists as credulous or simplistic."〔D. Scott Rogo. (1975). ''Parapsychology: A Century of Inquiry''. Taplinger Publishing Company. p. 56. ISBN 978-0800862367〕 As the SPR progressed many of the members came to interpret mediumship and spiritualist phenomena in terms of psychokinesis and telepathy opposed to the spiritualist hypothesis.〔Renee Haynes. (1982). ''The Society for Psychical Research 1882-1982: A History''. London: MacDonald & Co. p. 168. ISBN 978-0356078755〕〔John Cerullo . 1982. ''Secularization of the Soul: Psychical Research in Modern Britain''. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues.〕 This explanation for spiritualistic phenomena prevailed in the SPR, and is still supported by parapsychological researchers to this day. On this subject Terence Hines wrote "The split came about not because of doubt on the part of the scientists who belonged to the SPR, but because of a fundamental difference with spiritualists over the correct interpretation of the phenomena that took place at séances."〔Terence Hines. (2003). ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal''. Prometheus Books. pp. 44-48. ISBN 978-1573929790〕 The parapsychological claim that mediumship can be explained by psychokinesis or telepathy is not accepted by the scientific community.〔 In 1966 the SPR member Simeon Edmunds published ''Spiritualism: A Critical Survey'' which concluded the majority of mediums that had been investigated were fraudulent.〔Simeon Edmunds. (1966). ''Spiritualism: A Critical Survey''. London: Aquarian Press.〕 The SPR member Tony Cornell spent over 50 years investigating the paranormal and came to the conclusion that most paranormal cases turn out to have natural explanations such as the result of fraud, pranks and misidentification. He believed that many sightings of ghosts, hauntings and poltergeists are products of the human mind.〔Rosemary Ellen Guiley. (2008). ''Ghosts and Haunted Places''. Checkmark Books. p. 43. ISBN 978-1604133172〕 Cornell estimated that of the 800 cases that he investigated, only twenty percent were difficult to explain and only a handful were paranormal.〔John Zupansic. (2003). Book review. (''Investigating the Paranormal'' ). Ghostvillage.〕 Some sceptical members have resigned from the SPR. Eric Dingwall resigned and wrote "After sixty years' experience and personal acquaintance with most of the leading parapsychologists of that period I do not think I could name half a dozen whom I could call objective students who honestly wished to discover the truth."〔Eric Dingwall. (1985). ''The Need for Responsibility in Parapsychology: My Sixty Years in Psychical Research''. In Paul Kurtz. (1985). ''A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology''. pp. 161-174. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-0879753009〕 The SPR is frequently referred to in Victorian and Edwardian literature as the "Psychical Research Society". The term ''psychical'' was adopted to distinguish the purported phenomena from those classified as ''psychic'', (that is simply mental processes such as thought, memory, etc.) and the SPR were to introduce a number of other neologisms which have entered the English language, such as 'telepathy', which was coined by Frederic Myers. The Society is run by a President and a Council of twenty members, and is open to interested members of the public to join. The organisation is based at 49 Marloes Road, Kensington, London, with a library and office open to members, and with large book and archival holdings in Cambridge University Library, Cambridgeshire, England.〔(Cambridge University Library )〕 It publishes the peer reviewed quarterly ''Journal of the Society for Psychical Research'' (''JSPR''), the irregular ''Proceedings'' and the magazine ''Paranormal Review''. It holds an annual conference, regular lectures and two study days per year〔〔(Edinburgh University Website )〕 and supports the ''LEXSCIEN'' on-line library project. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Society for Psychical Research」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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