ABSTRACT
In everyday life, many people report experiences that they believe might have been paranormal. These experiences often have to do with apparent extrasensory perception (ESP), the acquisition of information without any apparent physical means. For example, someone might think of an old friend that they have lost touch with and not thought about in years, only to receive a telephone call the same day to tell them that their friend has just died. The coincidence may seem so unlikely that the event is taken as evidence of ESP. Other experiences may relate to apparent psychokinesis, the influence of someone's thoughts upon the physical world. For example, someone might be having a particularly stressful time at work and shout at their computer, which immediately breaks down. They might wonder whether this was evidence of psychokinesis. Ray Hyman conducted a meta-analysis of the forty-two studies that had been conducted up to the time of his assessment in 1981.
