Guidelines for testing psychic claimants - Richard Wiseman

Many people claim to be psychic. Palm readers and astrologers claim that they look into the future to help solve personal problems. Mediums claim to help individuals communicate with deceased friends and relatives. Faith healers and psychic surgeons claim to diagnose and cure illness. "Psychic detectives" offer advice to the police to help solve crime. Alleged psychics have been used to attract followers to religious organizations and as consultants by large businesses.;Health professionals, law enforcement agents, cult investigators and scientists may wish to examine these claimants or assess the quality of investigations carried out by others. Badly designed investigations can result in false claimants being seen as genuine or honest claimants being accused of fraud. This book, therefore, tackles these issues, providing pragmatic and flexible guidelines to help researchers identify and resolve the problems that most frequently occur during the assessment of individuals claiming strong psychic ability.