"The Afterlife Experiments"

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes the paranormal phenomenon of trance or spirit mediums who claim they can channel or communicate with the souls of the dead. The paper discusses psychologist, Gary Schwartz's book, "The Afterlife Experiments," which claims to offer breakthrough scientific evidence of life after death. The paper examines the studies conducted and reported on in this book and presents numerous counter-responses to Schwartz's research results, pointing out essential, glaring flaws in his research methodology.

From the Paper:

"In his trade book The Afterlife Experiments, clinical psychologist and University of Arizona professor Gary Schwartz offers "breakthrough scientific evidence of life after death." Based on a series of studies Schwartz and his colleagues conducted using spirit mediums, the author concludes that human consciousness does indeed survive the death of the body. Trance or spirit mediums are persons who claim they can channel, or communicate with, the souls of the dead. As Schwartz himself admits, "mediumship does not have a solid reputation for integrity," and usually more resembles "stage magic instead of science," (52; 51). Therefore, Schwartz undertook his research under a climate of skepticism, especially as he was a well-established clinical psychologist who graduated from Harvard. Publishing his findings in a trade book such as this one is a huge professional risk: laypersons unfamiliar with proper, established scientific methodology will be far more forgiving than Schwartz's colleagues in academia."

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