Abstract
Scott and Haskell1 have reported some formidable statistical evidence to support an allegation made by “G. A.”. She acted as agent in two of forty card guessing experiments conducted between 1941 and 1943 (ref. 2) G. A. claimed that during sitting 16 she had seen Soal changing figures written in ink on a score-sheet: “1” into “4” or “5”, There are patterns in the data for this sitting, and two other sittings, 8 and 17, which fit closely the hypothesis that the high scoring was due to this manipulation. Scott and Haskell argue that the patterns in question cannot plausibly be attributed to ESP. This is bound to raise doubts about all of Seal's contributions to psychical research; but there are some questions not discussed by Scott and Haskell which should be raised.
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References
Scott, C., and Haskell, P., Nature, 245, 52 (1973).
Soal, S. G., and Goldney, K. M., Proc. Soc. Psychical Res., 47, 21 (1942).
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MUNDLE, C. General: The Soal–Goldney Experiments. Nature 245, 54 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/245054a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/245054a0
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