Psychics and ESP: The Role of Population Stereotypes

While ostensibly investigating telepathically sent messages, the present experiment examined subjects' preferred responses, i.e. population stereotypes. Undergraduate students (N = 351) were asked a series of questions such as: “I am thinking of a number from 1 to 10. Write down the first number that comes to mind.” Throughout the series the experimenter thought of, or “sent”, non‐stereotyped answers in order to test for the effects of ESP. While there was no evidence to support the presence of ESP, the expectation that some responses, population stereotypes, would occur with frequencies greater than chance was confirmed. 1986 Australian Psychological Society