American Society for Psychical Research
| Abbreviation | ASPR |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1884 |
| Legal status | Non-profit organization |
| Purpose | Parapsychology |
| Location |
|
|
Region served
|
North America |
|
Membership
|
Psychical researchers |
|
Main organ
|
Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research |
| Affiliations | Society for Psychical Research |
| Website | www |
The American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) is an organisation dedicated to parapsychology based in New York City, where it maintains offices and a library. It is open to interested members of the public to join, and has a website. It also publishes the quarterly Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
It was William Fletcher Barrett's visit to America that ultimately led to the formation of the American Society for Psychical Research in December, 1884. Barrett was invited by several members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He persuaded intellectuals such as Edward Charles Pickering, Simon Newcomb, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Pickering Bowditch and William James that the claims of psychical phenomena should be investigated scientifically.
The first meetings of the society were held in the rooms of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The founding members who were also the first Vice-Presidents were G. Stanley Hall, George Stuart Fullerton, Edward Charles Pickering, Henry Pickering Bowditch and Charles Sedgwick Minot. Other founding members were Alpheus Hyatt, N. D. C. Hodges, William James and Samuel Hubbard Scudder. The mathematician Simon Newcomb was the first President.
Other early members included the psychologists James Mark Baldwin, Joseph Jastrow, and Christine Ladd-Franklin. Initial research findings were discouraging. By 1890, members such as Baldwin, Hall, Jastrow and Ladd-Franklin had resigned from the society. Hall and Jastrow became outspoken critics of parapsychology.Morton Prince and James Jackson Putnam left the ASPR in 1892 to form the American Psychological Association.
...
Wikipedia