EXPERIMENTER EFFECT

A term used in laboratory tests for psi to describe the unconscious psychic influence or bias of the experimenter on the subject. The effect may show up as unconscious telepathic communication or use of body language or attitude communicated to the subject.

The experimenter effect was noticed first in psychology in the tendency of patients and therapists to establish a rapport, and then in psychical research in the 1930s when it became apparent that in some cases the experimenter became the determining factor for the outcome of a test. It was shown that experimenters who seemed negative and unsupportive yielded poorer results than experimenters who were positive and encouraging. Subjects also seemed to be influenced by how much they thought their experimenter believed in psi and whether or not the experimenter liked
them. In 1949 American psychologist and psychical researcher Gardner Murphy suggested that certain brilliant test results were due to the intense feelings of the experimenters.

Some experimenters do appear to get more positive and more conclusive results than others. According to some psi researchers this doesn’t necessarily invalidate their test results. It is argued that it is important for the experimenter to believe in psychic ability and to have a positive, encouraging attitude towards the subject, as this creates the kind of relaxed and positive atmosphere conducive to psychic development.

SOURCE:

The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World: The Ultimate A–Z of Spirits, Mysteries and the Paranormal: The Ultimate A-Z of Spirits, Mysteries and the Paranormal – Written by Theresa Cheung – © Theresa Cheung 2006