The phrase psi assumption has been coined by skeptics to refer to the belief, held by parapsychologists and others, that the laws of chance can be used as a basis for proving psychic ability. Skeptics argue, for example, that just because there is a one-ina-million chance that someone would be able to predict which cards will turn up in a particular order in a particular stack of cards during an extrasensory perception (ESP) test, it does not follow that someone who succeeds in making such a prediction is exhibiting ESP. Instead, skeptics say, that person could be cheating on the test or exhibiting incredible luck—that is to say, he or she simply beat the odds.

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• psi

SOURCE:

The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning