Talk:Robert H. Thouless

Disputed content

He wrote on psychic phenomena, not as an advocate but describing a scientific approach to studying something which is not known with certainty to exist. His own experiments did not confirm the results of J.B. Rhine and he criticised the experimental protocols of previous experimenters. He is credited with introducing the word "psi" as a neutral term for parapsychological phenomena in a 1942 article in the British Journal of Psychology.

• The term "advocate" is vague/loaded in this context and open to be disputed, e.g., with reference to the two books Thouless wrote on psychical research, and the many experimental reports he authored. That the phenomena are "not known with certainty to exist" could be relevant and useful in some contexts but has no direct relevance in describing Thouless' own attitude to psychical research.
• That Thouless did not confirm J. B. Rhine's work is correct for some studies, but not for others, and is also misleading in that Thouless did more psiological experiments than trying to confirm Rhine's work. For one example of a confirmatory experiment, see Displacement (parapsychology).
• Thouless criticized some experimental methods and data-analytical techniques, but also commended others, and offered some himself (methodological and statistical), e.g., an efficiency measure dubbed the psi coefficient.
• He promoted the use of the term psi, but he himself acknowledged that it was first proposed by B. Wiesner, as can be read at psi (parapsychology). Thouless' article in the Brit. J. Psychol. that is mentioned here is actually the same article in which he reported confirmation of the displacement effect (so contradicting earlier statements in the quoted paragraph).

I will add corrective and additional info ASAP but it would be neat to see amendments. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rodgarton (talk • contribs) 14:46, 22 July 2009 (UTC)