Operationalizing Psi-Conducive Altered States: Integrating Insights from Consciousness Studies into Parapsychology

Bem and Honorton (1994) stated, 'Historically, psi has often been associated with meditation, hypnosis, dreaming, and other naturally occurring or deliberately induced altered states of consciousness' (p. 5).1 Consciousness studies has been one of the main fields of inquiry associated with studying altered states of consciousness (ASCs; e.g., Tart, 1969), and may be defined as 'an autonomous, yet interdisciplinary, field of research and theory, embracing philosophy, psychology and neuroscience' (Overgaard, 2006, p. 425) in order to understand the 'nature of mind and consciousness" (Daniels, 2005, p. 284). According to Overgaard (2006), the development of this separate, multi-disciplinary science of consciousness was inspired, at least in part, by the seminal article by Francis Crick and Christof Koch (1990) titled 'Towards a Neurobiological Theory of Consciousness.' In addition, the interest in consciousness studies has been perpetuated by the Towards a Science of Consciousness conference series, the formation of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness and the emergence of numerous scholarly journals including Consciousness and Cognition, Journal of Consciousness Studies, and Psyche (launched in 1991, 1993, and 1997, respectively) (Editors, 1997). The purpose of this essay is to integrate various insights from consciousness studies into parapsychology with the aim of enhancing parapsychologists' understanding of the ostensible interaction between altered states and psi.