Emerging Research: Self-ascribed Parapsychological Abilities

Over the last few years, the number of studies investigating self-ascribed parapsychological abilities has attracted attention in multiple academic fields, as this construct seems to have important psychological implications. Belief in the paranormal has been also related to a range of psychological constructs, such as anxiety and creativity. Historically, parapsychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on the scientific study of “psi”. Psi includes phenomena like apparent mind-to-mind communication, information received about distant events, locations, or objects that one could not know through traditional means, mental influence of physical matter, perception of future events without using rational or traditional means, and the possibility of consciousness surviving physical death. Now, a deal of interest is growing also among different fields of psychology for studying such phenomena and their psychological implications. Despite increased rigorous experiments on these topics, more research is needed to integrate psychology, philosophy, contemplative studies, and neuroscience to identify and investigate these commonly reported phenomena. We are pleased to introduce the collection within Frontiers in Psychology: Emerging Research: Self-ascribed paranormal abilities.

This Research Topic investigates personal perceptions (involvement) and comprehensions (interpretation) of self-ascribed parapsychological abilities. This collection will welcome and showcase a selection of articles about self-ascribed parapsychological abilities and paranormal beliefs, authored by leaders in the field. It provides an opportunity to widen the exposure of rigorous scientific studies on self-ascribed parapsychological aspects of consciousness research, especially using an interdisciplinary approach.

All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of Frontiers in Psychology and within the scope of the Consciousness Research section, as defined in the mission statements.
The work presented will highlight the broad diversity of research performed across the Consciousness Research field and aims to put a spotlight on the main areas of interest. In particular, understanding the psychological processes underpinning self-ascribed parapsychological abilities would give us new insights in the field of consciousness research, bridging together introspective experiences, experimental results, and theoretical assumptions. This Research Topic could further open new avenues of research and favour the individuation of new research methods and paradigms to investigate such an open- ended research field. Therefore, this collection calls for new theoretical ideas, conceptual heuristics, and methodological innovation. We welcome original research and state-of-the-art reviews as well as other article types addressing, but not limited to, the following research
areas:
• Psychological implications of paranormal belief;
• Extemporaneous (external/spontaneous) vs measured (internal/controlled) parapsychological capabilities;
• Consciousness states alterations in individuals with self-ascribed parapsychological abilities;
• Self and body awareness related to self-ascribed parapsychological abilities;
• Impact of self-ascribed parapsychological abilities on psychological well-being and
meaning in life;
• Personal motivations for cultivating paranormal abilities;
• Personality traits associated with paranormal belief and disbelief;
• Relationships between spirituality, religious beliefs, and transcendental experiences with
self-ascribed parapsychological abilities and paranormal beliefs.