There are many psychological phenomena which science doesn’t yet fully understand. Parapsychology is the discipline which attempts to investigate them. Although parapsychologists use the scientific method for many of their experiments, they will often use other methods, such as qualitative analysis and case studies.

Parapsychology deals with topics such as: telepathy, clairvoyance, reincarnation, hauntings, psychokinesis, precognition, remote viewing, and near death experiences.

Many scientists deride parapsychology as a “pseudo-science”. They see little value in spending time investigating phenomena which haven’t been demonstrated to be technically true. This is, however, a defining feature of parapsychology. When a phenomenon is actually demonstrated to be true, it is no longer in the domain of parapsychology: it simply becomes part of psychology.

A good example of this is Lucid Dreaming. Lucid Dreaming is a phenomenon whereby a dreamer becomes conscious of his dream while it is taking place. Becoming aware of a dream while in the dream itself appears to provoke a change in our consciousness. The dreamer gains access to all his waking memories and can exercise a certain degree of control over the dream world.