Psychokinesis

Psychokinesis is the claimed influence of mind on matter without ordinary physical action. “Telekinesis” is often used for visible movement, while parapsychology has also studied alleged small statistical effects on dice or random systems. Demonstrations are especially vulnerable to hidden handling, selective reporting, uncontrolled airflow, static electricity, and conjuring methods.

The term psychokinesis gained currency in twentieth-century parapsychology. Laboratory work associated with J. B. Rhine shifted attention from dramatic séance-room movement toward repeated statistical trials, but independent replication has not produced a broadly accepted effect.

Fiction makes telekinesis visible, powerful, and reliably trainable. Experimental claims, where reported, are far smaller and remain disputed; stage magic can reproduce many dramatic versions.

• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Psychokinesis,” reference entry.
• National Research Council, Enhancing Human Performance, National Academies Press, 1988, chapter on parapsychological techniques.