title: Distant intentionality and the feeling of being stared at: two meta-analyses.
abstract: Findings in parapsychology suggest an effect of distant intentionality. Two laboratory set-ups explored this topic by measuring the effect of a distant intention on psychophysiological variables. The 'Direct Mental Interaction in Living Systems' experiment investigates the effect of various intentions on the electrodermal activity of a remote subject. The 'Remote Staring' experiment examines whether gazing by an observer covaries with the electrodermal activity of the person being observed. Two meta-analyses were conducted. A small significant effect size (d =.11, p =.001) was found in 36 studies on 'direct mental interaction', while a best-evidence-synthesis of 7 studies yielded d =.05 (p =.50). In 15 remote staring studies a mean effect size of d = 0.13 (p =.01) was obtained. It is concluded that there are hints of an effect, but also a shortage of independent replications and theoretical concepts.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Medicine and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Freiburg, Germany. sschmidt@ukl.uni-freiburg.de
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Utts
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Walach
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D013688:Telepathy