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SEVEN
EXPERIMENTS
Riverhead Dooks
Published by The Berkley Publishing Group
200 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10016

THAT COULO
CHANGE THE

Copyright 1995 by Rupert Sheldrake

Book design by Brian Mulligan
Cover design 1995 by Richard Rossiter
I

WORLO

All rights resbrved. This book, or parts thereof,

may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
first American ledition: 1995
Riverhead trade paperback edition: October 1996
Riverhead trade paperback ISBN: 1-57322-564~9

Do-II- Yoursclf Guide 10

Revolulionary Scicnce

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http://www.berkley.com
The Library of Congress has catalogued the Riverhead hardcover
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Sheldr,ke, RUP9rr.
Seven experiments that could change the world : a do-it-yourself
guide to revolutionary science / Ruper-t Sheldrake.
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ISBN 1-57322-014-0
Includes bibliographical references ;md index.
1. Science------Experiments-Popular works. I. Tide.
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1995
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Iprinted in the United States cf America
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I
CHAPTER

SEVEN

\
THE EFFECTS OF
EXPE~IMENTERS

EXPECT A TIONS

SELf-FULFILLING r~OrHECIES

Frequently things turn out just as expected

Of

prophecied, not

because of a mysterious knowledge- of the future but because people's behavior tends to make the prophecy came true. Fr exam-

pIe, a teacher who predicts that a student will fail may rreat the
student in ways that make failure more likely, thus fulfJling the
original prophecy. Thc tendency for prophecies to be self-fulfdling
is weil known in the realms of econoncs, politics, and religion. Ir

is also a matter of practiC3.1 psychology. Various ways of using these

powers are the bases of coumless self-help boaks, showing how

avoiding negative attitlldcs and adopting positive ones help to bring

about remarkable successes in politics, business, and love. Likewise
confidence and optimism play an important part in the practice of
medicine and hnling-and in sports, fighting, and many ather
activities.
However Olle chooses to interpret it, positive and nCf,r.Hive expectations often intluence what actually happens. Self-fulfilling
prophecies arc commonplace. So how does this apply
209

(0

seicnee?

SCIENTIFIC lLLI

'JNS

TllE EFFECTS OF EXPERIMENTERS' EXPECTATlONS

-------

Many scientists cJrry out experiments with strong expectations

workers than the particular physical conditions they were working

about the outrome, and with 'deep~rooted assumptiom about what

under.

is and what is not possible. Can their expectations influence their

results? The answer is yes.

The Hawthornc effect may play a part in many kinds of research, at least in psychology, medicine, and animal bchavior. In-

First, expecta1tions affect the kinds of questions that are asked in

vestigators affect the subjects of their investigation merely by

experiments. And these questions in turn share what kinds of

paying attention to them. Moreover, they may not only luve

J.

answers will be found. This is explicitly acknowledged in quantum

general influence, owing to their attention and interest, but also

physics, where the design of the experiment determines what kind

specific influence on the way their subjects behave. In general,

of o~tcome is possible; for example, whether the amwer will be in

wave or particle form. But this principle is perfectly general. "The'

subjects te nd

to

behave in accordance wirh experimemers' expec-

tatiollS.

structure of the examination is like a stenciL It determines how

The tendency for experiments to yield the expeeted remIts is

much of the total truth will appear and what pattern it will suggest." 1

known as the "experimcnter eifect," or more precisely the "experimenter expectancy effeet." Most researchers in the behavioral and

Second, experimenters' expectations affect what they observe,

medical sciences are well aware of this tendency and try to guard

giving a tendency to see what they want to see and to ignore what

against it by the use of "blind" methodologies. In "single-blind"

they da

no~

want to see. This tendency can lead to unconscious

experiments, (he subjeets do not know what treatment they are

biases in observation and in the recording and analysis of data, to

being subjected to. In "double-blind" experiments, the experi-

the dismissal of unfavorable results as errors, and to a very selective

menters do not know either. The treatments are coded by a third

publication of results, as I discussed in the Introduetion to Part 3.

party, and the experimenter does not know the code until after the

Third, and more mysteriously, experimenters' expectations may

afTect what actually happens. Just how mysterious this process might
be is the quelstion this chapt~r explores.

data have been collected.

Important though experimenter effects are in research on human beings and aninuls, no one knows how widespread they are in
other fields of seienee. The conventional assumptioll is thJt experimentereffects are widely enough recognized already, and are con-

rXPElUMlNTEI< tFFlCTS

A pioneeriIig piece of industrial research, carried out at the Hawthorne plant of the Western Eleetric Company in Chieago in

1927-9, has become fam.iliar to generations of students of social

psychology. It revealed wh at is now generally known as the "Hawthorne etTect. "2 This study was designed to find out the effects on
productivity of various dunges in rest periods and refreshments.
But, to the surprise of the investigatofs, output increased by about
30 percent irrespective of the particular experimental treatments.
The attention they were being given had a greater effect on the

210

fined to animal behavior, psychology, and medicine. They are

largdy ignored in other areas of science, as can easily be seen by
visiting a scientifie library and looking through the journals in
different fie1ds. In research in biology, chernistry, physics, and engineering, double-blind mcthods are rarely, if ever, employed. Scientists in these fields are generally innocent of the possibiliry that
experimenters rnight ullconseiously affect the systems they are
studying.
Lurking in the background is the alarming thought that much of
established scicnce 1113y reftect the influence of the experimenters'
expectations, even through psychokinetic or other paranormal in-

2/ /

SCIENTlflC ILLt

)NS

TI-lE EFFECTS OF EXPERIMENTERS' EXl'ECTAT10NS

fluences. These expectations may not on1y include those of indi-

the possibiliry of such effects is usually ignored. An embryologist,

vidual investigators but also the consensus among [heir peers.

for examplc, may well recognize the need to guard against biascd

Scientific paradigms, models of reality shared by professionals, have

observation aod to use appropriate statistical procedures but is

a gteat influence on [he general pattern of expectation and could

likely to take seriously the idea that his expectations ean, in same

influence the 6utcome of countless

experitilents.
,

mysteriolls way, influence the development of embryonic tissues

Ir is sometimes suggested, in a joking way, that nudear physicists

Ull-

themselves.

do no~ so rnuch discover new subatomic particles as invent them.

In psychology and medicine, experimenter effects are generally

Ta start with, the particles are predicied on theoretical grounds. If

explained in terms of influences transmitted by "subtle cues." Bm

enough professionals believe they are likely to be found, costly

just how subde these cues may be is another question. It is gener-

accelerators alnd coUiders are built to look for thern. Then, sure

ally assumed that (hey depend on1y on recognized fOrIllS of sensory

enough, the expected particles are detected, as traces in bubble

conullllnicaon, in turn dependent on1y on the well-known prin-

ehambers or on photographie fums. The more often they are de-

ciples of physics. The possibiliry that they inc1ude "paranormal"

tected, the easier they become

influences such

to

fmd again. A new consensus is

35

telepathy and psychokinesis is not discl1ssed in

established: they exist. The success of this investment of hundreds

polite scientific society. I bel.ieve that it is better to face this possi-

o[ millions of dollars then jl1stifies yet further expense on eVCI1

bility than to ignore it, and propose an investigation of experi-

bigger atom smashers to find yet more predicted particles, and so

rnetHer efieets tlut takes imo account the possibility of "mind over

on. The only limit seerns to be set not by nature herselfbut by the

matter" effects. But first it is importanr to consider what has a1-

willingness of the U.5. Congress to go on spending billions of

ready been established.

dollars on this pursuit.

In (he physical sciences, although there has been very little empirical research on experimenter effects, there luve been many

How

rEOPLl BlHAVl AI EXI'[CHD

sophisticated discussions of the role of the observer in quantum

theory. Such observers, discussed philosophically, sound like the

People gene rally behavc as expected. If we expect people to be

detached minds of idealized objective scientists. But if the active

[riendly they are more like1y to be so than if we expect thcm

influencc ofthe experimenter's mi nd is taken seriously, then many

hostile, and treat thern accordingly. The patients of Freudian ana-

possibilities open up-even the possibility that the observer's mind

lysts tend to luve Freudian dreams, while patients of Jungian ;lna-

may have psychokinetic powers. Perhaps "mind over matter" phe-

lysts luve Jungian dreams. There are countless examples from alt

nomena take place in the microscopic realm of quantum physics.

realn1S of human experience (hat illustrate this principk.

(0

be

Perl1aps the mind can influence the probabilities of happenings

Compared with the richness of personal experience and anec-

which are "probabilistic," not rigidly determined in advance. This

dotal accounts, experiments on the cffects of cxpectation on peo-

idea is (he basis

o~much speculation among parapsychologists,

aod

pIe's behavior seem contrived and trivial. Nevertheless, they are

is one way of trying to explain the interaction of mental and physi-

important in that they enable this eifect to be investigated empiri-

cal processes in the br:lin. 4

In the realm of animal behavior, as I disCllSS below, there is

cally and brought within the realm of scientific discourse. And

ac tu al exper~mental evidence for (he effects bf experimenters' ex-

can affect the outcome of psychologieal investigations, biasing

pectations on the behavior of animals. But in most areas ofbiology,

them in the direction of their expectations. 5

hundreds of experimellts havc indeed shown dut expcrimenters

212

213

lE EFFECTS F EXl'ER1MENTERS' EXPECTATlNS

SCIENT!FIC ILLU

Here

.
1S

one exafl1ple. A group of fourteen psychology graduate

tations created by RosenthaI and his colleagues had rnuch less er6

students was given "special training" in a "new method oflearning

feet when they had to compete wirh established reputations.

the Rorschach procedure," in which they would be asking people

Many subsequent studies have conflTllled and amplifled these con-

what patterns they saw in ink blats. Seven of thern were led to
believe that experienced psychologists obtained more human than

clusions. 7
A criticism levded against RosenthaI and his colleagues was that

animal images from their subjects. The other seven were given the

their own strang commitment to fmding experimenter efTects had

same ink blats but told that they had been found by experienced

biased their own results. Rosentl1al replied that if this were so It

psychologists to give rise to a high er proportion of animal images.

would rnerely prove his point in another way:

Surb enough, the second group obtained significantly more animal

images than

th~

first.

Less trivial is the empirical demonstration that the etlects of

e~pectations are

We could perform a study in which we randornly divided

expectancy investigators into two groups: in the first, expec-

not confined to short-term laboratory exper-

tancy experiments would be conducted as usual, while in the

iments. In schools, for instance, the way teachers treat pupils and

second, special safeguards would be employed so that the

hence the way the children learn is strongly influenced by expecta-

expectancy of the principal investigator could not be

tions. The textbook example is called the "Pygl11alion experi-

muoicated to the experimenters. Suppose that the average

ment," carried out in an elementary school in San Francisco by the

expectancy effect for the first group waS seven, and fr the

Harv:ud psychologist Rohert Rosenthal and his colleagues. These

second, zero. We would still view this as evidence for the

prestigious scientists created expectations in the teachers that cer-

phenomenon of expectancy effects!8

such

COlD-

tain children in their classes were about to bloom intellectually and

would show remarkable gains in the current school year. The psy-

Although in the medical and behavioral sciences double-blind pro-

chologists created this beliefby adrninistering a test to all the chil-

cedures are routinely ernployed

dren in the school, describing je as a new technique for predicting

fects, these methods are only partially effective. Some effects of

to

guard againsl: experimenter ef-

intellectual "blooming," calling it the "Harvard Test of Inflected

expectancy still persist, and are most clearly seen in the placebo

Acguisition." Within each dass, the teacher was then given the

effect in medical research.

names of the 20 percent of the children who had scored highest. In

fact, it was an ordinary non-verbal intelligence test, and the names
of those most likely co "bloom" were chosen at randorn.

THE PLACEBO tFFECT

At the end of the school year, when all the children were tested
again with the same intelligence cest, in the first grade, the "prom-

Placebos 3re tre:ltments wich no speciflc therapeutic value which

isillg" children scored an average of 15.4 IQ points more than the

neverthe1ess help to make rnany people better. Medic31 researchers

contral children; in the second grad'e 9.5 points more. Not only

have found that placebo effects are all-perv3sive in rnedicine, If

did these "promising" children tend to SCOre better, but there was

phcebo effects are not controlled in therapeutic studies, ehe find-

also a tendency for teachers to rate thern as more appealing, ad-

ings are generally considered unreliable. ~lacebo effeccs have been

juseed, affeceionate, curious, and happy. This dIeer showed up

found in many conditions, including cough, mood changes, angina

much less from the third grade upwards, probably because the

peccoris, headache,

teachers had their 4wn expectations about the children; the expec-

asthmaticus, depression, COlTlIl10n cold, lymphos3rcon13, gastric se-

214

215

seasickness,

anxiety,

hypertension,

status

SCIENTIFIC ILLI

NS

\'HE EHECTS OF EXPERIMENTER$' EXPECTATIONS

cretion and motiliry, dermatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, fever, warts,

in which the particular techniques are viewed by the patient as

insomnia, and pain symptoms from a variety of sources. 9

plausible anel the therapists as potentially effective.

Much of the success of therapy through the ages can be attrib-

Doetors are often quick to ascribe the efficacy of traditional or

tlted to the placebo effect, irrespective of the kind of therapy, or of

"unscientific" medicaJ systems to the placebo phenomenon, and

the theories supporting it. Arid there can be no doubt that it plays a

also to impute the lIse of placebos to other kinds of physician. Dut

large role in modern medicine as weil. A survey of a wide range of

they tend to exempt their own kind of mcdicine. In one survey of

drug trials has revealed that placebos are, on average, about a third

attitudes to placebo effects, surgeons excluded surgery, internists

to a half as effective as specific medication-a big eifect for blank

excluded medication, psychotherapists excluded psychotherapy,

pills that cast almost nothing. But placebos are not just blank pills.

and psychoanalysts exc1uded psychoanalysis. 13 Moreover, in medi-

They can also be forms of blank counseling or psychotherapy, or

cal research, placebo effecrs are generally regarded as a nuisance.

even blank surgery. For exampIe, one surgical procedure for the

But perhaps the negative attitudes of physicians to placebos is just

treatment of angina pain involved the binding of the mammary

as weil, since it is the other siele of the coin of their faith in the

arteries. When the effectiveness of this procedure was tested, the

special efficacy of their own techniques, which therefore tend to

appropriate incision was made in control patients, but no artery

work better-because of the placebo effect!

was bound. "Relief from the angina pain was the same among the

Tbe largest placebo effects oeeur in double-blind trials in which

real and sham surgery groups. In addition, both groups showed

both patients and physicians believe a powerful new treatment is

physiological changes, including reduction in the inverted T -wave

being used. If the treatment is believed by the doctors to be less

of the EKG recording."1 0

effective, a smaller placebo effeet is obtained. In single-blind trials,

So what are

p~cebos? The history of the word itself is revealing.

in which thc doctors know which patients luve been given ehe

It is the first word of a chant in medieval funeral rites, "placebo

domino"-I shall please the Lord. II The word was used to refer to

placebo but the patients do not, placebos are still less effcctive. In

professional mourners who were paid to "sing placebos" at the bier

bos, the efTects are smallest of all. In other words, treatments work

ofthe decehsed in place ofthe family,

whos~ role it was

open conditions where the patients know they are receiving place-

originally.

best if they are thought to havc powerful beneflCial efTects by both

Over the course of scveral centuries the connotations of the term

doctors and patients. Conversely, in trials where the aetive medica-

gradually became derisive; it was used to describe flatterers, syco-

tions are labelcd as placebos, the drugs give poorer clinical rc-

phants, and soeia1 parasites. It first appeared in a medical dictionary

sults. 14

in 1785, in a pejorative sense, defmed as "a eommonplace method

or medicine."I2

Thus lowcred expectations lead to a lowered placebo efTecL

This is the case wich new "wonder drugs" that arouse high hopes

The professional placebo singers in the Middle Ages no doubt

to start with, but fail to live up to expectations. This pattern was

tended to lack any speciflc devotion to the deceased. Nevertheless

recognized by the nineteenth-century French physician Armand

their c11anting was generally believed to be of value as part of an

Trousseau, who advised his colleagues to "treat as maHy patients as

acknowledged ritual. Modern placebos are given in a therapeutic

possible with the new drugs while they stiU have the power to

setting, and also depend for their power on current beliefs and

heal. "15 There are many modern examples. For instance, at one

expectations, both of the doctor and the patient. Any method of

time the drug chlorpromazine was hailed for its efficacy in treating

treatment in apy culture, traditional'or modern, occurs in a context

schizophrenia, but then [aith in its powers gradually wJned. In

216

217

SCIENTIFIC ILL

TUE EFFECTS GI-' EXPERIMENTERS' EXPECTATlNS

'1'15

successive trials it was found to be less and less effective. The effects

intervention. Moreover, they showed a relationship to the doctors'

of placebos declined in paralleL "Perhaps as the investigators began

to realize that the new 'wonder drug' was not as powerful as they

or patients' expectatiollS about the active drug being used in the

tria1. 20 For example, in a large-scale double-blind trial of oral con-

lud hoped, their expectations, and possibly their interest in the

traceptives, 30 percent of the women who were administered the

patiems declined. "16 Here is another particularly striking example,

placebo reported decreased sex drive, 17 percent increased head-

from the 1950s:

ache, 14 percent increased menstrual pain, and 8 percent increased

nervousness and irritability.21

to

lust as thc power ofblessings is mirrored by the power of curses,

radiation treatment. He was given a single injection of an

so the beneficial effects of placebos are mirrored by the negative

experimental drug, Krebiozen, considered by same at the

eflects of procedures expected to bring abollt hann, technicaUy

A man with advanced cancer was no longer responding

time to be a "miracle eure" (it has since been discredited).

known as "negative placebos" or "nocebos." Spectacular examples

The results were shocking to the patient's physician, who

in Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere are known to anthropolo-

stated that his tumors "melted like snowballs on a hot stove."

gists as "voodoo deaths," brought about by belief in the power of

Later the man read smdies suggesting the drug was ineffec-

bevvitchment. Less spectacubr nocebo effects have also been dem-

tive, and his cancer began to spread once more. At this poine

onstrated in laboratory experiments, as in a study in which subjects

his doctor, acting on a hunch, administered a placebo intra-

were told that a mild eleetric current was being passed through

venously. The man was cold the plain water was a "new,

their head by means of applied electrodes, and warned that this

improved" form ofKrebiozen. Again, his cancer shrank away

might give rise to a headache. Although there was in fact no cur-

dramatically. Then he read in the newspapers the American

rent, two-thirds ofthe subjects developed headaches. 22 Both place-

Medical Association's official pronouncemcnt: Krebiozen was

bos and nocebos depend on prevailing cultural beliefs, including

a worthless medication. Thc man's faith vanished, and he was

the belief in scientific medicine. "Simply put, belief sickens; belief

kills; belief heals. "23

deJ.d within days.17

I
The same principles apply to medical research itself. Believers and
Ilon-believers in new forms of treatment tend to obtain very differ-

THl INFLLllNCl OF EXrlCTANCV ON ANIMALS

ent results: "Quantitatively, the pattern is consistent. The initial 70

to 90 perdent effectiveness in the

enthusias~s' reports [decreased] to

Animals respond to different people differently, as every pet owner

30 to 40 percent 'baseline' placebo effectiveness in the skeptics'

and animal trainer knows. They recognize people they are used

repor~."18

and tend to be on their guard with strangers~ They seem to sense

A remarkable feature of placebos is that patients not only benefit

(0,

wh ether people are friendly, gauge their fear or confIdence, and

from them, but also exhibit coxic responses or side effects. In one

respond to their expectations. From a commonsense point of view,

survey of sixty-seven double-blind drug trials involving 3,549 pa-

based on everyday experience, it 1S hardly surprising that scientists

tients, 29 percent of the patients showed various side effects while

who do experiments on animals have a personal influence on the

they were being treated with the placebo, including anorexia, nausea, headache, dizziness, tremor, and skin rash. 19 The side effects

animals. The experimenters' attitudes and expectations affen the

were sometimes so severe that they required additional medical

The classical experiments on the etfects of experimenters' ex-

71R

animals they work with.

219

SCIENTIFIC ILLUS_

'HE EFFECTS OF EXPERJMENTERS' EXPECTATiONS

pectations on animals were carried out in the 1960s by Rohert

committed

Rosenthai and his colleagues. They used students as experimenters

sulting in greater expeetancy efTects than those found among nov~

and rats as subjects. The rats came from a standard laboratary strain,

iees wirh less personal comnlitment to particular theories. Thcy

but were divided at tandam iuta two groups, labeled "Maze-

may create a climate of expectation among their colleagues and

Bright" and

"Maze~Dull."

Thc students were told that these ani-

mals were the ptducts of generations of selective breeding at

to

particular views of reality, directly or indirectly re-

technicians, and this in turn may influence the way their animals
behave.

Berkeley for good and poor performance in standard mazes. The

Although expectaney effects were first systematically investi-

students naturally expected the "bright" rats to learn quicker than

gated in the 1960s and have now been demonstrated in hundreds

the "dulI" ones. Sure enough, this is what they found. Overall the

of special studies. 27 the general principle is by HO means new. For

"bright"

ra~

made 51 percent more correct I1esponses and learned

29 percem faster than the "duli" rats.

24

example, Bertrand Russell, writing with his customary wit and

clarity, put it as foliows in 1927:

These I fllldiogs have been conflrmed in other laboratories and

wirh other kinds of learning. 2s Comparable experimenter effects

The manner in which animals learn has been much studied in

luve even been obscrved with flatworms, lowly creatures that live

recent years, with a great deal of patient observation and

in mud at the bortom of ponds and in similar aquatic

environ~

experiment.

One may broadly say that all the animals

ments. In Olle such study, a sample of essentially identical Planaria

that luve been carefully observed luve behaved so as to con-

wornlS was divided into two groups, one of which was described as

firm the philosophy in which the observer believed before his

astrain showing few head turns and body contractions ("low-

observations began. Nay, more, they have a11 displayed the

response-producing worms"), and the other as a frequent turner

national characteristics of the observer. Animals studied by

ami contracter ("high-response-producing wonns"). With these

Americans rush about frantically, and with an incredible dis-

expectations in mind, the experimenters found on average five

play ofhustle and pep, and at last achieve the desired result by

tim es more head turns and tweIllty times more contractions in the

chance. Animals observed by Germans sir still ami think, and

"high-response..l.producing" worms.

26

at last evolve the solution out of their inner consciousness. 28

These expectancy efTects, like those in Rosenthal's rat experiment, were shown by undergraduate students, who may be especially prone to see: or even to pretend to see, what they are told to

EXI'ERIMENTfR EFFECTS IN PARAPSYCHOLOCY

expeet. Seasoned observers might generally show smalier expectaney etTects. This was the case, for example. when more experi-

Experimenter effects are weil known to parapsychologists, for sev~

enced I researchers were working wich Pfanaria. The number of

eral reasons. First, it has long been known to experienced research-

contractions in "high-response-prodllcing" Planaria was found to

be two to sevcn times greater than in

"low-response~producing"

worms, compared with the average of twcnty times greater found

by uHdergraduates. Nevcrtheless, a two- to sevenfold increase is

ers that subjects tend to show more psychic powers when they are
feeling relaxed, and in a positive and enthusiastic atlllosphere. If
they are anxious, uncomfortable, or treated in a formal and detached way by the scientiflc investigators, they do not perform so

still a brge effect, jnd obviously introduces a serious bias into the

weil. In fact they may show

results.

"psi effeets," in the jargon of parapsychology.

On the other hand, experienced observers may be strongly

110

significant psychic powers at a11, no

Second, it is a matter of conunon observation among research-

220

221

SCIENTtflC ILLUS

-HE EFFECTS OF EXPERIMENTERS' EXPECTATlNS

crs in this field that subjects who show considerable psychic abilities often tend to lose them when strangers COOle ioto the room as

J.

Fourth, in resc3rch on psychokinesis it has repe3tedly been

found that experimenters who find significant effects are them-

B. Rhine actually

selves good subjeets. For eX3Il1ple, Helmut Schmidt, the inventor

quantified this efTect in aseries of trials with a gifted subject, Hu-

of the Schmidt machine, a randorn nu mb er generator whose ou(-

observers. Tbe pioneering parapsychologist

bert Pearce, having noticed that when someone called in to see

put can apparently be affeeted by willing certain patterns to

Pearce at work his scores at onee dropped down. "We began to

emerge, has found that he is often his Qwn best subject. 32 One

take down evidence, sometimes inviting avisitor for that purpose,

investigator, Charles Honorton, has even shown that psychokinetic

sometiInes availing ourselves of a casual caller. We reeorded the

effecrs on randorn number generators by the subjects in his experi-

time of entrance and exit on 7 visitors, one being present twice.

ments are more due to himse1f than to his subjectS. 33 The subjeets

They all produced a drop in Pearce's scoring. "29

showed psycbokinetic powers when he was present; aod hc himself

Thc

off-puttin~ effect of strangers is particularly strang when

showed them when he was acting as the experimental subjecL But

the strangers are sceptical, especially if they are hostile to the exper-

the psi dIeet was lost when he was not present and the subjeets

iment itself or to the people involved. However, if strangers are

were tested by another experimenter. Honorton and his colleague

friendly, and especially ifthey help in some way in the experiment,

Barksdale concluded that such etTects showed that "traditiOIl3.1

ratber than ~ehaving as detached observers,lsubjects get used to

boundaries between subjects and experimenters cannot be easily

them and psi scores rise again. 30 Sceptics usually take the failure of

maintained." They interpreted their results as a "psi-medi3ted ex-

parapsychologieal tests in the presence of scepties to mean that

perimenter effect."34

psychic powers eannot be detected under rigorous scientifie condi-

The implications of such experimenter effects are staggering. If

tions, and therefore don't really exist. But the negative effeets of

parapsychologists can bring about psi-mediated experimenter cf-

scepties may weil be due to their

off~putting presence

and negative

feets, whether intemionally or not, through their influenee over

thcir subjeets, even at a distanee (as in the Fisk-West experiments),

expectations, mediated by subtle aod not-so-subtle cues.

Third, it is weil known among parapsyehologists that some ex-

then thc conventional separation between experimenters and the

perimenters consistently obtain positive results in their research,

subjects of their investigation breaks down. Moreover, if people

wbile others do not. This effeet was systematieally investigated in

can influcnee physical events such as radioactive decay, then the

the 1950s by two British researehers. One, C. W. Fisk, a retired

eonventional separation betv/een mi nd and matter breaks down

inventor, consistently obtained signifieant results in his experi-

too. But then why should psi-mediated experimenter effects be

ments. Tbe other, D. J. West, later

to

become Professor of Crimi-

nology at Camb1ridge, was usuaIly unsuceessful in detecting psyehie

confmed to parapsycholob'Y? Might they not occur in many other

fields of scienee?

phenomena. In these c>"1'eriments, each investigator prepared half

of the test items, aod seored them at the end. The subjects did not
I

know that rwo experimenters were involved, nor did they meet

Ho\' PAf\.ANOf\.MAL Is NOf\.MAL SCILNCE?

tbem; they received the test items through the post and also reexperi~

There is a good reason for the conventional taboo against parapsy-

ment Ishowed highly significant effeets for clairvoyance and

ehology, making it a kind of outcast from established science. The

turned them by mail. The results from Fisk's half of the

psyehokinesis. West's data showed

110

concluded that West was "a jinx. "31

222

deviation from chance. They

existenee of psyehie phenomena would seriously endanger the illusion of objectivity. Ir would raise the possibility that many cmpiri~
223

SCIENTlfIC ILL__

JNS

THE EFFECTS OF EXPERIMENTERS' EXPECTATlONS

cal results in many flelds of seienee refleet the expeetations of the

3. Unconscious or conscious deception.

experimenters through subtle uneonseious influences. Ironieally,

4. Experimenter efIects mediated by subtle cues.

the orthodox ideal of passive observation may weil provide excellent conditions for paranormal effects:

Skeptics are right to point

Out

these possible sources of error in

parapsychological research. But the same sourees ofbias are present

An experimemer preparing his apparatus, getting his animals

in orthodox research as weil. The very fact that parapsychological

ready, and then leaving them with some feeling of assurance

research is subject to such critical scrutiny makes researchers in this

that the experiment will run and the animals will appropri-

field unusually conscious of the effects of expectation. Ironicaily, it

ately "da their thing" cannot but remind us of certain aspects

is in conventional, uncontroversial fjelds of research that the influ-

of magie, ritual, cr perhaps petitionary prayer. Something is

ences of experimenters' expectations are most likely to pass unde-

done with lthe confidence that it will produce a desired result,

tected.

and the participant, once he has done this, psychologicaily

The evidence for experimenter effects in medicine and the be-

pUls a distanse between himself and the outcome. He is not

havioral sciences is undeniable. And that is why "subtle cues" take

trying to make things happen, but just trusts that they will.

on such an important explanatory role. Almost everyone agrees

Such circumstances may provide an optimum opportunity for psychokinetic intervention. 35

that subtle cues such as gestures, eye movements. body posture, and
odors can influence people and animals. Skeptics are very keen on
emphasizing the imp~rtance of such cues, and rightly so. A favor-

This possibility has indeed been raised in a paper in Nature entitled

ite example showing the importance of subtle commumcation is

"Scientists confronting the paranormal, " by the physicist David

the story of Clever Hans, a famous horse in Berlin at the turn of

Bohm and others. They noted that the relaxed conditions neces-

the century. This horse could apparently perform arithmctic in the

sary for the appe,rance of psychokinetic phenomena are also those

presence of its owner by tapping a hoof on the ground to

most fruitful for scientific research in general. Conversely, tension,

out an answer. Fraud seemed unlikely, sinee the owner would

COUllt

fear, and hostility tend not only to inhibit psi effects. but also to

allow other people (free of charge) to question the animal them-

influence e~periments in the so-called hard-sciences too. "If any of

selves. The phenomenon was scientifically investigated in 1904 by

those who participate in a physical experiment are tense and hos-

the psychologist Oskar Pfungst, who coneIuded that the horse \vas

tile, and do not really want the experiment to work, the chanees of
success are greatly diminished. "36

receiving eIues from gestures made, probably unwittingly, by the

The defenders of orthodoxy generativ reject or ignore the possi-

owner and other questioners. pfungst found that he could gec the
horse to give the concct answcr sirnply by concentrating his

J.ttCI1-

biUty of paranormal influences under auy circumstances. The task

tion o"n th-e number, though he was not aware of making any

of keeping s2ienee psi-free iS undertaken Iby organized groups of

1110vement that would give the number away.37

Skeptics. These scientific vigilantes continually challenge any evi-

No one denies that subtle cues from experirnenters, passing

dence for psi effects, rejecting it on one or more of the following

I
,
groun,ds:

through normal sensory channe1s, can affect people and anim3.ls.

Skeptics claim that such influences rnay explain many examples of
seemii:lgly telepathie communication. Dut gran ted a11 this, the pos-

1. Incompetent experimentation.

sibility remains that both subtle sensory cues and "paranormal" in-

2. Selective observation, recording. and reporting of data.

fluences playapart.

224

225

SCIENTIFIC IL.

.ONS

THE EFFECTS OF EXPEIUMENTERS' EXPECTATrONS

The story of Pfllngst's investigation of Clever Hans has been

tions for their subjects' responses were prevented from having

told again and again to generations of psychology students. Wh at is

sensory contact wich those subjeets. My prediction, then and

less weB ~nown is that after Pfungst's inveJtigation, described in his

now, was (and wauld be) that under these conditions no

book on Clever Hans pllblished in 1911, further studies on horses

expectaney effects eould occur. But I never did the study. 39

with bmilar rnathernatical powers showed that more was involved

than subtle sensory cues. For exarnple, whenMaurice Maeterlinck

Maybe if sameone actuaIly did this study, Rosenthal's prediction

investigated the farnous calculating horses of Elberfeld, he

would turn out

COI1-

cluded that they were somehow reading his mind, raeher than re-

to

be wrong. Maybe so me of the effects of experi-

menters' expectations are indeed paranormal. Such subtle influ-

sponding co subtle sensory cues. After aseries of increasingly

ences would not be opposed

stringent tests, he fll1al1y thought of one which "by virtue of its

work along with them, and operate just as unconsciously.

to

subtle cues; they would usually

vcry simplicity, could not be exposed to any elaborate and far-

Although experimenter etTects are weil recognized in the medi-

fetched suspicioIlS." He took three cards with nurnbers on ehern,

cal and behavioral sciences, the fact that they are explained--or

shuffied thern without looking at them, and placed them face

explained away-in terms of "subtle cues" prevents thern from

down on a board where the horse could see only their blank backs.

being taken very seriously in other fields of investigation such as

"There was therefore, at that mornent, not a human soul on earth

biochemistry. Whereas a person

Of

a rat might pick up a scientist's

who knew the figures. " Yet, without hesitation, the horse rappcd

expectations and respond accordingly, an enzyme in a test tube

out the 11tlmber the three cards formed. This experiment suc-

would not be expected to respond to subtle body language, uncon-

ceeded with thle other calculating horses too "as often as I cared to

scious facial gestures, ete. Of course, there is a general recognition

try it."38 These results go even beyond the possibility oftelepathy,

of the possibility of biased observation, but this is not a result of

since Maeterlinck himself did not know the answers when the

any actual inflllence on the experimental system itself. The scientist

horses were tapping thern out. They imply either that the horses

may "see" a difference that fits his or her expectancy, but the

wete capable of clairvoyance, directly knowing what was on the

difference is supposed to be only in the eye of the observer, not in

cards, or precognition, knowing the nllmber that would be in

the material studied.

Maeterlink's mind when he later turned the cards over.

Nevertheless, all this is merely an assumption. There has beeil

For more than eighty years, the story of Clever Hans and

practically no research on the inftuence of experimenters' expectJ-

Pfungst has beet? told and retold as a triumph of scepticism. It has

tions in fields of science such as agrieulture, genetics, moleculJr

taken on a mythic significance, enabling seemingly paranormal ef-

biology, chemistry, and physics. Since the material studied is as-

fects to be explained in terms of subtle cues. But what if some of

sumed to be inuuune from such influences, precautions against

the subtle lfues are themselves paranormal? There is a taboo against

them are assumed, to be unnecessary. Except in the behavioral

even discussing this possibility, let alone investigating it. N everthe-

sciences and in clinical research, double-blind procedures are rarely

less, the possible imponance of parapsychological influences was

employcd.

suggested to Rosenthai by one ofhis colleagues at Harvard right at

the outset of his research on experimenter effects:

experimenter effects may be far more widespread than previously

I now suggest a variety of tests to explore the possibility that

thought.

Had I the wit or comage to do so, I tould easily have conI

duc ted a study in which experimenters with varying expecta??;;

227