parapsychic

Parapsychic is an adjective relating to parapsychology, the field that studies purported mental or physical phenomena that appear to transcend ordinary sensory and scientific explanations. The term is used to describe phenomena, experiences, or abilities that are said to lie beyond conventional psychology and the known laws of nature, though it is mainly encountered in popular discourse and in some academic or fringe contexts rather than as a mainstream scientific designation.

Common phenomena associated with parapsychic claims include telepathy (mind-to-mind communication), clairvoyance (perception of distant or hidden events), precognition (knowledge of future events), and psychokinesis (influence of mind on matter). Other terms such as psychometry or retrospective perception appear in related discussions, but are less widely cited in rigorous research. In practice, the label parapsychic is often applied to individuals who claim such abilities or to events attributed to those abilities.

Parapsychology as a field originated with investigations into these experiences in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The scientific community remains skeptical of many claims due to methodological criticisms and replication challenges. Systematic research has yielded mixed results and has not produced broadly accepted, reliable effects under controlled conditions. Critics point to biases, measurement errors, and selective reporting as factors that can influence apparent findings.

In contemporary usage, parapsychic is used in scholarship, media, and some New Age contexts to describe alleged powers or experiences, rather than as a confirmed scientific category. It is related to, but distinct from, paranormal phenomena; parapsychology is the field that investigates such claims.