Joseph Gaither Pratt
Encyclopedia
Joseph Gaither Pratt was an American psychologist who specialized in the field of parapsychology
. Among his research interests were extrasensory perception, psychokinesis
, mediumship
, poltergeist
s and psi
.
Much of Pratt's research was conducted while he was associated with J.B. Rhine's Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University
(1932-1964), and he also conducted research while associated with the University of Columbia (1935-1937), under Gardner Murphy
, and the University of Virginia
(1964-1975). Pratt was co-experimenter in the Pearce-Pratt and Pratt-Woodruff tests that are considered by some parapsychologists to have provided convincing and controversial evidence for psi
. He was the principal author of the publication Extrasensory Perception after Sixty Years (1940), He was the principal author of an article in the journal Nature that offered a statistical summary of almost a decade of experiments with the selected participant, Pavel Stepanek
.
's School of Religion, and from which he obtained his B.A. in 1931. Pratt came to realize that "my mind was not suited to a profession in which the answers to the great questions regarding man and his relation to the universe are largely taken on faith". Accordingly, in 1932, he entered Duke's Department of Psychology, from which he graduated with a M.A. in 1933, and a Ph.D. in 1936. His doctoral thesis was concerned with the psychology of learning, as informed by his experiments on white rats.
Pratt spent two of his early academic years (1935-1937) at Columbia University, upon the invitation of Gardner Murphy
to there seek to replicate the results of forced-choice ESP experiments, as offered by J. B. Rhine
at Duke University. From 1937, Pratt worked as Research Associate, and then as Assistant Director, of the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, under Rhine
. A brief hiatus to his research occurred from 1942 to 1946, while he served in the U.S. Navy. Pratt continued as Assistant Director of the Parapsychology Laboratory until, in 1964, Rhine reorganized the Laboratory outside of Duke University, and within his own Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man. From this point onwards, Pratt maintained a professional relationship with the University of Virginia
.
Pratt was President of the Parapsychological Association in 1960. In 1970, together with Jürgen Keil, of the University of Tasmania
, he was awarded the Parapsychology Laboratory's McDougall
award for their research with the selected participant Pavel Stepanek
. His later years were somewhat concerned by attentions to the claims of fraud against his one-time research associate, S. G. Soal
.
Pratt died on November 3, 1979. His archives are stored at Duke University
, and within the historical collections section of the medical library at the University of Virginia
.
Parapsychology
The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...
. Among his research interests were extrasensory perception, psychokinesis
Psychokinesis
The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...
, mediumship
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
, poltergeist
Poltergeist
A poltergeist is a paranormal phenomenon which consists of events alluding to the manifestation of an imperceptible entity. Such manifestation typically includes inanimate objects moving or being thrown about, sentient noises and, on some occasions, physical attacks on those witnessing the...
s and psi
Psi (parapsychology)
Psi is a term from parapsychology derived from the Greek, ψ psi, 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet; from the Greek ψυχή psyche, "mind, soul".-Etymology:...
.
Much of Pratt's research was conducted while he was associated with J.B. Rhine's Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
(1932-1964), and he also conducted research while associated with the University of Columbia (1935-1937), under Gardner Murphy
Gardner Murphy
Gardner Murphy was an American psychologist specialising in social and personality psychology, and parapsychology. His career highlights included serving as president of the American Psychological Association, and of the British Society for Psychical Research.Murphy was born on July 8, 1895 in...
, and the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
(1964-1975). Pratt was co-experimenter in the Pearce-Pratt and Pratt-Woodruff tests that are considered by some parapsychologists to have provided convincing and controversial evidence for psi
Psi (parapsychology)
Psi is a term from parapsychology derived from the Greek, ψ psi, 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet; from the Greek ψυχή psyche, "mind, soul".-Etymology:...
. He was the principal author of the publication Extrasensory Perception after Sixty Years (1940), He was the principal author of an article in the journal Nature that offered a statistical summary of almost a decade of experiments with the selected participant, Pavel Stepanek
Pavel Stepanek
Pavel Štěpánek, of Prague, Czechoslovakia, became, during the 1960s, the most tested individual participant in parapsychology experiments, both in terms of number of trials, and number of independent investigators. In 1968, results of these experiments were published in the journal Nature, with J....
.
Biography
J. G. Pratt was born on August 31, 1910, at Winston-Salem in the Piedmont section of North Carolina, the fourth among 10 children of a large farming family. From an early age, he planned to become a Methodist minister. He commenced his university studies in 1928 at Trinity College, Durham, in what was to become Duke UniversityDuke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
's School of Religion, and from which he obtained his B.A. in 1931. Pratt came to realize that "my mind was not suited to a profession in which the answers to the great questions regarding man and his relation to the universe are largely taken on faith". Accordingly, in 1932, he entered Duke's Department of Psychology, from which he graduated with a M.A. in 1933, and a Ph.D. in 1936. His doctoral thesis was concerned with the psychology of learning, as informed by his experiments on white rats.
Pratt spent two of his early academic years (1935-1937) at Columbia University, upon the invitation of Gardner Murphy
Gardner Murphy
Gardner Murphy was an American psychologist specialising in social and personality psychology, and parapsychology. His career highlights included serving as president of the American Psychological Association, and of the British Society for Psychical Research.Murphy was born on July 8, 1895 in...
to there seek to replicate the results of forced-choice ESP experiments, as offered by J. B. Rhine
Joseph Banks Rhine
Joseph Banks Rhine was a botanist who later developed an interest in parapsychology and psychology. Rhine founded the parapsychology lab at Duke University, the Journal of Parapsychology, and the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man...
at Duke University. From 1937, Pratt worked as Research Associate, and then as Assistant Director, of the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, under Rhine
Joseph Banks Rhine
Joseph Banks Rhine was a botanist who later developed an interest in parapsychology and psychology. Rhine founded the parapsychology lab at Duke University, the Journal of Parapsychology, and the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man...
. A brief hiatus to his research occurred from 1942 to 1946, while he served in the U.S. Navy. Pratt continued as Assistant Director of the Parapsychology Laboratory until, in 1964, Rhine reorganized the Laboratory outside of Duke University, and within his own Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man. From this point onwards, Pratt maintained a professional relationship with the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
.
Pratt was President of the Parapsychological Association in 1960. In 1970, together with Jürgen Keil, of the University of Tasmania
University of Tasmania
The University of Tasmania is a medium-sized public Australian university based in Tasmania, Australia. Officially founded on 1 January 1890, it was the fourth university to be established in nineteenth-century Australia...
, he was awarded the Parapsychology Laboratory's McDougall
William McDougall
William McDougall may refer to:*William McDougall , Canadian lawyer and politician from Ontario*William McDougall , Canadian shipbuilder and politician from Nova Scotia...
award for their research with the selected participant Pavel Stepanek
Pavel Stepanek
Pavel Štěpánek, of Prague, Czechoslovakia, became, during the 1960s, the most tested individual participant in parapsychology experiments, both in terms of number of trials, and number of independent investigators. In 1968, results of these experiments were published in the journal Nature, with J....
. His later years were somewhat concerned by attentions to the claims of fraud against his one-time research associate, S. G. Soal
Samuel Soal
Samuel George Soal — known as S.G. Soal — was a British mathematician and psychical researcher.Samuel Soal is mostly, today, remembered as the most prominent researcher in academic parapsychology to have been charged with fraudulent production of data...
.
Pratt died on November 3, 1979. His archives are stored at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, and within the historical collections section of the medical library at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
.
Books
- Stuart, C. E., & Pratt, J. G. (1937). A Handbook for Testing Extra-sensory Perception. New York, NY, US: Farrar and Reinhart.
- Pratt, J. G., Rhine, J. B., Smith, B. M., Stuart, C. E., & Greenwood, J. A. (1940). Extra-Sensory Perception after Sixty Years. New York, NY, US: Henry Holt.
- Rhine, J. B., & Pratt, J. G. (1957). Parapsychology: Frontier Science of the MindParapsychology: Frontier Science of the MindParapsychology: Frontier Science of the Mind is a book by Joseph Banks Rhine and Joseph Gaither Pratt, originally published in 1957. It is a textbook and reference work which provides an introduction to the field of parapsychology, which discusses "methods for testing, tables for evaluation,...
. Springfield, IL, US Charles C. Thomas. - Pratt, J. G. (1964). Parapsychology: An Insider's View of ESP. London, UK: W.H. Allen.
- Pratt, J. G. (1973). ESP Research Today: A Study of Developments in Parapsychology since 1960. Metuchen, NJ, US: Scarecrow Press.
Journal articles
- Pratt, J. G. (1936). Towards a method of evaluating mediumistic material. Bulletin of the Boston Society for Psychic Research, 23.
- Pratt, J. G., & Woodruff, J. L. (1939). Size of stimulus symbols in extrasensory perception. Journal of Parapsychology, 3, 121-158.
- Pratt, J. G. (1947). Trial-by-trial grouping of success and failure in psi tests. Journal of Parapsychology, 11, 254-268.
- Pratt, J. G. (1948). Parapsychology and general psychology. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 42, 142-145.
- Pratt, J. G., & Birge, W. R. (1948). Appraising verbal test material in parapsychology. Journal of Parapsychology, 12, 236-256.
- Pratt, J. G. (1949). The meaning of performance curves in ESP and PK test data. Journal of Parapsychology, 13, 9-23.
- Pratt, J. G., & Foster, E. B. (1950). Displacement in ESP card tests in relation to hits and misses. Journal of Parapsychology, 14, 37-52.
- Pratt, J. G. (1951). The reinforcement effect in ESP displacement. Journal of Parapsychology, 15, 103-117.
- Pratt, J. G. (1953). The homing problem in pigeons. Journal of Parapsychology, 17, 34-60.
- Pratt, J. G. (1954). The variance for multiple-calling ESP data. Journal of Parapsychology, 18, 37-40.
- Pratt, J. G., & Roll, W. G. (1958). The Seaford disturbances. Journal of Parapsychology, 22, 79-124.
- Pratt, J. G. (1960). Methods of evaluating verbal material. Journal of Parapsychology, 24, 94-109.
- Pratt, J. G. (1967). Further significant ESP results from Pavel Stepanek and findings bearing upon the focusing effect. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 61, 95-119.
- Pratt, J. G. (1967). A computer programme for ESP group tests. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 44, 71-82.
- Pratt, J. G., Stevenson, I., Roll, W. G., Meinsma, G. L., Keil, H. H. J., & Jacobson, N. (1968). Identification of concealed randomized objects through acquired response habits of stimulus and word association. Nature, 220, 89-91.
- Pratt, J. G., Keil, H. H. J., & Stevenson, I. (1970). Three-experimenter ESP tests of Pavel Stepanek during his 1968 visit to Charlottesville. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 64, 18-39.
- Roll, W. G., & Pratt, J. G. (1971). The Miami disturbances. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 65, 409-454.
- Pratt, J. G. (1973). A decade of research with a selected subject: An overview and reappraisal of the work with Pavel Stepanek. Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research, 30, 1-78.
- Pratt, J. G., & Keil, H. H. J. (1973). Firsthand observations of Nina S. Kulagina suggestive of PK upon static objects. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 67, 381-390.
- Pratt, J. G. (1975). Some notes for the future Einstein for parapsychology. In J. C. Poynton (Ed.), Parapsychology in South Africa: Proceedings of a 1973 Conference (pp. 144-163). Johannesburg, SA: South African Society for Psychical Research.
- Pratt, J. G. (1978). Prologue to a debate: Some assumptions relevant to research in parapsychology. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 72, 127-139.