Good, Bad, or Not-Even-Wrong Science and Mathematics in Transpersonal Psychology: Comment on Rock et al.\u27s Is Biological Death Final?

Rock et al. (this issue) used a Drake-like equation to provide an estimate of the mathematical likelihood of survival of consciousness after death based on combining a number of probability guestimates. Although it is refreshing to see a mathematical paper within transpersonal psychology, as this subdiscipline of psychology suffers from a shortage of quantitative research, it is uncertain whether this contribution is good, bad, or not-even-wrong science. The original Drake equation, and its derivative Drake-like equation spinoffs, have been criticized for combining numbers that produce results that lack meaning and thereby perhaps can be seen as using pseudomathematics. This concern is discussed in relationship to problems related to romantic scientism within transpersonal science, including methodolatry involved in privileging qualitative over quantitative approaches. Self-expansiveness is discussed as an example of transpersonal psychology appropriately using good science, while the critical positivity ratio is discussed as an example of bad science, and astrology is discussed as an example of pseudoscience that is not-even-wrong. Questions are raised about the proper use and the misuse of mathematics within the transpersonal area, and comment is made about advances in mathematics that might become useful within transpersonal psychology

Parapsychology and Transpersonal Psychology in Dialogue: Could These Two Movements Be Brought into Better Alignment?

Parapsychology and transpersonal psychology were founded independently and have evolved separately as two distinct movements, although there is considerable overlap in both their content and in the interests of a number of scholars who are active in both areas. Harris Friedman, Co-President of the Association of Transpersonal Psychology, and Dean Radin, President of the Parapsychological Association, engaged in an informal discussion on the salient commonalities and differences between the two movements, focusing on exploring ways that the two could be brought into better alignment, such as including more transpersonal approaches within parapsychological studies and vice versa. Stanley Krippner, whose seminal work straddles both areas, chaired the panel, introducing and serving as a discussant for Friedman’s and Radin’s views, as well as in presenting his own views on the relationship between parapsychology and transpersonal psychology

Transpersonal Approaches to Clinical Supervision

Transpersonal psychology can provide unique approaches to clinical supervision by offering an interconnected self-expansive view of the self across time and space, as well as can provide a secular avenue to consider the importance of spirituality without relying on supernatural assumptions. Transpersonal supervisors can challenge conventional notions about what and how supervisees know, and even the nature of being a knower, through providing a more inclusive, perhaps even holistic, vantage that is both critical of mainstream approaches and surpasses their ability to provide a coherent “super” (i.e., going beyond the usual more-myopic understandings) vision. Background on transpersonal psychology related to the supervisor role is provided, and discussion on how to conduct transpersonal clinical supervision is offered, along with cautions regarding potential pitfalls in adopting this perspective

The persistence of wishful thinking: Response to "Updated thinking on positivity ratios"

This is a response to Barbara Fredrickson's comment [American Psychologist 68, 814-822 (2013)] on our article arXiv:1307.7006. We analyze critically the renewed claims made by Fredrickson (2013) concerning positivity ratios and "flourishing", and attempt to disentangle some conceptual confusions; we also address the alleged empirical evidence for nonlinear effects. We conclude that there is no evidence whatsoever for the existence of any "tipping points", and only weak evidence for the existence of any nonlinearity of any kind. Our original concern, that the application of advanced mathematical techniques in psychology and related disciplines may not always be appropriate, remains undiminished.Comment: LaTeX2e, 10 pages including 6 Postscript figure

Positive psychology and romantic scientism: Reply to comments on Brown, Sokal, & Friedman (2013)

This is a response to five comments [American Psychologist 69, 626-629 and 632-635 (2014)] on our article arXiv:1307.7006.Comment: PDF, 9 page

An Approach to Transpersonal Psychology as a Science

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Good, Bad, or Not-Even-Wrong Science and Mathematics in Transpersonal Psychology: Comment on Rock et al.\u27s Is Biological Death Final?

Rock et al. (this issue) used a Drake-like equation to provide an estimate of the mathematical likelihood of survival of consciousness after death based on combining a number of probability guestimates. Although it is refreshing to see a mathematical paper within transpersonal psychology, as this subdiscipline of psychology suffers from a shortage of quantitative research, it is uncertain whether this contribution is good, bad, or not-even-wrong science. The original Drake equation, and its derivative Drake-like equation spinoffs, have been criticized for combining numbers that produce results that lack meaning and thereby perhaps can be seen as using pseudomathematics. This concern is discussed in relationship to problems related to romantic scientism within transpersonal science, including methodolatry involved in privileging qualitative over quantitative approaches. Self-expansiveness is discussed as an example of transpersonal psychology appropriately using good science, while the critical positivity ratio is discussed as an example of bad science, and astrology is discussed as an example of pseudoscience that is not-even-wrong. Questions are raised about the proper use and the misuse of mathematics within the transpersonal area, and comment is made about advances in mathematics that might become useful within transpersonal psychology

An Explication of All Cogent Scientific Conceptualizations Regarding the Non-Dual: Finding Nothing to Write

Sometimes more is less, even within scholarly writing, known for its all too frequent verbosity. This paper follows approaches that sparingly used words, even to the point of using no words at all. One example of this strategy is a renowned psychology article describing its author’s unsuccessful self-treatment of his own writer’s block, which led to a blank paper (Upper, 1974). Another, in the area of interventions, which are commonly seen as demanding empirical support to evaluate risk-benefit analyses, involved a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of parachutes in preventing deaths. This research was presented, but never conducted—as no controlled trials containing a non-parachute condition could be identified, which again led to a blank paper (Gordon & Pell, 2003). Both of these papers, which used fewer than the minimum number possible for a word count, illustrate the value of research that went less-far than presenting results about null hypotheses to being themselves completely null. Throughout a long career in transpersonal psychology, this paper’s author has similarly called for silence as the only proper response as a scientist toward considering anything labeled as non-dual—and has characterized all attempts to articulate conceptualizations directly about this topic as futile (e.g., Author, 1983, 2002, 2015). This does not mean that all transpersonal notions within psychology are incoherent or worthless, but those that attempt to pontificate directly about ultimate states, such as alleged states (or non-states) of the non-dual (or similar supernatural conjectures that defy empirical efforts required for falsification), reside outside of science’s limits. However, speculations about such notions continue unabashedly within transpersonal psychology. Consequently, in this paper the author painstakingly exhausts every possible good scientific conceptualization about the non-dual from a psychological perspective, but finds none to explicate. This does not discount the value of speculation from non-scientific vantages, such as the legitimate uses of poetry and art to describe and depict the non-dual in imaginative ways not to be taken literally and concretely. It also does not limit psychology as a science from pointing to the possibility of the non-dual, including studying people’s claims—and their concomitants about such a possibility, but psychology as a science has not yet meaningfully engaged directly in exploring this topic, and it appears thoroughly outside of any cogent scientific framework to entertain. Although this paper is written as succinctly as possible, readers are encouraged to take in the vast scope of this inquiry’s unstated implications in order to arrive at their own conclusions, and to consider deeply whether there might be any value in continuing efforts within transpersonal psychology, as Watts (1972) proudly proclaimed, “to say what cannot be said, to eff the ineffable, and to unscrew the inscrutable” (p. xiii). Perhaps it would be desirable to conclude that this paper constitutes the last word on this troubled subject, but not a word is offered, as even one word would be too much—so there is no last word. Alas, only silence suffices for conceptualizing the non-dual from the limited framework of science

Searching for Wild Elephants in the North Georgia Forests: The Saga of Writing a Transpersonal Dissertation at a Mainstream University

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