Transpersonal psychology, parapsychology, and neurobiology: Clarifying their relations

Abstract

Neurobiological advances have resulted in growing interest in many psychological phenomena\nheretofore resistant to scientific scrutiny, including within transpersonal psychology and\nparapsychology. These advances perhaps can resolve longstanding tensions between these\ntwo psychological subdisciplines, which have generally been treated as disparate. To\nimplement such a rapprochement requires more than just additional empirical findings,\nas theoretical development is also needed. Consequently, we identify some important\ntheoretical problems, such as conventional assumptions about scientific naturalism and\nmaterialism that potentially undermine substantive advances in further understanding\nsuch phenomena through neurobiology. We also discuss links between parapsychology and\ntranspersonal psychology that can be forged through neurobiology (e.g., identifying specific\nbrain regions that can serve as candidates for future investigations in parapsychology and\ntranspersonal psychology).