The word psychic (pronounced /ˈsaɪkɨk/; from the Greek psychikos—"of the soul, mental") refers to the ability to perceive things hidden from the senses through means of extra-sensory perception. The term also refers to theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation and cold reading to produce the appearance of having such abilities.

The existence of psychic abilities is disputed by Skeptics who attribute demonstrations of psychic occurrences to be intentional trickery or self delusion.^[1] Some parapsychologists have reported that their experiments to test for extra-sensory perception and psychokinesis have yielded evidence of psychic ability.^[2] The scientific community outside parapsychology does not accept these experiments as sufficient evidence for psychic functioning partly due to the intrinsic unliklihood of psychic phenomena.^[3][4][3]

Early examples of psychics include the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi who, according to Greek mythology, provided prophecies from Apollo himself, ^[5] as well as Nostradamus, a French apothecary who is said to have had the ability to predict the future.^[6] During the 19th century belief in psychics became more common and many individuals gained notoriety as psychics, including Daniel Dunglas Home.

Psychics appear regularly in fiction, and science fiction such as the The Dead Zone by Stephen King, and Jean Grey from the Marvel comic book universe. Belief in psychic phenomena is widespread in the United States where a 2005 Gallup poll revealed that 41 percent of Americans believe in extra-sensory perception.

History

Etymology

The word psychic is derived from the Greek word psychikos (of the soul/mental) and refers in part to the human mind or psyche (ex. "psychic turmoil"). French astronomer and spiritualist Camille Flammarion is credited as having first used the word psychic, while it was later introduced to the English language by Edward William Cox in the 1870s.^[8] Some credit William Crookes, an English chemist and physicist, as having first used the term in describing medium and magician Daniel Dunglas Home.^[9]

Early seers and prophets

 

Aegeus, a mythical king of Athens, consults the Pythia, who sits on a tripod.

Elaborate systems of divination and fortune-telling date back to ancient times. Perhaps the most widely-known system of early civilization fortune-telling was astrology, where practitioners believed the relative positions of celestial bodies could lend insight into people's lives and even predict their future circumstances. Some fortune-tellers were said to be able to make predictions without the use of these elaborate systems (or in conjunction with them), through some sort of direct apprehension or vision of the future. These people were known as seers or prophets, and in later times as clairvoyants and psychics.

Seers formed a functionary role in early civilization, often serving as advisors, priests, and judges.^[10] A number of examples are included in biblical accounts. The book of 1 Samuel (Chapter 9) illustrates one such functionary task when Samuel is asked to locate the donkeys of the future king Saul.