- Book test
Book Tests are carried out to test an individual's claims of
psychic ability. A typical test involves an examiner (who conducts the test) a participant (who is usually a randomly selected volunteer with no claims of supernatural abilities) and a subject (the person undergoing testing). The examiner will present a neutral participant with a book. He or she is asked to open the book at any page and to chose any word. They are instructed to concentrate on this word without communicating in any way with the subject. The subject must be able to identify the chosen word to pass the test.The exact nature of the test will depend on what supernatural abilities the subject claims to have. For example, if the subject claims to be able to read the minds of other people then the examiner will test for
telepathy . If the subject claims to haveprecognition then the examiner will require them to predict the word the participant will choose before the participant is given the book. The use of book tests fortelepathy is far more common since the subject could simply predict any event that will happen in the future and the involvement of a third-party, the participant, is not necessary.Book tests are usually conducted informally. Books are used because they are a convenient way of finding a random word in a repeatable test. Participants are not asked to simply think of a word to avoid cultural and gender biases. If, for example, females are more likely than males to choose some words and people from one culture are more likely to choose some words than others, and children are more likely to choose some words than adults, then someone who was always tested with young Mexican boys or elderly Chinese women could conceivably have a greater success rate than someone who was tested with a wider range of participants simply by correctly limiting their guesses.
In
mentalism stage performers carry out book tests as part of their act. There is usually no examiner and a member of the audience takes the place of a participant. These tests are not carried out under scientific conditions and are often performed for the entertainment of the audience rather than to prove the psychic abilities of the performer.External links
* [http://www.booktest.net/book-test.htm What is a book test?]
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