Why do psychologists nowadays not conduct ESP research, according to Stanovich?

• A. Years ago, evidence failed to support it
• B. ESP is proven true
• C. ESP is illegal
• D. ESP is not funded

Answer: (A)

The main idea being tested is why ESP research fell out of favor in psychology. Stanovich argues that researchers stopped pursuing extrasensory perception because the accumulated evidence from earlier studies did not hold up under more careful, rigorous testing. When experiments were redesigned with stronger controls, larger samples, and better methods, the supposed ESP effects did not replicate reliably. In other words, the data simply did not provide convincing, replicable support for ESP, so the scientific justification for continuing to study it weakened. This isn’t because ESP was proven true or illegal, and while funding tends to follow solid evidence, the core reason researchers moved away is the lack of credible, replicable findings.