Robert Lyle Morris (July 9, 1942, in

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania Canonsburg is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States, southwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 9,735 at the 2020 census. Canonsburg was laid out by Colonel John Canon in 1789 and incorporated in 180 ...

– August 12, 2004, in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland) was an American

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

, parapsychologist and professor at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, where he was the first holder of the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology at the Koestler Parapsychology Unit.

Education

Morris received his doctorate from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

Career and research

Morris was Koestler Professor of Parapsychology from December 1985 until his death in August 2004. Morris was also known to have cooperated with the skeptic group

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is a program within the U.S. non-profit organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which seeks to " ...

. Morris co-wrote the book ''Guidelines for Testing Psychic Claimants'' (1995) with Wiseman, published by

Prometheus Books Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by the philosopher Paul Kurtz (who was also the founder of the Council for Secular Humanism, Center for Inquiry, and co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry). The publ ...

. Morris once commented in the ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...

'' that "parapsychology is still a collection of half-baked explanations in search of phenomena to explain."Michael W. Friedlander. (1998). ''At the Fringes of Science''. Westview Press. p. 118.

Richard Wiseman Richard John Wiseman (born 16 September 1966) is a professor of the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. He has written several psychology books. He has given keynote addresses to The Roy ...

completed his PhD in psychology under the supervision of Morris in 1992.

Publications

*''Some New Techniques in Animal Psi Research''. Journal of Parapsychology 31 (December 1967). *''Obtaining Non-Random Entry Points: A Complex Psi Process''. In ''Parapsychology Today''. Edited by J. B. Rhine and R. Brier. New York: Citadel Press, 1968. *''The Psychobiology of Psi''. In ''Psychic Exploration''. Edited by E. D. Mitchell. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1974. *''Biology and Psychical Research''. Edited by Gertrude R. Schmeidler. In ''Parapsychology: Its Relation to Physics, Biology Psychology, and Psychiatry''. N.P. 1976. *''Parapsychology: A Biological Perspective''. Edited by Benjamin Wolman. In ''Handbook of Parapsychology''. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1977. *''Guidelines for Testing Psychic Claimants'' [with

]. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Robert L. 1942 births 2004 deaths Academics of the University of Edinburgh 20th-century American psychologists Duke University alumni American parapsychologists