Introduction
Robert Henry Thouless (July 15, 1894 – September 25, 1984) was a British psychologist and parapsychologist. He is best known as the author of Straight and Crooked Thinking (1930, 1953), which describes flaws in reasoning and argument.
He studied at Cambridge University where he earned B.A. hons in 1914, an M.A. in 1919 and a Ph.D. in 1922. He was a lecturer in psychology at the universities of Manchester, Glasgow and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College in the University of Cambridge. He wrote on parapsychology and conducted experiments in card-calling and psychokinesis. His own experiments did not confirm the results of J. B. Rhine and he criticised the experimental protocols of previous experimenters.
He is credited with introducing the word psi as a term for parapsychological phenomena in a 1942 article in the British Journal of Psychology. He served as President of the Society for Psychical Research from 1942 to 1944.
Publications
- An Introduction to the Psychology of Religion (1923)
- The Lady Julian: A Psychological Study (1924)
- Social Psychology: A Text Book for Students of Economics (1925)
- Experimental Physical Research (1963)
- Mind and Consciousness in Experimental Psychology (1963)
- Rationality and Prejudice (1964)
- Straight and Crooked Thinking (1968)
- From Anecdote to Experiment in Psychical Research (1972)