Psychokinesis (from Greek ψυχή "soul" and κίνησις "movement"[1][2]), or telekinesis[3] (from τηλε- "far off" and κίνηση "movement"[4]), is an alleged psychic ability allowing a person to influence a physical system without physical interaction.[5][6]
Psychokinesis experiments have historically been criticized for lack of proper controls and repeatability.[7][8][9][10] There is no proven evidence that psychokinesis is a real phenomenon, and the topic is generally regarded as pseudoscience.[7][11][12][13]
Etymology
The word psychokinesis was coined in 1914 by American author Henry Holt in his book On the Cosmic Relations.[14][15][16] The term is a portmanteau of the Greek language words ψυχή (psyche) – meaning "mind", "soul", "spirit", or "breath" – and κίνησις (kinesis) – meaning "motion" or "movement".[1][2] The American parapsychologist J. B. Rhine coined the term extra-sensory perception to describe receiving information paranormally from an external source.[17] Following this, he used the term psychokinesis in 1934 to describe mentally influencing external objects or events without the use of physical energy.[17][18] His initial example of psychokinesis was experiments that were conducted to determine whether a person could influence the outcome of falling dice.[17][19]
The word telekinesis, a portmanteau of the Greek τῆλε (tēle) – meaning "distance" – and κίνησις (kinesis) – meaning "motion",[4] was first used in 1890 by Russian psychical researcher Alexander N. Aksakof.[20][21]
In parapsychology, fictional universes and New Age beliefs, psychokinesis and telekinesis are different: psychokinesis refers to the mental influence of physical systems and objects without the use of any physical energy,[5][6] while telekinesis refers to the movement and/or levitation of physical objects by purely mental force without any physical intervention.[22][23]
