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Zener cards

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Zener cards

Zener cards are cards used to conduct experiments for extrasensory perception (ESP), most
often clairvoyance. Perceptualpsychologist Karl Zener (19031964) designed the cards in the early
1930s for experiments conducted with his colleague, parapsychologist J. B. Rhine (18951980).[1]
Contents

1 Overview

2 Statistics

3 Popular culture reference

4 References

5 External links

Overview[edit]
The Zener cards were a deck made up of five simple symbols. The five different Zener cards are: a
hollow circle (one curve), a Greek cross (two lines), three vertical wavy lines (or "waves"), a
hollow square (four lines), and a hollow five-pointed star.[2] There are 25 cards in a pack, five of each
design.[3]
In a test for ESP, the person conducting the test (the experimenter) picks up a card in a shuffled pack,
observes the symbol on the card, and records the answer of the person being tested for extrasensory
perception, who would guess which of the five designs is on the card in question. The experimenter
continues until all the cards in the pack have been tested. Poor shuffling methods can make the order
of cards in the deck easier to predict.[4] The cards could have been marked and manipulated. [5] In his
experiments, J. B. Rhine first shuffled the cards by hand but later decided to use a machine for
shuffling.[6]
Rhine's experiments with Zener cards were discredited due to the discovery that sensory leakage or
cheating could account for all his results such as the subject being able to read the symbols from the

back of the cards and being able to see and hear the experimenter to note subtle clues. [7] Terence
Hines has written:
The methods the Rhines used to prevent subjects from gaining hints and clues as to the design on
the cards were far from adequate. In many experiments, the cards were displayed face up, but hidden
behind a small wooden shield. Several ways of obtaining information about the design on the card
remain even in the presence of the shield. For instance, the subject may be able sometimes to see
the design on the face-up card reflected in the agents glasses. Even if the agent isnt wearing
glasses it is possible to see the reflection in his cornea.[8]
Once Rhine took precautions in response to criticisms of his methods, he was unable to find any
high-scoring subjects.[9] Due to the methodological problems, parapsychologists no longer utilize cardguessing studies.[10]

Statistics[edit]
If the null-hypothesis (no psychic ability) is assumed and each card selected for testing is chosen in a
truly random fashion, a user's success ratio is expected to approach 20% (1 hit per 5 trials) as their
number of trials increases. The further the observed scenario is from the expected scenario, the more
cause for believing the null-hypothesis is not true (the results are not simply due to chance).

Popular culture reference[edit]

"The Schizoid Man" episode (1967) of the British science fictionallegorical television series The Prisoner has plot elements that hinge on the use of Zener cards.

In a humorous scene depicted in the movie Ghostbusters (1984), Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill
Murray) conducts a clairvoyance experiment using Zener cards and
negativereinforcement through the use of electric shocks, administered if the subject failed to
demonstrate clairvoyant abilities (i.e., the subject would avoid the electric shock if he was
clarivoyant and thus said the correct symbol).

In the beginning of Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Slimer (the Ghostbusters live-in science
experiment, or ghost subject) is attempting to guess the Zener card with three wavy lines, but he
must have guessed it wrong, because when the ghost sees the card, he frustratedly throws all
the cards in the air and tries to look for the certain card he was looking for.

These cards are also used in the film The Gift.

In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), (as a reference to Zener cards) a
young Anakin Skywalker, in an interview with the Jedi Council, had to perceive (in aclairvoyancelike test) a device that projected images on a monitor held by Mace Windu, in order to examine
the power and control of Anakin's Force-wielding abilities.

In the video game The World Ends With You, Shiki Misaki, a partner of the main protagonist,
Neku Sakuraba, uses Zener cards to attack enemy 'Noise'.

Witch house band AIMON named their song '+' after Zener cards in their 2011
release Amen EP.

In the video game Beyond: Two Souls, Aiden, a supernatural entity, assists a young Jodie in
identifying which Zener card is picked during a scientific testing sequence.

These cards are also used in the film The Fury.


The markings on the Pokmon Kadabra's body; the star and the three wavy lines; come from
the Zener cards.

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