Anderson, Margaret (1920-1986)

Parasychologist fellow and professor of education at the University of Pittsburgh. She became interested in parapsychology in the 1950s when she began working with Rhea White on testing ESP in children. They predicted that good relations between teachers and pupils would produce ESP, and bad relations would inhibit it, then conducted tests of clairvoyance and precognition to test their theory.

Anderson moved on and began to create situations that would yield ESP results. Her work led to a series of important papers, and in 1961 she was joint winner (with R. A. McConnell ) of the McDougall Award for the article "Fantasy Testing for ESP in a Fourth and Fifth Grade Class." She was treasurer of the Parapsychological Association in 1961, president in 1962. That year she received her Ph.D. in education and began a career teaching at the University of Pittsburgh. She gradually withdrew from parapsychological circles. She retired from the university in 1985 and died the following year of lung cancer.

Sources:

Anderson, Margaret L. "The Use of Fantasy in Testing for Extrasensory Perception." Journal of the ASPR Vol. 60 (1966):150.

Anderson, Margaret L., and R. A. McConnell. "Fantasy Testing for ESP in a Fourth and Fifth Grade Class." Journal of Psychology Vol. 52 (1961): 491.

Berger, Arthur S., and Joyce Berger. The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research. New York: Paragon House, 1991.

Pleasants, Helene, ed. Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology. New York: Helix Press, 1964.