This is the study into certain types of paranormal phenomena. The term is based on the Greek para, psyche (soul/mind), and logos (account/explanation) and was discovered by psychologist Max Dessoir around the year 1889. 
Its first appearance was in an article by Dessoir in the June 1889 issue of the German publication Sphinx. J. B. Rhine later made "parapsychology" become recognized as a replacement for the earlier term "psychical research", during a shift in methodologies which brought experimental methods to the study of psychic phenomena. In contemporary parapsychology, the term refers to the study of psi, indicating psychic phenomena.
The area is regarded by some critics as a pseudoscience, but parapsychologists say that parapsychological test results are always scientifically rigorous. Despite criticisms, a number of academic institutions now conduct research in the field, employing laboratory methodologies and statistical techniques, such as meta-analysis.
The Parapsychological Association has been an official member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 1969.
According to the Parapsychological Association, parapsychology is limited in its scope to the study of three main classes of paranormal phenomena. These classes include:
Mental phenomena: often described as extra sensory perception (ESP), this class includes unusual mental states or abilities, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, retrocognition, remote viewing, psychometry, xenoglossy, mediumism, channeling, clairaudience, clairsentience, and possession. This class involves some type of information transfer occurring outside the confines of the normal five senses.
Physical phenomena: this class includes unusual physical occurrences, such as psychokinesis, commonly known as telekinesis, poltergeists, materializations, psychic healing, faith healing, morphic fields, and synchronicity. These types of phenomena often involve the mind influencing the physical surroundings.
Survival phenomena: this class deals with the survival of consciousness after death has occurred and includes ghosts, out-of-body experiences (OBEs) reincarnation and near-death experiences (NDEs).
Other reported phenomena which are thought to be paranormal, but which are outside these classifications, are often considered outside the current scope of parapsychology.
History of parapsychology
Although parapsychology has its roots in earlier research, it began using the experimental approach in the 1930s under the direction of J. B. Rhine (1895 – 1980). Rhine popularized the now famous methodology of using card-guessing and dice-rolling experiments in a controlled area in an attempt to find a statistical validation of extra-sensory perception.
In 1957, the Parapsychological Association was formed as the preeminent society for parapsychologists. In 1969, they became affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. That affiliation, along with a general openness to psychic and occult phenomena in the 1970s, led to a decade of increased parapsychological research.
During this time, other known organizations were also formed, including the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine (1970), the Institute of Parascience (1971), the Academy of Religion and Psychical Research, the Institute for Noetic Sciences (1973), and the International Kirlian Research Association (1975). Each of these groups performed experiments on paranormal subjects to varying degrees.