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Journal of Parapsychology 65, 145-156 (2001)
THE ANTICIPATION OF TELEPHONE CALLS: A SURVEY IN CALIFORNIA
By David Jay Brown and Rupert Sheldrake
ABSTRACT
200 randomly-selected people were surveyed in Santa Cruz County, California to investigate the frequency and nature of anticipations of
telephone calls. 78% of the people surveyed said that they have had the experience of telephoning someone who said that they were just
thinking about telephoning them. 47% of the respondents said that they had had the experience of knowing who was calling them when the
phone rang without any possible cue. 68% of those surveyed said that they had thought about a person that they haven't seen for a while,
who had then telephoned them that same day. A higher proportion of women than men gave positive answers to these questions. These
results are in general agreement with two previous surveys in England, although there were several significant differences, which we discuss.
These surveys reveal that seemingly telepathic experiences in connection with telephone calls are remarkably common. We suggest ways
that this phenomenon can be investigated empirically.
It is not uncommon for people to telephone friends or relations who say that they were just thinking of calling them. Likewise, many people
have had the experience of thinking of a particular person, with whom they have not spoken to for a while, who then calls them on the
telephone later the same day. Some domestic animals, notably dogs and cats, also seem to anticipate telephone calls from particular people,
their owners, while ignoring calls from other people (Sheldrake, 1999).
Some of these experiences might be explicable in terms of chance coincidence; but others might depend on telepathy, which is what many
people who have had these experiences believe. Surprisingly, this well-known phenomenon has been almost completely neglected by
psychical researchers and parapsychologists.
To find out how common this type of experience is we conducted a telephone survey of randomly selected households in Santa Cruz County,
California. Two previous telephone surveys in England, one in London and the other in Greater Manchester, indicated that this type of
experience occurs quite frequently (Sheldrake, 2000). In both surveys, more than half the respondents said they had felt that someone was
about to telephone them just before they did so. We wanted to find out if this phenomenon was similarly common in an American population.
We also asked respondents if they had had other kinds of seemingly telepathic experiences.
In a previous survey in Santa Cruz about perceptive pets, we found that significantly more pet owners said they had had a psychical
experience than people without pets (Brown & Sheldrake, 1998). Also in the English surveys, there was a tendency for more pet owners to
say they had anticipated telephone calls than people without pets (Sheldrake, 2000). To find out whether these observations were
repeatable, in this survey we also asked people whether or not they had a pet
We conclude by discussing ways in which seemingly telepathic telephone calls can be investigated empirically.
Method
Data were collected by means of telephone interviews conducted by David Brown and Sherry Hall (D.B. and S.H.), following a standard
questionnaire format. D.B. conducted 173 of these interviews and S.H. 27. The pattern of responses obtained by the two interviewers was
very similar, and there were no statistically significant differences between them.
The households surveyed were in and around Santa Cruz (population 52,700) in north-west California. Santa Cruz was chosen because it is
where D.B. lives, and calling within the local area helped to minimize the cost of the study. Also, we have already surveyed this area for
another study (Brown & Sheldrake, 1998) regarding the unexplained powers of animals, and we are building up a database from this region
about people's experiences of unexplained phenomena.
A random sample of households was selected from the Pacific Bell Santa Cruz County 1999 telephone directory (area code 831), using an
electronic random number generator to determine the page and column number, as well as its position on the page (Brown & Sheldrake,
1998).
D.B. and S.H. introduced themselves as follows: "Hello, my name is David Brown/Sherry Hall. I'm conducting a very brief telephone survey. I
was wondering if you had around two minutes to answer a few quick questions? I am not selling anything. The survey is about telephone
calls." Approximately 20% of the people reached by phone agreed to participate in the survey. This relatively low participation rate was
similar to that in a previous telephone survey in the same area (Brown & Sheldrake, 1998) and may reflect a reluctance of people there to be
bothered with such surveys. There was no mention of anything telepathic or psychic at this stage, so the respondents' agreement to take part
could not have been influenced by any bias for or against psychic phenomena.
When a cooperative subject was found, D.B. or S.H. then asked a series of questions and recorded the answers on a standard form as
follows:
1. Have you ever telephoned someone who said they were just thinking about telephoning you?
Yes/No/Not Sure
If yes: How often has this happened?
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Often/Sometimes/Once
2. Have you ever heard the telephone ring or picked up the telephone and known who was on the other end without any possible cue, before
they have spoken?
Yes /No/Not Sure
If yes: How often has this happened?
Often/Sometimes/Once
3. Has this ever happened when you were using a mobile phone?
Yes/No/Not Sure
4. Have you ever had a thought about a person you haven't seen for a while who has then telephoned you the same day?
Yes/No/Not Sure
If yes: How often has this happened?
Often/Sometimes/Once
5. Approximately how many telephone calls do you receive a day?
Less than 5/ 5 to 10/ More than 10
6. Apart from experiences like this with telephone calls, have you had any other experiences that seem to involve telepathy?
Yes/No/Not Sure
If yes: How often has this happened?
Often/Sometimes/Once
7. Do you have a pet?
Yes/No
The name, address and telephone number of each respondent were recorded, and their sex noted.
For the statistical comparisons, 2x2 contingency tables were used (Campbell, 1989).
Results
Two hundred people participated in this survey in Santa Cruz, 78 men and 122 women.
More than three quarters (78%) of the people surveyed said that they have had the experience of telephoning someone who said they were
just thinking about telephoning them (Table 1). This was the highest positive response in the survey. About a quarter of these people said
they had this experience often, but most said it happened "sometimes".
TABLE I
SURVEY RESULTS OF TELEPATHIC TELEPHONE CALLS IN SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA
1. Have you ever telephoned someone who said they were just thinking about telephoning you?
Numbers (and percentages) of respondents
Yes No Not sure
All respondents 155 (78%) 31 (16%) 14 (7%)
Men 57 (73%) 15 (19%) 6 (8%)
Women 98 (80%) 16 (13%) 8 (7%)
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If yes, how often has this happened?
Often Sometimes Once
All respondents 35 (23%) 113 (73%) 7 (5%)
Men 8 (14%) 45 (79%) 4 (7%)
Women 27 (28%) 68 (70%) 3 (3%)
2. Have you ever heard the telephone ring and known who was on the other end without any possible cue, before they have
spoken?
Numbers (and percentages) of respondents
Yes No Not Sure
All respondents 93 (47%) 80 (40%) 27 (14%)
Men 34 (44%) 35 (45%) 9 (12%)
Women 59 (48%) 45 (37%) 18 (15%)
If yes, how often has this happened?
Often Sometimes Once
All respondents 35 (37%) 56 (60%) 2 (2%)
Men 14 (40%) 18 (53%) 2 (2%)
Women 21 (36%) 38 (64%) 0 (0%)
Note There were 200 respondents in all, 78 men and 122 women
3. Has this ever happened when you were using a mobile phone?
Numbers (and percentages) of respondents
Yes No Not sure
All respondents 15 (8%) 176 (88%) 9 (5%)
Men 7 (9%) 67 (86%) 4 (5%)
Women 8 (7%) 109 (89%) 5 (4%)
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4. Have you ever thought about a person you haven't seen for a while, who has then telephoned the same day?
Numbers (and percentages) of respondents
Yes No Not sure
All responents 125 (63%) 43 (22%) 32 (16%)
Men 46 (59%) 21 (27%) 11 (14%)
Women 79 (65%) 22 (18%) 21 (17%)
If yes, how often has this happened?
Often Sometimes Once
All respondents 19 (15%) 97 (78%) 9 (7%)
Men 4 (9%) 40 (89%) 2 (4%)
Women 15 (19%) 57 (72%) 7 (9%)
5. Approximately how many telephone calls do you receive a day?
Numbers (and percentages) of respondents
<5 5-10 >10
All respondents 98 (49%) 64 (32%) 38 (19%)
Men 37 (47%) 20 (26%) 21 (27%)
Women 61 (50%) 44 (36%) 17 (14%)
6. Apart from experiences like this with telephone calls, have you had any other experiences that seem to involve telepathy?
Numbers (and percentages) of respondents
All respondents 90 (45%) 71 (36%) 39 (20%)
Men 31 (40%) 31 (40%) 16 (20%)
Women 59 (48%) 40 (33%) 23 (19%)
If yes, how often has this happened?
Often Sometimes Once
All respondents 20 (22%) 67 (74%) 3 (3%)
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Men 5 (16%) 25 (81%) 1 (3%)
Women 15 (25%) 42 (71%) 2 (3%)
When asked about their own responses, 47% of the respondents said they had known who was calling them when the telephone rang
without any possible clue, and 37% of these people said this happened often. This question focused attention on the respondents' intuitions
about who was calling them while the telephone was actually ringing, or while they were picking it up to answer it. But when asked if they had
thought about a person they had not seen for a while who then telephoned the same day, 63% gave a positive answer. Most of these people
said it happened only sometimes, but 15% said it happened often (Table 1).
A minority of the respondents (8%) said they had known who was calling them when the phone rang when they were using a mobile phone.
However, many of the people surveyed did not have mobile phones.
On average, 49% of the respondents said they received fewer than 5 telephone calls a day, 32% received between 5 and 10 telephone calls
a day, and 19% received more than 10 (Table 1). People who received more than 10 calls a day gave a slightly higher proportion of positive
answers to questions 2 and 4 than those who received fewer calls, but these differences were not significant statistically.
In addition to their intuitions about telephone calls, 45% of the respondents said that they had had other experiences that seemed to involve
telepathy, and just under a quarter of these people (22%) said that their seemingly telepathic experiences happened often.
Most people (68%) who said they had had other seemingly telepathic experiences gave a positive answer to question 2, in striking contrast to
those who said they had not had other seemingly telepathic experiences (27%) or were not sure (33%). This difference in the positive
response to question 2 between those who said they had had other telepathic experiences and those who said they had not or were not sure
was very significant statistically ( p =5x10 -6 ). This is not surprising, and simply means that most people who seemingly experienced
telepathy in connection with telephone calls also did so in other contexts, and most of those who were not seemingly telepathic in relation to
calls were not telepathic in other contexts. What is more surprising is that about a third of those who experienced telepathy in other contexts
did not seem to do so in relation to the telephone calls. Conversely more than a quarter of the people who said they had had no other kinds
of telepathic experience were seemingly telepathic in relation to telephone calls.
Similarly there were more positive answers to question 4 ("Have you ever had a thought about a person you haven't seen for a while who has
then telephoned you the same day?") from those who said they had had other kinds of telepathic experiences (77%) than from those who
said they had not (41%) or were not sure (69%). The difference between those who said they had had other telepathic experiences and those
who said they had not or were not sure was significant statistically ( p =.0002).
Differences between women and men
A higher proportion of women than men said that they had known who was calling them when the telephone rang (48% as opposed to 44%),
that they had thought about a person they had not seen for a while who then telephoned the same day (65% as opposed to 59%), that they
had called someone who said they were just thinking about calling them (80% as opposed to 73%), and that they had had other experiences
that seemed to involve telepathy (48% as opposed to 40%). A higher proportion of women than men also said they had had such
experiences often, except in the case of Question 2 (Table 1). However, none of these differences between women and men were
statistically significant at the p =.05 level.
About half the men and women surveyed received less than 5 calls per day, but a higher proportion of men than women received more than
10 calls per day (Table 1, Question 5).
Pet ownership
Sixty nine per cent of the respondents owned pets. There was little or no difference between the responses of pet owners and people without
pets to the various questions. To question 1, 77% of the pet owners and 79% of the non-pet-owners, said that they had had the experience of
telephoning someone who said he or she was just thinking about telephoning them. 47% of the pet owners and 45% of the non-pet-owners
said that they knew who was calling them when the phone rang without any possible cue. The largest difference between people with and
without pets was in the response to Question 4. More pet owners (65%) than non-pet owners (57%) said that they had thought about a
person that they haven't seen for a while, who had then telephoned them that same day. However, this difference was not statistically
significant at the p =.05 level.
The proportion of people who said that they had had other seemingly telepathic experiences was 45% both for pet owners and for people
without pets.
Discussion
Comparison with other surveys
These results are directly comparable with those of a recent survey in Bury, Greater Manchester, England (Sheldrake, 2000). People in Bury
were asked the same questions as people in Santa Cruz (except for the question about mobile phones, not asked in Bury). The surveys in
both places followed the same procedures and the same number of people was surveyed. The main difference between the surveys
themselves was that a higher proportion of people contacted at random agreed to take part in the survey in Bury, 70% as opposed to 20% in
Santa Cruz.
For some questions, the responses were very similar in both places: for Question 2, 47% in Bury and 49% in Santa Cruz answered yes, and
to Question 5, 47% in Bury and 45% in Santa Cruz answered yes. But there were also some significant differences. Santa Cruz had a higher
percentage of people who said that said that they had telephoned someone who said they were just thinking about telephoning them: 78% in
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Santa Cruz, compared with 65% in Bury (p<0.02). The biggest difference was in response to Question 3, concerning thinking about someone
who later called: 63% said yes in Santa Cruz as opposed to 45% in Bury (p<0.00005). We do not know the reasons for these significantly
higher percentages of positive responses in Santa Cruz. They may reflect both the cultural differences between Santa Cruz, with its liberal
Californian culture, and the more conservative culture of Bury, and also demographic differences: Santa Cruz as a beach and college town
has an unusually youthful population.
In the survey in London, people were asked only one question about telephone calls: "Have you ever felt that someone was going to
telephone you just before they did?" to which 51% said yes.
In London, significantly more women than men gave a positive response to this question. In Bury more women than men gave positive
responses to the other questions about telephone calls and about other kinds of telepathic experience, but as in Santa Cruz these differences
were not large enough to reach statistical significance at the p =0.05 level.
In both London and Bury, pet owners gave a higher percentage of positive answers than people without pets to all the questions about the
anticipation of telephone calls and other telepathic experiences, but these differences were not statistically significant. In Santa Cruz, there
was little difference between people with and without pets. This finding contrasts with a previous survey we carried out in Santa Cruz in which
significantly more pet owners than people without pets said they had had psychic experiences themselves (Brown & Sheldrake, 1998). We
do not know why these surveys have given such different results in this respect, and this question could only be resolved by more extensive
surveys involving larger samples.
In spite of these various differences, the English surveys and the present one agreed in showing that the anticipation of telephone calls from
particular people is common, and in all three surveys there was a tendency for women to give more positive answers than men.
In this survey 45% of the respondents said they had had experiences that seemed to involve telepathy apart from any seemingly telepathic
experiences with telephone calls. For comparison, in a review of national surveys, Haraldsson (1983) quoted a figure of 58% for the USA,
and an average of 32% in Western Europe claiming personal experience of telepathy. In a nationwide Gallup survey of American adults
conducted in 1990, a smaller proportion, 25% said they had had telepathic experiences, but in the same survey 75% said they had had at
least one kind of paranormal experience (Gallup & Newport, 1991). Palmer (1979) reported that 38% of the citizens he surveyed in Virginia
and 39% of the students said they had had an experience of "waking ESP". And in our previous survey in Santa Cruz (Brown & Sheldrake,
1998), 56% of the respondents said they had had a psychic experience at some point in their lives. Thus the figures in the present survey are
in same general range as those in previous reports.
Does the anticipation of telephone calls involve telepathy?
If telepathy really exists, then telephone calls would provide a good way of revealing it. Before calling someone on the telephone, it is
necessary to think about them and then dial their number. The caller's intention is focused on the individual being called, and this
concentration of intention might create favorable conditions for telepathy. Telepathy could also work the other way round. If A thinks about B,
by telepathy B might start thinking about A and then call A, who might then say, "I was just thinking about you."
However, although most people say they have known before answering the phone who was calling them, or have received calls from people
they had just been thinking about, this does not necessarily imply a form of telepathic communication, for at least four reasons.
First, some people may merely pretend to have been thinking about someone before they call, for example because they feel guilty about not
having called them when they should have done. Second, some people may have given misleadingly positive responses to our questions,
perhaps out of a desire to please the interviewers. Third, consciously or unconsciously people may have had reason to expect calls from
particular people for reasons that have nothing to do with telepathy, for example because they usually call on a particular day, or at a
particular time. Fourth, people may frequently think about people who do not subsequently call, and simply forget all the occasions they were
wrong; the seemingly telepathic anticipation of telephone calls may be an illusion that arises through a combination of chance coincidence
and selective memory.
These are all reasonable possibilities, but at present there is no evidence either for or against them. They are, however, not quite as plausible
as they might at first seem.
Although some people may have given misleadingly positive responses in our survey, some may also have given misleadingly negative
responses out of shyness or an unwillingness to admit to a stranger on the telephone that they had had experiences of a potentially
controversial nature. In informal settings, the percentage of people who claim to have had seemingly telepathic anticipations of telephone
calls is often as high as 80 to 90% (Sheldrake, 2000). So these formal surveys may well have given an underestimate rather than an
overestimate of the frequency of the phenomenon.
Moreover, many people may be capable of distinguishing between calls that are expected for normal reasons and ones that seem to imply
telepathy. And many may be quite capable of recognizing and remembering that they are sometimes wrong. People may not be as prone to
illusion and self-deception as skeptics commonly suppose (Blackmore, 1997).
It cannot be assumed that people are wrong when they say they have had telepathic experiences, just as it cannot be assumed that they are
right. The question can only be decided by empirical investigation.
The empirical investigation of seemingly telepathic telephone calls
There are at least two ways in which this phenomenon can be investigated empirically.
First, people who say they often anticipate calls can be encouraged to keep log books near to the telephone in which they record any
intuitions they may have about the identity of the caller before they pick up the receiver. (Of course, any caller ID system should be switched
off for the purpose of this research.) After the call, they note down the date and time, record who the caller was, indicate whether their guess
was right or wrong, and say whether the call was expected or not. From such log books it can be worked out how often people are right or
wrong, if the calls from particular people show any routine pattern, and if the success rate is higher with some people than others. Expected
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calls would be excluded from this analysis. These log books would provide valuable data on the natural history of the phenomenon and also
enable the selective memory hypothesis to be tested.
Second, experiments can be carried out in which callers are selected from a pool of potential callers at random, so that there is no normal
means by which the subject could guess who is calling. For this purpose the subject needs to nominate a number of potential callers (say
four), and times have to be chosen for experiments when the subject is by the telephone, not expecting other calls, and the potential callers
are available to take part. Then, in a given experiment, one caller is selected at random from the pool of four, and the times at which they call
are also selected at random. When the phone rings during the experimental period, the subject writes down before answering who she thinks
the caller is. The calls are also tape-recorded to provide an objective record. By chance, 25% of the subjects' guesses will be correct. If
scores are significantly above chance, this would imply a telepathic influence from the caller.
Telepathy in connection with telephone calls is either a widespread illusion, or one of the commonest forms of telepathic experience in the
modern world. Simple empirical investigations could enable this question to be resolved, and open up a fertile new field for parapsychological
research.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank all the people who took part in this survey, as well as Sherry Hall for her help in conducting it. This work was supported by the
Institute of Noetic Sciences, Sausalito, CA, the Lifebridge Foundation, New York and the Bial Foundation, Portugal.
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CAMPBELL, R.C. (1989). Statistics for biologists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
GALLUP, G.H., & NEWPORT, F. (1983). Belief in paranormal phenomena among adult Americans. Skeptical Inquirer, 15 (2), 137-146.
HARALDSSON, E. (1985). Representative national surveys of psychic phenomena. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research , 53,
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P.O. Box 1082
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20 Willow Road
London NW3 1TJ
England
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