In general, apart from its specialized use as a term in philosophy, phenomenon stands for any observable event. Phenomena make up the raw data of science. The phenomena considered relevant for the field of parapsychology are called anomalous phenomena, which means they are observed phenomena for which there is no suitable explanation in the context of current scientific knowledge.
Often used as a synonym, but actually a subclass of anomalous phenomena, are the paranormal phenomena studied by parapsychology. Paranormal phenomena can be divided into three main classes:
- Mental phenomena: unusual mental states or abilities, such as telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition.
- Physical phenomena: unusual physical occurrences that may be controlled by a consciousness, such as psychokinesis, poltergeists, stigmata or materializations.
- Out-of-body experiences and near-death experiences.