Why do they call it PSYCHOKINESIS isntead of TELEKINESIS?

Question

i would really like to know.

Answer 1

I think they're just trying to narrow down exactly what they think it is--movement with the mind rather than just movement at a distance.  You'll find a lot of semantical activity when it comes to pseudoscience.  It seems more scientific and distracts from the lack of data supporting such phenomena.

Answer 2

Psychokinesis literally means "mind motion".

Telekinesis literally means "distant motion", or "motion at a distance".

They are used equivalently to describe the same non-existent phenomenon.

Answer 3

In addition to pd's answer, I also think it's a reaction to the skeptical response to all things psychic. "Psych" is a very authoritative, scientific-sounding prefix -- psychology, psychoanalysis,  psychiatry, psychosis, psyche, psychotherapy, etc.  Renaming telekinesis using the "psych" prefix probably was partially motivated by the desire to make telekinesis seem more scientific and reasonable.

Answer 4

That is an interesting question (star to you). I don't think there is any obvious answer but I will speculate.

Telekinesis (TK) means motion at a distant. Thus any mechanism (say a persons eyes) could be the cause of this motion of a object at a distant. Where the word psychokinesis (PK) suggest (as the theory now suggest) that the consciousness/mind is the force behind the object being moved. Thus, the word more accurately reflects the theory.

Psi

Answer 5

Sissy Spacek nows.