Society for Psychical Research，通称SPR。

为了肯定心灵现象，SPR的研究目的在于以科学手段对心灵感应、催眠术、灵媒、幽灵、亡灵、通灵术、神秘主义、宗教、特异功能以及其历史进行研究，并于其后的1885年，在美国成立了协会支部性质的美国心灵协会——American Society for Psychical Research，通称ASPR。在日本东京、中国香港、中国台湾、澳大利亚等地也成立了许多心灵调查研究所。

协会的成员都是些世界著名的人物，心理学者弗洛伊德和卡尔·荣格是ASPR的名誉会员。

ASPR的档案馆里有很多收藏，比如以《夏洛克·福尔摩斯》系列闻名的柯南·道尔、《爱丽丝漫游仙境》的作者刘易斯·卡罗尔、诗人叶芝等的案例报道。

其后，由于过于偏向以科学手段来揭露心灵现象之中存在的假象，据说以道尔为首的很多人相继离开了协会。但是，协会仍然苦心于研究心灵现象，并一直发展了下来。2001年起该协会会长由英国伦敦大学教授、著名天文学家伯纳德·凯尔担任。

2006年播映的日本著名奇幻动漫《恶灵猎人》，剧中的大部分情节便是根据英国心灵研究协会真实档案改编而成。

注：本表格中所列举的协会会长为不完全名单

1882-1884 (and 1888-1892)

Henry Sidgwick (1838-1900): philosopher, Knightsbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge University 1883-1900

1885-1887

Balfour Stewart (1827-1887): physicist, Professor of Physics at Queen's College, Manchester, from 1870, Fellow of the Royal Society from 1862

1888-1892

Henry Sidgwick (also 1882-1884)

1893

Arthur Balfour (1848-1930): philosopher, Prime Minister 1902-1905

1894-1895

William James (1842-1910): American psychologist and philosopher

1896-1899

Sir William Crookes (1832-1919): chemist and physicist, discoverer of thallium and cathode rays, inventor of radiometer

1900

1901-1903 (and 1932)

Sir Oliver Lodge (1851-1940): physicist and mathematician, Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Liverpool from 1881, first Principal of Birmingham University

1904

Sir William Fletcher Barrett (1845-1925): physicist; Chair of Physics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin, Fellow of the Royal Society from 1899

1905

Charles Richet (1850-1935): French physiologist, Professor of Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, Nobel Prize winner 1913

1906-1907

Gerald Balfour (1853-1945): classical scholar, later politician

1908-1909 (and 1932)

Eleanor Sidgwick (1845-1936): mathematician, closely connected with Newnham College, Cambridge (first women's college), Principal of Newnham College 1892-1910

1910

Henry Arthur Smith (1848-1922): lawyer, business man and administrator

1911

Andrew Lang (1844-1912): anthropologist, writer, scholar of extraordinarily wide range of learning, author of sixty published volumes, Fellow of Merton College

1912

The Rt Reverend W. Boyd Carpenter (1841-1918): clergyman, Bishop of Ripon from 1884, Canon of Westminster from 1911

1913

Henri Bergson (1859-1941): French philosopher, Chair of the Philosophy of History at the College de France 1900-1921

1914

Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller (1864-1937): philosopher; Profesor of Philosophy at the University of South California from 1929.

1915-1916 (and 1952)

Gilbert Murray (1866-1957): classical scholar, Fellow of New College, Oxford, later Regius Professor of Greek. Founded the League of Nations Union after World War I.

1917-1918

L. P. Jacks (1860-1955): philosopher; Professor of Philosophy at Manchester College, Oxford from 1903, Principal of the College from 1951

1919

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (1842-1919): experimental physicist, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1866; Nobel Prize winner 1904

1920-1921

William McDougall (1871-1938): psychologist, educated at St John's College, Cambridge, became Wilde Reader in Mental Psychology at Oxford in 1905. In 1921 appointed Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, then at Duke University in 1927, where he founded the Journal of Parapsychology in 1937.

1922

Thomas Walter Mitchell (1869-1944): physician, for many years editor of the British Journal of Medical Psychology

1923

Camille Flammarion (1842-1925): French astronomer, President of the Astronomical Society of France

1924-1925

John George Piddington (1869-1952): businessman

1926-1927

Hans Driesch (1867-1941): German biologist and natural philosopher; Professor of Systematic Philosophy at Cologne University from 1919, Director of Philosophical Seminars at Leipzig from 1921

1928-1929

Sir Lawrence J. Jones, Bt (1885-1955)

1930-1931

Walter Franklin Prince (1863-1934): clergyman; described by Joseph Banks Rhine as 'my principal teacher in psychical research'.

1932

Joint Presidency: Eleanor Sidgwick (see 1908-1909) and Oliver Lodge (see 1901)

1933-1934

Edith Lyttelton (née Balfour) (1865-1948): social activist and writer

1935-1936 (and 1958-1960)

Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887-1971): philosopher; after a distinguished academic career at several universities, he eventually became Knightsbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge in 1935. He had Fellowships and honorary degrees in several countries.

1937-1938

Robert John Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh (1875-1947): physicist; Professor of Physics at Imperial College, London, 1908-1919, Fellow of the Royal Society from 1905

1939-1941

Henry Habberley Price (1899-1984): philosopher; various academic posts, including Wykeham Professor of Logic

1942-1944

Robert Henry Thouless (1894-1984): psychologist; academic posts at a number of universities, eventually becoming Reader in Educational Psychology at Cambridge

1945-1946

George N.M. Tyrrell (1879-1952): mathematician and physicist; worked under Marconi on radio communications.

1947-1948

William Henry Salter (1880-1969): classical scholar and lawyer; called to the Bar 1905.

1949-1950

Gardner Murphy (1895-1979): psychologist; Hodgson Fellow at Harvard University, Professor of the Menninger Foundation from 1940, visiting Professor of Psychology at George Washington University

1950-1951

Samuel George Soal (1890-1975): mathematician; Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at Queen Mary College after service during World War I

1952

Gilbert Murray (see 1915-1916)

1953-1955

F.J.M. Stratton (1881-1961): astrophysicist, Professor of Astrophysics and Director of Solar Physics Observatory at Cambridge 1928-1947, President of Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge 1945-1948

1956-1958

Guy William Lambert (1889-1984): civil servant, served as Assistant Under-Secretary of State for War.

1958-1960

Charlie Dunbar Broad (see 1935-1936)

1960-1961

Henry Habberley Price (see 1939-1941)

1960-1963

Eric Robertson Dodds (1893-1979): classical scholar, Regius Professor of Greek (Oxford)

1963-1965

Donald James West (1924-): psychiatrist and criminologist (also 1984-1988 and 1998-1999; for full entry see 1998-1999)

1965-1969

Sir Alister Hardy (1896-1985): zoologist; Professor of Zoology at Hull University and then Linacre Professor of Zoology at Oxford; founder of the Religious Experience Research Unit at Manchester College, Oxford

1969-1971

William A. H. Rushton (1901-1980): physiologist, Professor at Cambridge

1971-1974

Clement William Kennedy Mundle (1916-1989): philosopher; Head of Philosophy Departments first at Dundee University, then at University College of North Wales

1974-1976

John Beloff (1920-2006): psychologist; Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Edinburgh; encouraged post-graduate studies in psychical research and was instrumental in establishing the Koestler Unit at Edinburgh.

1976-1979 (and 1981-1982)

Arthur J. Ellison (1920-2000): technologist; after a career in industry taught at Queen Mary College, from 1972 Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the City University, London.

1980

Joseph Banks Rhine (1895-1980): biologist and parapsychologist, writer, founder of Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, USA

1980

Louisa Ella Rhine (1891-1983): parapsychologist, writer, co-worker with her husband, J.B. Rhine

1981-1983

Arthur J. Ellison (see 1976-1979)

1984-1988

Donald J. West: psychiatrist and criminologist (also 1963-1965, and 1998-1999; for full entry see 1998-1999)

1988-1989

Ian Stevenson, M.D. (1918-2007): Director of Division of Personality Studies, Carlson Professor of Psychiatry, University of Virginia

1989-1992

Alan Gauld: psychologist, retired Reader in Psychology, University of Nottingham.

1992-1995

Archie Roy (1924-2012): astronomer; Professor Emeritus of Astronomy, University of Glasgow, founder of the Scottish SPR in 1987

1995-1998

David Fontana (1934-2010): psychologist; Professor of Educational Psychology, Universities of Minho and of Algarve, Portugal; Distinguished Visiting Fellow, University of Wales, Cardiff

1998-1999

Donald J. West (also 1963-1965 and 1984-1988): psychologist and criminologist; Former Director of the Institute of Criminology, Professor of Clinical Criminology at Cambridge, Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge

2000-2004

Bernard Carr: Professor in Mathematics and Astronomy, Queen Mary & Westfield College, London University

2005-2007

John Poynton: Emeritus Professor of Biology, University of Natal; Scientific Fellow of the Zoological Society of London; Associate of the Natural History Museum, London.

2007-2011

Deborah Delanoy: Professor of Psychology, University of Northampton; Research Director for the School of Behaviour Studies, Director of the Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes, Northampton.

2011-

Richard Broughton: former Director of what is now the Rhine Research Center, lecturer, author of numerous scientific papers and an acclaimed book on parapsychology.