基本信息
為了肯定心靈現象，SPR的研究目的在於以科學手段對心靈感應、催眠術、靈媒、幽靈、亡靈、通靈術、神秘主義、宗教、特異功能以及其歷史進行研究，並於其後的1885年，在美國成立了協會支部性質的美國心靈協會——American Society for Psychical Research，通稱ASPR。在日本東京、香港、台灣、澳大利亞等地也成立了許多心靈調查研究所。
協會的成員都是些世界著名的人物，心理學者弗洛伊德和卡爾·榮格是ASPR的名譽會員。
ASPR的檔案館裡有很多收藏，比如以《夏洛克·福爾摩斯》系列聞名的柯南·道爾、《愛麗絲漫遊仙境》的作者劉易斯·卡羅爾、詩人葉芝等的案例報導。
其後，由於過於偏向以科學手段來揭露心靈現象之中存在的假象，據說以道爾為首的很多人相繼離開了協會。但是，協會至今仍然苦心於研究心靈現象，並一直發展了下來。2001年起該協會會長由英國倫敦大學教授、著名天文學家伯納德·凱爾擔任至今。
2006年播映的日本著名奇幻動漫《 惡靈獵人》，劇中的大部分情節便是根據英國心靈研究協會真實檔案改編而成。
歷任會長
| 時間 | 人物 | 職業 | 國籍 |
| 1882－1894 | 亨利·西季威克 | 哲學家、倫理學家、劍橋大學教授 | 英國 |
| 1892－1894 | 亞瑟·貝爾福 | 英國首相 | 英國 |
| 1894－1895 | 威廉·詹姆斯 | 心理學家、哲學家、教育家 | 美國 |
| 1896－1897 | 威廉·克魯克斯 | 物理學家、化學家 | 英國 |
| 1905 | 夏爾·羅貝爾·里歇 | 生理學家（諾貝爾獎獲得者） | 法國 |
| 1913 | 亨利·柏格森 | 哲學家（諾貝爾獎獲得者） | 法國 |
| 1919 | 約翰·斯特拉特 | 物理學家、男爵 | 英國 |
| 2000-2004 | 伯納德·凱爾 | 英國天文學家、倫敦大學教授 | 英國 |
| 2011- | 理察·布勞頓 | 美國 |
註：本表格中所列舉的協會會長為不完全名單
名單
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
Frederic William Henry Myers (1843-1901): classical scholar and philosopher, "Of all the founder members he had perhaps the liveliest and widest-ranging mind."
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 theJournal of Parapsychologyin 1937.
1922
Thomas Walter Mitchell (1869-1944): physician, for many years editor of theBritish 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.
