
Re: dowsing vs kinesiology
Kinesiology vs. dowsing is an interesting question -- one that had not occurred to me. They may indeed share the ideomotor mechanism in common. In fact, this question is even more interesting than you might expect! A couple of years ago I attended the Parapsychology Association conference in Seattle. One of the papers reported on a study of kinesiology, in particular whether in a rigorous, double-blind study it would still work. The researchers were folks who were sympathetic to kinesiology -- in other words, they assumed there would be a successful outcome. Instead -- and they were honestly surprised and disappointed by this -- it turned out no better than chance.
Still they recognized that you have to go where the evidence points, not where you wish it had. So based on their (fairly large) experiment, they had to say it didn't work. But now I wonder if they tested it right. Until your question, I don't recall that I heard anyone associate the ideomotor response with kinesiology (someone may have, but if so I missed it). Often an experiment will fail if the researchers misunderstand the real causal underpinnings, and test it the wrong way. It might be a good idea to check that research out on this basis...
Thanks for the potentially useful insight!
Best wishes,
Paul