Parapsychology

German psychologist Max Dessoir (1867-1947) coined the term "parapsychology" ("parapsychologie" in German) in an 1889 article, thus establishing a name for the discipline that would endeavor to study (alleged) psychic and other paranormal phenomena in a methodical way. Such events purportedly stem from mental abilities that would violate the recognized laws of science.
Specifically, we're dealing with:

1. Telepathy (the ability to "read" thoughts, feelings, and moods of a target individual without relying on the traditional sensory organs) - violating the principle that perception must be achieved only through the canonical five senses;
2. Psychokinesis (the psychic ability to influence mass and/or energy) - violating the assumption that only forces known by physics are capable of producing a change in the condition and/or position of a physical body;
3. Precognition (knowledge of an event that hasn't yet occurred) - violating the fundamental law that requires cause to precede effect.

 
Additional aspects of parapsychology:

• Auras: supposed luminescent, colored emanations which surround humans, animals, or even objects - and are visible only to a clairvoyant/psychic;
• Ectoplasm: term used in spiritualism to denote a viscous substance or spiritual energy supposedly exuded from the body of a medium in a trance state;
• Divination: the supernatural ability to discover hidden items/information using specific instruments such as Tarot cards, crystals, Ouija boards, divining rods or pendulums (dowsing is a specific type of divination);
• Dowsing: a divination technique involving the use of a rod, wand, stick, branch, etc. (or sometimes no tools at all) to locate ground water (or sometimes buried metals or ores, gemstones, etc.) by sensing so-called "vibrations" from the desired substance;
• Reincarnation: rebirth of the soul (or vital spirit) in a new physical body following the death of the body in which the soul was previously incarnated;(+)
• Xenoglossy: psychic phenomenon in which an individual is able to speak, write, or understand a (real) language they've never learned and could not have acquired by natural means.

 
Parapsychology further divides psychic abilities into two distinct categories: "Psi-Gamma" and "Psi-Kappa". The former refers to extrasensory perception, that is, cognition that doesn't rely on the recognized five senses (e.g. mind-reading, remote viewing, etc.). The latter refers to psychic influence over matter (e.g., moving objects, affecting chemical reactions, etc.). Such themes have long sparked the interest and imagination of numerous authors, but the explosion of paranormal content in feature films coincided with the golden age of parapsychological research, that is, the 1970s. Horror and sci-fi (especially the latter) were the best-suited genres for addressing psychic abilities.