According to page 144 of Occult Adventures, psychic spells only have expensive material components. I took that to be in reference to material components with listed prices above 1 gp.
The following spells out of OA have non-priced material components: Condensed Ether, Ethereal Envelope, Ethereal Envelopment, Etheric Shards, Parchment Swarm, Placebo Effect, Remote Viewing, Thaumaturgic Circle, Thoughtsense, and Wall of Ectoplasm.
Now, some of those spells are on both the spell lists of psychic spellcasters and non-psychic spellcasters. So the presence of a non-priced material component in those spells isn't an issue: it's not there for the benefit of, say, a Psychic or a Spiritualist, but rather for the Cleric or Wizard.
However, the spells Ethereal Envelope, Ethereal Envelopment, Etheric Shards, Placebo Effect, and Remote Viewing only exist on the spell-lists of psychic spellcasters. If they're only for psychic spellcasters, and psychic spellcasters get to ignore inexpensive material components, then why are those spells even listed as having material components in the first place?
If they're only for psychic spellcasters, and psychic spellcasters get to ignore inexpensive material components, then why are those spells even listed as having material components in the first place?
Could be future-proofing? That classes in the future might get them on their lists.
Alternatively, the designers forgot about the material component thing when they were designing those spells.
Agreed with Milo, I noticed the same thing and came up with the same explanations.