The present study examined individual differences in beliefs in the paranormal. One hundred and ninety-three college students were given a questionnaire measuring executive functioning, boundaries of personality, masculinity and femininity, and college major. Overall, 75 percent of participants reported belief in at least one of four types of paranormal activity and 42 percent reported experiencing at least one of four types of paranormal activity. Thinness of personality boundaries was related to belief in, as well as experience with, the paranormal. There was also a relationship between belief and experience and gender role. There was no evidence for a relationship between belief in the paranormal and year in college or college major.
References
1.
HansenT.ShahR., Do Televised Depictions of Paranormal Events Influence Viewers' Beliefs?Skeptical Inquirer, 18, pp. 386–396, 1994.
2.
MesserW. S.GriggsR. A., Student Belief and Involvement in the Paranormal and Performance in Introductory Psychology, Teaching of Psychology, 16, pp. 187–194, 1989.
3.
ClarkeD., Belief in the Paranormal: A New Zealand Survey, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 57, p. 412, 1991.
4.
GaynardT. J., Young People and the Paranormal, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 58, pp. 165–180, 1992.
5.
MorganR. K.MorganD. L., Critical Thinking and Belief in the Paranormal, College Student Journal, 32, pp. 135–139, 1998.
6.
BruggerP.GravesR. E., Testing vs. Believing Hypotheses: Magical Ideation in the Judgement of Contingencies, Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 2, pp. 251–272, 1997.
7.
LucadouW. V., Hans in Luck: The Currency of Evidence in Parapsychology, Journal of Parapsychology, 65, pp. 3–16, 2001.
8.
HouranJ.ThalbourneM. A., Further Study and Speculation on the Psychology of “Entity Encounter Experiences,”Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 65, pp. 26–37, 2001.
9.
IrwinH. J., Belief in the Paranormal and a Sense of Control Over Life, European Journal of Parapsychology, 15, pp. 68–78, 2000.
10.
SparksG. G., Paranormal Depictions in the Media: How Do They Affect What People Believe?Skeptical Inquirer, 22, pp. 35–40, 1998.
11.
SparksG. G.MillerW., Investigating the Relationship between Exposure to Television Programs that Depict Paranormal Phenomena and Beliefs in the Paranormal, Communication Monographs, 68, pp. 98–113, 2001.
12.
RandallT. M.DesrosiersM., Measurement of Supernatural Belief: Sex Differences and Locus of Control, Journal of Personality Assessment, 44, pp. 493–498, 1980.
13.
AllenJ.LesterD., Belief in the Paranormal Phenomena and an External Locus of Control, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 79, pp. 226–227, 1994.
14.
Groth-MarnatG.PegdenJ. A., Personality Correlates of Paranormal Belief: Locus of Control and Sensation Seeking, Social Behavior and Personality, 26, pp. 291–296, 1998.
15.
HeardK. V.VyseS. A., Authoritarianism and Paranormal Beliefs, Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 18, pp. 121–126, 1998–99.
16.
RattetS. L.BursikK., Investigating the Personality Correlates of Paranormal Belief and Precognitive Experience, Personality and Individual Differences, 31, pp. 433–444, 2001.
17.
BeckR.MillerJ. D., Erosion of Belief and Disbelief: Effects of Religiosity and Negative Affect, Journal of Social Psychology, 141, pp. 277–287, 2001.
18.
BruggerP.GammaA.MuriR.SchaferM.TaylorK. I., Functional Hemispheric Asymmetry and Belief in ESP: Towards a “Neuropsychology of Belief,”Perceptual and Motor Skills, 77, pp. 1299–1309, 1993.
19.
PersingerM. A.RichardsP., Tobacyk's Paranormal Belief Scale and the Temporal Lobe Signs: Sex Differences in the Experiences of Ego-Alien Intrusions, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 73, pp. 1151–1157, 1991.
20.
PizzagalliD.LehmannD.BruggerP., Lateralized Direct and Indirect Semantic Priming Effects in Subjects with Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs, Psychopathology, 34, pp. 75–80, 2001.
21.
BlackmoreS. J., Probability Misjudgment and the Belief in the Paranormal: A Newspaper Survey, The British Journal of Psychology, 88, pp. 683–689, 1997.
22.
VitulliW. F.TiptonS. M.RoweJ. L., Beliefs in the Paranormal: Age and Sex Differences among Elderly Persons and Undergraduate Students, Psychological Reports, 85, pp. 847–855, 1999.
23.
WolfradtU., Dissociative Experiences, Trait Anxiety, and Paranormal Beliefs, Personality and Individual Differences, 23, pp. 15–19, 1997.
24.
BemS. L., The Measurement of Psychological Androgyny, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, pp. 155–162, 1974.
25.
LenneyE., Sex Roles: The Measurement of Masculinity, Femininity and Androgyny, in Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes, RobinsonJ. P.ShaverP. R.WrightsmanL. S. (eds.), Academic Press, San Diego, California, 1991.
26.
ThalbourneM. A.HouranJ., Transliminality, the Mental Experience Inventory and Tolerance of Ambiguity, Personality and Individual Differences, 28, pp. 853–863, 2000.
27.
HartmannE.HarrisonR.ZborowskiM., Boundaries in the Mind: Past Research and Future Directions, North American Journal of Psychology, 3, pp. 347–368, 2001.
28.
HartmannE., Boundaries in the Mind: A New Psychology of Personality, Basicbooks, Inc., New York, 1991.
29.
ReidH. M., Boundary Personality Score is Associated with Belief in Parapsychology, paper presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Annual Convention, Baltimore, Maryland, March 2000.
30.
CoolidgeF. L.GriegoJ. A., Executive Functions of the Frontal Lobes: Psychometric Properties of a Self-Rating Scale, Psychological Reports, 77, pp. 24–26, 1995.
31.
CowenD.LevinD., The Use of the Hartmann Boundary Questionnaire with an Adolescent Population, Dreaming, 5, pp. 105–114, 1995.
32.
CampbellT.GillaspyJ. A.ThompsonB., The Factor Structure of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI): Confirmatory Analysis of Long and Short Forms, Educational and Psychological Measurement, 57, pp. 118–124, 1997.
33.
HoltC. L.EllisJ. B., Assessing the Current Validity of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, Sex Roles, 39, pp. 929–941, 1998.
