PARANORMAL AND PERSONALITY

Paranormal and Personality

Paranormal and Personality

Introduction

The relationship between overall sensation seeking and paranormal belief in general was not significant. None of the paranormal belief measures were significantly related to overall sensation seeking. Pearson correlation coefficients were also obtained between the measures of paranormal belief and the sensation seeking subscales (see Table 2). Of the sensation seeking subscales, experience seeking was positively correlated with psi belief (r (90) = -.30, p

Background

As expected, a more external locus of control was associated with greater overall paranormal belief, although this was not quite significant. The above trend does provide some support to the claim that those who believe that their life is dependent on external factors are more likely to believe in the paranormal. More specifically, a more external locus of control was significantly related to greater belief in spirituality and precognition. It may be that belief in spirituality is related to a more external locus of control because spiritual forces are believed by participants to influence their lives. Belief in precognition may also be related to an external locus of control because, if premonitions are real, then participants might perceive their lives are somewhat pre-determined. Contrary to expectations, greater belief in superstition was related to a more internal locus of control. As Scheidt states, belief in superstition is `belief in mystical or fantastic external determinants of the individual's fate' (1973, p. 1159). However, the above association between internality and superstition might be explained in that individuals can engage in superstitious behaviour and thereby exert control by avoiding bad luck. For example, by avoiding the number 13, black cats, walking under ladders, and breaking mirrors, they believe they can avoid bad luck.

Overall sensation seeking was not found to be significantly related to paranormal belief in general, or to any of the paranormal belief subscales. However, the experience seeking subscale was significantly related to belief in both psi phenomena and superstition. These two types of paranormal phenomena may be the most popular or appealing since they are most likely to be perceived as providing novel experiences for those who seek them. The extent to which the results of this study can be generalised to the overall population is limited by the fact that participants were university students. There is evidence that university students have lower paranormal belief than the general population (Randall & Desrosiers, 1980; Tobaczyk, 1983). In addition, these results would not be universal, since belief in the paranormal and its significance varies among different cultures.

As the results of this study suggest, rather than there being a direct association between paranormal belief in general and an external locus of control, it may be that those who believe in precognition and spirituality are more likely to have an external locus of control while those who believe in superstition are more likely to have an internal locus of control. Also, rather than there being a direct association between sensation seeking and paranormal belief in general, it may be that those who ...