Beliefs in paranormal phenomena and locus of control: A field study.

Abstract

Beliefs in paranormal phenomena and their relationship to locus of control were investigated for four groups that varied in terms of their involvement with paranormal practices. Subjects completed a questionnaire designed to assess degree of involvement and beliefs in paranormal phenomena, locus of control, sociopolitical attitudes, and demographic characteristics. It was predicted and found that (a) paranormal beliefs increased as involvement increased; (b) internality increased as involvement increased; and (c) involvement and locus of control interacted so that with high and moderate involvement, paranormal beliefs were associated with an internal locus of control, whereas with low involvement, there was a slight tendency for paranormal beliefs to be related to an external locus of control. Analyses of the paranormal beliefs questionnaire and the relationship between paranormal beliefs and sociopolitical attitudes, demographics, and locus of control scores are also reported. Re-evaluation of previous studies of personality dimensions associated with esoteric belief systems that have relied solely on low-involvement (student) samples is suggested.The past decade has witnessed a considerable re-emergence of popular interest and involvement in occult and paranormal phenomena (i.e., sensitivity to nonphysical, ascientific, or supernatural forces or influences). Despite the accumulating evidence that occult and paranormal beliefs are widespread (e.g., Tiryakian, 1974;Truzzi, 1971Truzzi, , 1972, few contemporary studies have investigated the content of paranormal beliefs and the characteristics of the people who subscribe to such beliefs.The early studies in this area have suggested that individuals who endorse paranormal beliefs do so because of an inadequate understanding of the causal This article is based on a dissertation submitted to Kent State University Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Rational Thinking and Belief in Psychic Abilities

“…1 Although belief in psychic phenomena may be irrational in a scientific sense, involvement in psychic practice may be quite rational in the sense that it provides social and economic benefits as well as status and professional standing. A similar argument was advanced by McGarry and Newberry (1981) to explain why internal locus of control should be higher in practitioners than in lay believers. It is not suggested that the practitioners were engaged in their practice primarily for financial reasons; rather that the various benefits of professional practice could provide an additional motivation to sustain high levels of belief.…”

“…The proposition that a preference for rational thinking might be related to commitment to psychic practice seems somewhat analogous to the observation by McGarry and Newberry (1981) that locus of control was more internal in the group of psychic readers than other groups (subscribers to a newsletter, visitors to a psychic fair, and students with no particular interest; effect sizes were not given). Further, belief in the paranormal was correlated with internal locus of control in individuals with high involvement in psychic practice (correlation coefficient of .39 in the group of psychic readers), but tended to be associated with an external locus of control in individuals with low involvement (.13, ns, in the group of students).…”

“…Mussell (2010) noted that the need for cognition is closely related to epistemic curiosity, defined as a desire for knowledge and to eliminate information gaps, and McGarry and Newberry (1981) noted that many individuals in their sample favoured a scientific analysis of paranormal phenomena. So a person who believes she has a psychic gift and who also has high need for cognition might be motivated to study at a psychic college to try to understand her gift.…”

“…Locus of control (LOC) was measured using the 20-point scale created by McGarry and Newberry (1981). This consisted of the five questions with the highest loadings on each of the four factors identified by Collins (1974) in analysis of responses from 300 participants to the 46 options on the original forcedchoice Rotter (1966) Internal-External Control Scale.…”

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“…Many other researches have found that people who believe in paranormal phenomena especially among college and university students do not generally reject the notion of mainstream science or technology (Schouten, 1983). Also, some research concludes that in some cases people who have higher education and intellectual abilities tend to believe in paranormal phenomena (McGarry and Newberry, 1981).The further studies shown there are significant gender gaps among the paranormal believers. Here the women believe in paranormal phenomena more their male counterparts.…”