Ethics of Belief in Paranormal Phenomena

Abstract

The philosophical school of Evidentialism holds that people should form, amend, and relinquish a belief wholly in accordance with the available evidence for that belief. This paper reviews the extent to which believers in paranormal phenomena respect Evidentialism’s so-called “ethics of belief.” The analysis focuses on several common violations of evidentialist principles, namely, those pertaining to belief formation as a moral issue, belief inflexibility, belief inconsistency, confirmation bias, and disconfirmation effects. Despite some gaps and methodological shortcomings in the available data, the empirical literature documents an association between paranormal beliefs and a broad lack of sympathy with evidentialist ethics, although the effect sizes of these relations typically are small. The possible basis of this characteristic is briefly explored.

Perceived Corruption is a Robust Associate of Conspiracy, Paranormal, and Pseudoscience Beliefs

“…These beliefs are positively correlated; an individual who holds one is more likely to hold others as well (Bensley et al, 2020;Čavojová et al, 2020;Darwin et al, 2011;Drinkwater et al, 2012;Lindeman, 2011;Lobato et al, 2014;Ståhl & van Prooijen, 2018). They also share elements of mistrust and suspicion (Fasce & Picó, 2019a;Goreis & Voracek, 2019;Irwin et al, 2016;Ramsay, 2012). Thus, these three categories should not be seen as entirely distinct.…”

The Everyday Irrationality of Monothematic Delusion

“…A tremendous amount of research has sought to identify which styles or biases may play a role in the genesis of beliefs in the paranormal. We give a snapshot of it here to highlight the variety in hypothesized contributions (see French andWilson 2007 andIrwin et al 2012 for more thorough overviews).…”

“…Aside from the above, there is also some evidence for the role of the following on the formation of paranormal beliefs: confirmation bias (Irwin et al 2012), metacognitive beliefs (Irwin et al 2012), and fantasy proneness (Irwin 1990(Irwin , 1991Barber 1983, Beyerstein 2007), and there is mixed evidence for the role of critical thinking (French and Wilson 2007: 5).…”

Paranormal belief, psychopathological symptoms, and well-being: Latent profile analysis and longitudinal assessment of relationships

“…A further factor that likely protects against adverse outcomes is skepticism. Believers demonstrate weak dispositional skepticism and low regard for the values of science [53]. Hence, greater levels of skepticism encourage individuals to question and critically assess the validity of their views.…”