Modelling childhood causes of paranormal belief and experience: Childhood trauma and childhood fantasy

The Creative Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ): a brief self-report measure of fantasy proneness

“…It is possible that these overlapping traits are shaped by aversive childhood experiences (e.g. Allen & Coyne, 1995;Lawrence et al, 1995). However, it may also be the case that they originate from extreme, but essentially normal variations in certain neuronal processes (e.g.…”

“…An obvious example is the study of paranormal experiences and their developmental origins (e.g. Lawrence et al, 1995). Another area is the experimental analysis of pseudomemories.…”

“…Other fantasy prones, however, reported a heightened frequency of aversive childhood events. In these cases, a profound fantasy life may have become a means to cope with or escape from negative experiences (see also Lawrence, Edwards, Barraclough, Church & Hetherington, 1995).…”

Dissociative experiences and interrogative suggestibility in college students

“…One possibility is that a history of aversive childhood events acts as a major developmental cause of these characteristics (e.g., Lawrence, Edwards, Barraclough, Church, & Hetherington, 1995). Another possibility is that the fantasy proneness and suggestibility implicated by the correlates of the DES are conductive to self-reports of trauma (e.g., Merckelbach et al, 2000;Merckelbach & Muris, in press).…”

“…Of course, less streamlined models that involve more complex interactions between dissociation, fantasy proneness, and self-reported cognitive failures are also possible. A covariance structure modeling study of the type described by Lawrence et al (1995) might provide a preliminary test of these possibilities.…”