Superstitious, magical, and paranormal beliefs: An integrative model

Lindeman, Marjaana; Aarnio, Kia

doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2006.06.009

Cited by 195 publications

(147 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Our findings accord with a growing body of literature demonstrating that products of the imagination-fiction, fantasy, pretense, or superstition-are structured by causal constraints on reality (Harris, 2000;Legare & Souza, 2012;Lindeman & Aarnio, 2007). For instance, it has been shown that we prefer stories that violate contingent truths (that Washington DC is the capital of the US) or conventional truths (that picking your nose is rude) to stories that violate mathematical truths (that two plus two equals four) or moral truths (that murder is wrong) (Barnes & Black, 2016;Gendler, 2000;Weisberg & Goodstein, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

The explanatory structure of unexplainable events: Causal constraints on magical reasoning

Shtulman

Morgan

2017

Psychon Bull Rev

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A common intuition, often captured in fiction, is that some impossible events (e.g., levitating a stone) are Bmore impossible^than others (e.g., levitating a feather). We investigated the source of this intuition, hypothesizing that graded notions of impossibility arise from explanatory considerations logically precluded by the violation at hand but still taken into account. Studies 1-4 involved college undergraduates (n = 357), and Study 5 involved preschool-aged children (n = 32). In Studies 1 and 2, participants saw pairs of magical spells that violated one of 18 causal principles-six physical, six biological, and six psychological-and were asked to indicate which spell would be more difficult to learn. Both spells violated the same causal principle but differed in their relation to a subsidiary principle. Participants' judgments of spell difficulty honored the subsidiary principle, even when participants were given the option of judging the two spells equally difficult. Study 3 replicated those effects with Likert-type ratings; Study 4 replicated them in an open-ended version of the task in which participants generated their own causal violations; and Study 5 replicated them with children. Taken together, these findings suggest that events that defy causal explanation are interpreted in terms of explanatory considerations that hold in the absence of such violations.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

The explanatory structure of unexplainable events: Causal constraints on magical reasoning

Shtulman

Morgan

2017

Psychon Bull Rev

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“…Founded on well defined, cognitive determinants instead of hypothetical ontological domains, this approach utilizes knowledge from developmental, evolutionary and cognitive psychology. Within it, all paranormal, superstitious and magical beliefs are interpreted as a by-product of cognitive processes and as ontolo-gical confusions of our core knowledge about the world; mainly, our intuitive physics, intuitive biology and intuitive psychology (Lindeman & Aarnio, 2007), implying how they will in some form be present without any social influence or interpersonal need. This concept of ontological confusions, however, precisely sums up the wide variety of paranormal beliefs that are represented in the newly formed General paranormal beliefs dimension.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paranormal Beliefs and Personality Traits in Croatia

Mlačić

Milas

2012

Drustvena istrazivanja

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The goal of this study was to assess the relationship between the Five Factor Model of personality and the belief in the paranormal. Participants (N=307) were students from the University of Zagreb, Croatia. The measures used were the IPIP version of the Five Factor Model questionnaire (Goldberg et al., 2006) along with the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (Tobacyk, 1988). The factor analysis of the latter yielded three previously unreported paranormal belief dimensions named: General paranormal belief, Traditional religious belief and Rituals and practices. The most significant personality correlations with all three factors were found for Openness, Conscientiousness and Neuroticism, respectively. Results to an extent confirmed previous findings, suggesting that open individuals accept more General paranormal beliefs, while rejecting Traditional religious belief. Conscientiousness displayed an opposite trend being positively related to Traditional religious beliefs and negatively to General paranormal beliefs. Finally, Neuroticism was related to Rituals and practices, i.e. superstitions, divinations and occult control of life outcomes. The relations are however modest ranging from 0.11 to 0.25. Both the novel paranormal belief structure and its significance to personality are discussed within an evolutionary perspective, with guidelines for further research highlighted in the end.

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“…When looking around today, with the role of 'official' religion partly replaced by a scientific worldview, there are numerous different 'folk interpretations' about matters of religion and other beliefs (for example, about health and diet), as has been noticed by the psychologists mentioned above (Lindeman & Aarnio 2006;Aarnio 2007). Magical thinking has not disappeared either, as the example below (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main idea seems to be to try and explain how it is possible that many kinds of 'irrational' beliefs still exist among otherwise 'civilised' people. The attitude towards the object of study (the people who believe) is arrogant in a very '19th-century anthropologist' way (see, e.g., Lindeman & Aarnio 2006;Aarnio 2007).…”

Section: Sonja Hukantaivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding Folk Religion: An Archaeology of ‘Strange’ Behaviour

Hukantaival¹

2013

FEJF

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Archaeology is not only about describing things; we also seek to understand what we find. Sometimes a find can seem puzzling, unexpected in the context in question. It is argued here that evidence of non-Christian elements of religiosity in a historical context can constitute such surprising finds. These finds become less confusing in the light of other sources, such as folklore accounts and historical records. Still, archaeology can offer something not accessible to other disciplines. This paper discusses the phenomenon of folk religion, and the ways that we can take to find the meanings behind the material remains of practices, which may perhaps seem odd to us. A multidisciplinary approach is favoured, and the contribution of archaeology is crucial in gaining information about past practices. The paper also offers a short survey of some archaeological approaches to questions of folk religion. Another issue addressed is why we might be surprised to find evidence of 'strange' practices in historical contexts. It is suggested here that historical constructs about the 'civilising' effects of Christianity, Reformation, and Enlightenment, respectively, have affected the way that religiosity has been seen in the context of historical Europe.

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Superstitious, magical, and paranormal beliefs: An integrative model

Cited by 195 publications

References 41 publications

The explanatory structure of unexplainable events: Causal constraints on magical reasoning

The explanatory structure of unexplainable events: Causal constraints on magical reasoning

Paranormal Beliefs and Personality Traits in Croatia

Finding Folk Religion: An Archaeology of ‘Strange’ Behaviour

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