Belief in Paranormal Phenomena and An External Locus of Control

Allen, Jodi; Lester, David

doi:10.2466/pms.1994.79.1.226

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…This study found an association between internal, external locus of control and paranormal belief, which, so far as the external locus of control association is concerned, is in conformity with the results obtained in other studies (e.g., Allen & Lester, 1994).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The relationship between locus of control and paranormal belief has been investigated and a more external locus of control has usually been related to greater paranormal belief (Allen & Lester, 1994;Groth-Marnat & Pegden, 1998;Tobacyk & Milford, 1983;Tobacyk, Nagot, & Miller, 1988). It was also found that in general, females had a more favorable attitude toward the supernatural than did males (Randall & Desrosiers, 1980).…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

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Paranormal Beliefs and Personality Among Black South African Students

Peltzer

2002

soc behav pers

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This study set out to replicate research on the relationship between reported paranormal belief, measures of locus of control and psychopathology in an African population. Results indicate an association between internal, external locus of control and paranormal belief. Further, the study found that extraversion was positively associated with the total paranormal belief scale while neuroticism and psychotism were not. Psychotism was associated with Psi Belief.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

mentioning

confidence: 95%

Paranormal Beliefs and Personality Among Black South African Students

Peltzer

2002

soc behav pers

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“…Based upon the responses of 746 participants, there was evidence that external locus of control and beliefs in the paranormal were related [12]. This relationship was subsequently also found by Allen and Lester [13] as well as Groth-Marnat and Pegden [14].…”

supporting

confidence: 52%

Belief in and Experience with the Paranormal: Relations between Personality Boundaries, Executive Functioning, Gender Role, and Academic Variables

Spinelli

Reid

Norvilitis

2002

Imagination, Cognition and Personality

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The present study examined individual differences in beliefs in the paranormal. One hundred and ninety-three college students were given a questionnaire measuring executive functioning, boundaries of personality, masculinity and femininity, and college major. Overall, 75 percent of participants reported belief in at least one of four types of paranormal activity and 42 percent reported experiencing at least one of four types of paranormal activity. Thinness of personality boundaries was related to belief in, as well as experience with, the paranormal. There was also a relationship between belief and experience and gender role. There was no evidence for a relationship between belief in the paranormal and year in college or college major.

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“…Paranormal and supernatural beliefs play an important role in many people's everyday lives. The existing research on the development of such beliefs has focused on a number of aspects of human cognition, from logical thinking (Roberts & Seager, 1999;Wiseman & Watt, 2002), creativity (Thalbourne, 1995), associative processing (Brugger & Taylor, 2003), and judgments of probability (Rogers, Davis, & Fisk, 2009) to perceived electrosensitivity (Stöckenius & Brugger, 2000) and locus of control (Allen & Lester, 1994), to mention but a few (for a review, see Wiseman & Watt, 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity to Coincidences and Paranormal Belief

Hadlaczky

Westerlund

2011

Percept Mot Skills

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Often it is difficult to find a natural explanation as to why a surprising coincidence occurs. In attempting to find one, people may be inclined to accept paranormal explanations. The objective of this study was to investigate whether people with a lower threshold for being surprised by coincidences have a greater propensity to become believers compared to those with a higher threshold. Participants were exposed to artificial coincidences, which were formally defined as less or more probable, and were asked to provide remarkability ratings. Paranormal belief was measured by the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale. An analysis of the remarkability ratings revealed a significant interaction effect between Sheep-Goat score and type of coincidence, suggesting that people with lower thresholds of surprise, when experiencing coincidences, harbor higher paranormal belief than those with a higher threshold. The theoretical aspects of these findings were discussed.

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Belief in Paranormal Phenomena and An External Locus of Control

Abstract: In a sample of 51 college students, beliefs in paranormal phenomena were associated with scores on a measure of belief in an external locus of control.

Cited by 9 publications

References 3 publications

Paranormal Beliefs and Personality Among Black South African Students

Paranormal Beliefs and Personality Among Black South African Students

Belief in and Experience with the Paranormal: Relations between Personality Boundaries, Executive Functioning, Gender Role, and Academic Variables

Sensitivity to Coincidences and Paranormal Belief

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