Jerome Tobacyk

Paranormal Beliefs and their Implications in University Students from Finland and the United States

University students from Finland and the southern United States were compared in (a) paranormal beliefs; (b) four personality adjustment constructs-alienation, anomie, death concerns, and death threat; and (c) relationships between paranormal beliefs and these personality adjustment constructs. Americans reported significantly greater belief in Traditional Religious Belief, Superstition, Witchcraft, and Extraordinary Life Forms. Finns reported significantly greater death concerns and death threat, whereas the Americans reported significantly greater anomie. Paranormal beliefs showed stronger relationships with measures of personality adjustment for the Finns than for the Americans. There were 13 significant relationships between paranormal belief subscales and measures of personality adjustment among the Finns and only five among the Americans. Findings are consistent with the notion that secularization has advanced further in Finland than in the United States.

Out-of-Body Experience Status as a Moderator of Effects of Narcissism on Paranormal Beliefs

The Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Paranormal Belief Scale were given to 383 college students. As hypothesized, significant but small direct correlations were obtained between narcissism and belief in Psi and in Precognition. When the sample was divided into those 56 who reported out-of-body experiences and 327 nonreporters, an interaction emerged. Among the former, narcissism showed significant moderate correlations with belief in Psi, Precognition, Witchcraft, and Superstition. Among the latter only one small significant relationship was found between narcissism and Precognition. These differential relationships between narcissism and paranormal beliefs for reporters and nonreporters of out-of-body experiences were interpreted in terms of schemata theory.

Death threat, death concerns, and paranormal belief

Abstract Relationships among death threat, death concerns, and paranormal beliefs were investigated in a personal construct theory framework. First, the Threat Index measure of death threat and the Paranormal Belief Scale, which provides a measure of degree of belief in each of seven paranormal dimensions, were administered to 78 college students. As hypothesized, one paranormal belief dimension (traditional religious belief) was significantly associated with decreased death threat. In addition, the Death Concern Scale measure of conscious concerns about death and the Paranormal Scale were administered to 73 college students. As hypothesized, significant positive correlations were obtained between six of the seven paranormal belief dimensions (all except for traditional religious beliefs) and Death Concern Scale scores. Thus, greater beliefs in these six paranormal dimensions were associated with greater death concerns. Findings are discussed in terms of the notion that paranormal beliefs may play a role ...

Comparisons of Belief-Based Personality Constructs in Polish and American University Students Paranormal Beliefs, Locus of Control, Irrational Beliefs, and Social Interest

This two-part study used Rotters Social Learning Theory as a framework for comparing university students from Poland and from the Southern United States on (a) four belief-based personality constructs: paranormal beliefs, locus of control, irrational beliefs, and social interest; and (b) personality correlates of paranormal beliefs. Both Poles and Americans reported high levels of traditional religious belief, as well as disbelief in superstition, spiritualism, and witchcraft. As hypothesized, the Poles reported a significantly more external locus of control and significantly greater endorsement of irrational beliefs. Also consistent with hypotheses, for the Poles paranormal beliefs showed 10 significant personality correlates, whereas for the Americans only one relationship was significant. These findings are consistent with the notion that within the Polish sociocultural situation, fundamental political and ideological conflicts between the government and the Roman Catholic Church may have optimized personal involvement in choosing beliefs and values, resulting in more central, personally involving, and self-relevant beliefs. In turn, these belief characteristics may result in more significant personality correlates of paranormal beliefs for Poles.

Lunar phases and crisis center telephone calls.

The lunar hypothesis, that is, the notion that lunar phases can directly affect human behavior, was tested by time-series analysis of 4,575 crisis center telephone calls (all calls recorded for a 6-month interval). As expected, the lunar hypothesis was not supported. The 28-day lunar cycle accounted for less than 1% of the variance of the frequency of crisis center calls. Also, as hypothesized from an attribution theory framework, crisis center workers reported significantly greater belief in lunar effects than a non-crisis-center-worker comparison group.

PARANORMAL BELIEFS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

The Paranormal Belief Scale was given to high school students in Grade 11 (95 boys, 98 girls). This scale provides a total Paranormal Belief Score, plus scores on each of seven paranormal subscales: Traditional Religious Belief, Psi Belief, Witchcraft, Spiritualism, Superstition, Extraordinary Life Forms, and Precognition. Paranormal scale/subscale scores of high school students were compared to those of a sample of college students. Generally, high school students were greater disbelievers in paranormal phenomena than college students. High school students showed significantly less belief than college students on the total Paranormal Scale and on the subscales, Psi Belief, Extraordinary Life Forms, and Witchcraft. As hypothesized, the number of science courses taken by high school students correlated significantly and inversely with total Paranormal Scale scores, Traditional Religious Belief scores, and Psi Belief scores. Also as hypothesized, Traditional Religious Belief scores were significantly and directly associated with grade point average (r = .21). Further as hypothesized, high school students in the most accelerated academic track showed significantly less belief on Superstition than students in other tracks.

The out-of-body experience and personality adjustment.

Relationships between the out-of-body experience and personality adjustment were studied. A total of 445 college students, including 65 reporting out-of-body experiences, completed self-report measures of death orientation, defensive style, narcissism, paranormal beliefs, self-concept, and social desirability. No significant differences were found between respondents reporting out-of-body experiences and nonreporters on any of the instruments, except for the Paranormal Belief Scale. Reporters of out-of-body experiences showed significantly greater belief in precognition, psi, spiritualism, and witchcraft than did nonreporters. Findings indicate considerable similarity between reporters and nonreporters in personality adjustment. It is clear that, on these personality adjustment measures, the out-of-body experience was associated with neither less effective nor more effective adjustment.

Paranormal Belief and College Grade Point Average

The Paranormal Belief Scale and a self-report item concerning college grade point average were given to 307 introductory psychology students. As hypothesized, greater reported belief in both Superstition and in Witchcraft subscales were significantly associated with lower grade point average. These relationships, although statistically significant, were small.

Death Threat and Death Concerns in the College Student

A four part investigation of death orientation in college students using the provided-construct form of the Threat Index and the Death Concern Scale was conducted. Part I investigated the construct validity of the Threat Index, reporting significant predicted correlations of the Threat Index with the Death Concern Scale, Trait Anxiety Scale, and Repression-Sensitization Scale. Part II explored death orientation and personality differences between a Thanatology Group (death education students) and a Control Group. Thanatology students reported significantly lesser death threat and significantly greater death concerns than controls. Part III compared pre-test to post-test changes in death threat and death concerns for the Thanatology Group with pre-post changes for the Control Group. Using analysis of covariance procedures, a significantly greater decline in death threat was obtained in the Thanatology Group relative to the controls. Part IV explored two personality variables–trait anxiety and repression-sensitization–as moderators of change in death orientation in the Thantology Group. Trait anxiety was found to be a significant predictor of change in death threat in the Thanatology Group, with lesser anxiety associated with greater decline in death threat.

PREFERENCE FOR PAINTINGS AND PERSONALITY TRAITS

College students (49 males and 40 females) completed the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire and performed 5-point preference ratings on 25 slides of paintings. Factor analysis of preference ratings gave seven dimensions of preference that underlay judgments. Eight significant relationships were found between source traits, measured by the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, and dimensions of painting preferences. Support was obtained for the notion that preference for paintings is congruent with or expresses the personality traits of the rater. Further students reported greater preference for representational paintings than for abstract paintings.