Michael A. Thalbourne

Transliminality, the Mental Experience Inventory and tolerance of ambiguity

Abstract Transliminality is a hypothesised tendency for psychological material to cross ( trans ) thresholds ( limines ) into or out of consciousness. In this survey (conducted with 138 members of the general Australian population and 135 members of the general US population) it was predicted that transliminality (as measured by a 29-item scale: Thalbourne, M. A. [in press]. Transliminality: correlates and a short measure. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research .) would be positively related to the eight subscales of the Mental Experience Inventory (Kumar, V. K., & Pekala, R. J. [1992]. The mental experience inventory. Unpublished psychological test. West Chester, PA: West Chester University.). In both samples, the highly transliminal subject was indeed found to believe in more psi-related and unusual events, to report more paranormal and unusual experiences, to have a greater sense of being high and that the mind is tremendously powerful, to be more given to introspection and to daydreaming and to experience altered consciousness. Transliminality was not, however, significantly related to age, nor to tolerance of ambiguity.

Paranormal belief, manic-depressiveness, and magical ideation: a replication

Abstract A previous study conducted in Australia has suggested that persons who believe in and claim experience of the paranormal tend to score higher on measures of manic-depressiveness and magical ideation. The present study sought to confirm these findings in an English sample of 114 university students using as measures of belief in the paranormal the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale and as well the Survey of Belief in Extraordinary Phenomena. As predicted, paranormal belief was significantly correlated with measures of manic-, depressive-, and manic-depressive experience, as well as magical ideation. It was noted, moreover, that manic-depressive experience was moderately correlated with magical ideation, suggesting some overlap between the relevant conditions.

Depressive response sets due to gender and culture-based differential item functioning

Abstract Two studies tested a “strong” version of Nolen-Hoeksemas [ Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1987). Sex difference in unipolar depression: evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin , 101 , 259–282. ] hypothesis of depressive response sets using samples of Australian respondents (Study I, n =1111) as well as US respondents (Study II, n =300), using a Rasch version of Thalbournes Manic-Depressiveness Scale (MDS) whose contents are consistent with atypical depression (i.e. depressive episodes with hypomanic symptoms). As predicted, tests for differential item functioning in both studies revealed that women are more likely to worry about “being poor” than equally depressive men ( P

Personality characteristics of sheep and goats

Abstract A great deal of parapsychological research has investigated the effect, upon extrasensory perception (ESP), of the so-called ‘sheep-goat variable’ (SGV), that is, belief in the existence of ESP, either in the abstract or with respect to ones own psychic ability. However, very little purely psychological research has examined the question of possible personality differences between ‘sheep’ (the ‘believers’) and ‘goats’ (the ‘disbelievers’). Personality factors are important both as potentially confounding variables, and as independent predictors of psi-scoring which could be used in combination with the SGV. This paper reports two sets of experiments of the pilot-confirmation type: a grand total of 552 subjects were administered various personality tests plus one or other of two ‘sheep-goat scales’. Replicated results indicated that the SGV was related to extraversion-introversion and to conservatism-radicalism: sheep tend to be more extraverted and more conservative than goats, who tend towards introversion and intellectual skepticism.

Rasch scaling paranormal belief and experience: structure and semantics of Thalbourne's Australian Sheep-Goat Scale.

Research on the relation between demographic variables and paranormal belief remains controversial given the possible semantic distortions introduced by item and test level biases. We illustrate how Rasch scaling can be used to detect such biases and to quantify their effects, using the Australian Sheep-Goal Scale as a substantive example. Based on data from 1,822 respondents, this test was Rasch scalable, reliable, and unbiased at the test level. Consistent with other research in which unbiased measures of paranormal belief were used, extremely weak age and sex effects were found (partial eta2 = .005 and .012, respectively).

COMPARISON OF TWO ALTERNATIVE MEASURES OF THE BOUNDARY CONSTRUCT

‘Mental boundaries’ is a traditional concept in psychology, although attempts to conceptualize and measure such boundaries empirically have only recently been pursued. Two major efforts in this respect are Hartmanns Boundary Questionnaire and the Revised Transliminality Scale of Lange, Thalbourne, Houran, and Storm. We administered both along with the Briggs-Nebes Handedness Scale to a convenience sample of 268 participants to assess the convergent validity of the two boundary measures and to replicate previous evidence that the boundary construct involves body boundaries as well, such as a tendency toward mixed-handedness. As predicted, scores on the Revised Transliminality Scale correlated .66 positively with total scores on the Boundary Questionnaire, but neither measure was associated with the handedness scale. Each of the 12 domains of the Boundary Questionnaire correlated significantly with total scores on the Transliminality Scale, yet only five domains contributed significantly to the prediction of variance in transliminality scores in a standard multiple regression analysis. Analysis suggests that transliminality is related to specific domains of the Boundary Questionnaire, and we hypothesize that the other domains of the Boundary Questionnaire represent higher levels of the boundary construct than what is measured by the Revised Transliminality Scale. This idea is discussed within the context of Werners 1948 theory of syncretic versus symbolic cognition.

Belief in life after death: Psychological origins and influences

Abstract Belief in some form of life after death is widespread, and the question is raised what psychological processes give rise to it. The sample in the present study consisted of 85 first-year undergraduate psychology students at the University of Adelaide. General belief in life after death was found to be high, and was related to a desire for there to be an afterlife, to adherence to a dualistic philosophy, and to low death anxiety. Subdivision of subjects into the different forms of afterlife believed in showed that reincarnationists exhibited the strongest adherence to a dualistic philosophy and the highest level of belief in, and alleged experience of, ESP and psychokinesis.

Temporal lobe lability in the highly transliminal mind

Abstract Transliminality is “a hypothesized tendency for psychological material to cross thresholds into or out of consciousness,” which has been proposed to derive from hyperconnectivity between temporal-limbic structures and sensory association cortices. Accordingly, it might be expected that transliminality would positively correlate with temporal lobe lability. To test this hypothesis, 135 undergraduate psychology students at an Australian and a British university completed the Revised Transliminality Scale (Lange et al., 2000) and the Personal Philosophy Inventory (Persinger, 1984a), a validated measure of temporal lobe lability. As predicted, scores on transliminality showed a strong association with the general temporal lobe scale (r=0.72), as well as moderate correlations with a number of other scalar variables and individual items. The findings are consistent with the idea that transliminality is related to more ungated processing related to temporal lobe functioning, and furthermore that temporal lobe phenomenology promotes transliminal experiences with mystical or religious overtones.

The Manic Depressiveness Scale: A Preliminary Effort at Replication and Extension

In a previous paper, an 18-item scale was presented to measure the extent to which a person had experienced symptoms resembling mania or clinical depression. There was evidence that, within a group of 37 bipolar persons, scores on this Manic Depressiveness Scale correlated significantly positively with number of manic-depression-relevant medications currently being taken by the subject. In the present study, 24 subjects (9 unipolar depressives, 15 bipolars) were administered this scale, and aspects of their clinical history were taken. For the bipolar subjects only, scores on the scale correlated significantly with number of relevant medications (r = .45, p <.05, one-tailed), with number of hospitalizations (r = .46, p<.05), and with psychiatrist-rated severity of illness (r = .45, p<.05). Bipolar patients also scored significantly higher than did unipolar patients on the Manic Experience subscale. The Manic Depressiveness Scale thus appears to have some predictive validity.

Measures of the sheep-goat variable, transliminality, and their correlates.

In this study a battery of pencil-and-paper tests was given to 125 first-year psychology students (27% men). This battery included as measures of belief in the paranormal (the so-called “sheep-goat variable”) the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale, Tobacyks Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (comprised of two scales—New Age Philosophy and Traditional Paranormal Beliefs), and the Anomalous Experience Inventory (comprised of five scales: Anomalous/Paranormal Experience, Belief, Ability, Fear, and Drug Use). Also included were the 29-item Transliminality Scale, a 35-item Kundalini Scale, an experimental 13-item Determinism/Free Will scale, and a number of single-question items aimed specifically at transliminality. The results were, first, that virtually all the measures of the sheep-goat variable were intercorrelated with each other (range, .34 to .77), thereby providing support for their convergent validity. Second, scores on the Kundalini Scale and Drug Use correlated significantly with scores on the sheep-goat variable, replicating previous findings. And, finally, many correlates of transliminality were found, again including scores on the Kundalini Scale and Drug Use (prescribed and illicit) as well as certain determinism-related beliefs. Beliefs, experiences, and behaviors associated with transliminality and the Kundalini experience may reflect a desire to escape a negative state of being.