Rense Lange

Top-down purification of Tobacyk’s Revised Paranormal Belief Scale

Using mostly undergraduate student data (N=560), factor analysis confirmed the existence of seven factors in Tobacyk’s Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (RPBS). However, this replication proved to be of dubious value since (1) the factor structure was significantly affected by age and gender; (2) the items in Tobacyk’s original factors were significantly non-additive; (3) the items showed pervasive differential item functioning (DIF) related to respondents’ ages, gender, or both; and (4) simulations indicated that the factor structure are the result of DIF. The removal of DIF via “top-down purification” yielded two correlated clusters of items dubbed “New Age Philosophy” and “Traditional Paranormal Beliefs”. Both clusters obey an Andrich rating-scale model with person reliabilities of 0.90 and 0.74, respectively. Principal component analysis confirmed that these two clusters are unidimensional and without significant age or gender DIF (p>0.10). While the Traditional Paranormal Beliefs cluster continued to show a significant main effect of age, neither cluster showed a significant gender effect, thereby calling into question some traditional findings regarding paranormal beliefs. We strongly suspect that the dearth of DIF studies indicates that age and gender biases due to DIF have largely gone unnoticed in the extant personality and assessment literature.

Thou shalt worship no other gods — unless they are celebrities: the relationship between celebrity worship and religious orientation

Abstract The Celebrity Attitude Scale, Quest Scale, and the Age-Universal I-E scale-12 were given to 307 British participants in an attempt to provide further psychometric validation of the former and determine the relationship between celebrity worship and religiosity. Results generally supported those of an earlier study showing that the Celebrity Attitude Scale has good psychometric properties. Results also indicated that as religiosity increases for both men and women the tendency to “worship” celebrities decreases. However, the mean of the 12 relationships reported here was only −0.20, suggesting that many religious people apparently ignore the religious teaching that “Thou shalt worship no other Gods,” or fail to connect it to their “worship” of celebrities. A series of multiple regressions revealed combinations of celebrity-related and religiosity measures that predicted scores on the Celebrity Attitude Scale and its three factors.

Clinical relevance of the two-factor rasch version of the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale

Abstract The two-factor Rasch version of the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale reportedly measures individually oriented (New Age Philosophy) and socially oriented (Traditional Paranormal Belief) paranormal beliefs. Preliminary studies investigated the construct validity of this revised scale against other variables, but the prediction that dissociative and schizotypal tendencies are more strongly related to New Age Philosophy than to Traditional Paranormal Beliefs has not been tested. Thus, a sample of 116 Australian adults completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B), and the two-factor Rasch version of the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale. As predicted, the clinical measures showed different patterns of correlations with the two types of paranormal belief. New Age Philosophy showed small but consistent associations with pathological and nonpathological dissociation and the Perceptual-Cognitive subscale of the SPQ-B. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that the cumulative effects of psychopathology predicted only beliefs associated with New Age Philosophy. Thus, only particular types of paranormal belief are related to dissociative and schizotypal tendencies, and this knowledge may help guide therapeutic approaches to paranormal beliefs and experiences related to “Religious or Spiritual Problems” of the DSM-IV.

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

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).

An assessment of contextual mediation in trance states of shamanic journeys.

30 experiences of shamanic journeys derived from Harner (1990) were analyzed based on a recent coding scheme for contextual variables proposed by Lange, Houran, Harte, and Havens. Consistent with previous research, the experiential content of the trances was quite consistent with the content of the available contextual variables, and embedded cues in particular (r = .68, p < .001). As predicted, trance states of shamanic journeys are sufficiently structured to suppress contextual effects on the modality of experience. The findings suggest that the contents of shamanic trance are not solely influenced by psychopathology, biochemical effects, or cultural influences.

Technological Choice and Network Externalities: A Catastrophe Model Analysis of Firm Software Adoption for Competing Operating Systems

This paper presents an empirical estimation of catastrophe model of organizational adoptions of a high technology product when network externalities are present. As such, it integrates work from the economics literature and the catastrophe literature to provide a broadeer look at adoption issues. Additionally, it is one of the few empirical studies we are aware of that attempts to model organizational adoption of high-technology products for use rather than for manufacture.

Scaling MacDonald's AT-20 using item-response theory

Abstract The responses of 110 subjects to 18 items of the AT-20 tolerance of ambiguity scale were analyzed in an item response framework using Rasch modeling. The results indicated that the items satisfy the assumptions of this model and an excellent fit was obtained. In particular, the observed item reliability (KR-20) was 0.93 and the person reliability was 0.68. The latter value agrees with previous findings derived in a classical test theoretical framework. A Rasch type scale (M=25, SD=5) is developed and various psychometric and scaling issues are discussed.

Objective measurement of paranormal belief: a rebuttal to Vitulli.

Effects of age and sex in paranormal belief remain controversial because issues of scaling and differential item function are not given due attention. Therefore, in response to the recent debate between Irwin and Vitulli, these issues are reviewed and validated as crucial approaches for obtaining an objective measure of paranormal belief. A Rasch version of Tobacyks Paranormal Belief Scale has been developed, but research with this scale suggests that—contrary to past literature and recently refined studies—age and sex are neither consistent nor crucial factors mediating paranormal belief.

Redefining Delusion Based on Studies of Subjective Paranormal Ideation

The DSM–IV definition of delusion is argued to be unsatisfactory because it does not explain the mechanism for delusion formation and maintenance, it implies that such beliefs are necessarily dysfunctional (pathological), it underestimates the social component to some delusions, and it is inconsistent with research indicating that delusions can be modified through techniques such as contradiction, confrontation, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. However, a well-replicated mathematical model of magical/delusional thinking based on a study of paranormal beliefs and experiences is consistent with the hypothesis that attributional processes play a central role in delusion formation and maintenance. The model suggests attributional processes serve the adaptive function of reducing fear associated with ambiguous stimuli and delusional thinking is on a continuum with nonpathological forms. Based on this collective research an amendment to the definition of delusion is proposed and its clinical implications are addressed.