Measurement of supernatural belief: sex differences and locus of control

Although we live in an age dominated by science and technology, there exists an increasingly popular anti-science sentiment. This study describes the development of a scale to assess the degree of personal acceptance of supernatural causality versus acceptance of scientific explanation. In addition to the psychometric data concerning validity and reliability of the scale, data are presented which showed the personality factor of supernaturalism to be independent of orthodox religious attitudes. Results indicated a significantly greater supernatural acceptance for women, and a positive relation of supernaturalism with external locus of control.