Misperception of Chance,Conjunction, Framing Effects and Belief in the Paranormal: A Further Evaluation

Studies exploring relationships between belief in the paranormal and vulnerability to cognitive bias suggest that believers are liable to misperception of chance and conjunction fallacy. Research investigating misperception of chance has produced consistent findings, whilst work on conjunction fallacy is less compelling. Evidence indicates also that framing biases within a paranormal context can increase believers' susceptibility. The present study, using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling, examined the contribution of each bias to belief in the paranormal and assessed the merits of previous research. Alongside, the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale, participants completed standard and paranormal framed perception of randomness and conjunction problems. Perception of randomness was more strongly associated with belief in the paranormal than conjunction fallacy. Inherent methodological issues limited the usefulness of framing manipulations; presenting problems within a paranormal context weakened their predictive power.Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Paranormal beliefs and religiosity: Chinese version of the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale

This paper reports an initial study investigating the relations of paranormal beliefs with religiosity in a Chinese sample, as well as the development of a Chinese version of the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale and a test of its psychometric properties with 310 college students (5.5% Christians, 21.3% Buddhists, 61% believers in traditional Chinese religions, and 12% atheists). The reliability and validity of the Chinese version were satisfactory. In general, traditional Chinese religious believers had higher scores on paranormal belief than did Christians and atheists, and the mean total score of the Chinese participants was higher than previously reported in a Western sample. It was concluded that the greater involvement of practitioners of traditional Chinese religions in activities emphasizing paranormal experiences might contribute to their greater paranormal belief, especially as compared to the minority Christian group. The results are consistent with the idea that Christianity may offer the least support for paranormal belief.     

Personality and Paranormal Belief: A Study Among Adolescents

A sample of 279 13- to 16-year-old adolescents completed the Short-form Revised Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (JEPQR-S) and a six-item Index of Paranormal Belief. The data demonstrate that neuroticism is fundamental to individual differences in paranormal belief, while paranormal belief is independent of extraversion and psychoticism.     

Countervailing Forces: Religiosity and Paranormal Belief in Italy

Due to the unique cultural niche inhabited by “paranormal” beliefs and experiences, social scientists have struggled to understand the relationship between religion and the paranormal. Complicating matters is the fact that extant research has primarily focused upon North America, leaving open the possible relationship between these two spheres of the supernatural in less religiously pluralistic contexts. Using data from a random, national survey of Italian citizens, we examine the nature of the relationship between religiosity and paranormal beliefs in a largely Catholic context. We find a curvilinear relationship between religiosity and paranormal beliefs among Italians, with those at the lowest and highest levels of religious participation holding lower average levels of “paranormal” belief than those with moderate religious participation. This pattern reflects how two influential social institutions, religion and science, simultaneously define the paranormal as outside of acceptable realms of inquiry and belief.     

Mental Health,Belief Deficit Compensation,and Paranormal Beliefs

The present study examined the relationship between religious and nonreligious paranormal beliefs and mental health, as well as the possibility that nonreligious subjects compensate for a lack of identification with traditional religion by increased nonreligious paranormal beliefs. Subjects were 80 undergraduates categorized as religious or nonreligious on the basis of scores on the Traditional Religion subscale of the Paranormal Belief Scale. Religious subjects had significantly higher total paranormal belief scores than nonreligious subjects. Those adopting religious paranormal beliefs were actually somewhat more likely to adopt other nonreligious paranormal beliefs. The failure of nonreligious subjects to compensate fully for this traditional religious belief deficit was reflected in their mental health ratings on the Langer's Mental Health Scale (Langer, 1962). Paranormal beliefs were found to be negatively correlated with reported symptoms of psychopathology, supporting the formulation that paranormal beliefs may serve to ensure psychic integrity by acting as “self-serving cognitive biases.”     

Perceived Accuracy of Fortune Telling and Belief in the Paranormal

Abstract

(Seashore, C. E. Psychology of Music. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1938. Pp. 408.) Reviewed by Paul R. Farnsworth

(Brown, J. F. Psychology and the Social Order. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1936. Pp. 529.) Reviewed by L. A. Pennington     

Reality Testing and Testing Reality in Group TreatmentPart I: Reality and Reality Testing

This two-part contribution addresses reality, reality testing, and testing reality—how we think about and may technically approach these concepts. Part I provides a topic overview and focuses on reality testing. Part II (in an upcoming issue) focuses on testing reality and how it promotes emergence of new or previously inhibited forms of engagement.

Reality testing and testing reality represent two fundamental, reciprocal manifestations of the drive to know and of tasks of learning: approaching problems and solving them. While testing reality involves approaching reality without necessarily looking for or coming to definition or clarity, reality testing centers on a particular theme or object. It evolves towards organization and rationality, with a goal to define and solve problems—or to avoid them.

Engaging the group and supporting individuals in these two types of approaches to learning requires a well-defined therapeutic focus on process and purpose; at times, different tactics and techniques are appropriate.     

Contacting the Spirits of the Dead: Paranormal Belief and the Teenage Worldview

A number of previous studies have examined both the overall level of belief expressed by young people in the paranormal and the major demographic predictors of such belief. Building on this research tradition, the present study examines how one specific paranormal belief concerning contact with the spirits of the dead integrates with the wider teenage worldview. Data provided by 33,982 pupils age 13 to 15 years throughout England and Wales demonstrated that almost one in three young people (31%) believed that it is possible to contact the spirits of the dead. Compared with young people who did not share this belief, the young people who believed in the possibility of contacting the spirits of the dead displayed lower psychological wellbeing, higher anxiety, greater isolation, greater alienation, less positive social attitudes, and less socially conforming lifestyles. Overall, paranormal beliefs seem to be associated with a less healthy worldview, in both personal and social terms.     

大学生迷信心理的形成及其影响因素

在全面总结近三十年来国内外相关研究成果的基础上,对大学生迷信心理的形成及其影响因素做了深入探讨。文章首先梳理了迷信的概念;其次从观察学习、归因和自我认同三个方面反思了大学生迷信心理形成的心理机制;并从性别、人格控制点、自尊和自我效能、认知风格和受暗示性、不确定性情境、压力情境等方面分析了大学生迷信心理的影响因素;最后指出了以往研究中存在的局限,并对未来的相关研究做出了展望     

Belief in Conspiracy Theories and Susceptibility to the Conjunction Fallacy

People who believe in the paranormal have been found to be particularly susceptible to the conjunction fallacy. The present research examines whether the same is true of people who endorse conspiracy theories. Two studies examined the association between conspiracist ideation and the number of conjunction violations made in a variety of contexts (neutral, paranormal and conspiracy). Study 1 found that participants who endorsed a range of popular conspiracy theories more strongly also made more conjunction errors than participants with weaker conspiracism, regardless of the contextual framing of the conjunction. Study 2, using an independent sample and a generic measure of conspiracist ideation, replicated the finding that conspiracy belief is associated with domain‐general susceptibility to the conjunction fallacy. The findings are discussed in relation to the association between conspiracism and other anomalous beliefs, the representativeness heuristic and the tendency to infer underlying causal relationships connecting ostensibly unrelated events. © 2014 The Authors. Applied Cognitive Psychology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Reality Testing and Testing Reality in Group Treatment

This two-part contribution addresses concepts of “reality,” “reality testing,” and “testing reality,” as they apply to group treatment. Part I provided topic overview and focused on reality testing. Part II focuses on testing reality and how it promotes emergence of new or previously inhibited forms of engagement.

Whereas reality testing centers on a particular theme or object, with a goal to define and solve problems, testing reality involves approaching targets of interest without necessarily looking for or coming to definition or clarity. It is wide open, spontaneous, and unbounded, and may take the individual and group into realms that are uncomfortable and even unwanted. Engaging the group and supporting individuals in these two approaches to learning requires a well-defined therapeutic focus on process and purpose; at times, different tactics and techniques are called for.     

Erosion of Belief and Disbelief: Effects of Religiosity and Negative Affect on Beliefs in the Paranormal and Supernatural

Abstract

The authors investigated the effects of religiosity and negative affect on beliefs in the paranormal and supernatural among 94 undergraduate students enrolled in psychology classes at a small, private U.S. university. They hypothesized that religiosity would predict differential beliefs in the supernatural versus the paranormal but that negative affect would attenuate these beliefs. In addition, the authors predicted that belief in the supernatural and negative affect would interact to predict belief in the paranormal. Overall, the results were consistent with predictions. The religious participants were skeptical of paranormal phenomena but were accepting of supernatural phenomena. In addition, increased reports of negative affect over the preceding year appeared to attenuate belief in the supernatural for the religious participants. By contrast, for the nonreligious participants, increased belief in both the supernatural and paranormal was predicted when reports of negative affect were high. Finally, the interaction of supernatural belief and negative affect significantly predicted belief in the paranormal.     

学前儿童对事实、信念、愿望和情绪间关系的认知

76名3至5岁儿童接受了区分事实和信念、根据信念推测他人愿望、根据愿望推测他人情绪等实验任务,通过考查学前儿童对事实、信念、愿望和情绪间关系的认知,探察学前儿童心理理论发展的特点。结果显示3岁儿童在区分信念和事实时,出现错报事实或错报信念两种错误,而不单纯是现实主义偏向错误;在推测他人愿望时,部分3岁和4岁儿童虽然能够正确报告他人的信念却不能正确推测他人愿望,愿望认知发展有其复杂性的一面。学前儿童主要依据愿望推测他人情绪,儿童对信念和愿望的认知水平制约儿童对他人情绪的理解。     

The Religious, the Paranormal, and Church Attendance: A Response to Orenstein

Orenstein's (2002) JSSR article "Religion and Paranormal Belief" uses Reginald Bibby's 1995 Project Canada data to argue that religious and paranormal belief are positively correlated, but that church attendance and paranormal belief are negatively correlated. In this response, I use the same data to show that while his basic model is true, we also need to consider the interaction between church attendance and religious belief. Religious attendance conditions the effect of religious beliefs on paranormal beliefs in an important fashion. I find that religious and paranormal belief are positively correlated, but only for those who do not attend church regularly.     

Paranormal Experience in a Medico-Swimming Rescue: A Case Study

This study looks at the case of a 20-year-old fisherman, who was speared in the head, the spear entering at his jaw and protruding from the top of his scull, while he was swimming unaccompanied; he was rescued, admitted to the intensive care unit for an operation, remained in a coma for a few days and then had a full recovery. About 10 days before the rescue, he had visited a monk who, intuited and functioning as channel of the divine spirit, had told him that he ‘should not be afraid of anything’, rubbing the top of his scull and his jaw exactly at the points through which the 40-inch spear passed. After the incident, the monk prescience again the exact day on which he would recover from the coma. It is concluded that the survival of the fisherman can be attributed to a paranormal event. The monk’s prescience permit the assumption that a divine spirit was pervasive throughout the universe and present in this life-threatening situation, endeavouring to assist the lifeguard, the neurosurgeons and the young fisherman.     

The Review Paradox: On The Diachronic Costs of Not Closing Rational Belief Under Conjunction

We argue that giving up on the closure of rational belief under conjunction comes with a substantial price. Either rational belief is closed under conjunction, or else the epistemology of belief has a serious diachronic deficit over and above the synchronic failures of conjunctive closure. The argument for this, which can be viewed as a sequel to the preface paradox, is called the ‘review paradox'; it is presented in four distinct, but closely related versions.     

初中生学业错误的实然观与应然观关系研究

运用《初中生学业错误实然观问卷》和《初中生学业错误应然观问卷》调查了453名初中生的学业错误观,结果表明：（1）初中生学业错误的实然观与应然观均表现出显著的年级特征和性别差异;（2）初中生学业错误的应然观对实然观具有显著正向预测效用。