Some determinants of belief in psychical phenomena
ABSTRACT: A number of variables were tested for possible relationships with belief in psychical phenomena in three samples of college students (N = 75, 180, 195) and a representative sample of adults (N = 568) in Iceland. None of the obtained correlations were high, but a significant correlation was...
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Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
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1981
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Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.608.263 http://www.aiprinc.org/para-ac05_Haraldsson_1981.pdf |
Summary: | ABSTRACT: A number of variables were tested for possible relationships with belief in psychical phenomena in three samples of college students (N = 75, 180, 195) and a representative sample of adults (N = 568) in Iceland. None of the obtained correlations were high, but a significant correlation was found with belief in life after death, and significant correlations with all the religious items included across the four studies. Interpreting one’s dreams was also a significant correlate. Dream recall and sex showed a significant relationship in two samples out of three in which these variables were included. Not related to belief in psychical phenom-ena were educational level and age, political orientation, and results on Rotter’s Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and the Defense Mechanism Test. Some tentative interpretations are offered of the major finding of these studies: that there is a moderate but apparently stable association between belief in psy-chical phenomena and belief in religion (in a broad, non-sectarian sense). |
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