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...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Erlendur Haraldsson
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1981
Subjects:
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.608.263
http://www.aiprinc.org/para-ac05_Haraldsson_1981.pdf
Description
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).