Some determinants of belief in psychical phenomena

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

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).