Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun 30;6(6):e04259.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04259. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Paranormal beliefs and individual differences: story seeking without reasoned review

Tilmann Betsch  1 , Leonie Aßmann  1 , Andreas Glöckner  2   3
Affiliations

Paranormal beliefs and individual differences: story seeking without reasoned review

Tilmann Betsch et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

In a sample of 599 participants (60% female, 18-81 years), we tested the hypotheses that cognitive ability and the big-six personality traits suffice to explain the individual-difference component of paranormal beliefs (belief in magic, astrology, esoterism, supernatural beings, and spirituality). Additionally, we measured 14 other potential predictors that were found to correlate with paranormal beliefs in prior research (e.g., ontological confusion). Although cognitive ability and the big-six explained 10% of the variance in individual belief, ontological confusion and causality understanding also were significant predictors in regression analyses. The resulting model, explaining 19 % of variance, consists of ontological confusion, cognitive ability (negative correlation), openness to new experiences, emotionality, conscientiousness (neg. corr.) and causality understanding (neg. corr.). We discuss the findings with reference to two hypothetical factors that drive individuals' acceptance of paranormal beliefs, inclination for story-telling, and tendency to evaluate belief content in terms of reason and conscientious evaluation.

Keywords: Esoterism; Individual Differences; Paranormal beliefs; Personality; Psychology.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Aarnio K., Lindeman M. Paranormal beliefs, education, and thinking styles. Pers. Indiv. Differ. 2005;39:1227–1236.
    1. Ashton M.C., Lee K. Empirical, theoretical, and practical advantages of the Hexaco model of personality structure. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Rev. 2007;11:150–166. - PubMed
    1. Aßmann L. University of Erfurt; Unpublished data: 2017. Generierung eines Messinstruments zur Erfassung von relevanten kognitiven Faktoren im Kontext von irrationalen Überzeugungen.
    1. Budescu D.V. Dominance analysis: a new approach to the problem of relative importance of predictors in multiple regression. Psychol. Bull. 1993;114:542–551.
    1. Betsch T., Jäckel P., Hammes M., Brinkmann B.J. 2020. On the Adaptive Value of Paranormal Beliefs. submitted for publication. - PMC - PubMed
Web References
    1. Chapman University . 2017. Chapman University Survey of American Fears.https://www.chapman.edu/wilkinson/research-centers/babbie-center/survey-... retrieved Jan. 2019.
    1. Klaus J. Süddeutsche Zeitung; 2017. Wer am Geschäft mit dem Seelenheil verdient.http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/esoterik-wer-am-geschaeft-mit-dem-...
    1. Potten M., Memminger C. 2017. Esoterik für alle: Wie Ersatzreligionen an unser Geld kommen.http://www.daserste.de/information/wirtschaft-boerse/plusminus/esoterik-... retrieved Jan. 2019.
    1. Statista . 2019. Durchschnittsalter der Bevölkerung in Deutschland nach Staatsangehörigkeit am 31. Dezember 2018.https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/723069/umfrage/durchschni...

LinkOut - more resources