1997; Lawrence & De Cicco, 1997), a consensus on scales not
being orthogonal has been reached (Lawrence et al., 1997;
Tobacyk & Thomas, 1997).
As hypothesized, our analysis yielded an interpretable
seven factor oblique structure accounting for 69.7% of the
variance, which is in accordance with previous assertions (To-
bacyk & Milford, 1983).
1
Furthermore, most of the items loa-
ded on their intended factors with the exception of items that
have been problematic in the past studies. More specifically,
item 23 from the Psi subscale, being the only item in negative
form, which was not correlated with the rest of the scale in a
Spanish sample (Díaz-Vilela & Álvarez-González, 2004); items
26 and 21 are both part of the Precognition subscale exten-
sively criticized by Lawrence (1995a) for being composed of
two different factors (Tobacyk et al., 1989) mainly precogni-
tive systems (i.e. astrology) and gifted persons (i.e. clairvo-
yants); and item 20 (There is life on other planets) from the
Extraordinary life forms subscale that was argued not to rep-
resent paranormal belief but a scientific probability (Law-
rence, 1995a). However, the seven factor structure did not
prove to be the most suitable factor solution for our data due
to both the Scree test (Cattell, 1966) and Horn's (1965) Parallel
analysis criteria. We noted a clear discontinuity in the sizes of
the eigenvalues between the third and the fourth factor (Fi-
gure 1), indicating that the three factor structure should be
extracted. This was also confirmed by subsequent parallel ana-
lysis that showed all eigenvalues after the third could have
been produced by chance. We therefore proceeded with the
extraction of the three factors using the principal axis factor
analysis with oblique rotation.
This factor analysis (Table 1) yielded an interpretable three
factor structure explaining 52.47% of the total variance. Upon
examination of the item structure, the three factors were named
General paranormal belief (GPB), Traditional religious belief
(TRB), and Rituals and practices (RAP).
DRU[. ISTRA@. ZAGREB
GOD. 21 (2012),
BR. 1 (115),
STR. 181-201
MIKLOUŠIĆ, I., MLAČIĆ,
B., MILAS, G.:
PARANORMAL BELIEFS...
FIGURE 1
Plot of the eigenvalues
on the whole sample
using Principal Axis
Factoring
1
Due to space
limitations, the seven-
-factor structure of
paranormal beliefs
was omitted from the
text. Interested
researchers can obtain
detailed results on the
psychometric
properties of the RPBS
from the first author
upon request.
General Traditional
Rituals
paranormal
religious
and
Items
belief
belief practices
16. A person's thoughts can influence the
movement of a physical object.
0.90
9. Psychokinesis, the movement of objects through
psychic powers, does exist.
0.88
2. Some individuals are able to levitate (lift) objects
through mental forces.
0.85
5. Your mind or soul can leave your body and travel
(astral projection).
0.79
12. During altered states, such as sleep or trances,
the spirit can leave the body.
0.67
26. Some people have an unexplained ability
to predict the future.
0.61
21. Some psychics can accurately predict the future.
0.58
0.35
25. It is possible to communicate with the dead.
0.58
3. Black magic really exists.
0.53
0.32
19. Reincarnation does occur.
0.51
17. Through the use of formulas and incantations,
it is possible to cast spells on persons.
0.46
20. There is life on other planets.
0.34
6. The abominable snowman of Tibet exists.
0.32
23. Mind reading is not possible.
0.31
22. There is a heaven and a hell.
0.88
8. There is a devil.
0.81
15. I believe in God.
0.69
1. The soul continues to exist though the body may die.
0.65
11. If you break a mirror, you will have bad luck.
0.68
18. The number "13" is unlucky.
0.67
4. Black cats can bring bad luck.
0.56
14. The horoscope accurately tells a person's future.
0.55
24. There are actual cases of witchcraft.
0.53
10. Witches do exist.
0.52
13. The Loch Ness monster of Scotland exists.
0.48
7. Astrology is a way to accurately predict the future.
0.47
For clarity, only loadings ≥ 0.30 are indicated in the table
In this solution, the first factor consists mostly of items
from Psi and Spiritualism subscales, with Precognition, Witch-
craft and Extraordinary life forms items partially included. The
second factor contains only the items from Tobacyk's (1988)
Traditional religious beliefs scale, whilst the third factor con-
tains items from Superstition subscale and the rest of the items
from the Precognition, Witchcraft and Extraordinary life forms
subscales. The first and the third factor were most strongly
correlated (0.42, p< 0.001). The correlation between the first
and the second factor were smaller but still significant (0.16,
p< 0.001), whilst the second and the third factor are not sig-
189
TABLE 1
Three Factor Oblique-
-Rotated Loadings of
the Revised Para-
normal Belief Scale
(Tobacyk, 1988)