Paranormal beliefs, religious beliefs and personality correlates

2.4 PROCEDURE

The questionnaire, which included the three scales measuring paranormal belief, religious belief and personality factors, was distributed to participants using the opportunity method. Participants were informed that their answers would remain anonymous and they could choose not to complete it if they wished. This was stated verbally and in writing.

2.5 ETHICS

Because of the involvement of human participants in the research process, the ethical principles for conducting research, as stated by the BPS (1992), were closely followed. It was made clear to all of the participants, both verbally and in writing that participation was entirely voluntary and that they were free to withdraw consent for their completed questionnaire at any time, and for whatever reason.

3. RESULTS

3.1 INTERNAL CONSISTENCIES

Table 1 shows the internal consistencies (as rated by Cronbach’s Alpha) for all the scales used in the study. These statistics show that all the scales are performing adequately among the sample used. The one notable exception was the Extraordinary Life Forms scale, which had an initial coefficient of .48 before one item was removed (question number 20: ‘There is life on other planets’) resulting in an Alpha of Cronbach of .71. The only other Cronbach Alpha below .70 was Relativism on the PCBS but the score of .69 was only just below and considered acceptable, particularly as the maximum coefficient that could have been obtained, was .71 if one item was removed (question number 28: ‘Secular and religious conceptions of the world give valuable answers to important questions about life’). These results provide further confirmatory evidence regarding the internal consistency and validity of the Big Five personality inventory (for a review of literature see Costa and McRae, 1992) and the PBS-R (Tobayck and Milford, 1983; Tobayck, 1988) and also for the PCBS, which has only been used before in Belgium (Duriez et al., 2000; Duriez, Fontaine and Hutsebaut, 2000; Fontaine et al., 2003).

Table 1. Cronbach Alpha coefficients for all the scales used.

Scale	Cronbach’s Alpha
Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (PBS-R) Global Traditional Religious Beliefs Psi Witchcraft Superstition Spiritualism Extraordinary Life Forms Precognition	.91 .87 .72 .87 .85 .79 .71* .83
Post- Critical Belief Scale (PCBS) Global Orthodoxy External Critique Relativism Second Naiveté	.77 .82 .87 .69 .73
Big Five Personality Factors Neuroticism Extraversion Openness to Experience Agreeableness Conscientiousness	.88 .85 .82 .78 .84

*The original Cronbach Alpha score for this was .48 before one item (Q20) was removed.

3.2 RELIGIOSITY AND PARANORMAL BELIEFS

A simple regression was used to determine whether religious belief was predicted by paranormal belief. A significant relationship was revealed. Simple regression, using the enter method, was performed revealing a significant relationship between the two constructs (F 1, 63 = 10.30, p > 0.05). The adjusted R square = 0.127.

The scatterplot of the relationship between paranormal belief and religiosity suggested a linear relationship between the two variables. It is possible to predict a person’s religiosity from their paranormal beliefs. The equation is Y’ = 99.28 + 0.26X, where X is an individual’s paranormal belief score and Y’ is the best prediction of their religiosity score.
Figure 3. Graph showing the relationship between (global) religious belief scores and (global) paranormal belief scores

Multiple regression, using the enter method⁵, was performed to find out which one -if any- of the paranormal subscales predicts religiosity. No significant model emerged for the predictor variables (F 7, 57 = 1.79, p > 0.05). The adjusted R square = 0.079. Significant variables are shown below:

Predictor Variable: Beta P

Precognition 0.471 p = 0.030

(Traditional Religious Belief, Psi, Witchcraft, Superstition, Spiritualism and Extraordinary Life Forms were not found to significantly predict religiosity).
Another multiple regression analysis was performed, again using the enter method, this time to find out which one -if any- of the religiosity subscales predicts belief in the paranormal. No significant model emerged for the predictor variables (F 4, 60 = 5.327, p > 0.05). The adjusted R square = 0.213. Significant variables are shown below:
Predictor Variable: Beta P

Orthodoxy 0.273 p = 0.028

Second Naiveté 0.330 p = 0.024

(External Critique and Relativism were not found to significantly predict religiosity).

3.3 PARANORMAL BELIEFS AND PERSONALITY FACTORS

Using the enter method, no significant model emerged for the predictor variables (F 5, 59 = 1.75, p > 0.05). The Adjusted R square = 0.056. Significant variables are shown below:

Predictor Variable: Beta P

Conscientiousness -0.331 p = 0.018

(Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness and Agreeableness were not found to significantly predict paranormal belief).
That Conscientiousness was found to be the only significant predictor of paranormal beliefs, which was in contrast to previous research revealing a connection between Extraversion and higher belief scores (Thalbourne, 1981; Thalbourne, 1980; Eysenck, 1967) as well as Neuroticism (Thalbourne, Dunbar and Delin, 1995).

Figure 4. Chart showing the relationship between (global) paranormal beliefs scores and personality factors


Figure 5. Graph showing the relationship between (global) paranormal belief scores and the personality factor Conscientiousness

3.4 PARANORMAL BELIEFS AND GENDER

A series of independent t-tests were used to determine whether gender differences were present on the paranormal belief scale. Comparisons were conducted on the overall paranormal belief scale total and each of the seven subscales (Traditional Religious Beliefs, Psi, Witchcraft, Superstition, Spiritualism, Extraordinary Life Forms and Precognition).
Table 2. Gender scores (mean and standard deviation) for global paranormal belief and the seven subscales

	Gender
Paranormal measure	Male (n=20)	Female (n=45)	Overall
Global Paranormal Belief	85.25 (30.30)	86.27 (23.78)	85.95 (25.72)
Traditional Religious Beliefs	14.40 (7.71)	16.49 (6.33)	15.85 (6.79)
Psi	14.45 (6.20)	14.49 (4.65)	14.48 (5.13)
Witchcraft	12.55 (7.13)	14.22 (6.29)	13.71 (6.55)
Superstition	6.60 (5.43)	6.93 (3.91)	6.83 (4.33)
Spiritualism	13.80 (6.65)	13.84 (5.69)	13.83 (5.95)
Extraordinary Life Forms	5.30 (2.89)	4.53 (2.53)	4.77 (2.64)
Precognition	13.10 (6.09)	12.73 (5.34)	12.85 (5.54)

Standard deviation scores are given in brackets
No gender differences were found between males and females on measures of paranormal belief:
Paranormal Belief (Global), t(63) = -0.146, p > 0.05; Traditional Religious Beliefs, t(63) = -1.147, p > 0.05; Psi, t(63) = -0.028, p > 0.05; Witchcraft, t(63) = -0.949, p > 0.05; Superstition, t(63) = -0.284, p > 0.05; Spiritualism, t(63) = -0.028, p > 0.05; Extraordinary Life Forms, t(63) = 1.080, p > 0.05 and Precognition, t(63) = 0.245, p > 0.05.
Similar to the above, the obtained results, indicating no significant differences between male and female paranormal belief scores, was in contrast to previous research, reporting a higher score on global paranormal belief by women (Clarke, 1991; Rice, 2003; Tobayck and Milford, 1983), while men were shown to express stronger beliefs in the existence of UFO’s and extraterrestrials (Clarke, 1991; Rice, 2003).