PARANORMAL BELIEF AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS AND ELDERLY PERSONS:

A COMPARATIVE STUDY

DISSERTATION

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the

requirements for the degree of

B.A (APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY)

Submitted by

ARNA BISWAS

ENROLMENT NUMBER- A91306919130

Batch: 2019-2022

Under the supervision of

Ms Amrita Choudhary

Ms Arkita Pal

AMITY INSTITUTE OF PSYCHOLOGY AND ALLIED SCIENCES

AMITY UNIVERSITY, KOLKATA

INTRODUCTION

In India, paranormal belief is widespread and is linked to evil spirits, witchcraft, astrological

influences, bad luck, and punishment for sin (Ali A, Deuri SP, Jahan M, 2013; Kishore J, Gupta

A, Jiloha RC, Bantman P, 2011)

In psychological research, paranormal beliefs have been studied for many years in order to

investigate spirituality (Tobacyk, 2004). The term "paranormal" was coined in the early

twentieth century to describe experiences that fall outside of "the range of normal experience or

scientific explanations." Paranormal phenomena are those that, if true, would violate basic

scientific principles (Irwin, 2009). It is currently believed that paranormal belief contradicts

accepted scientific theories. Paranormal occurrences have also been defined as contradicting

"our naive world theories" (Woolley, 1997) or "basic limiting principles that are widely accepted

either as self-evident or as established by overwhelming and uniformly favourable empirical

evidence” (Broad, 1953).

In a study by Mathews (2010) Openness to Experience (OE) and Sensation Seeking (SS)

combine significantly in the prediction of paranormal beliefs. Beliefs on the six facets of OE

were regressed, with Fantasy being the best predictor, followed by Feelings, Values, Actions,

Aesthetics, and Ideas. Boredom Susceptibility was the best predictor of beliefs on the four

subscales of the SS measure, followed by Experience Seeking, Disinhibition Seeking, and Thrill

and Adventure Seeking.

Another study looked at the personality correlates of these variables in a group of college

students, 61% of whom reported having had a precognitive experience. Extraversion and

intuition were linked to precognitive experience but not paranormal belief; dissociative

tendencies were linked to paranormal belief but not precognitive experience (Rattet & Bursik,

2001)

Emmons and Sobal in 1981 found that younger adults had stronger paranormal beliefs than

elderly adults, and Irwin in 1994 found that sex correlates of paranormal beliefs were stronger in

women than in men.

However, few attempts have been made in India to investigate paranormal beliefs. As a result,

the study's goal is to determine whether there is a positive relationship between age and

paranormal belief among elderly people and college students.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The validation procedure for J. Tobacyk's Paranormal Belief Scale is described in D.S.

Grigoriev's article. Traditional religious belief, psi-related belief, witchcraft, spiritualism,

superstition, unusual life forms, and precognition are the subscales (belief types) defined by J.

Tobacyk (Grigoriev, 2015). In the current study, the concepts "superstition" and "paranormal

beliefs" are considered close categories.

Emmons and Sobal in 1981 found that younger adults had stronger paranormal beliefs than

elderly adults, and Irwin in 1994 found that sex correlates of paranormal beliefs were stronger in

women than in men.

People with high intuitive thinking dispositions have higher paranormal belief (positive

correlation), whereas people with high analytical thinking dispositions have lower paranormal

belief (negative correlation), according to Epstein, Pacini, Denes-Raj, and Heier (1996).

(negative correlation). It should be noted that the positive correlation was observed to be

significantly stronger than the negative correlation.

Many authors have made the connection between religion and paranormal beliefs. Beck, R., and

J.P. Miller (2001) discovered that religiosity predicted differences in supernatural versus

paranormal beliefs, but that negative affect dampened these beliefs. More frequent prayer is

associated with a higher likelihood of reporting telepathy, and greater financial dissatisfaction is

associated with a higher likelihood of reporting clairvoyance, according to W.L. MacDonald

(1995). Based on his research findings, A. Orenstein (2002) contends that paranormal beliefs are

profoundly religious in nature.

Vituh and Luper (1998) conducted a study in undergraduate students using data from elderly

people obtained using the same modified paranormal beliefs survey used by Crawford and

Christensen (1995). Interactions between the variables could be measured because data from

both populations were partitioned for sex as an ex post facto variable.

Levin's age difference analysis (1993) [from the 1988 General Social Survey, a diverse sample of

1,481 subjects] In mystical experiences such as deja vu, clairvoyance, ESP experiences,

spiritualism, and numinous experience, there had been a general increase in composite mysticism

scores among the younger ages over successive years, but Levin (1993) cautioned against any

regard interpretation regarding age due to - possible confounding from cohorts.

"Mystical experience is more common in females and unmarried respondents; and no exogenous

variables exert significant effects in the 61 and over age group," according to a study of older

adults (41-60 years old) (Levin, 1993).

Greeley (cited by Emmons and Sobal, 1981) investigated the relationship between age and sex in

the context of psychic experiences, discovering an inverse relationship for men but a slightly

positive association for women.

Wuthnow (1976) applied the marginality hypothesis in the context of "social deprivation." In

other words, belief in the paranormal, such as astrology (or religion), provides "compensatory

rewards" to people who are otherwise socially disadvantaged or marginalised.

Saban Karayagiz and Timucin Aktan's (2019) research found a link between paranormal beliefs

and female attachment attitudes. The findings revealed that the relationship between paranormal

beliefs and adult attachment is similar to the relationship between parental bonding and adult

attachment.

A number of studies have attempted to quantify the relationships between ESP, life after death,

psychokmesis, and other paranormal phenomena on the one hand, and religious beliefs, ESP task

success, and mind-body dualism on the other (e.g, Stanovich, 1989; Brugger, Regard, & Landis,

1991; Duncan, Donnelly, & Nicholson, 1992; Haraldsson, 1993).

Therefore, the present study was conducted to see if there exists a positive relationship between

age and paranormal belief.

OBJECTIVE

 To assess the relationship between paranormal belief and age

HYPOTHESIS

 There exists a positive relationship between age and paranormal belie

METHODOLOGY

Sample size

The study was conducted from two groups, college students and elderly persons. Each group had

50 participants. The age ranged for college students (20-25) and for elderly person (40-65). The

tool used was Revised Paranormal Beliefs Scale (R-PBS) by (Tobacyk, 2004) to measure the

paranormal belief of an individual. The sampling technique for the study is Clustered

sampling.

Tools Used

At first, socio-demographic information was gathered and consent was obtained from each

participant when questionnaire was given. The tool used was Revised Paranormal Beliefs Scale

(R-PBS) by (Tobacyk, 2004) to measure the paranormal belief of an individual. The

revised version of this scale has higher reliability and validity than its predecessor, along

with increased cross-cultural validity. The scale has 26 statements with a 7-point rating scale

(1=strongly agree and 7=strongly disagree). The scale assesses the 7 aspects of paranormal

belief: traditional religious belief, psi, witchcraft, superstition, spiritualism, unusual life forms,

and precognition.
Statistical Analysis

To test for correlation between age and paranormal belief, Pearson correlation was calculated .

To test for significant difference between age and paranormal belief, mean was calculated and t-

test was conducted. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 13.0 was used

for the analysis of the data of this study.

Procedure

The investigator contacted to all

the participants
Sample drawn for the study was 50 college students and 50 elderly persons. The questionnaire

was distributed, the data was collected individually, and consent was obtained. They have been

informed about the purpose of the study. Further, socio-demographic information was gathered,

and consent was obtained for each participant. The tool used for the study was Revised

Paranormal Belief Scale was administered in both groups. Post data collection was done, the

questionnaire was scored accurately with the help of the norms from the R-PBS manual and the

data was analyzed through SPSS.

RESULTS

Dimensions of Revised College Elderly df t

Paranormal Belief Scale students persons
N = 50 N = 50
Mean SD Mean SD

Traditional Religious belief 19.98 5.777 18.44 5.887 98 1.320

Psi 14.60 4.290 15.40 5.050 98 -.854

Witchcraft 14.82 6.336 12.42 7.059 98 1.789

Superstition 6.50 3.866 6.24 4.749 98 .300

Spiritualism 16.10 5.334 13.92 6.598 98 1.817

Extraordinary life forms 12.00 2.213 10.90 2.261 98 2.458

Precognition 14.44 5.230 14.72 6.648 98 -.234

Table 1: Group difference in seven dimensions of Revised Paranormal Belief Scale

Table 2: Correlations in seven dimension of Revised Paranormal Belief Scale

Traditional Psi Witchcraft Spiritualism Superstition Extraordinary Precognition

Religious Life forms
belief

Pearson
1 .334** .571** .554** .326** .076 .311**
Traditional Correlation
Religious
Sig. (2-tailed) .001 .000 .000 .001 .450 .002
Belief
N 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Pearson
.334** 1 .362** .348** .226* .081 .401**
Correlation
Psi
Sig. (2-tailed) .001 .000 .000 .024 .423 .000

N 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Pearson
.571** .362** 1 .686** .427** .216* .469**
Correlation
Witchcraft
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .031 .000

N 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Pearson
.554** .348** .686** 1 .361** .267** .488**
Spiritualism Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .007 .000

 N 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Pearson
.326** .226* .427** .361** 1 .036 .386**
Correlation
Superstition
Sig. (2-tailed) .001 .024 .000 .000 .721 .000

N 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Pearson
.076 .081 .216* .267** .036 1 .118
Correlation
Extraordinar
y life Sig. (2-tailed) .450 .423 .031 .007 .721 .241

N 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Pearson
.311** .401** .469** .488** .386** .118 1
Correlation
precognition
Sig. (2-tailed) .002 .000 .000 .000 .000 .241

N 100 100 100 100 100 100 100