Personality and motivations to believe, misbelieve, and disbelieve in paranormal phenomena

Journal of Parapsychology, The, Fall, 2005 by J.E. Kennedy

The striking diversity of beliefs about paranormal phenomena is a noteworthy and poorly understood characteristic of humanity. On the extremes, some people are almost violently opposed to the very concept of paranormal phenomena and others are equally adamant that such phenomena are real. Neither side has prevailed and there is no indication that either is getting the upper hand (Mathews, 2004; Musella, 2005). Even those who claim tempered scientific perspectives sometimes appear to be living in different worlds. For example, Schumaker (1990), a skeptic, described belief in paranormal phenomena as one of the strongest human motivations and as resulting from the "terror" of facing reality without irrational illusions. On the other hand, Tart (1984), a proponent of psi, described the fear of psi as a powerful, pervasive, instinctive human motivation that prevents the acceptance and occurrence of psi.

As might be expected, the proposed explanations for paranormal beliefs tend to reflect the attitudes of the person proposing the explanation. In his extensive review, Irwin (1993) noted that "much of the skeptical research on the topic seems to have the implicit objective of demonstrating that believers in the paranormal are grossly deficient in intelligence, personality, education, and social standing" (p. 6). These skeptical efforts have also carefully ignored the obvious fact that the deep hostility of some extreme skeptics indicates an irrational prejudice that needs explanation.

At the same time, proponents have done little to offer alternative models or to explain the prevalence of misbeliefs about psi. Many people apparently misinterpret normal experiences as paranormal. Broughton (1991, p. 10) noted that surveys typically find that over half of the population report having had a psi experience, but closer examination of the cases suggests that only about 10% to 15% of the population have had experiences that appear to be possible psi. This estimate is consistent with early surveys (Rhine, 1934/1973, p. 17) and with later studies (Haight, 1979; Schmiedler, 1964). At least 70% to 80% of the people reporting psychic experiences appear to be misinterpreting the experiences.

The motivations for such extensive misinterpretations need to be explored. In fact, understanding the motivations related to attitude toward psi would seem to be a prerequisite for understanding whether, when, and how psi occurs.

The purpose of this article is to summarize and discuss some of the key personality factors and motivations that appear to be relevant for understanding why people believe, misbelieve, and disbelieve in the paranormal. Of course, innumerable personal, social, and cultural factors may have a role in attitude toward the paranormal. The present discussion is intended as a starting point focusing on selected prominent factors. These factors are diverse, and the possibility of conflicting motivations should be recognized.

BACKGROUND

Terminology and Concepts

Certain distinctions in the terminology and concepts related to paranormal phenomena are useful for this discussion. According to the definitions in the American Heritage Dictionary (3rd Edition), "paranormal" is a broad term that means beyond scientific explanation. The term "psychic" is more narrow and refers to extraordinary mental powers such as ESP. This definition of psychic implies that a person is the causal factor for the phenomena, although it can include communication with the spirit of a deceased person. The term "supernatural" means outside the natural world or attributed to divine power. Supernatural typically implies paranormal phenomena caused by a nonphysical being or power that has motivations and intentions separate from those of living persons. Such beings are often considered as God or gods if the motivations are beneficial for people, or as the devil or demons if the motivations are detrimental or evil. The term "miracle" means an event with a supernatural origin. According to the glossary in the Journal of Parapsychology, the term "psi" refers to ESP and PK, which also implies that the phenomena are produced by the mind of a person. Also in that glossary, the term "parapsychology" primarily refers to the study of ESP and PK. Supernatural interpretations tend to be excluded from parapsychological writings and are often assumed to be misinterpretations of psi phenomena produced by living persons. The extent to which psychic and supernatural are different interpretations for the same basic phenomena is an interesting empirical question that remains to be investigated.

The most widely used measures for paranormal beliefs are sheep-goat scales based on psychic phenomena (Palmer, 1971; Thalbourne & Delin, 1993) and the much broader paranormal beliefs scales that also include things like the Loch Ness monster, that black cats bring bad luck, and heaven and hell (Tobacyk & Milford, 1983). The sheep-goat scales were developed by parapsychologists and the broader paranormal belief scales were generally developed by researchers who were more skeptical. The number, validity, and orthogonality of factors in paranormal beliefs have been persistent, unresolved topics of debate (Hartman, 1999; Lange, Irwin, & Houran, 2000; Lawrence, Roe, & Williams, 1997; Tobacyk & Thomas, 1997).