Paranormal beliefs: their dimensionality and correlates

TLDR

Research on paranormal beliefs suffers from conceptual ambiguity and limited multivariate studies, prompting a need to clarify the definition of these beliefs as involving phenomena across physical, biological, or psychological domains. The study aimed to integrate diverse paranormal beliefs and examine their potential correlates, testing whether they form independent subsets and evaluating a structural model. The authors analyzed data from 3,261 participants, applying structural equation modeling to assess the dimensionality of paranormal beliefs and their associations with cognitive and worldview variables. Results revealed a single higher‑order paranormal belief factor, with four weak lower‑order factors, and showed that magico‑religious beliefs were most strongly linked to high intuitive thinking, a humanistic worldview, and low analytical thinking. © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Lack of conceptual clarity and multivariate empirical studies has troubled research on superstitious, magical and paranormal beliefs. We defined paranormal beliefs as beliefs in physical, biological or psychological phenomena that feature core ontological properties of another ontological category. The aim was to bring together a range of beliefs and their potential correlates, to analyse whether the beliefs form independent subsets, and to test a structural model of the beliefs and their potential correlates. The results (N = 3261) showed that the beliefs could be best described by one higher‐order factor. There were also four lower‐order factors of paranormal beliefs but their explanatory power was low. Magico‐religious beliefs were best explained by high intuitive thinking, a humanistic world view and low analytical thinking. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.