Return to: Spirituality and Paranormal Phenomena PERSONALITY AND MOTIVATIONS TO BELIEVE, MISBELIEVE, AND DISBELIEVE IN PARANORMAL PHENOMENA

Paranormal beliefs and experiences are associated with certain personality factors, including absorption, fantasy proneness, and the Myers-Briggs intuition and feeling personality dimensions. Skepticism appears to be associated with materialistic, rational, pragmatic personality types. Attitude toward psi may also be influenced by motivations to have control and efficacy, to have a sense of meaning and purpose in life, to be connected with others, to have transcendent experiences, to have self-worth, to feel superior to others, and to be healed. The efforts to obtain reliable control of psi in experimental parapsychology have not been successful. Given the lack of control and lack of practical application of psi, it is not surprising that those who are by disposition materialistic and pragmatic find the evidence for psi to be unconvincing. When psi experiences have been examined without a bias for control, the primary effect has been found to be enhanced meaning in life and spirituality, similar to mystical experiences. Tensions among those with mystical, authoritarian, and scientific dispositions have been common in the history of paranormal and religious beliefs. Scientific research can do much to create better understanding among people with different dispositions. Understanding the motivations related to paranormal beliefs is a prerequisite for addressing questions about when and if psi actually occurs. 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 264 The Journal of Parapsychology 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.