Institute of Psychology, Social and Political Sciences, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
Psychology Department, Goldsmiths University of London, UK.
Psychol Rep. 2021 Dec;124(6):2427-2452. doi: 10.1177/0033294120961068. Epub 2020 Oct 5.
Paranormal beliefs (PBs) are common in adults. There are numerous psychological correlates of PBs and associated theories, yet, we do not know whether such correlates reinforce or result from PBs. To understand causality, we developed an experimental design in which participants experience supposedly paranormal events. Thus, we can test an event's impact on PBs and PB-associated correlates. Here, 419 naïve students saw a performer making contact with a confederate's deceased kin. We tested participants' opinions and feelings about this performance, and whether these predicted how participants explain the performance. We assessed participants' PBs and repetition avoidance (PB related cognitive correlate) before and after the performance. Afterwards, participants rated explanations of the event and described their opinions and feelings (open-ended question). Overall, 65% of participants reported having witnessed a genuine paranormal event. The open-ended question revealed distinct opinion and affect groups, with reactions commonly characterized by doubt and mixed feelings. Importantly, paranormal explanations were more likely when participants reported their feelings than when not reported. Beyond these results, we replicated that 1) higher pre-existing PBs were associated with more psychic explanations (confirmation bias), and 2) PBs and repetition avoidance did not change from before to after the performance. Yet, PBs reminiscent of the actual performance (spiritualism) increased. Results showed that young adults easily endorse PBs and paranormal explanations for events, and that their affective reactions matter. Future studies should use participants' subjective experiences to target PBs in causal designs (e.g., adding control conditions).
超自然信仰（PBs）在成年人中很常见。有许多与 PBs 相关的心理学因素和相关理论，但我们不知道这些因素是增强了 PBs，还是源于 PBs。为了了解因果关系，我们设计了一个实验方案，让参与者体验所谓的超自然事件。这样，我们就可以测试事件对 PBs 和与 PBs 相关的因素的影响。在这里，419 名天真的学生观看了一名表演者与一名同伙的已故亲属接触。我们测试了参与者对这一表演的看法和感受，以及这些看法和感受是否预测了他们对表演的解释。我们在表演前后评估了参与者的 PBs 和重复回避（与 PBs 相关的认知因素）。之后，参与者对事件的解释进行了评价，并描述了他们的看法和感受（开放式问题）。总的来说，65%的参与者报告说看到了一个真正的超自然事件。开放式问题揭示了不同的观点和情感群体，他们的反应通常以怀疑和复杂的情绪为特征。重要的是，当参与者报告自己的感受时，比不报告时更有可能出现超自然的解释。除了这些结果，我们还复制了以下结果：1）更高的预先存在的 PBs 与更多的精神解释（确认偏差）相关，2）从表演前到表演后，PBs 和重复回避都没有改变。然而，与实际表演相似的 PBs 增加了。结果表明，年轻人很容易认可 PBs 和对事件的超自然解释，他们的情感反应很重要。未来的研究应该在因果设计中使用参与者的主观体验来针对 PBs（例如，增加对照条件）。
