Final thoughts on issues in the measurement of paranormal beliefs

ISSUES CONCERNING THE DEFINITION OF "PARANORMALITY" As indicated earlier (Tobacyk, 1995), the formulation of a definition of paranormality is a critical first step in the construction of a paranormal belief assessment instrument. This is because the definition of para-normality determines the content of the item pool and, therefore, determines the nature of the ostensible paranormal phenomena included in the assessment instrument. Lawrence (1995b, p. 132) proposes a limited domain definition of paranormality: "Something is paranormal if it is 'in principle physically impossible and outside the range of human capabilities as presently conceived by conventional scientists'. " Although Lawrence's definition is consistent with the focus of much current parapsychological theory and research, I believe that a definition of paranormality that includes only those ostensible phenomena whose locus is the human person may be overly restrictive. Human persons attribute paranormality variously to impersonal forces (e.g., as in superstitious and magical belief), to objects (as in fetish, holy, magical, mana, or numinous objects), to extrahuman conscious entities (as in gods, devils, angels, spirits, or souls, within the framework, for example, of traditional religious beliefs and spiritualism), and to the self and to other persons (as in clairvoyance, precognition, psychokinesis, and telepathy). As a matter of comprehensiveness, I recommend including all five levels of human attribution of paranormality - impersonal forces, objects, extrahuman conscious entities, self, and other persons - in a definition of paranormality. I prefer this more inclusive definition not only because of its greater comprehensiveness but because ultimately it is human consciousness that makes the attribution of paranormality to some target, regardless of whether the target of that attribution is external or internal, personal or impersonal. I do not see a compelling reason to limit the study of paranormal beliefs to only those ostensible phenomena whose loci are persons. In the case of both religious and superstitious beliefs - both of which, as indicated by Lawrence (1995b), include ritualized institutional components - it is important to note that religious and superstitious beliefs often originate in an individual's ostensibly paranormal personal experience, which the person attributes to an absolute (e.g., to a god or to an impersonal magical force). It is clear that the ideological, ritualistic, and experiential content of virtually all traditional religions do include paranormal beliefs and experiences, with some denominations emphasizing individual paranormal experiences (e.g., mystical experiences, conversion experiences, glossolalia) more than others. Thus, the content of many traditional religious and superstitious beliefs is clearly paranormal. Functionally, religious and superstitious beliefs provide individuals and groups with meaning in life, with resources for adjustment, and with perceived control over life events, as do other paranormal beliefs. Structurally, the content of many traditional religious and superstitious beliefs is based on ostensibly paranormal processes (e.g., resurrections, miracles, transformed magic). In summary, there are strong arguments for including both religious and superstitious beliefs within the domain of paranormal beliefs. ISSUES CONCERNING THE ADEQUACY OF THE PBS FACTOR ANALYSIS Some of our disagreements concerning the PBS factor analysis are due to the fact that there are no exact quantitative criteria governing many of the decisions in exploratory factor analysis. Therefore, many factor analytic decisions involve judgments by the researcher. I certainly agree that it might be beneficial for future research to compare the efficacy of both orthogonally derived and obliquely derived paranormal belief dimensions. The oblique dimensions possess greater fidelity to human experience, whereas orthogonal dimensions provide advantages in statistical analyses. …