It is not so easy to determine the psychological type of people who believe in the supernatural - many different people believe in the paranormal. However, there are characteristic features that can be found in each of them.
Psychological studies of people who believe in the paranormal have shown that age, educational level and political views are absolutely irrelevant. However, psychologist Erlendur Haraldsson found that believers are more likely to support private enterprise, while “non-believers” prefer government or cooperative enterprises.
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People who are looking for the meaning of life, and also see a predetermined connection of events, not considering them random, are more inclined to believe in the unusual. The pursuit of spirituality can also lead to belief in the paranormal. It is also known that women are more likely to believe in supernatural phenomena than men.
Haraldsson conducted several studies in this area in the 1980s and early 2000s. Later, his findings were confirmed by other psychologists who conducted similar experiments.
A 1980 study by Haraldsson to test for a link between personality traits and belief in the paranormal showed that the two were unrelated.
He used the terms "sheep" and "goats", which he said are very common in parapsychology to describe believers and non-believers. “The variability in the ratio of the number of sheep and goats is explained by 7% of the differences in the definition of personality criteria.
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This was one of the reasons why the preliminary results of the study of the number of "sheep" and "goats" were unsuccessful. Personality is not an accurate indicator of whether a person is a “sheep” or a “goat,” explained Haraldsson.
"Sheep" is a term used in parapsychology to describe people who believe in the supernatural.
"Goat" is a term used by parapsychologists to describe those people who do not believe in the paranormal.
In 1981, he paid particular attention to the political and religious views of the people. Around 25% of 900 people between the ages of 30 and 70, selected at random from the Icelandic national register, reported having a living religious or spiritual experience.
This figure was the same as in the United States and Great Britain, Harldsson noted. These people showed the highest propensity to believe in supernatural phenomena.
He found some positive connection with reading the Bible, but more with the study of Eastern religions. “This could mean that belief in the paranormal is more related to free or general religious interests than to Orthodox or sectarian Christian teachings,” Harldsson writes.
For many, the main feature was a belief in life after death. He also found a positive relationship with the frequency of dream memories and their interpretation.
Harldsson conducted this study several times among students at the University of Iceland with minor adjustments, but each time the results were similar.
Regarding believers' penchant for interpreting dreams, Harldsson suggested that the search for meaning in life is more broadly related to people's belief in the supernatural:
“It is interesting that some sociologists in the field of religion … define it as a personal search for the meaning of life and as an attempt to create reality in the universe or build a system of meanings,” he wrote. - Labeling experiences with the "psychic" label often depends on the individual's assessment of events that are predetermined, not just random.
Based on the above, the question arises: are changes in people's tendency to consider causal relationships as accidental or life as a whole a common source of small but significant relationships between religion (in the broadest sense) and belief in the paranormal?"
In 2011, Dr. Bruce Grayson of the University of Virginia stated that people who believe in supernatural phenomena have a great tendency to seek meaning in life.
In Significant Coincidences and Near-Death Experiences, published in Psychiatric Annals, Grayson writes: “Perceiving coincidences and finding their meaning is associated with beliefs and experiences of the paranormal, belief in intuitive ways of thinking, spiritual interest, and experiential rather than rational processing style. information.
However, he noted that it is not yet clear - believers are looking for the meaning of life, or is the search for this very meaning inspiring their faith?
In 2003, Harldsson conducted an experiment involving children from Lebanon who constantly spoke of past life memories. He compared them to a group of children who never remembered or mentioned their previous lives.
In the course of research, the doctor found that children with past life memories "are more prone to excessive daydreaming and dissociation (ie splitting of consciousness), they often lack attention from adults." But social isolation and suggestibility are not peculiar to them.
Meanwhile, the level of dissociation in such children is significantly lower than in cases with real patients suffering from multiple personality syndrome, and clinically this level cannot be considered alarming.
Children talking about their past lives turned out to be more dreamy than their peers. However, nothing indicated their great tendency to invent details of imaginary events and phenomena. The researcher also found no evidence that these children are easier to suggestion.
Meanwhile, in one of Harldsson's studies in Sri Lanka, it was found that children who remember past lives score higher on intelligence tests, their vocabulary is noticeably larger, and in general they study better than their peers. …