Campus Location
Abilene Campus (Residential)
Date of Award
5-2024
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3714-9904
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Psychology
Degree Name
Master of Science
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Richard Beck
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Cherisse Flanagan
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
David McAnulty
Abstract
There are many inconsistent findings on the relationship between paranormal beliefs and The Big Five. This study aims to clarify the correlations by assessing extrinsic optimism, trust in people, and fantasy proneness. Extrinsic optimism is associated with neuroticism and extraversion. Trust is associated with agreeableness. Lastly, fantasy proneness is associated with openness to experience. It was predicted that paranormal beliefs would be positively correlated with extrinsic optimism, trust in people, and fantasy proneness. It was also predicted that paranormal beliefs would be positively correlated with extraversion, agreeableness, and openness. Correlational and regression analyses were run to test these predictions. Results generally supported these hypotheses except for trust and agreeableness. There was a negative correlation observed between paranormal beliefs with trust and agreeableness. This could be due to individuals’ desire to conform and belong. Paranormal beliefs are considered to be minority viewpoints and highly agreeable and trusting people gravitate more towards more mainstream cultural opinion. Further research could explore the utility of looking at other sub-traits to better explain personality for assessment purposes. Paranormal beliefs have been associated with mental illnesses in previous literature and is also important to research for mental health reasons.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Harvey, Caitlyn Ariel Irene, "Paranormal Beliefs and The Big Five: Extrinsic Optimism, Trust in People, and Fantasy Proneness" (2024). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 757.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/757