From the supernatural to the super-neurotical.
Researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK set out to determine whether paranormal beliefs — be it in religion, witchcraft or new age spirituality — are an indicator of how well people manage stress.
They discovered a link between one group of beliefs and a reduced ability to cope with stressors.
Participants in the study were tasked with filling out a questionnaire called the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale. The scale measures the degree of belief in each of these seven categories: traditional religious belief, psi, witchcraft, superstition, spiritualism, extraordinary life forms and precognition.
These are further broken down into dimensions: The first, “traditional” paranormal belief, includes religious belief and witchcraft. The second, new age philosophy, encompasses things like spiritualism, precognition and extraordinary life forms.
A quarter of adults in the US consider themselves superstitious, and recent trends reveal that younger people are more superstitious than older adults.
Research team lead Kenneth Drinkwater, Ph.D., and his colleagues had 3,084 people complete the questionnaire evaluating different facets of perceived stress.
Their findings, published today in the journal PLOS ONE, revealed that those who scored higher for traditional paranormal belief reported elevated distress levels and reduced ability to manage stress.
However, belief in new age philosophies, including psi, was not linked to increased distress and/or decreased ability to cope.
Earlier research has suggested that, in general, belief in the paranormal is not linked to stress vulnerability. Yet research on superstitious belief, a subset of paranormal belief, has suggested that people rely on superstitions in stressful situations to gain an illusion of control over outcomes.
As an article in the International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences states, “Superstition has its roots in our species’ youth, when our ancestors could not understand the forces and whims of [the] natural world. Our ancestors’ survival was threatened by predation or other natural forces.”
These latest findings are in line with the idea that traditional paranormal beliefs are a response to feelings of anxiety related to an individual’s lack of control over external forces.
The research team notes that this study is exploratory and does not support any causal relationship.
The study authors maintain that more research is needed to fully understand the link between stress and paranormal beliefs, as these beliefs have a direct bearing on behavior and attitudes, including responses to conspiracy theories, alternative medicine and anti-vaccination agendas.
The authors add, “Findings support the notion that traditional paranormal belief is associated with external control, specifically the notion that unknown supernatural forces/powers influence existence. However, additional research is still needed to further explore these fascinating relationships in connection to perceived stress, well-being and coping styles.”
