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Previous survey evidence suggests that situational-enchantment is a mental state conducive for psi-related experiences. In this conceptual replication and exploration, we used a preregistered research design to examine hit rate on a mobile application ('app') test of putative psi that was administered after participant exposure to two competing conditions in counterbalanced order: (a) an 'enchanted' immersive tour in a 'haunted' house museum versus (b) a 'disenchanted' outdoor tent session with a video that allegedly debunked the paranormal. A convenience sample of 31 volunteers recruited via social media completed counter-balanced testing in both conditions and measures of transliminality and paranormal belief, which we converted to high and low (median split) measurements as co-variates of the hit rates on the psi test. Findings showed that high levels of both transliminality and paranormal belief, as well as the 'haunted (enchanted)' versus 'skeptical (disenchanted)' conditions significantly shifted overall hit rates and above-chance performance. In the majority of analyses these effects represented more than a 10% shift in both hit rate and tests against average psi guessing rate. We discuss these results as supporting an interactionist (environment-person) model of certain parapsychological phenomena. Keywords: enchantment, immersive experiences, liminality, paranormal belief, psychic opening La evidencia de encuestas previas sugiere que el embelesamiento situacional es un estado mental que conduce experiencias relacionadas con psi. En esta exploracion y replicacion conceptual utilizamos un protocolo de investigacion previamente registrado para examinar la tasa de aciertos en una prueba de aplicacion movil ('app') de psi putativo, la cual se proporciono a los participantes despues de haber sido expuestos a dos condiciones en competencia en un orden contrabalanceado: (a) un recorrido 'embelesado' e inmersivo en un museo de una casa 'embrujada' contra (b) una sesion 'desembelesada' en una carpa colocada en el exterior, con un video en el que, supuestamente, desenmascaran fenomenos paranormales. Una muestra de 31 voluntarios, reclutados a traves de redes sociales, completo la prueba de contrapeso en ambas condiciones y medidas de transliminalidad y creencia en lo paranormal, mismas que convertimos a mediciones altas y bajas (divididas por el valor de la mediana) como covariables de las tasas de aciertos en la prueba de psi. Nuestros hallazgos revelan que niveles altos de transliminalidad y de creencia en lo paranormal, asf como las condiciones 'embrujada' (embelesada) contra 'esceptica', cambian las tasas de aciertos generales y el desempeno por encima de lo esperado por azar. En la mayorfa de los analisis, estos efectos representaron un cambio mayor al 10% tanto en la tasa de aciertos como en las pruebas contra la tasa promedio de adivinacion vfa psi. Discutimos estos resultados como evidencia a favor de un modelo interaccionista (ambiente-persona) de ciertos fenomenos parapsicologicos. Palabras clave: embelesamiento, experiencias inmersivas, liminalidad, creencia en lo paranormal, apertura psfquica Des etudes anterieures suggerent que l'enchantement situationnel est un etat mental propice aux experiences psi. Dans cette replication et exploration conceptuelle, nous avons utilise un protocole de recherche preenregistre pour examiner le taux de reussite a un test d'application mobile (<< app >>) de psi putatif qui a ete administre apres l'exposition des participants a deux conditions concurrentes dans un ordre contrebalance : (a) une visite immersive << enchantee >> dans une maison-musee << hantee >> ou (b) une session dans une tente exterieure << desenchantee >> avec une video qui pretend demystifier le paranormal. Un echantillon de commodite de 31 volontaires recrutes via les medias sociaux a effectue des tests contrebalances dans les deux conditions et des mesures de transliminalite et de croyance paranormale, que nous avons converties en mesures elevees et faibles (mediane divisee) en tant que co-variables des taux de reussite au test psi. Les resultats ont montre que des niveaux eleves de transliminalite et de croyance paranormale, ainsi que les conditions << hante (enchante) >> contre << sceptique (desenchante) >> ont modifie de maniere significative les taux de reussite globaux et les performances superieures a la chance. Dans la majorite des analyses, ces effets ont represente un changement de plus de 10 % du taux de reussite et des tests par rapport au taux moyen de devinettes psi. Nous considerons que ces resultats vont dans le sens d'un modele interactionniste (environnement-personne) de certains phenomenes parapsychologiques. Mots-clefs : enchantement, experiences immersives, liminalite, croyance paranormale, ouverture psychique Fruhere Untersuchungen deuten darauf hin, dass situative Verzauberung [enchantment] ein mentaler Zustand ist, der psi-bezogene Erfahrungen begunstigt. In dieser konzeptionellen Replikation und Exploration verwendeten wir ein Forschungsdesign mit Vorregistrierung, um die Trefferquote bei einem Psi-Test mittels einer mobilen Anwendung ('App') zu untersuchen; dabei waren die Teilnehmer zwei konkurrierenden Bedingungen in ausbalancierter Reihenfolge ausgesetzt: (a) einer 'verzauberten' eindringlichen Tour in einem 'Spukhaus'-Museum und (b) einer 'entzauberten' Outdoor-Zeltsitzung mit einem Video, das vorgeblich das Paranormale entlarvt. Eine Zufallsstichprobe von 31 Freiwilligen, die uber soziale Medien rekrutiert wurden, absolvierte die ausbalancierten Tests in beiden Bedingungen; auBerdem maBen wir Transliminalitat und paranormale Glaubensvorstellungen, die wir in hohe und niedrige (Median-Split) Messwerte als Kovariaten der Trefferquoten beim Psi-Test umgewandelten. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass ein hohes MaB an Transliminalitat und paranormalen Glaubensvorstellungen sowie die Bedingungen 'verspukt (verzaubert)' und 'skeptisch (entzaubert)' sowohl die Gesamttrefferquote als auch die uber der Zufallserwartung liegende Leistung erheblich veranderten. In den meisten Analysen stellten diese Effekte eine mehr als 10%ige Verschiebung sowohl der Trefferquote als auch der Tests auf Abweichungen von den durchschnittlichen Psi-Ratewerten dar. Wir diskutieren diese Ergebnisse im Sinne einer Unterstutzung eines interaktionistischen (Umwelt-Personen-) Modells bestimmter parapsychologischer Phanomene. Schlusselbegriffe: Verzauberung, eindringliche Erfahrungen, Transliminalitat, paranormale Glaubensvorstellungen, psychische Offnung, The Psychic Opening Hypothesis contends that psi-related perceptions or abilities often stem from periods of biopsychosocial confusion, tension, or crisis (e.g., Greyson, 1983; Storm & Goretzki, 2020, 2021; Taylor, 2012b; [...]

Using a sample of self-reported 'spontaneous' accounts (ostensibly sincere and unprimed, N = 426), we calibrated a 32-item, Rasch-based 'Survey of Strange Events (SSE)' to quantify the phenomenology of ghostly episodes while assessing response biases related to experients' age and gender. This inventory included psychological experiences typical of haunts, and physical manifestations common to poltergeist-like disturbances. Results supported earlier suggestions that 'spontaneous' accounts have a predictable (cumulative) behavioral pattern and show a unidimensional factor structure. Further, compared to spontaneous accounts, we identified strong response biases on the SSE across four control conditions (i.e., Lifestyle, Primed, Fantasy, and Illicit). Statistical modeling successfully predicted group memberships with good accuracy, corroborating that spontaneous experiences differ systematically in certain ways from 'impostors.' The SSE is a robust measure of overall intensity of ghostly episodes (Rasch reliability = 0.87) and serves as a standard operationalization of specific anomalies in surveys, fieldwork studies, and investigations that code free-response data or spontaneous case material for quantitative analysis. Keywords: ghost, haunt, phenomenology, poltergeist, psychometrics, Rasch scaling En utilisant un echantillon de temoignages << spontanes >> auto-rapportes (apparemment sinceres et sans biais d'amorcage, N = 426), nous avons calibre le << questionnaire des evenements etranges >> (SSE) en 32-items selon la methode de Rasch, afin de quantifier la phenomenologie des episodes fantomatiques tout en evaluant les biais de reponse relatifs a l'age ou au genre des repondants. L'inventaire inclut des experiences psychologiques typiques de la hantise, et des manifestations physiques communes aux perturbations de type poltergeist. Les resultats supportent les precedentes suggestions selon lesquelles les temoignages << spontanes >> montrent un pattern comportemental (cumulatif) predictible, ainsi qu'une structure factorielle unidimensionnelle. De plus, comparativement aux recits spontanes, nous avons identifie de forts biais de reponses sur le SSE sur quatre conditions de controle (a savoir le style de vie, l'amorce, la fantaisie, et l'illicite). La modelisation statistique predit avec succes les appartenances de groupe, corroborant le fait que les experiences spontanees different systematiquement des << imposteurs >> de certaines manieres. Le SSE est un outil de mesure robuste de l'intensite Generale des episodes fantomatiques (fiabilite Rasch = 0.87) et peut servir pour operationnaliser, de facon standardisee, les anomalies specifiques dans les sondages, les etudes de terrain, et les investigations qui codent des donnees en reponse libre ou du materiel issu de cas spontanes a des fins d'analyse quantitative. Zusammenfassung. Anhand einer Stichprobe von selbsterlebten 'spontanen' Berichten (mutmasslich aufrichtig und unbeeinflusst, N = 426) eichten wir einen aus 32 Items bestehenden Rasch-basierten 'Survey of Strange Events (SSE)', um die Phanomenologie geisterhafter Episoden zu quantifizieren und gleichzeitig Antworttendenzen in Bezug auf Alter oder Geschlecht der Berichterstatter einzuschatzen. Die Umfrage umfasste psychologische Erfahrungen, die typisch fur Geistererscheinungen sind, und physikalische Vorfalle, die bei spukahnlichen Vorfallen auftreten. Die Ergebnisse unterstutzten fruhere Vorstellungen, dass 'spontane' Berichte ein vorhersagbares (kumulatives) Verhaltensmuster haben und eine eindimensionale Faktorenstruktur aufweisen. Daruber hinaus identifizierten wir im Vergleich zu Spontanberichten starke Antwortverzerrungen der SSE uber vier Kontrollbedingungen hinweg (Lebensstil, Erwartet, Phantasie und Unerlaubt). Eine statistische Modellierung sagte erfolgreich Gruppenzugehorigkeiten mit guter Genauigkeit voraus, was bestatigt, dass sich spontane Erfahrungen in bestimmter Weise systematisch von 'Betrugern' unterscheiden. Die SSE ist ein robustes Mass fur die Gesamtintensitat geisterhafter Episoden (Rasch-Reliabilitat = 0,87) und dient zur standardmassigen Operationalisi erung spezifischer Anomalien bei Umfragen, Feldstudien und Untersuchungen, die Free-Response-Daten oder spontanes Fallmaterial fur die quantitative Analyse kodieren. Utilizando una muestra de relatos 'espontaneos' autoinformados (aparentemente sinceros y no influenciados, N = 426), calibramos una 'Survey of Strange Eventos (SSE; o Encuesta de Eventos Extranos)' basada en Rasch de 32 items para cuantificar la fenomenologia de los episodios fantasmales al mismo tiempo que evaluamos sesgos de respuesta relacionados con la edad o el genero de los participantes. Este inventario incluyo experiencias psicologicas tipicas de experiencias de casas encantadas y manifestaciones fisicas comunes a perturbaciones semejantes al poltergeist. Los resultados respaldaron sugerencias anteriores de que los relatos 'espontaneas' tienen un patron de comportamiento (acumulativo) predecible y muestran una estructura factorial unidimensional. Ademas, en comparacion con los relatos espontaneos, identificamos fuertes sesgos de respuesta en la ESS en cuatro condiciones de control (Estilo de vida, Influido, Fantasia, e Ilicito). El modelado estadistico predijo la pertenencia a grupos con buena precision, corroborando que las experiencias espontaneas difieren sistematicamente en ciertos aspectos de los 'impostores.' El SSE es una medida robusta de la intensidad general de los episodios fantasmales (fiabilidad Rasch = 0.87) y puede servir como una operacionalizacion estandar de anomalias en encuestas, estudios de trabajo de campo, e investigaciones que codifiquen datos de respuesta libre o material de casos espontaneos para analisis cuantitativos., 'Repeated and intermittent ...displays are typical of haunt and poltergeist episodes. These eventsinvolve measured or inferred physical changes such as object movements, electrical failures, or strange sounds. Reports of psychological [...]

Studies of the mediating factors of imaginary companions (ICs) in children and adults are well-represented in the literature. However, the nature and structure of behavioral expressions in IC characters have been less formally scrutinized. We examined these issues in a convenience sample of 389 adults. Of these, 155 self-reported childhood ICs and retrospectively characterized their IC phenomenology via a set of 14 items modified from previous research. Rasch analyses showed that IC experiences form a true probabilistic hierarchy whose structure varied little across respondents' age, gender, having siblings, as well as the respondents' number of past ICs, or their decision to inform others about their IC. This hierarchy starts with shallow (i.e., ostensibly 'adaptive or positive') experiences and transition to deep (i.e., relatively 'maladaptive or negative') contents at higher levels. Network analysis suggested that respondents invented ICs primarily to combat feelings of loneliness. However, contrary to the Rasch model, when comparing shallow vs deep IC experients' answers, positive and negative perceptual contents lost their distinction, thereby severely distorting measurement. These distortions were sufficiently powerful to reliably predict respondents' group membership. Results derived from retrospective accounts of childhood experiences, which might differ from IC contents and dynamics measured either in real-time or within adult populations. However, these findings suggest that ICs comprise a latent dimension of shallow-to-deep perceptions that might relate to schizotypal or dissociative phenomena manifesting in everyday contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was disappointing that during the JP's period of editorial transition we were neither notified in advance about Solfvin's (2020) original Letter criticizing the development of our 'Survey of Strange [...]

A sample of 36,592 online daters provided data on Commitment Readiness defined as "an individual's desire and readiness to commit exclusively to one romantic partner" in relation to Age, Gender, and Parental Status (singles with and without children). Consistent with previous research, the women scored higher on Commitment Readiness than did the men. Furthermore, Age and Commitment Readiness showed a strong inverted U-shaped relation, with younger and older respondents scoring lower on Commitment Readiness as compared to individuals aged 31-60 years old. Interestingly, Commitment Readiness evidenced neither a significant effect of Parental Status nor an interaction of Gender by Parental Status. Besides the theoretical import of these results, our study illustrates the potential power of Internet research and provides a curious counterexample to criticisms of over-reliance on significance levels for correlational data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selection assessments are common practice to help reduce employee turnover in the service industry, but as too little is known about employees' characteristics, which are valued most highly by human resources professionals, a sample of 108 managers and human resources professionals rated the perceived importance of 31 performance traits for Line, Middle, and Senior employees. Rasch scaling analyses indicated strong consensus among the respondents. Nonsocial skills, abilities, and traits such as Ethical Awareness, Self-motivation, Writing Skills, Verbal Ability, Creativity, and Problem Solving were rated as more important for higher level employees. By contrast, traits which directly affect the interaction with customers and coworkers (Service Orientation, Communication Style, Agreeableness, Sense of Humor, Sensitivity to Diversity, Group Process, and Team Building) were rated as more important for lower level employees. Respondents' age and sex did not substantially alter these findings. Results are discussed in terms of improving industry professionals' perceived ecological and external validities of generic and customized assessments of employee.

We examined the state of "enchantment" as a consumer motivator, especially in the context of social and travel restrictions during COVID-19. An online purposive sample (n = 104) provided narrative data and ratings of past experiences versus future expectations of enchantment. Linguistic cluster analysis revealed five categories of these experiences termed Escapade, Nostalgia, Catharsis, Communion, and Attachment. These categories strongly align to hospitality-tourism offerings, but businesses must help consumers to overcome certain stated barriers (COVID and economic concerns) to future experiences of enchantment. Moreover, people often intend to relive their past experiences of enchantment but will opt for "escapades" when novelty is desired or repeats are unworkable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For those with true near-death experiences (NDEs), Greyson's (1983, 1990) NDE Scale satisfactorily fits the Rasch rating scale model, thus yielding a unidimensional measure with interval-level scaling properties. With increasing intensity, NDEs reflect peace, joy and harmony, followed by insight and mystical or religious experiences, while the most intense NDEs involve an awareness of things occurring in a different place or time. The semantics of this variable are invariant across True-NDErs' gender, current age, age at time of NDE, and latency and intensity of the NDE, thus identifying NDEs as 'core' experiences whose meaning is unaffected by external variables, regardless of variations in NDEs' intensity. Significant qualitative and quantitative differences were observed between True-NDErs and other respondent groups, mostly revolving around the differential emphasis on paranormal/mystical/religious experiences vs. standard reactions to threat. The findings further suggest that False-Positive respondents reinterpret other profound psychological states as NDEs. Accordingly, the Rasch validation of the typology proposed by Greyson (1983) also provides new insights into previous research, including the possibility of embellishment over time (as indicated by the finding of positive, as well as negative, latency effects) and the potential roles of religious affiliation and religiosity (as indicated by the qualitative differences surrounding paranormal/mystical/religious issues)., Many adults and children suddenly faced with death report experiencing a distinctive state of consciousness in which their existence seems to be bound neither to a physical body nor to [...]

The DSM-IV definition of delusion is argued to be unsatisfactory because it does not explain the mechanism for delusion formation and maintenance, it implies that such beliefs are necessarily dysfunctional (pathological), it underestimates the social component to some delusions, and it is inconsistent with research indicating that delusions can be modified through techniques such as contradiction, confrontation, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. However, a well-replicated mathematical model of magical/delusional thinking based on a study of paranormal beliefs and experiences is consistent with the hypothesis that attributional processes play a central role in delusion formation and maintenance. The model suggests attributional processes serve the adaptive function of reducing fear associated with ambiguous stimuli and delusional thinking is on a continuum with nonpathological forms. Based on this collective research an amendment to the definition of delusion is proposed and its clinical implications are addressed.

Situational-enchantment is a hypothesized arousal state encompassing a potent sense of connection or oneness with a "transcendent power or ultimate reality." Qualitative research previously suggested that this individual difference involves dissonance around ideations with competing "Emotional, Sensorial, Timeless, Rational, and Transformative" themes. We tested this presumed phenomenology via an online convenience sample of 79 men and 101 women who reported memorable ghostly experiences during a paranormal tour within the last 12 months. Respondents provided a global enchantment rating of their anomalous experiences, as well as selected specific descriptors from a set of 30 items on an adjective checklist (ACL). Analyses revealed that 21 items on the Enchantment-ACL formed a Rasch hierarchy of generally "pleasant" themes that was free of response biases related to age, sex, and latency (time since the "enchanting" experience). This structured sequence contained all five experiential themes, and the resulting Enchantment-ACL measure of this phenomenon showed good internal reliability (Rasch reliability =.82) and a positive correlation with global enchantment ratings (r =.51, p <.001). The other nine items formed a separate factor containing overtly "unpleasant" ideations. We discuss the results within a cognitive dissonance framework for situational-enchantment, although future research must explore potential nuances related to the construct's dimensionality and the specific role of pleasant versus unpleasant ideations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘Valentine’s Day Blues’ is an enduring concept rooted in pop psychology that has unfortunately received little empirical attention. On this point, it is commonly assumed that the increasing commodification of romance plus the social trappings of Valentine’s Day can elicit stress similar to that evoked by traditional holidays. This view might predict that women’s greater experience of ‘mattering’ and greater tendencies toward depression and rumination should place women at a greater risk of ‘Valentine’s Day Blues’ than men. Accordingly, when no Valentine’s Day gift is received such distress likely lasts longer in women than in men in addition to being stronger in general. These hypotheses were tested based on the data of 2,070 participants in a 2004 consumer sentiment survey who completed a 34-item online questionnaire within four weeks following Valentine’s Day. This questionnaire addressed (a) anxiety, (b) depression, (c) rumination, and (d) social anxiety as derived from existing instruments. Rasch scaling analyses found that men and women’s generalized depression (i.e., a combination of the four aforementioned item types) was greater for those not receiving a gift relative to that expressed by those who did receive a Valentine’s Day gift. However, while men rebounded after two weeks, women’s greater depression continued after three weeks. Of greatest clinical concern are 30-to-40– year olds, whereas those least affected were respondents over 40 years of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lynn E. McCutcheon (l)(*) Rense Lange (2) James Houran (3) Celebrity worship has been conceptualized as having pathological and nonpathological forms. To avoid problems associated with item-level factor analysis, 'top-down [...]

We conducted a large-scale online survey to examine "situational-enchantment" as a special mental state that is conducive of psi-related or exceptional human experiences (EHEs). A convenience sample of 707 online respondents completed measures of Transliminality, Paranormal Belief (New Age Philosophy vs Traditional Paranormal Beliefs), EHEs, and Enchantment. After establishing the reliability and scalability of all measures via Rasch scaling, respondents were randomly assigned to either a Training set (n = 471) or Validation set (n = 236). Competitive testing with path analysis on the Training set found that the best-fitting model affirmed our prediction of a self-reinforcing loop between Enchantment and EHEs (psi), which was mediated by a link between Transliminality and Paranormal Belief, and this solution was accompanied by excellent model fit. This same pattern was fully replicated in the Validation set, thereby establishing the empirical stability of our process model. The results support the hypothesis that enchantment collectively acts as an aftereffect, example of, and catalyst for EHEs and putative psi. We discuss the findings relative to clinical contexts and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests a Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S) is defined by the recurrent perception of anomalous subjective and objective events. Occurrences are traditionally attributed to supernatural agencies, but we argue that such interpretations have morphed into themes of "surveillance and stalking" in group-stalking reports. We tested a series of related hypotheses by re-analyzing survey data from the 2015 Sheridan and James study to explore statistical patterns in "delusional" group-stalking accounts (N=128) versus"non-delusional" (control) accounts of lone-culprit stalking (N=128). As expected, we found that (i) account types had different Rasch hierachies, (ii) the Rasch hierarchy of group-stalking experiences showed a robust unidimensional model, and (iii) this group-stalking hierarchy correlated significantly with spontanous "ghost" experiences. However, we found no clear evidence for "event clustering" that might signify contagious processes in symptom perception. Findings support the viability of the HP-S construct and the idea that experiences of group-stalking and haunts share common sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Students may experience considerable fear and stress in school settings, and based on Dweck's (2006) notion of "mindset" we hypothesized that fear introduces qualitative changes in students' self-concepts. Hypotheses were tested on 3847 third-grade students from nine Iberoamerican countries (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Spain, and Venezuela), who completed Murillo's (2007) adaptation of Marsh' (1988) SDQ-I. Rasch scaling indicated that the information-content of High-Fear students' ratings was more localized across the latent dimension than was that of Low-Fear students, and their ratings also showed less cognitive variety. The resulting measurement distortions could be captured via logistic regression over the ratings' residuals. Also, using training and validation samples (with respectively 60 and 40% of all cases), it proved possible to predict students' fear levels and their gender. We see the present findings as a first step towards implementing an online warning and detection system for signs of bullying among students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals' eagerness or desire to get married was investigated in a sample of online daters in China (n = 3,389) using a 6-item version of the Drive to Marry (DTM) Scale, which was modified with new questions about normative pressures to marry given the cultural emphasis on social prescription in Eastern versus Western culture. The questionnaire items conformed to a unidimensional Rasch scale with interval-level measurement, although two themes seemed inherent to DTM -- positive feelings of excitement or anticipation and negative feelings of urgency or desperation. Consistent with previous theory and research, women exhibited stronger DTM than men and normative pressures resulted in greater perceived DTM. Finally, significant response biases by sex were found, indicating that men and women differ in their qualitative experience of DTM. The results offer a preliminary cross-cultural validation and perspective on DTM and expand the present conceptualization and measurement of the construct to guide future research and theory-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested whether intuition paralleled well-defined cognitive processes or whether psi could he a contributing variable as suggested by previous research. A convenience sample of hospitality executives (N = 62) responded both intuitively (spontaneous) and cognitively (reasoned) to a set of narratives via a computerized questionnaire that presented hypothetical situations that were conducive to intuitive thinking. Also embedded in the computerized task was a test of psi, thereby allowing correlations between a psi target and the two sets of responses. Covariates included Sex, Transliminality and Paranormal Belief (New Age Philosophy and Traditional Paranormal Belief). No Sex effects were found. Chance-level results on hit rate were observed, although hit rate did show patterns suggesting that some variables promote person-conduciveness to psi. Scores on Transliminality significantly and positively predicted scores on intuitive thinking, which in turn were significantly related to hit rate. New Age Philosophy was moderately correlated with Translim-inality and intuitions, as might be expected, but it had no relation to hit rate. Most importantly, intuitive responses could not be entirely explained in terms of a con-ventional 'weighting' cognitive process inherent in many other contexts of decision-making. Thus, we found mixed support for our idea that inherently novel, spon-taneous and ambiguous situations (i.e. conducive to intuitive thought) overcome participants' lower levels of Belief and Transliminality levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the application of reasoned action to a computerized test of intuition. It discusses the understanding of the influence of physical, psychological and physiological processes on anomalous experiences. It highlights the use of time series analyses, nonlinear dynamics and advanced psychometric approaches in theory building. It describes a software framework to test the concepts of intuition, psi and decision-making processes simultaneously.

We explored the idea that the timing of executives’ career moves was consistent with Bak’s notion of self-organized criticality. Consistent with predictions, time series analysis of job changes for 43 hospitality executives obeyed a power law and revealed a mixture of predictable and unpredictable patterns with a musical nature (pink noise distribution). The data showed better fit for traditional ‘organization men’ versus opportunistic ‘trailblazers.’ These differences in career patterns (rhythms) could be used to reliably distinguish between these two executive-types using neural nets. Potential implications for executive coaching and development are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted two preliminary studies to test the hypothesis that 'haunted, sacred, or enchanted' spaces are characterized by certain environmental Gestalt variables that define their space syntax or architectural phenomenology and thus help to consciously or non-consciously shape people's associated impressions or perceptions. Study 1 involved the development of a pilot Visitor Experience Questionnaire (VEQ: 18 items) to quantify Gestalt effects. Factor analysis revealed a four-factor solution defined by a setting's capacity for Affordance, Ambiguity, Presence, and Sentimentality. Study 2 used this new tool with three participants exhibiting disparate encounter-proneness, who participated in an immersive experience at a 'haunted' historic house museum. The experimentally-blinded participants spent 10 minutes alone in nine different rooms and then completed the VEQ and the Survey of Strange Events (SSE) measure of subjective and objective ghostly anomalies. Results showed that the participants' anomalous experiences had good levels of congruency across their contents and locations of occurrence. Further, Gestalt ratings significantly correlated with both the participants' SSE reporting patterns and independent 'hauntedness' ratings of the test rooms based on prior witness accounts. These findings support the idea that altered-anomalous experiences in enchanted (i.e., sacred or haunted) spaces represent an interactionist phenomenon that is partly mediated or moderated by principles of environmental psychology. The uncanny arises out of the supposedly and necessarily empty character of the supernatural as a category; it is not so much that the uncanny fills this category (with ghosts, revenants etc.) -- though it may do this readily enough -- as that it suggests a fundamental indecision, an obscurity or uncertainty, at the heart of our ontology, our sense of time, place, and history, both personal and cultural. (Collins & Jervis, 2008, p. 2) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic Assessment (DA] posits that learners' potential is a reliable measure for predicting learners' possible improvement in future, i.e., learners' responsiveness to instruction is seen as a measure of learners' potential (ZPD]. This raises the question whether it is possible to distinguish the quantitative and qualitative effects of DA on the items and persons. To this end two types of Rasch scaling were used to scale sets of wh-type questions and scanning items: (a] students' answers were treated in a binary correct/incorrect fashion; (b] the change in correctness (if any] was modeled within a Rasch rating scales framework. Using a pre-intervention-post design, Rasch scaling of the data of 42 Iranian university students showed the anticipated quantitative improvement in learners' performance on the posttest relative to the pretest--for the wh-type questions as well as for scanning items. However, no clear qualitative effects were found as the item and person hierarchies were essentially invariant across the pre- and post-tests. Interestingly, the rating scale formulation showed great promise as measure of ZPD as it proved to be a useful tool to capture the pre- and post-test data simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the significance of optimal transliminality in facilitating putative parapsychology. It cites a study which found that optimal transliminality can provide answers to the inconsistency of the sheep-goat effect. It highlights the study of parapsychology that includes the measurement of paranormal belief, haunt-poltergeist experiences, mystical experiences, and near-death experiences. Moreover, the hunt experience can be classified into eight categories including temperature changes, physical changes in the environment and emotion.