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Abstract: Although belief in paranormal phenomena has long been studied as if it were a psychological trait, many commentators recently have preferred to define beliefs as a psychological state. Somewhat [...]

A growing body of evidence suggests that in the general population the development of beliefs in paranormal phenomena relies in part on the cognitive processes involved also in the formation of delusions. One early sign of the development of delusions is a disorder of or vulnerability in the minimal self, an awareness that one's thoughts, perceptions and feelings are experienced by the self. This study sought to investigate the hypothesis that belief in paranormal phenomena may be associated with minimal-self dysfunction. The hypothesis was investigated with an online questionnaire survey of 141 Australian adults. Findings support the hypothesis and indicate also that the relation between minimal-self dysfunction and paranormal belief is partially mediated by schizotypal tendencies. These relations nevertheless are not strong. Keywords: paranormal belief, minimal-self dysfunction, schizotypy, anomalous experiences De plus en plus d'elements empiriques suggerent que, dans la population generale, le developpement des croyances aux phenomenes paranormaux s'appuient en partie sur les processus cognitifs impliques egalement dans la formation des delires. Un signe precoce du developpement des delires est un trouble ou une vulnerabilite dans le Soi minimal, la conscience que nos pensees, perceptions et sentiments sont vecues par le Soi. Cette etude cherche a etudier l'hypothese d'une dysfonction du Soi minimal associee a la croyance aux phenomenes paranormaux. Cette hypothese a ete etudiee grace a un questionnaire en ligne sondant 141 adultes australiens. Les resultats soutiennent cette hypothese et indiquent egalement que la relation entre la dysfonction du Soi minimal et les croyances paranormales est partiellement mediatisee par des tendances schizolypiques. Ces relations ne sont neanmoins pas tres fortes. Es gibt zunehmend Hinweise darauf, dass in der allgemeinep Bevolkerung die Entwicklung des Glaubens an paranormale Phanoniene teilweise auf kognitiven Prozessen beruht, die auch bei Wahnvorstellungen eine Rolle spielen. Ein frtihes Zeichen fur die Entwicklung von Wahnvorstellungen ist eine Storung oder Vulnerabilitat des minimalen Selbst, ein Gewahrwerden ciavon, dass Gedanken. Wahrnehmungen und Gefiihle durch das Selbst erfahren werden. Die Studie versuchte die Hypothese zu untersuchen, dass der Glaube an paranormale Phanoniene mit einer Dysfunktion des minimalen Selbst einhergeht. Die Hypothese wurde mittels eines online-Fragebogens untersucht, den 141 australische Erwachsene ausgefiillt batten. Die Ergebnisse unterstutzen die Hypothese und weisen auch darauf hin, dass die Beziehung zwischen der Dysfunktion des minimalen Selbst und dem Glauben an Paranormales teilweise durch schiztoypische Tendenzen vermittelt ist. Diese Beziehungen sind jedoch nicht stark. Un creciente cuerpo de evidencia sugiere que en la poblacion el desarrollo de creencias en fenomenos paranormales depende en parte de procesos cognitivos implicados tambien en la formacion de delirios. Un signo temprano del desarrollo de delirios es un trastorno o vulnerabilidad en el yo minimo, la consciencia de que los pensamientos, percepciones, y sentimientos propios son experimentados por el yo. Este estudio investigo la hipotesis de que la creencia en los fenomenos paranormales puede estar asociada con la disfuncion minima del yo. La hipotesis se investigo con una encuesta en linea con 141 australianos adultos. Los resultados apoyan la hipotesis e indican tambien que la relacion entre la disfuncion del yo-minimo y la creencia paranormal esta mediada parcialmente por las tendencias esquizotipicas. Estas relaciones, sin embargo, no son fuertes., Recent empirical research has suggested that the development of belief in paranormal phenomena may be due in part to psychological processes that also underlie the formation of delusions. The aim [...]

Investigates the relationship between the severity of childhood trauma and proneness to victimization in adulthood in a sample of 155 Australian women. A tendency for both violent and non-violent revictimization was found. Findings suggest that some coping styles mediate the relationship between childhood abuse and victimization in childhood, whereas aspects of attachment styles may serve to moderate this relationship. (Author/MKA)

A nonclinical sample of Australian adults (n=239) was surveyed for the incidence of traumatic childhood events, availability of emotional support, and the presence of a dissociative coping style. Findings suggested that lack of emotional support is an important mediator, but not a primary cause of the development of dissociative tendencies. (Author/DB)

Investigated impact of grief counseling course in terms of two-component formulation of death acceptance. Compared to controls, participants showed significant and sustained increase in cognitive confrontation of death and in assimilation of attitudes at emotional level. Identified predictors of extent of effect included individual's initial death acceptance level and performance in two of three aspects of course assessment. (Author/NB)

Parapsychological experience as anomalous experience plus paranormal attribution: a questionnaire based on a new approach to measurement/L'experience parapsychologique en tant qu'experience anomale associee a une attribution paranormale : un questionnaire base sur une nouvelle approche de la mesure/Experiencias parapsicologicas como experiencias anomalas mas atribuciones paranormales: un cuestionario basado en un nuevo enfoque de medicion/Parapsychologische erfahrung als anomale erfahrung plus paranormale zuschreibung: ein fragebogenauf grundlage eines neuen messverfahrens. When persons report a parapsychological experience, they may typically be asserting 2 occurrences: that of an anomalous or seemingly inexplicable event, and their interpretation of this event in paranormal terms. Previous studies identifying correlates of the report of parapsychological experiences may have confounded these 2 factors. The authors describe a new questionnaire which teases apart the 2 factors and report a survey which applied the new measure to the assessment of several potential correlates, namely, schizotypal tendencies, emotion-based reasoning, suspension of reality testing, and executive dysfunction. Data from a convenience sample recruited online supported the potential utility of the questionnaire, although it has yet to be demonstrated that the 2 underlying factors do have different correlates. Keywords: parapsychological experience, anomalous experience, paranormal attribution Lorsque des personnes relatent une experience parapsychologique, elles produisent en fait deux affirmations: celle d'avoir vecu un evenement anomal ou apparemment inexplicable, et leur interpretation de cet evenement en termes de paranormal. Les etudes anterieures identifiant les correlats des experiences parapsychologiques peuvent avoir confondu ces deux facteurs. Les auteurs decrivent un nouveau questionnaire qui distinguent ces deux facteurs et presentent un sondage testant cette nouvelle mesure dans ses correlats potentiels avec les tendances schizotypiques, le raisonnement base sur l'emotion, la suspension du test de la realite, et la dysfonction executive. Les donnees d'un echantillon de convenance recrute en ligne supportent l'utilite potentielle du questionnaire, bien qu'il soit encore necessaire de demontrer que les deux facteurs sous-jacents peuvent avoir des correlats differents. Cuando las personas reportan una experiencia parapsicologica, tipicamente afirman 2 eventos: un evento anomalo o aparentemente inexplicable, y la interpretacion de este evento en terminos paranormales. Estudios anteriores que identificaron correlatos de las experiencias parapsicologicas pueden haber confundido estos 2 factores. Los autores describen un nuevo cuestionario que escinde los 2 factores e informan de una encuesta que uso la nueva medida en la evaluacion de varios correlatos posibles, es decir, tendencias esquizotipicas, razonamiento basado en la emocion, suspension de la prueba de realidad, y disfuncion ejecutiva. Los datos obtenidos con una muestra de conveniencia reclutada en la red apoya la posible utilidad del cuestionario, aunque todavia no se ha demostrado que los 2 factores subyacentes tengan diferentes correlatos. Wenn Personen eine parapsychologische Erfahrung schildern, beschreiben sic typischerweise zwei Ereignisse: Ein anomales und offenbar unerklarliches Ereignis und ihre Deutung dieses Ereignisses in paranonnalen Begriffen. Vorangegangene Studien zur Identifizierung von Korrelaten der Berichte uber parapsychologische Erfahrungen haben diese beiden Faktoren moglicherweise nicht scharf genug auseinandergehalten. Die Verfasser stellen einen neuen Fragebogen vor, der diese beiden Faktoren voneinander trennt, und berichten uber eine Umfrage, in der das neue Messverfahren zur Erfassung mehrerer moglicher Korrelate eingesetzt wurde, namlich bei schizotypischen Tendenzen, emotionsgeleitetem Schlussfolgern, Verzicht auf Realitatsprufung sowie unzureichender Handlungsausfuhrung. Daten von einer via online-Befragung gesammelten Gelegenheitsstichprobe unterstreichen die mogliche Brauchbarkeit des Fragebogens, obwohl der Nachweis, dass die beiden zugrunde liegenden Faktoren unterschiedliche Korrelate aufweisen, immer noch aussteht., The fundamental objectives of this study were to devise a novel procedure for assessing potential predictors of the occurrence of parapsychological experiences and to implement this procedure in the form [...]

THE PARAPSYCHOLOGY REVOLUTION: A CONCISE ANTHOLOGY OF PARANORMAL AND PSYCHICAL RESEARCH compiled with commentary by Robert M. Schoch and Logan Yonavjak. NewYork: Tarcher/Penguin, 2008. Pp. v + 422. $16.95 (paperback). [...]

In light of previous research, the current study tested the hypothesis that dissociative identity disorder (DID) would be characterised by effective cognitive inhibitory functioning when tested in a neutral context, but weakened inhibition when tested in an emotionally negative context. Using a negative priming task (i.e. the flanker task) to assess inhibitory ability 11 DID, 11 depressed, and 11 general population participants were tested in the two differing experimental contexts. The contexts were manipulated by instructions and word stimuli, and following the completion of this task participants completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Schizotypal Personality Scale. DID participants displayed a greater degree of self-reported anxiety in the negative context and as expected displayed a reduction in inhibition in this context but not in the neutral context. The degree of negative priming for the depressed and general population samples remained stable across contexts as did their anxiety levels. The DID sample displayed slower response times to negative compared to neutral words but this attentional bias was not evident for the two comparison groups. The relationship between increased arousal, inhibitory functioning, dissociation and information processing in DID is discussed. Keywords: Cognitive inhibition; Attentional bias; Emotional context; Dissociative identity disorder

Although psychological profiling has achieved wide acceptance in law enforcement investigations, there has been little empirical research into the skills required for profiling. One attribute that is frequently cited as quintessential for effective profiling is experience in police investigations. In a study similar in design to Kocsis, Irwin, Hayes, and Nunn, this study examined the importance in profiling of investigative experience by testing groups of homicide detectives, senior police detectives, trainee detectives, police recruits, and undergraduate chemistry, students. The chemistry students tended to produce the most accurate profiles of the perpetrator of a closed homicide case. Of all the groups, chemistry students most consistently outperformed a control group given no information about the case when constructing a profile of the offender. There was also some evidence of an inverse relationship between investigative experience and profile accuracy.

There has been little empirical study of the abilities contributing to proficient performance in psychological profiling. The authors sought to address this issue by comparing the accuracy of psychological profiles for a closed murder case generated by groups differing primarily in characteristics posited to underlie the profiling process. In addition to a sample of professional profilers, the study recruited groups of police officers, psychologists, university students, and self-declared psychics. Another group of participants compiled a generic profile of murderers without knowledge of the specific case given to other groups. Despite the small size of the sample of profilers, there were indications that this group had a set of profiling skills superior to the individual skills represented by the other expertise groups. In addition, the performance of psychologists was better in some respects than that of police and psychics, suggesting that an educated insight into human behavior might be relatively pertinent to psychological profiling. On the other hand, it would seem that psychics relied on nothing more than the social stereotype of a murderer in their production of the offender's profile.

The relationship of shame and guilt to eating-disorder symptomatology was investigated in a sample of 97 Australian women. In terms of the objective of predicting the severity of eating disturbance, the study explored the predictive utility of proneness to shame and guilt in a global sense, shame and guilt associated specifically with eating contexts, and shame associated with the body. The study also sought to determine if shame is a more prominent emotion than guilt among women who have eating difficulties. Shame associated with eating behavior was the strongest predictor of the severity of eating-disorder symptomatology. Other effective predictors were guilt associated with eating behavior and body shame. Eating disturbance was unrelated to proneness to shame and guilt in a global sense. Discussion of these findings focuses on the issue of determining whether self-conscious affects are best regarded as causes or as consequences of eating disturbance.

Several commentators recently have advocated the view that a deficit in the performance of a smooth pursuit eye-movement task is a biological marker of the genetic predisposition to schizophrenia. This study considered the possibility that such an impairment is due in part to experiential or acquired characteristics, and specifically, to a history of childhood trauma. A sample of 100 Australian adults performed a visual tracking task and completed a self-report measure of childhood trauma. Although the effect size was small, a relationship was found between eye-tracking performance and a childhood history of physical and emotional abuse. This finding suggests that eye-tracking performance may not be governed entirely by genetic factors, a possibility that has implications for the use of indices of smooth pursuit eye movement as a purely genetic marker of proneness to schizophrenia. Further investigation is needed to clarify the basis of the association between these deficits and childhood abuse.

As a contribution to an understanding of the psychodynamics of dissociative disorders this study investigated proneness to shame and to guilt as predictors of dissociative tendencies. One hundred and three Australian university students completed self-report measures of dissociative tendencies, proneness to shame and to guilt, gender, and age. Proneness to shame, proneness to guilt, and age were found to contribute significantly to the prediction of dissociative tendencies. The data provide further support for the view that common affective consequences of childhood trauma may mediate between such trauma and the development of a dissociative coping style.

This study is one of a series exploring the potential of affective variables as predictors of dissociative tendencies. Some clinicians have observed that traumatized children who develop a dissociative coping style also tend to fail to discriminate emotions by verbal means. The study therefore investigated a relationship between dissociation and alexithymia. Undergraduate psychology students were individually tested for dissociative tendencies, alexithymic characteristics, and ability to generate the names of emotions. Dissociation was found to be predicted by some aspects of alexithymia but not by affective fluency. The data are interpreted in terms of the concept of asymmetry of dissociative processes.

The study of codependence among Australian adults shows that codependence is not anticipated by childhood trauma. The establishment of a relationship between codependence and narcissism is more complex than expected by psychological research literature. The results remarkably undermines the theoretical concepts of codependency, and care has to be taken when applying the psychotherapeutic concept.

Previous research suggests that, as a group, people who believe in the paranormal tend to have a history of traumatic events in childhood. This relationship has been incorporated into Irwin's 1993 model of the psychological origins and functions of paranormal belief. A constructive replication of the relationship and a test of Irwin's model was undertaken in relation to a specific context, namely, a childhood spent with an alcoholic parent. Compared to 89 control participants, a sample of 32 adults who were children of alcoholics had stronger beliefs in witchcraft, superstitions, and precognition. The results are discussed in relation to two components of Irwin's model.

Several clinicians have remarked on an obsessive need to control among adult children of alcoholics. In an experimental test of this hypothesis 30 adult children of problem drinkers and 31 control subjects performed a computer-simulated coin-tossing task. On half of the trials the outcome of the coin toss was open to control; the outcome was random on the remainder of the trials. The children of problem drinkers and the control group did not differ in their success on the task, but in comparison to control subjects the children of problem drinkers tended to perceive a greater difference between controllable and random trials in the coin-tossing task's openness to control. Of the two groups, the control subjects proved to be more realistic in their assessment of the control they had exercised during the task. These findings are discussed in terms of the theme of control in the lives of the adult children of alcoholics.

Clients' drawings can serve four basic functions in bereavement counseling. They may provide a channel for cathartic release of grief, a focus for clients' reflections on the dimensions of their losses, a means of identifying unexpressed conflicts associated with the losses, and possibly a source of information with diagnostic value. The potential benefits and limitations of bereavement-art therapy are surveyed and the suggestion made that these techniques could well have a place in the repertoire of skills of the eclectic bereavement counselor.

Previous research suggests that paranormal believers have defective reasoning skills. A study of Australian university students yielded no support for this hypothesis, except perhaps in relation to belief in traditional religious concepts. Further, reasoning in pro-parapsychological and in anti-parapsychological arguments was not affected by the level or the type of paranormal belief. The intellectual context in which such research is undertaken may have a substantial impact on the outcome.

The report of personal parapsychological experience has been linked with the personality construct of fantasy proneness. It is possible that the factor of paranormal belief mediates this association. Certainly some data suggest that paranormal belief is conducive to the report of parapsychological experiences. This study examined the feasibility of the other facet of the issue, namely, that fantasy proneness facilitates paranormal belief. For a group of 92 adults a measure of fantasy proneness correlated significantly with belief in traditional religious concepts, psi, witchcraft, spiritualism, extraordinary life forms, and precognition.

The study investigated the relationship between scores on paranormal belief and proneness to dissociation in a sample of 100 Australian students of psychology. Scores on dissociation were positively correlated with those on global paranormal belief and with belief in psi, precognition, spiritualism, and extraordinary life-forms. It is suggested that in some instances paranormal beliefs may be a component of a complex defensive framework constructed in the face of the perceived uncontrollability of life.

Effects of age and sex in paranormal belief remain controversial because issues of scaling and differential item function are not given due attention. Therefore, in response to the recent debate between Irwin and Vitulli, these issues are reviewed and validated as crucial approaches for obtaining an objective measure of paranormal belief. A Rasch version of Tobacyk's Paranormal Belief Scale has been developed, but research with this scale suggests that--contrary to past literature and recently refined studies--age and sex are neither consistent nor crucial factors mediating paranormal belief.

Previous research has suggested a relationship between dissociative tendencies and schizotypy. This study sought to extend the previous work in two fundamental respects. First, explicit cognizance was taken of the multidimensionality of both dissociative tendencies and, schizotypy. Second, the study examined the possibility that the observed correlation between dissociative tendencies and schizotypy is an artifact of the association between each of these personality domains and a history of childhood trauma. Australian adults (N = 116) were administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire--Brief, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that both pathological and nonpathological dissociative tendencies were predicted by the dimensions of schizotypy, even after the contribution of childhood trauma had been removed. It is concluded that the relationship between dissociative tendencies and schizotypy is not an artifact of childhood abuse, but the clinical significance of this relationship remains to be established. [C] 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 57: 331-342, 2001. Keywords: dissociation; schizotypy; childhood trauma

ABSTRACT: Recent developments in the study of dissociation prompted a re-examination of the nature of the out-of-body experience (OBE). A questionnaire survey of Australian university students addressed the relation between [...]

Little research has been conducted on the contribution of environmental factors to the development of alexithymic tendencies. Ninety-two university students were surveyed to determine if features of the childhood family environment could predict the level of alexithymic tendencies. The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale was used to measure alexithymic tendencies. Also surveyed retrospectively were dimensions of the childhood family environment such as the family's level of cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, disengagement, sociability, enmeshment, organization, and parenting style. Multiple-regression analysis showed that the set of family-environment variables did predict alexithymia scores. The sole family variable independently predictive of global alexithymic tendencies was expressiveness, although other family variables were predictive of individual components of alexithymia. The findings are consistent with the view that the childhood family environment has a bearing on the development of alexithymic tendencies, although other explanations by no means are excluded. [C] 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 56: 737-745, 2000. Keywords: alexithymia; emotional development; family expressiveness; disengagement

During sensory experiences and imaginal ideation the person is primarily aware of the contents of the experience, but at the same time there is normally an appreciation also that these experiences are being apprehended by the "self", endowing the experiences with a sense of ownership. This sense of an experiential self or "minimal self" may become dysfunctional prior to the development of schizotypal tendencies. Ongoing stress also may be associated with the development of such tendencies. These factors are of interest in light of reported links between the occurrence of parapsychological experiences and schizotypy. The study reported here therefore investigated two variables as potential correlates of the occurrence of parapsychological experiences: stress sensitivity, and dysfunctions in the sense of a minimal self. The study also took account of two discriminable facets of parapsychological experiences, namely, a tendency to anomalous experiences and an inclination to attribute such experiences to paranormal factors. A convenience sample of 141 Australian adults was surveyed with questionnaire measures of anomalous experiences, perceived stress, and minimal-self dysfunctions. A tendency to anomalous experiences was found to be related to stress sensitivity and to minimal-self dysfunctions, but the inclination for paranormal attribution was unrelated to these variables. The findings are discussed in terms of the construction of psychological models of the development of parapsychological experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study constitutes an initial exploration of the view that paranormal disbelief is part of the same unidimensional continuum as paranormal belief, at least in regard to people's cognitive predispositions. A convenience sample of 203 British residents was surveyed for their belief in paranormal phenomena and for previously documented cognitive correlates of such belief, namely, thinking style, aberrant salience, emotion-based reasoning, reality testing deficits, and the "unusual experiences" component of schizotypal tendencies. Based on participants' appraisal of an account of research on a potentially paranormal phenomenon, the sample was then divided into believers and disbelievers. Most of the cognitive variables correlated with intensity of group membership to an equal degree for believers and disbelievers, but with the direction reversed. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to unidimensionality of a paranormal belief-disbelief continuum and the use of questionnaire measures of paranormal belief that incorporate a bipolar response scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]