Personality Factors Flashcards
What is fantasy proneness?
Where a person is prone to fantasising and has a vivid imagination
What studies are related to fantasy proneness?
Wilson and barber
Gow et al
What were Wilson and barbers findings?
A group of fantasy prone and non-fantasy prone women were compared and it was found that the fantasy prone group were more likely to spend time fantasising during the day, experience fantasies for real and experience apparitions
What were gow et als findings?
They found that shy type of ufo experience was linked to high levels of fantasy proneness and stronger beliefs in the paranormal
What contradicts the studies on fantasy proneness?
Roberts study
What did Roberts find?
He reviewed studies that examined fantasy proneness and psychic abilities to ufos and aliens and found many studies did not show a link between fantasy proneness and paranormal experience
Who suggested paranormal beliefs may be associated with personality characteristics?
Russell and Jones
What did Russell and Jones suggest?
That paranormal beliefs may be associated with personality characteristics
What are some of the person silty characteristics Russell and Jones suggested?
Neuroticism
Schizotypy
Extroversion
What is neuroticism?
The tendency to experience negative rather than positive emotional states. Individuals who score high on this are more likely than average to feel anxiety, anger, guilt.
What is the link between neuroticism and paranormal belief?
Paranormal beliefs may act as a defence mechanism for highly neurotic people to distance them from reality and reduce the impact of negative emotions
What has research found about neuroticism and paranormal belief?
That there is a positive relationship between paranormal belief and neuroticism, suggesting neurotics may use this belief as a defence mechanism
What is schizotypy? How does this link to paranormal belief?
This is a personality characteristic related to psychosis. Highly schizotypical people may have a tendency to hallucinations and disordered thinking, making them more likely to believe in the paranormal
What is extroversion?
A personality trait where people tend to enjoy time spent with people, they get little reward in time spent alone. They are more prone to boredom when alone.
What is introversion?
The opposite if extroversion, these types of people enjoy time spent alone and find less reward with large groups of people
What study is related to extroversion?
Parra and Villaneuva
What did Parra and Villaneuva find?
They compared introverts and extroverts to see if there was personality differences in ability to recurve ESP. Extroverts scored significantly better at ESP than introverts suggesting because they seek out new experiences they may be more receptive to ESP
What undermines Parra and Villaneuva’s findings?
Studies have found there’s no difference between the two personality traits when undergoing spontaneous ESP tasks. It could be that extroverts are just more comfortable in a strange laboratory environment
What are the personality factors which could affect anomalous experience?
Fantasy proneness
Neuroticism
Schizotyphy
Extroversion
What can you use for evaluation?
Biological factors - temporal lobe lability hypothesis
What is temporal lobe lability hypothesis?
There is evidence that unusual electromagnetic activity in the temporal lobes of the brain play an important role in paranormal experiences such as out of body experiences
How is the temporal lobe lability hypothesis used for evaluation?
Because there is clear evidence for it it suggests that personality explanations may not be correct, there could be a biological cause for it
What study supports the temporal lobe hypothesis?
Persinger et al
What were persinger et als findings?
They managed to induce a variety of anomalous experiences including a ‘sends of presence’ by exposing the temporal lobes to complex magnetic fields using a purpose built helmet device
