Preliminary research on the dominant factors in paranormal beliefs (1) : Effects of personal factors

In 1990s, concerns to paranormal phenomena are mentioned to be greater among young Japanese people, which phenomena were new types of religion, supernatural powers, an afterlife, a personality stereotype by blood-typing, and ghost stories at school by comics and films. The present study aimed to investigate interests and paranormal beliefs and the effects of personal factors on the paranormal beliefs, using 321 undergraduates. Degrees of interest and belief concerning to 10 supernatural phenomena were lower than those in the previous studies. From the results of multiple regression analysis, affecting factors were different among four types of paranormal phenomena. Beliefs in existences of ghost and reincarnation and superstition were mainly affected by external attribution such as fate, fortune, and anti-scientism. On the other hand, level of anxiety affected only beliefs in existences of undefined creatures and cultures. Time perspective, however, affected none of supernatural phenomena