Personality Factors Underlying Anomalous Experience

Question 1

Schizotypy and its link to anomalous experience

Answer 1

Goulding (2004) found a strong correlation between those who showed Schizotype personality and Psi experience

However, the correlations are not strong as it is an over-simplification to equate paranormal experiences with mental illness.

Personality type:
Difficulty distinguishing between reality and fantasy
Thought disruptions/dissociation

Question 2

Fantasy proneness and its link to anomalous experience

Answer 2

Lynn and Rhue (1988) suggest that apparent Psychic experiences of some individuals could be due to Fantasy Proneness

This is the idea that some people can’t separate their experiences of reality from fantasy

• vivid imaginations
• high levels of suggestibility
• paranormal visions
• out-of-body experiences

Been shown to correlate strongly with belief in Psi

Question 3

Personality types and their link to anomalous experience

Answer 3

Ramakrisna (2001) tested young Indian school children for a correlation between ESP ability and personality
* Found that those with stable, well adjusted personalities scored higher than chance on ESP tasks and those who were neurotic scored at chance level or below

Hornorton et al (1998) conducted a meta analysis of 38 experiments into ESP and personality traits of introverts/extroverts
* Found that extroverts scored higher than introverts on ESP tasks in 77% of the research