Exploring differences and similarities in tolerance for ambiguity and associative creativity among sceptics, moderate and strong paranormal believers
dc.contributor.advisor
Watt, Caroline
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dc.contributor.author
Guesnet, Naya
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dc.date.accessioned
2012-07-06T13:22:43Z
dc.date.available
2012-07-06T13:22:43Z
dc.date.issued
2011-06-29
dc.description.abstract
The relationship between paranormal beliefs and tolerance of ambiguity was explored in
sceptics, moderate and strong paranormal believers. Those groups were de ned for New Age
Philosophy (NAP) and Traditional Paranormal Belief (TPB) separately. The relationship
between paranormal beliefs and associative processing was also investigated by comparing
those six groups of believers on the originality of their word associations. A total of 186
participants completed questionnaire measures of paranormal beliefs (Tobacyk's Revised
Paranormal Belief Scale - RPBS) and tolerance for ambiguity (Norton's - MAT-50), as well
as a word association task (Brugger et al. Bridge-the-Associative-Gap { BAG). Sceptics
and strong paranormal believers were found to display a similar intolerance of ambiguity in
relation to moderate paranormal believers who were more tolerant of ambiguity. This result
was signi cant for NAP groups (F( 2, 183) = 3.7, p < 0.05), and a consistent trend was
observed for TPB groups (p > 0.05). The results suggest that both scepticism and NAP
beliefs represent a di erent means to overcome a low tolerance for ambiguity. The disparity
in signi cance between NAP and TPB groups supports the distinction between the two
belief clusters, and is speculated to be further mediated by other individual variables. No
di erence in the originality of associations was found to separate either sceptics, moderate
or strong paranormal believers (p < 0.05).
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dc.identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6096
dc.language.iso
en
dc.publisher
The University of Edinburgh
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dc.subject
paranormal beliefs
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dc.subject
tolerance of ambiguity
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dc.subject
associative creativity
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dc.title
Exploring differences and similarities in tolerance for ambiguity and associative creativity among sceptics, moderate and strong paranormal believers
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dc.type
Thesis or Dissertation
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dc.type.qualificationlevel
Undergraduate
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dc.type.qualificationname
Undergraduate
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dcterms.accessRights
Restricted Access
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