Believers in UFOs, ghosts or witchcraft cope worse with day-to-day stress than those who don't, UK scientists have discovered.
A joint study by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) explored the effect on ordinary people's lives of alternative types of belief.
Modern 'New Age Philosophy' (NAP) believes in holistic healing, meditation and positive energy - while millennia-old 'Traditional Paranormal Belief' (TPB)is a faith in Harry Potteresque supernatural forces, the devil, the occult, fate, or a heaven and hell.
Psychologists quizzed 3084 UK adults and discovered a stark difference in the way those with traditional paranormal views cope with stress - compared to those with New Age philosophies.
Now this study's has revealed that Traditional Paranormal Belief was linked to higher levels of distress and increased susceptibility to stress - while New Age Philosophy was not.
Dr Andrew Denovan, of the School of Psychology at LJMU, said: "The study highlights the psychological impacts of external control perceptions in traditional beliefs.
"Specifically, traditional beliefs likely reflect a reduced perception of control over external factors, which can increase susceptibility to stress.
"Conversely, new age beliefs, due to a focus on more individual issues, do not appear to contribute to these dynamics."
It is typically estimated that around 50 per cent of the population say they have had some form of paranormal experience.
The 3000-plus adults were first asked to complete the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (RPBS) a carefully constructed 26-item questionnaire presented as statements (e.g. 'Black Magic really exists').
Participants indicate their level of endorsement on a scale ranging from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 7 = Strongly Agree. Total scores range from 26 to 182 with higher scores representing greater paranormal belief.
The RPBS comprises seven subscales: Traditional Religious Belief (4-items; life after death and heaven and hell), Psi (4-items; psychic powers), Witchcraft (4-items; casting skill and magical powers), Superstition (3-items; bad luck), Spiritualism (4-items; non corporeality), Extraordinary Lifeforms (3-items; existence of yet to be established entities) and Precognition (4-items, predicting future events).
They then took part in the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), developed in 1983 to measure someone's personal stress levels by asking about their feelings and thoughts during the last month.
Universities research paranormal beliefs because they are common in society and can influence behaviour and attitudes - like a distrust of science during COVID-19.
It's claimed in times of stress, beliefs in the paranormal can act as forms of illusory coping, offering a sense of control, but often promoting avoidance strategies that impair psychological functioning.
However New Age Philosophy (NAP), with meditation and positive energy, suggest that control lies within individuals themselves.
The results were revealed in the article ”Re-evaluation of the relationship between paranormal belief and perceived stress using statistical modelling", published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS ONE.
Professor Neil Dagnall, of Manchester Metropolitan University, said: "These results suggest that TPB may reflect a reduced perception of control over external factors, which can increase susceptibility to stress.
"Whereas NAP, due to its focus on more individual issues, does not appear to contribute to these dynamics".
Therefore, "understanding the functional differences between these beliefs is essential to addressing the psychological impact of belief in the paranormal”, emphasises Neil Dagnall.
* To read the full published scientific journal visit - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0312511
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