Eyes in the back of your head? Belief in scopaesthesia and its relation to paranormal belief and cognitive-perceptual personality measures.

Bennion, Mia (2018) Eyes in the back of your head? Belief in scopaesthesia and its relation to paranormal belief and cognitive-perceptual personality measures. Manchester Metropolitan University. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The present study examined the extent to which belief in the paranormal and cognitive- perceptual personality meaures relate and predict belief in scopaesthesia. Scopaesthesia is the common experience where one can detect they are being stared at by another, outside their field of vision. The phenomenon has been experimentally researched for over a hundred years, however only a small number of studies have investigated potential psychological correlates. A sample of 173 volunteers, recruited via convenience sampling, took part in the study. Participants completed a series of self- report measures; Scopaesthesia Questionnaire, Revised Paranormal Belief Scale, Reality Testing sub scale of the Inventory of Personality Organisation and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Brief. Paranormal belief, proneness to reality testing deficits and schizotypy all showed positive correlations with belief in scopaesthesia. The measure of paranormal belief was found to be the highest correlate, whilst cognitive -perceptual measures only presented small correlations to scopaesthesia belief. Following a regression analysis, paranormal belief was the only variable which emerged as a significant predictor of belief in scopaesthesia (F (1,118 = 15.6 p<.001). Gender differences within belief in the phenomenon were also evidenced. The present findings offer a further exploratory step towards greater undrstanding of the phenomenon.