The Relationships of Paranormal Beliefs and Locus of Control among Students of Medical College, Delhi

Abstract

Background: The phenomenon of Paranormal beliefs has puzzled scientific community. Studies on this subject
have been hindered by conceptual and methodological issues. There is little evidences found between locus of
control and paranormal. This constituted rationale of current study. We studied relationships between paranormal
beliefs, as measured by Paranormal Belief Scale (Tobacyk& Milford, 1983) and locus of control as measured by
ROT-IE scale among medical students of Delhi.
Methodology: The study population consists of medical undergraduate students in Delhi who were enrolled at
college during the time of the study. All undergraduate students who gave consent were included in study. A pretested
and predesigned questionnaire asking their socio-demographic information and relationship between their
sense of personal control(locus of control measured by the ROT-IE scale) and paranormal beliefs(using revised
form of the Paranormal Belief Scale) was administered. Chi-square test and Pearson’s correlation test were used
to test significance
Results: Means and standard deviations for the PBS-R and the IELOC Scales were reported separately for sociodemographic
parameters. Females scored higher than males on all subscale except extraordinary life forms
and precognition but it was statistically significant. Bi-variate correlation between locus of control and revised
paranormal belief scale revealed that as persons tend towards internal locus of control, their paranormal belief
become low.
Conclusion: In our study it was shown that there was significant relationships among paranormal beliefs and locus
of control.