The aim of the present dissertation is to contribute to the understanding of putative paranormal beliefs and experiences. The introduction provides a conceptual analysis of past research into the paranormal and establishes the rationale for our decision to focus on a specific type of paranormal experience – precognitive dreams. The dissertation evaluates several different hypotheses that have been proposed to account for such experiences. Chapter II describes an online dream precognition study testing the so-called psi hypothesis (Study 1). Participants (N = 50) collected details of their dreams over four weekly periods. Independent judges rated the similarity of the dream reports to randomly selected target and decoy video clips. Compared to the chance baseline of 50 hits out of 200 trials, the obtained 64 hits was significantly more than could be expected under the null hypothesis. However, based on a post hoc exploration of the data, we concluded that Study 1 yielded no evidence of any anomalous cognition within participants’ dreams. It did, however, illustrate the potential theoretical and methodological issues with the psi hypothesis and the way it is habitually assessed. Chapter III focuses on explanations of putative precognitive dreams in terms of unconscious cognition. Two studies test the hypothesis that precognitive dreams arise as a result of unconscious inferences about likely future events based on subtle cues from the environment perceived in the absence of awareness. Study 2 explores individual differences in implicit processing and their relationship to precognitive dream belief and experience. Participants (N = 50) completed the serial reaction time task as well as a series of questionnaire measures. Contrary to prediction, no relationship was found between precognitive dream experience – or belief – and implicit task performance. Following these null findings, Study 3 tested another prediction of the same hypothesis. Participants (N = 49) completed a modified change detection task. The modification allowed for assessing explicit and implicit change detection separately. The results of Study 3 did not support the hypothesis, as the measure of explicit change detection was not related to precognitive dream experience. They did, however, provide a conceptual replication of the findings of Study 2, since we again found no relationship between implicit detection and precognitive dream experience. On a large sample of participants (N = 672), Study 4, reported in Chapter IV, explores several demographic and sleep- and dream-related variables and their relationship with precognitive dream belief and experience. We hypothesised that precognitive dream experience is associated with erratic patterns of sleep behaviour. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that a higher subjective frequency of precognitive dreams was associated with more nocturnal awakenings, higher dream recall, lower overall sleep quality, and a higher likelihood of using sleep medication. We also explored the demographic factors of precognitive dream belief and experience, namely gender, age and education. Women were more likely to believe in the reality of precognitive dreams as well as report experiencing them. And there was a negative relationship between completed years of formal education and the precognitive dream variables. Frequency of these experiences was positively related to age. Moreover, we predicted that both precognitive dream belief and experience would be positively related to the subjective importance ascribed to one’s dreams in general. We found support for this hypothesis. Finally, the study investigated the relationship between the belief in and the experience of precognitive dreams. Although, as could be expected, we found these two to be strongly positively related, we argued that this relationship is not sufficient to gloss over the conceptual distinction. In order to further develop our line of research, we identify a need for a new measurement tool addressing attitudes towards one’s precognitive dream experiences. Study 5, reported in Chapter V, concerns the development and validation of such a tool. A sample of people who reported having had a precognitive dream experience (N = 330) completed an initial 49-item questionnaire. After removing items with unsatisfactory psychometric characteristics an exploratory factor analysis coupled with exploratory structural equation modelling revealed a well-interpretable 5-factor structure with good internal consistency. Additional variables collected on the sample were subsequently used to test the validity of the derived subscales. Overall, the predicted relationships were confirmed by the analyses, which indicates both convergent and divergent/discriminant validity of the questionnaire. Importantly, we found that personal significance of one’s precognitive dreams was related to the frequency with which they are experienced. The final empirical chapter, Chapter VI, explores the relationship between precognitive dream belief and experience, their personal significance, and memory. Study 6 tested three hypotheses: earliest precognitive dream experiences would tend to date to a period of identity formation in one’s life; the vividness of the memory of this earliest experience would correlate with the frequency of precognitive dream experience; and this relationship would be accounted for by the personal significance ascribed to one’s precognitive dreams. All three hypotheses were supported. Finally, Chapter VII summarises the findings of the six studies conducted for this dissertation. We discuss our results in the context of the existing literature and highlight the main theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions of our research. Directions for future research are also provided.

Belief in angels and their intervention in the material world is prevalent in the United States. Theoretically, the concept of folk religion offers an instructive lens into the popularity of these beliefs, which exist inside, outside, and across official religious doctrines, and are therefore able to transcend the boundaries of specific religious traditions by appealing to a diverse array of believers. Empirical analyses from a recent national survey support the application of the concept of folk religion, demonstrating that these beliefs are present in substantial proportions across disparate subgroups. Belief in angelic intervention is prevalent among conservative and "mainline" Protestants, Catholics, those with high levels of conventional religious practice, biblical literalists, and even those who strongly believe in "paranormal" phenomena such as Bigfoot and ESP. Belief in angels and claims of angelic protection provide compelling and flexible narratives, ready cognitive attributions, and emotional comfort. Consequently, these views have strong memetic appeal and are transposable into multifarious subcultures.

Studies into paranormal belief and the effects thereof have been gaining more attention. This study looked at the Big Five Personality Traits and how they could relate to belief in the paranormal, specifically which personality traits, if any, lended themselves to paranormal belief more than others. Four hundred forty-six college-age participants completed a Big Five survey as well as the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale. Results from a multiple regression showed a significant relationship between gender, religion, level of education achieved by the participant's mother, extraversion, and neuroticism (emotional stability) in relation to paranormal belief. Implications and elaboration of findings are discussed.

Belief in the paranormal is a ubiquitous phenomenon throughout the world. However, valid evolutionary reasons to account for such beliefs are limited in their ability to fully explain all types of paranormal belief. In order to test the hypothesis that superstitious beliefs may have evolved as a by-product of a mind mechanism that promotes sociality and social intelligence survey data were collected. Furthermore, a second hypothesis was tested in opposition to the first. This hypothesis sought to illustrate that any negative impact on sociality caused by paranormal belief would require that the benefits of holding such beliefs be far greater than the costs of impaired social ability. Level of social ability was measured using the Tromso Social Intelligence Scale, the Revised Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test and the Revised Experiences in Close Relationships measure. Results for global paranormal beliefs were weak, but supported the second hypothesis. Further analysis showed that two factors from the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale, superstitious belief and traditional religious beliefs, showed consistent statistical significance. Belief in superstitions was negatively correlated with measures of sociality, whereas traditional religious beliefs were positively correlated with measures of sociality. These results indicated that these two types of paranormal beliefs have different effects on sociality. Further investigation into these differences may be beneficial. Further implications for an evolutionary model of paranormal beliefs are discussed.

Studien ämnar undersöka sambandet mellan paranormal tro och välbefinnande, något tidigare forskning nedprioriterat för att istället fokusera på vad som predicerar paranormal tro. Forskning tyder på positiva hälsoeffekter av religiös tro, samt ger svaga indikationer på att samma kan gälla andra former av paranormal tro. Studiens frågeställningarna ämnar att undersöka ifall bakgrundsvariabler och dimensioner av paranormal tro relaterar till välbefinnande. Deltagarna bestod av 138 individer och data samlades in via enkäter. En Pearsons korrelationsanalys visade att utbildning samt civilstånd hade positiva samband med samtliga dimensioner av välbefinnande, övriga bakgrundsvariabler uppvisade samband med minst en dimension. Paranormal tro tenderade att korrelera negativt med välbefinnande, mest framträdande i dimensionen fysiskt välbefinnande. En hierarkisk regressionsanalys visade att bakgrundsvariablerna signifikant kunde förklara varians i kriterievariablerna, detsamma gällde dock inte för dimensionerna av paranormal tro. En svaghet med studien gäller val av deltagare, framtida forskning med mer jämförbara urvalsgrupper föreslås.