Personality factors underlying anomalous experience In detail: Creativity & Neuroticism In brief: Extraversion, Locus of control, Fantasy proneness, sensation seeking
Extraversion Parra and Villaneuva - Tested 30 participants, all of whom completed the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) and a Pre-Ganzfeld Questionnaire. The latter questionnaire measured relaxation, mood, motivation, and expectation of success. The EPI measures level of extraversion, a personality trait characterised by being outgoing and seeking new experiences- The results clearly demonstrated that extraverts scored significantly better at ESP than the introverts. Peltzer 2002 found extraversion was associated with paranormal beliefs. Honorton et al 1992 conducted a meta-analysis of 60 studies relating extraversion to ESP performance and found a positive correlation.
Locus of control Tobacyk et al (1988) have found a link between locus of control, superstitious behaviour and paranormal belief
Fantasy proneness Fantasy proneness has been shown to correlate with paranormal belief (Irwin, 1991). Gow et al 2004 compared a group claiming alien abduction/UFO sighting vs. a control group. Found those who reported seeing flying saucers, had higher levels of fantasy proneness and were likely to be believers. Roberts: 1 in 3 studies into UFO’s & FP found a link. Fantasy-proneness individuals have a more vivid imagination, including vivid daydreams, which could sometimes seem real, and be confused to think that imagined events really happened. (Wilson and Barber, 1983)
Sensation seeking Kumar et al (1993) found that sensation seeking personality scores were related to both a greater paranormal belief and a greater number of reported paranormal experiences