Tobacyk's sex differences in the experiences of ego-alien intrusions.
Tobacyk's Revised Paranormal Belief Scale and an inventory that infers temporal lobe signs were administered to 44 men and 54 women who were enrolled in first-year university courses. Women believed more in psi phenomena, witchcraft, and spiritualism than did men, who believed more in extraterrestrial life forms. Although complex partial epileptic-like signs were moderately (0.40) correlated with total beliefs for both sexes, these signs were dominated by experiences of ego-alien intrusions for women only. The results support the concept of greater interhemispheric coherence in women compared to men and emphasize the importance of limbic processes in the formation and maintenance of religious and paranormal beliefs.
Persinger
M A
MA
Laurentian University.
Richards
P
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008032:Limbic System / Q000503:physiopathology; D008273:Magic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010268:Parapsychology; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D013140:Spiritualism