Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Academic achievement; Cognition; Faith; Fortune; Parapsychology; Superstition; Academic theses;
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships among superstitious concepts, academic abilities, cognitive abilities, locus of control, and gender. This study explored the hypotheses that adherence to superstitious concepts is associated with a greater external locus of control and lower cognitive abilities. Consequently, little or no adherence to superstitious concepts results in an internal locus of control and higher cognitive abilities. This study also investigated hypotheses that an internal locus of control is associated with higher academic abilities, that females have higher superstitious belief than males, and that higher cumulative GP A is associated with higher religious belief and lower paranormal belief. The sample consisted of 216 undergraduate students (138 female, 78 male) from the University of Northern Iowa. Students completed a questionnaire inquiring about background information, and were administered three superstition scales, along with a scale assessing cognitive abilities. Higher scores on two of the three superstition scales (PBS and BIGLS) were significantly correlated with higher scores on the Rotter's Locus of Control Scale. Higher scores on the same two superstition scales (PBS and BIGLS) also significantly correlated with lower scores on the vocabulary section of the Shipley Institute of Living Scale. Females scored significantly higher on the BDIS than males. However, higher scores on Rotter's Locus of Control scale were not significantly correlated with lower scores on the Shipley Institute of Living Scales or lower cumulative GP A. Also, higher cumulative GP A was not significantly correlated with higher scores on the BDIS or lower scores on the PBS.
Year of Submission
2004
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Psychology
First Advisor
Andrew Gilpin
Second Advisor
Augustine Osman
Third Advisor
Beverly Kopper
Date Original
2004
Object Description
1 PDF file (125 leaves)
Copyright
©2004 Jenni Rebecca Durham
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Durham, Jenni Rebecca, "Relationships Among Belief in Divine Intervention, Belief in Good Luck, Paranormal Beliefs, Locus of Control, Academic Ability, Cognitive Ability, and Gender" (2004). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2528.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2528
Comments
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