There has been some opposing views about a possible relationship between superstitious behavior and obsessive-compulsive behavior. Leonard, Goldberger, Rapoport and Cheslow (1990) found evidence that led to the view that obsessive compulsive disorder and superstitious behavior are not directly related. The more current view happens to support the opposite viewpoint. Frost, Krause, McMahon and Peppe (1993) examined the relationship between measures of obsessive-compulsive experiences and superstitious belief. They were able to correlate the measures of compulsivity and obssesionality with superstitious belief and behaviors.

Some of the studies on superstition have been aimed at demonstrating that the use of superstition is detrimental to the individual. Tobacyk and Shrader (1991) found that there is a link between less effective personality functioning and superstitious beliefs. Some of the researchers pose that superstitions have a legitimate place in society. Smith (1992) discussed the historic significance of the concept of the supernatural in the development of psychology.

Some research has indicated that belief in superstition leads to more unscientific theories. Tobacyk (1991) determined that when individuals exhibit strong belief in superstition they tend to also believe in abilities to predict the future. Duncan, Donnelly, Nicholson and Hees (1992) suggested that the students had not been adequately prepared by the program to think scientifically about the paranormal due to their discovery that more than 50% of the allied heath students surveyed at two universities believe in pseudoscience and the supernatural. Grimmer and White (1992) found that medical students ranked lowest, science students moderate and art students highest as far as their levels of belief in a variety of nonconventional phenomena.

There is much controversy related to the search for determining the most significant health belief system. Burgoon and Hall (1994) found that the understood health belief system is subdivided into three categories; those categories are scientific explanations, sorcery based explanations and the use of salves. Some research is aimed at integrating the different fields of discovery. Hinds (1995) discovered a means by which the effects of faith and belief are given a psychological basis.

There has been a large amount of controversy surrounding the study and belief in the paranormal. Thalbourne and French (1995) determined that paranormal belief was significantly correlated with manic, depressive, manic-depressive and the magical ideation. Fitzpatrick and Shook (1994) found that identity achievement is not a factor in determining belief in the paranormal. Randall (1990) proposed the possibility that belief in the paranormal has declined in the ten year period since the year 1977. Results Direct (1995) determined from a survey administered via the internet that more than 50% of the respondents believe in the paranormal.

Instead of looking to certain characteristics for the reasoning behind the belief in superstitions and the paranormal activity it might indeed be more practical to look at the divisions of the brain. Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council (1995) has determined the characteristics and behaviors associated within the two hemispheric regions of the brain. According to these lists the right hemisphere is more likely to be responsible for the belief in the supernatural. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a correlation between the amount an individual is right hemispheric dominant and the amount an individual tends to believe in superstition and the supernatural.

Participants

Materials

Procedures

Table 1

                              Response Percent
Question                      Yes          No
Bigfoot exists?               30.3%       69.7%
Governmental conspiracy?      53.4%       46.6%
Elvis alive?                   4.7%       95.3%
ESP?                          61.8%       38.2%
Other planet life?            51.2%       48.8%
Loch Ness monster exists?     24.7%       75.3%
UFO's from outer space?       45.3%       54.7%