Citation

This study aimed to create and validate a new scale, the “Belief in the  Supernatural Scale.” Study one used an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)  to reduce an initial item pool of 71 items to 44 and to identify a  factor structure with 382 participants. A five factor structure was  proposed: “mental and psychic phenomena,” “religious belief,”  “psychokinesis,” “supernatural entities,” and “common paranormal  perceptions.” We then analyzed the proposed scale in study two using a  Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with 318 new participants. The new  scale provides a wide range of items and indicates that while religious  and paranormal beliefs show a clear division, spiritual belief is spread  among those factors, indicating that spirituality might be the concept  that links religiosity and paranormality. The Belief in the Supernatural  Scale (BitSS) provides a valuable tool that can be used alone, or  alongside previous measures, for research into supernatural belief.