See Messer, W. S., & Griggs, R. A. (1989). Student belief and involvement in the paranormal and performance in introductory psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 16, 187191.
Assessed belief and involvement among 84 male and 92 female freshman undergraduates in 10 paranormal phenomena. Over 99% of Ss expressed belief in at least 1 phenomenon; over 65% indicated personal involvement in at least 1 phenomenon. Men who believed in ESP/psychokinesis and firewalking and women who felt they had personally experienced precognition during dreams had significantly lower course grades than their skeptical and uninvolved counterparts. Findings are discussed in light of the introductory psychology instructor's role in combating unfounded beliefs and fostering critical thinking skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
Those who have been following this thread may be interested in reading the letters published in the January and February issues of the APA Monitor in response to an article regarding belief in the paranormal (http://www.apa.org/monitor/jan03/letters.html).
The letters may be found:
http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/letters.html
http://www.apa.org/monitor/jan03/letters.html
Miguel
P.S. I have appreciated this discussion, but frankly, I still have a lot of difficulties reconciling a faculty member's right to deny a letter of recommendation based on a student's personal beliefs.
At 10:29 PM 2/7/2003 -0500, you wrote:
If the letter of rec. is supposed to be our estimate of a student's
ability to perform in graduate school or as a professional, religious
beliefs should ONLY be relevant if they are indeed correlated with
graduate school performance or professional performance. Where is the
evidence that religious beliefs are correlated with either of these? And
where is the evidence that people who don't believe in evolution can't (or
don't) perform as well in non-theologically oriented counseling programs?
Surely you have data to support such beliefs, right Paul?
Al
Miguel Roig, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Notre Dame Division of St. John's College
St. John's University
300 Howard Avenue
Staten Island, New York 10301
Voice: (718) 390-4513
Fax: (718) 390-4347
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm
___________________________________________________________________________
---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
