| Abstract/Results: | RESULTS:
The purpose of the present study is to test whether hallucinatory experiences respond to the dimensionality principle and whether they occur in non-psychotic disorders. Six hundred fifty six undergraduate students, 76% females and 24% males (age range 17-57), completed seven scales, such as the Hallucination Experiences Scale, Paranormal Experiences Questionnaire, Creative Experiences Questionnaire, Tellegen Absorption Scale, Dissociative Experiences Scale, Schizotypical Personality Questionnaire, and Eysenck Personality Inventory. Data for persons seeing apparitions (and having other experiences) were compared with data for those who did not. Experients scored higher on absorption (z= 6.06), dissociation (z= 4.65), fantasy proneness (z= 4.76) and cognitive perceptual schizotypy (z= 8.21) than non experients. Twentyfour (80%) out of 30 correlations were also significant. Apparitional and apparition-like experiences are related to higher levels of reports of absorption, dissociation and imaginative fantasy experiences. Such findings suggest that visions of ghosts may be related to cognitive processes involving fantasy and cognitive perceptual schizotypy proneness, which are correlated with each other. The results showed a higher level of cognitive-perceptual, schizotypy, absorption, dissociation, fantasy and hallucination proneness, and visual imagery in experiencers than in non-experiencers and confirm previous studies. The findings suggest that especially cognitive-perceptual aspects of schizotypy, such as disturbances in sense of self, certainly of self, and self-awareness, are essential features of persons who had paranormal experiencers.
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