Editorial: Emerging research: self-ascribed parapsychological abilities
Frontiers in Psychology April 10, 2025 Luca Simione, Camilla Pagani, Andrew Denovan et al.
Paranormal beliefs are linked to intuitive thinking, reduced analytical reasoning, and cognitive illusions, as well as to schizotypal personality traits and cognitive-perceptual tendencies. Theorists also connect these beliefs to emotional and existential functions, serving as coping mechanisms for uncertainty and mortality anxiety. Contemporary research has shifted from proving or disproving paranormal abilities to understanding their psychological underpinnings, particularly self-ascribed paranormal abilities rooted in direct personal experience. Individuals who claim such abilities exhibit heightened cognitive-perceptual tendencies like anomalous perception and absorption, with social and cultural factors reinforcing these self-attributions.