Are women more likely to believe in the paranormal?

[Bee]

My wife is a member of a popular mother/baby website and one thing always being discussed are ghosts/spirits and psychic experiences. She's just showed me a thread about a woman who last night put a bottle of medicine down in the kitchen and when she returned it had switched places with a bottle of brandy :rolleyes:. She wont entertain the idea she did it herself without realising and is already convinced a 'ghost' is to blame. Already several women have given her advice about how to communicate with the bottle-switching ghost and as usual it's started an avalanche of anecdotal supernatural stories. (I wanted to point out the only 'spirit' in her kitchen is in the brandy bottle but my wife wouldn't let me. Spoil sport :p.)

Anyhow one thing which I've always wondered especially since my mother is heavily into the supernatural, is why do women seem to be more willing than men to believe in the paranormal or does it just seem that way?

There is a spiritualist church in my small town and it is again predominantly attended by women. The audiences on those TV psychic shows are also mainly female. Is it something like 'female intuition' which they are mistaking for psychic ability making them more likely to believe in these things?

[Drudgewire]

Anyhow one thing which I've always wondered especially since my mother is heavily into the supernatural, is why do women seem to be more willing than men to believe in the paranormal or does it just seem that way?


It just seems that way... unless you change it to "straight men," then you're right on the money. :p

[Careyp74]

I cannot draw a conclusion from your anecdotal evidence, so my only response would be that a simple random sample test is in order. Devise a set of questions to determine if someone believes in the paranormal. Then draw from both populations of sex, and ask the questions. Otherwise, again, anecdotal.

[tesscaline]

Personally, I know just as many men (straight and not) that believe all sorts of woo as I do women.

UFO's, CTists, Bigfoot fanatics...

[TMiguel]

From my experience, I know that are more women to believe in astrology then men, or in a bunch of mach making spells. Stuff like ghost are kind of more like even between the sexes, and conspiracy theories and super powers are found more on men.
I guess the beliefs in the paranormal follows different sexualised fashions like clouting.

[paximperium]

Wasn't there a poll done a few years back that looked at this?
If I remember the amount of woo believed in the US was about the same between the sexes but the type of woo was different.

Does anyone remember this poll?

[Ashles]

I worked in a holistic healing centre for about nine months. The majority of visitors were female.

There, I think that objectively wraps everything up. :)

[Jeff Corey]

Shermer, in Why People believe in Weird Things, cites some polls that show that women tend to believe in things like communicating with the dead and men are more oriented toward UFOs and Bigfoot. Overall, though, woo belief is not predominantly limited to women.

[I Ratant]

Yeah, chicks are bonkers.

[Bee]

Shermer, in Why People believe in Weird Things, cites some polls that show that women tend to believe in things like communicating with the dead and men are more oriented toward UFOs and Bigfoot. Overall, though, woo belief is not predominantly limited to women.

Thanks for that, I'll have to look out for that book. I already have Shermers How we Believe and Science Friction.

I was raised mainly by my mother who was always surrounded by her woo-loving friends so I expected my opinions to be biased. However now it's been mentioned I can see there does seem to be a difference in the types of woo men and women follow. My step-dad had me really hooked on Daniken when I was a teen since he was such a UFO and conspiracy 'enthusiast'. My mother didn't really care for that type of thing but did have me using a dowsing chain to contact dead relatives (only for them to tell me stuff I already knew :rolleyes:).

I know this is all anecdotal but it's interesting all the same ;).

[Jeff Corey]

Another observation is that in every audience for John Edward's "Crossing Over" and other venues, about 8 out 10 were women. And I wonder how many of the men were willing participants. Few seen to play into the cold readings with confirmation.

[godless dave]

In my experience, women are either more likely to believe in the magic/angel/psychics/fate/destiny style of paranormal than men are, or they are more likely to be willing to profess those beliefs, or they are less likely to publicly doubt those beliefs because of social pressure.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

My wife is a member of a popular mother/baby website and one thing always being discussed are ghosts/spirits and psychic experiences. She's just showed me a thread about a woman who last night put a bottle of medicine down in the kitchen and when she returned it had switched places with a bottle of brandy :rolleyes:. She wont entertain the idea she did it herself without realising and is already convinced a 'ghost' is to blame. Already several women have given her advice about how to communicate with the bottle-switching ghost and as usual it's started an avalanche of anecdotal supernatural stories. (I wanted to point out the only 'spirit' in her kitchen is in the brandy bottle but my wife wouldn't let me. Spoil sport :p.)

Anyhow one thing which I've always wondered especially since my mother is heavily into the supernatural, is why do women seem to be more willing than men to believe in the paranormal or does it just seem that way?

There is a spiritualist church in my small town and it is again predominantly attended by women. The audiences on those TV psychic shows are also mainly female. Is it something like 'female intuition' which they are mistaking for psychic ability making them more likely to believe in these things?

I guarantee that if you went to a 9/11 conspiracy theorist convention, Kennedy assassination conspiracy museum, a Holocaust denial convention, a UFO or alien abduction event or to Loch Ness to see the Nessie hunters, the majority of people there would be men. Some women, yes, even quite a few women but more than half would be men.

Creationism is one area of woo where somewhat more women than men seem to believe in it- because women are more likely to be religious than men- but the leaders and most prominent proponents of it are almost all men. The Jerry Falwells, the Kent Hovinds, the Ben Steins. Although you have folks like Ann Coulter, too.

So you men have plenty to blame yourselves for. Plenty.

[sg1985]

I've never really thought about the difference between sex and the type of woo that they believe. I'm female and I'm skeptical about everything. I mainly hang out with friends who are also skeptics so from my pool of experience, I know a lot of female's that don't believe in woo.

If you think the bottle story is scary; one time I left my closet doors open and when I came back to my room...... They were closed!!!

[Bee]

If you think the bottle story is scary; one time I left my closet doors open and when I came back to my room...... They were closed!!!

Thats nothing, last week I left a catalogue on my doorstop for the rep to collect and when I returned home...it had been posted back through my letterbox!!

I also had an angry note from the rep complaining he couldn't collect my catalogue and to leave it on the doorstep next time :rolleyes:.

[TheDeeMan]

Personally, I know just as many men (straight and not) that believe all sorts of woo as I do women.

UFO's, CTists, Bigfoot fanatics...

Same here. It's not a sex thing, it's an open minedness thing.

Dee

[arthwollipot]

More anecdotal evidence: Shows like Crossing Over, JvP's show, Oprah, Montel, Most Haunted, Dr Phil and so forth all show in Australia on Channel W (http://www.wchannel.com.au/about/default.aspx) - the channel targeted at women.

[Professor Yaffle]

The endorsement of most, but certainly not all, paranormal beliefs is stronger among women than among men. Higher scores by women on global measures of paranormal belief are reported by Irwin (1985), McGarry and Newberry (1981), Randall (1990), Randall and Desrosiers (1980), and Tobacyk and Milford (1983), although no difference between
the sexes was found by Jones et al. (1977).
Turning now to specific dimensions of paranormal belief, women usually show stronger belief than men in ESP, especially telepathy and precognition (Clarke, 1991; Emmons & Sobal, 1981; Gray, 1990b; Haraldsson, 1981, 1985a; Irwin, 1985; Kennedy, 1939; Thalbourne, 1981; Tobacyk & Milford, 1983). Women also show stronger belief in superstitions (Blum, 1976; Blum & Blum, 1974; Emme, 1940; Scheidt, 1973), astrology (Clarke, 1991; Emmons & Sobal, 1981; Fichten & Sunerton, 1983; Gray, 1990b; Grey, 1988; Salter & Routledge, 1971; Wuthnow, 1976; Za’rour, 1972), hauntings (Haraldsson, 1985a), psychic healing (Gray, 1990b), reincarnation (Gray, 1990b), and traditional religious concepts (Black, 1990; Emmons & Sobal, 1981; Hay & Morisy, 1978; Tobacyk & Milford, 1983).
This general trend nevertheless is reversed for some other dimensions. Thus, men show relatively stronger belief in UFOs (Clarke, 1991; Gray, 1990b) and in extraordinary life forms such as the Loch Ness monster (Tobacyk & Milford, 1983; Tobacyk & Pirttila-Backman, 1992).
Belief in witchcraft generally does not vary with gender (Emmons & Sobal, 1981; Haraldsson, 1985a; Tobacyk & Milford, 1983), although Salter and Routledge (1971) and Tobacyk and Pirttila-Backman (1992) do report belief in witchcraft to be higher among men than women.


http://www.aiprinc.org/para-ac05_Irwin_1993.pdf

[Bee]

http://www.aiprinc.org/para-ac05_Irwin_1993.pdf

Thanks for the link I'll have a good read through that when I have more time.

I like the statistic about men believing witchcraft more than women, a crafty excuse to justify all sorts if behaviour I bet ;). Doubt it would cut any ice with most women though. "Honestly sweetheart it's not my fault, she bewitched me." :D

[AgeGap]

Do you count religion as woo?

[TheDeeMan]

If not, you should.

Dee

[Blackadder]

Shermer, in Why People believe in Weird Things, cites some polls that show that women tend to believe in things like communicating with the dead and men are more oriented toward UFOs and Bigfoot. Overall, though, woo belief is not predominantly limited to women.

am I correct in thinking this goes back to CaveManKind?

Men hunting out in the wild , so more receptive for things Out There

Women staying more at home, so more receptive for things Here (like ghosts of dead relatives)

[Cainkane1]

My wife is a member of a popular mother/baby website and one thing always being discussed are ghosts/spirits and psychic experiences. She's just showed me a thread about a woman who last night put a bottle of medicine down in the kitchen and when she returned it had switched places with a bottle of brandy :rolleyes:. She wont entertain the idea she did it herself without realising and is already convinced a 'ghost' is to blame. Already several women have given her advice about how to communicate with the bottle-switching ghost and as usual it's started an avalanche of anecdotal supernatural stories. (I wanted to point out the only 'spirit' in her kitchen is in the brandy bottle but my wife wouldn't let me. Spoil sport :p.)

Anyhow one thing which I've always wondered especially since my mother is heavily into the supernatural, is why do women seem to be more willing than men to believe in the paranormal or does it just seem that way?

There is a spiritualist church in my small town and it is again predominantly attended by women. The audiences on those TV psychic shows are also mainly female. Is it something like 'female intuition' which they are mistaking for psychic ability making them more likely to believe in these things?
When I was a kid my Grandmother who was born in 1900 told me that ghosts didn't exist. She stressed that it was foolish to even think about it. My mother was the same way. I'm sorry your mother is into the paranormal hogwash.

[Bee]

When I was a kid my Grandmother who was born in 1900 told me that ghosts didn't exist. She stressed that it was foolish to even think about it. My mother was the same way. I'm sorry your mother is into the paranormal hogwash.

My mums entire side of the family is into some sort of superstition and I used to have an old Aunt who was a self confessed 'good witch' but I remember very little about her apart from thrashing my dad with nettles for some reason :eek:. My mother finds it laughable I don't believe in ghosts anymore but she's not as bad as she used to be. She's one of those people who will cite there is so much evidence it can't all be nonsense, ie. quantity over quality is proof enough.

[TheDeeMan]

am I correct in thinking this goes back to CaveManKind?

Men hunting out in the wild , so more receptive for things Out There

Women staying more at home, so more receptive for things Here (like ghosts of dead relatives)

Huh??? LOL! :)

Dee

[TheDeeMan]

When I was a kid my Grandmother who was born in 1900 told me that ghosts didn't exist. She stressed that it was foolish to even think about it. My mother was the same way. I'm sorry your mother is into the paranormal hogwash.

Hogwash? Well, I guess that all depends on the hog.

My mom's always believed in ghosts. And will gladlytell you stories of her experiences with them when she was growing up.

Dee

[TheDeeMan]

My mums entire side of the family is into some sort of superstition and I used to have an old Aunt who was a self confessed 'good witch' but I remember very little about her apart from thrashing my dad with nettles for some reason :eek:. My mother finds it laughable I don't believe in ghosts anymore but she's not as bad as she used to be. She's one of those people who will cite there is so much evidence it can't all be nonsense, ie. quantity over quality is proof enough.

I have an aunt who claims to have a "spirit guide" whoshows her things. So I can relate.

Dee

[sthomson]

am I correct in thinking this goes back to CaveManKind?

Men hunting out in the wild , so more receptive for things Out There

Women staying more at home, so more receptive for things Here (like ghosts of dead relatives)

Ugh, if there's anything I dislike more than woo, it must be misapplied evolutionary psychology a.k.a. "Just So Stories".

[TheDeeMan]

Ugh, if there's anything I dislike more than woo, it must be misapplied evolutionary psychology a.k.a. "Just So Stories".

More than woo??? :)

Dee

[ponderingturtle]

Shermer, in Why People believe in Weird Things, cites some polls that show that women tend to believe in things like communicating with the dead and men are more oriented toward UFOs and Bigfoot. Overall, though, woo belief is not predominantly limited to women.

When Rebecca looked into this for a talk at NY skeptics she found that his evidence for most of the beliefs that men have more often was anecdotal. There where more men at creationism conferences, but in polls more women believe in creationism.

The only evidence she could find of some woo that men believe in more than women was UFO's. I do not remember if there was bigfoot evidence, but 9/11 conspiracy theories and creationism have more women believers even if the most vocal core are men.

[ponderingturtle]

I guarantee that if you went to a 9/11 conspiracy theorist convention, Kennedy assassination conspiracy museum, a Holocaust denial convention, a UFO or alien abduction event or to Loch Ness to see the Nessie hunters, the majority of people there would be men. Some women, yes, even quite a few women but more than half would be men.


Ah but you are not asking for example who believes in 9/11 conspiracy theories, but who goes to conventions. There are many people who hold beliefs but might not act on them in that fashion.

[ponderingturtle]

Do you count religion as woo?

Likely not in the abstract, but certain practices certainly count, like faith healing.

[Kuko 4000]

From my experience, at least among the people attending different "woo" events in Finland, there is a clear distinction between sexes. Like others have mentioned, men seem to be more inclined towards "cold" conspiracy theories, UFO's, Bigfoot, etc. and women more towards the "warm" new age / CAM stuff.

[Nyarlathotep]

Women aren;t more oriented to believe in Woo, women are just oriented to believe in DIFFERENT woo. Someone who really thinks The Secret is going to solve all their problems? Usually a woman. That person who goes on and on about how the government is covering up evidence of aliens? Usually a guy.

[TheDeeMan]

From my experience, at least among the people attending different "woo" events in Finland, there is a clear distinction between sexes. Like others have mentioned, men seem to be more inclined towards "cold" conspiracy theories, UFO's, Bigfoot, etc. and women more towards the "warm" new age / CAM stuff.

I agree.

Dee

[TheDeeMan]

Women aren;t more oriented to believe in Woo, women are just oriented to believe in DIFFERENT woo. Someone who really thinks The Secret is going to solve all their problems? Usually a woman. That person who goes on and on about how the government is covering up evidence of aliens? Usually a guy.

Too true.

Dee

[TMiguel]

am I correct in thinking this goes back to CaveManKind?

Men hunting out in the wild , so more receptive for things Out There

Women staying more at home, so more receptive for things Here (like ghosts of dead relatives)
That is a very good Hypothesis, it may be due to a mixture of social/genetic reasons.

[TMiguel]

Likely not in the abstract, but certain practices certainly count, like faith healing.

Somewhat relative, if you are raised as an atheist then religion is not different then any other kind of Woo. If you get hammered whit religion for child you might not have to much of an option in believing in it, and even if you become later an atheist religion is no more then a mistake.

[Mark6]

Shermer, in Why People believe in Weird Things, cites some polls that show that women tend to believe in things like communicating with the dead and men are more oriented toward UFOs and Bigfoot. Overall, though, woo belief is not predominantly limited to women.

I think it can be summarised this way:

Women tend to believe in woo they think they influence and/or participate in, such as telepathy and ghosts that communicate with them personally.

Men tend to believe in woo which is vast, impersonal, and outside their ability to influence.

Notice that "personal" woo pretty much has to involve a supernatural element. It's very hard to come up with something which a) one may interact with every day, b) is invisible/unknown to world at large, and c) is within realm of known science. OTOH, vast conspiracies can be entirely man-made.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Ah but you are not asking for example who believes in 9/11 conspiracy theories, but who goes to conventions. There are many people who hold beliefs but might not act on them in that fashion.

That's a very good point. For instance, most of the 9/11 nuts I see loudly protesting at Ground Zero or handing out flyers in public parks are men...but who knows how many women hold beliefs like that but don't act on them.

Protesting may be a man thing to do but believing the government was responsible for a terrorist attack may be another story.

I think it's accurate to say that women are more into "touchy feely" and "hugs and kisses" woo and men are more into "big and grand" or "geeky" woo.

Some of the paranormal seems to be universal; quackery and most bogus cures attract anyone who is sick and desperate, completely regardless of sex, race or age.

[Mercutio]

Women and Superstition, Part One. (http://podblack.com/?p=488)

Part Two (http://podblack.com/?p=500)

Part Three (http://podblack.com/?p=628)

[Amapola]

EeneyMinnieMoe, I love you for not saying "irregardless"! Thank you!

I live in NM, land of paranormal beliefs (after all, we've got Roswell (mostly men believing in this) and the "Taos Hum" (also mostly men) among many other things) and I do not notice a difference in gender in a person believing goofy things. Having lived in other states I can say I have not noticed a gender difference in believing goofy things in other states besides NM, either. I wonder if someone could do a study on this? Of course you would have to work out what equals "goofy" here.

Did you know that many well companies (people who drill wells, for those who do not know) insist that you hire a dowser before they will drill? That has been my experience. These are hard working men who honestly believe that if a dowser does not tell them to drill in a certain place (and the dowsers are usually men too in my experience) they feel they may be drilling a "dry hole", and will go to all lengths to get you to hire a dowser first because "you will have to pay for it if is a dry hole". AS IF they would pay for it if the dowser is wrong... no, YOU are paying for it no matter what. You'll just have to pay extra if you do hire that dowser.

I can't even tell you how many men have told me weird anecdotal stories about how I should handle my livestock.

I suppose that if you look at goofy beliefs held by people that are in the lime light, women might prevail. But men have many of their own goofy beliefs, at least so I have seen.

I think this is a HUMAN belief or trend and has nothing to do with gender.

[sthomson]

Women and Superstition, Part One. (http://podblack.com/?p=488)

Part Two (http://podblack.com/?p=500)

Part Three (http://podblack.com/?p=628)

Excellent links, Mercutio. I hadn't seen them yet. I especially like this part, from the second part: she recalls elements community spirit and kinship that can exist with shared beliefs. When it comes to speaking out as a skeptic should be considered as a factor as to why women would not self-identify so easily with the skeptically-minded, nor find it so easy to give up what can be a significant ‘comfort zone’

There's an element of militantly-independent thinking in common between some skeptics and some conspiracy theorists. I wonder if we look at collectivist cultures, whether there is less of a difference in the types of beliefs that men and women hold.

[desertgal]

Is it something like 'female intuition' which they are mistaking for psychic ability making them more likely to believe in these things?

I think so.

For example, I've had a few experiences where I felt that something was wrong with one of my kids, and then gotten a call from their schools to pick them up, or seen them come home from school and complain of not feeling well. Mothers sense things, and I believe I detected something-a paler face than usual, a difference in their attitude, or a wheeze to their breathing-that registered subconsciously and niggled at the back of my mind.

I don't confuse it with psychic ability, but I can see how women would. Especially if they have been fed the old wives' tales about feminine intuition.

[arthwollipot]

Do you count religion as woo?Nah. That's got its own channel (http://www.acctv.com.au/).

[TheDeeMan]

EeneyMinnieMoe, I love you for not saying "irregardless"! Thank you!

I live in NM, land of paranormal beliefs (after all, we've got Roswell (mostly men believing in this) and the "Taos Hum" (also mostly men) among many other things) and I do not notice a difference in gender in a person believing goofy things. Having lived in other states I can say I have not noticed a gender difference in believing goofy things in other states besides NM, either. I wonder if someone could do a study on this? Of course you would have to work out what equals "goofy" here.

Did you know that many well companies (people who drill wells, for those who do not know) insist that you hire a dowser before they will drill? That has been my experience. These are hard working men who honestly believe that if a dowser does not tell them to drill in a certain place (and the dowsers are usually men too in my experience) they feel they may be drilling a "dry hole", and will go to all lengths to get you to hire a dowser first because "you will have to pay for it if is a dry hole". AS IF they would pay for it if the dowser is wrong... no, YOU are paying for it no matter what. You'll just have to pay extra if you do hire that dowser.

I can't even tell you how many men have told me weird anecdotal stories about how I should handle my livestock.

I suppose that if you look at goofy beliefs held by people that are in the lime light, women might prevail. But men have many of their own goofy beliefs, at least so I have seen.

I think this is a HUMAN belief or trend and has nothing to do with gender.

Interesting about the Dowser. Never heard of that.

Dee

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

EeneyMinnieMoe, I love you for not saying "irregardless"! Thank you!

You're welcome! :) It's the most annoying redundancy in the English language that is yet widely accepted as perfectly correct.

[Gravy]

I guarantee that if you went to a 9/11 conspiracy theorist convention, Kennedy assassination conspiracy museum, a Holocaust denial convention, a UFO or alien abduction event or to Loch Ness to see the Nessie hunters, the majority of people there would be men. Some women, yes, even quite a few women but more than half would be men. Yes, and I've wondered what that actually indicates. For example, several polls have shown that compared to men, a equal or greater percentage of U.S. women believe that the 9/11 attacks may have been committed or deliberately aided by the U.S. government. In some cases, depending on the question, the difference can be quite large. That surprised me, because the 9/11 "truther" activists – the people protesting in the streets and making videos and going to conferences – are about 85% male.

To me this raises some questions for which I have no answers, but I'd like to see more studies and polling data:

Do men tend to have more time on their hands to indulge in these beliefs or activities?

On what type and level of exposure to information is the belief based? Has the poll participant ever heard these claims before or any details about them? Ever looked into them at all?

Does this indicate that the polls don't accurately measure the strength of the belief, which could be determined with a few more questions? Are the questions too vague?

Do more women tend to believe conspiratorial claims based on hearing a few basics, but more men tend to investigate those claims and conclude that they're false? If so, that might explain why fewer men believe the conspiracy theory but more men become activists in the face of contradictory evidence: the activists have looked into the claims and found the evidence supporting them to be compelling.

Are men more spurred to action by their political beliefs?

Are men simply more likely to create or join "clubs?"

Does a man's paranormal or conspiratorial belief tend to manifest itself in action more than a woman's does (I wonder what percentage of MDC applicants have been men?), whether or not it is believed that action will have a positive effect?

When confronting such beliefs, do men tend to feel more empowered – that they can do something to affect the situation – and women more apathetic or helpless?