The following are the descriptions and links to print copies for some psychological measures that have been utilized in the field of scientific parapsychology, both clinically and experimentally.
Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI): Developed by Cicero, Kerns & McCarthy (2010), is a 29-item yes-no inventory surveying experiences of aberrant salience (i.e. an abnormal level to which something in the environment can catch and retain one’s attention). It is reported to have a satisfactory convergent and discriminative validity, and a high internal consistency. (Download Copy)
Anomalous Experiences Inventory (AEI): Developed by Kumar et al., (1994), this is a 70-item true-false inventory examining self-reports of beliefs and experiences of paranormal phenomena. It consists of various sub-scales: paranormal belief (Belief, 12 items, e.g., “I believe that mind can control matter”), anomalous/paranormal experiences (Experience, 29 items, e.g., “I often seem to become aware of events be-fore they happen”), paranormal ability (Ability, 16 items, e.g., “I can influence or change an event by concentrating on that event”), fear of the paranormal (Fear, 6 items, e.g., “Hearing about the paranormal or psychic experiences is very scary”), and use of drugs and alcohol (Drugs, 7 items, e.g., “I have tried mind-altering substances”). The anomalous experience sub-scale of the AEI contains para-psychological items (e.g., telepathy) alongside a broader spectrum of phenomena including altered states of consciousness, OBEs, witchcraft, aliens, among others. (Download Copy)
Attentional Resource Allocation Scale (ARAS): Developed by Carleton, Abrams & Asmundson (2010), is a 15-item scale that addresses the range of dissociative behaviors and has been found to have three factors: imaginative involvement (i.e. absorption), dissociative amnesia, and attentional dissociation. (Download Copy)
Australian Sheep-Goat Scale (AS-GS): Developed by Thalbourne & Haraldsson (1980), is an 18-item questionnaire that assess the extent to which an individual believes (i.e. sheep) or does not believe (i.e. goat) in psychic/paranormal phenomena. The AS-GS continues to be one of the most accepted instruments in extrasensory research, and is one of the few instruments used in all areas of the research reviewed here.
Thalbourne, M. A., & Haraldsson, E. (1980). Personality characteristics of sheep and goats. Personality and Individual Differences, 1, 180-185. (Download Copy)
Barber Suggestibility Scale (BSS): Developed by Barber & Wilson (1978), is an 8-item measure of hypnotic susceptibility that can be administered individually and with or without hypnotic induction. The DSS can be scored either objectively or subjectively. (Download Copy)
Barrett Hallucinations Questionnaire (BHQ): Developed by Barrett (1993), and Barrett & Etheridge (1992; 1994), is a 22-item questionnaire measuring the propensity toward hallucinations in six different sensory modalities.
Cardiff Anomalous Perceptions Scale (CAPS): Developed by Vaughan, Halligan, & Ellis (2006), is a 32-item validated and reliable, self-report scale that includes subscales measuring distress, intrusiveness, and frequency, of anomalous experiences. The scale was completed by a general population sample against a small sample of psychotic inpatients, where psychotic inpatients scored significantly more than the general population. Three principal components were revealed in an analysis of the general population data included “clinical psychosis.” “temporal lobe disturbance,” and “chemosensation” (i.e. largely olfactory and gustatory). (Download Copy)
Child Abuse & Trauma Scale (CATs): Developed by Sanders & Becker-Lausen (1995), is a 38-item scale measuring the frequency and extent of negative childhood experiences. The scale consist of questions pertaining to the general atmosphere of an individuals childhood home environment and treatment. (Download Copy)
Creative Imagination Scale (CIS): Developed by Barber & Wilson (1978), is a 10-item permissive scale that measures responsiveness to suggestions, that does not require trance induction, and can be administered as easily to individuals as groups. In addition, the CIS allows subjects to produce the phenomena themselves, rather than be under the control of the hypnotist or experimenter. (Download Copy)
Creative Personality Scale (CPS): Developed by Thalbourne & Delin (1994), a 9-item assessment designed to measure creative personality. The CPS includes five items from the Torrance Creative Motivation Inventory (Torrance, 1971, pp. 95-96 and, with the remaining four items designed specifically for the Creative Personality Scale. The scale has an internal reliability coefficient of .62 and its validity has been tested in two semi-formal studies.
Depersonalization Severity Scale (DSS): Developed by Simeon, & Guralnik, & Schmeidler (2001), is a 6-item clinician-rated scale for assessing depersonalization severity for those with Depersonalization Disorder and trauma-related disorders. (Download Copy)
Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule (DDIS): Developed by Ross, et al. (1989, is a highly structured 131-item diagnostic interview for DSM-5 disorders including: Somatization Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and all Dissociative Disorders. The interview includes questions pertaining to Schizophrenia (positive symptoms), Dissociative Identity Disorder (secondary features), extrasensory experiences (ESP), substance abuse, and various other items in relation to Dissociative Disorders. (Download Copy)
Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES): Developed by Bernstein & Putnam (1986), is a 28-item self-assessment questionnaire that measures dissociative symptoms. With the DES, the higher the score, the more likely an individual has Dissociative Identity Disorder (i.e. previously known as Multiple Identity Disorder – MPD). However, the DES is only a screening instrument rather than a diagnostic measure. In a sample of 1,051 clinical subjects, only 17% of the sample with scores 30+ were actually diagnosed with DID. (Download Copy)
Emotion-Based Reasoning Subscale (EBRS): Developed by Peters et al. (2013), the emotion-based subscale of the Cognitive Biases Questionnaire is a 6-item subscale indexing the inclination to believe that what one feels is true regardless of presented evidence as opposed to logical reasoning. (Download Copy)
Exceptional Experience Questionnaire (EEQ): Developed by Kohls & Walach (2002), this set of questionnaires includes a 57-item Paranor-mal Experiences questionnaire (e.g. “I clearly hear, without noticeable external influence, voices that give me helpful advice“), a 10-item questionnaire designed to expand on the former questionnaire (e.g. “Could you induce your previous paranormal experience(s) by your-self?), a 25-item questionnaire assessing persuasion and surroundings (e.g. I feel connected with a higher power/ a higher being/ God.), a 13-item questionnaire that assesses attitudes towards life (e.g. How often do you feel that the things you do in your daily life have little purpose?), a 7-item questionnaire assessing the topic of spirituality/religion, and a 9-item questionnaire addressing demo-graphical information. The overall topics include positive spiritual experiences, negative spiritual experiences, psychopathological experiences, and visionary dream experiences. (Download Copy)
Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (HGSHS): Developed by Shar & Orne (1962), is an adaptation of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale for group administration with self-report scoring. The HGSHS eliminates the need for a trained examiner to conduct a case-by-case testing and can be utilized regardless of group size. (Download Copy) (Download Copy)
Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSP): Developed by Aron & Aron (1997), is a 27-item scale designed for surveying experiences of sensitivity from both internal and external stimuli. Items include questions such as “Do you seem to be aware of subtleties in your environment?” and “Are you made uncomfortable by loud noises?” Subscales include: ease of excitation, aesthetic sensitivity, and low sensory threshold. (Download Copy)
Human Information Processing Survey/Questionnaire (HIP): Developed by Taggart & Valenzi (1990), is a 30-item questionnaire distributed over 3 intuition scales and 3 rational scales for assessing rational versus intuitive styles of thinking. (Download Copy)
Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings (ICMI): Developed by Wilson & Barber (1981), is a 103-item scale with shorter versions including the ICMI-C, developed by Myers (1983), a 48-item inventory that examines memory for imaginative activities and fantasies from childhood and how such imaginings may later affect adult experiences or continue to remain a part of function well into adulthood, and the Creative Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ), developed by Merckelbach et al. (2001), which consists of 25 items. (Download Copy)
Life Experiences Survey (LES): Developed by Sarason, Johnson & Siegel (1978), is a 50-item self-report for the general population with 10 additional items for students only. It measures positive and negative events experienced by individuals over the course of the previous year, and the perceived stress in relation to those events. (Download Copy)
Magical Ideation Scale (MIS): Developed by Eckblad & Chapman (1983), is a 30-item true-false measure for paranormal and delusion-like beliefs including telepathy, astrology, conspiracy theories, and UFOs, etc. These belief forms of causation are considered by the developers as going against conventional standards as invalid beliefs. Magical ideation is an indicator/symptom of schizotypy or schizophrenia proneness and presents questions to identify thought broadcasting, thought reading, thought withdrawal, passivity, auditory and visual hallucinations, aberrant beliefs. (Download Copy)
Mental Health Inventory (MHI): Devloped by Viet & Ware (1983), is a 38-item inventory designed to measure psychological distress and well-being. Short form versions include the (MHI-17), developed by Stewart, Ware, Sherbourne, & Wells (1992), measuring an individuals menal health over the course of the past two weeks and includes 5 subscales: anxiety, depression, behavioral and emotional control, general positive, and emotional ties. There also exists a MHI-5 and MHI-3. (Download Copy) (Download Copy)
Openness to Experience (OE): Developed by Costa & McCrae (1985), is a 30-item subscale of the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI). Since then, there have been two revisions of the inventory (NEO-PI-R; 1992) and the (NEO-PI-3; 2010). The NEO-PI in general is the standard measure of the Five Factor Model, and provides a systematic assessment of emotional, interpersonal, experiential, attitudinal, and motivational styles. Openness to experience involves six facets/dimensions including: active imagination (fantasy), aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, preference for variety, and intellectual curiosity. (Download Copy) (Download Copy)
Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experience, Short Form (O-LIFE): Developed by Mason, Linney, & Claridge (2005), the short form is a 43-item index of dimensional schizotypy. The questionnaire is comprised of four subscales labeled Unusual Experiences (i.e. positive schizotypy), Cognitive Disorganization (i.e. concerns difficulties with attention and decision-making), Introvertive Anhedonia (i.e. negative schizotypy), and Impulsive Nonconformity (i.e. impulsive, violent, and reckless behaviors). Mason, O., Linnley, Y., & Claridge, G. (2005). Short scales for measuring schizotypy, Schizophrenia Research, 78, pp. 293-296. (Download Copy)
Perceived Childhood Control Questionnaire (PCCQ): Developed by Watt, Watson & Wilson (2006), is a 30-item questionnaire designed to measure perceived childhood control within both personal and interpersonal domains. The PCCQ was primarily based on items adapted from the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children (Nowicki & Strickland, 1973) and the Parental Bonding Instrument (Parker, Tupling, & Brown, 1979). (Download Copy)
Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS): Developed by Chapman et al., 1978), is a 35-item, true-false assessment of perceptual distortions associated with body image (e.g., “I sometimes have had the feeling that my body is abnormal”). (Download Copy)
Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI): Developed by Pekala (1982; 1991), this 53-item questionnaire measuring subjective experiences. It is a “retrospective self-report questionnaire completed in reference to a preceding stimulus condition.” The PCI assesses 12 dimensions of consciousness including: altered experience, positive affect, negative affect, attention, imagery, self-awareness, state of awareness, internal dialoged, rationality, volitional control, memory, and arousal. (Download Copy)
Questionnaire of Mental Imagery (QMI): Developed by Betts (1909), is a 150-item questionnaire measuring the vividness of mental imagery and measuring across seven different sensory modalities including: visual, auditory, cutaneous, kinaesthetic, gustatory, olfactory and organic. (Download Copy)
Reality Testing Subscale (RT): Developed by Lenzenweger, Clarkin, Kernberg, & Foelsch, (2001), the reality testing subscale of the Inventory of Personality Organization (IPO), is a 20-item subscale of the self-report instrument that is intended to measure a an individual’s level of personality organization. There is also a short form revision (IPO-R) developed by Smits et al. (2009). (Download Copy) (Download Copy)
Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (R-PBS): Developed by Tobacyk (2004), this 26-item instrument measures the degree of paranormal belief in 7 dimensions: (1) Traditional Religious Beliefs, (2) Psi, (3) Witchcraft, (4) Superstition, (5) Spiritualism, (6) Extraordinary Life Forms, and (7) Precognition. The revised version of the PBS adopts a seven-point rating scale, and there are some item changes, as opposed to the 5-point rating scale in the original PBS Tobacyk & Milford (1983). These improvements “provide greater reliability and validity, less restriction of range, and greater cross-cultural validity.” (Download Copy)
Rotter‘s Locus of Control Scale (RLCS): Developed by Rotter (1966), is a 29-item scale measuring internal and external locus of control i.e. whether an individuals interpret events being either a result of their own actions or external influences, which has been suggested to influence reward expectancy and behavior. (Download Copy)
Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ): Developed by Raine (1991), is a 74-item self-report scale measuring schizotypy. The scale was modeled on the DSM-III-R criteria for schizotypal personality disorder and contains all nine subscales for schizotypal traits. A brief form exists (SPQ-B), which was developed by Raine & Benishay (1995), and is a 22-item self-report questionnaire. (Download Copy) (Download Copy)
Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS): Developed by Zuckerman (1964), is a 40-item scale with the following interelated subscales: thrill and adventure seeking, disinhibition, experience seeking, and boredom Susceptibility. It has had a few revisions and is currently on SSS-V. Sensation seeking is defined as „the seeking of varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences and the willingness to take physical, social, legal, and financial risks for the sake of such experiences” by Zuckerman (1994). (Download Copy)
Short Boundary Questionnaire (BQ-Sh): Developed by Rawlings (2001), is a 46-item questionnaire with a 5-point scale and six subscales including: 12-item subscale for “unusual experiences,” 12-item subscale for “need for order,” 6-item subscale for “trust,” 9-item subscale for “perceived competence.” 5-item subscale for “childlikeness,” and 2-item subscale for “sensitivity.” (Download Copy)
Spheres of Control Scale (SOC): Developed by Paulhus (1983), is a 30-item scale measuring three dimensions of control including personal efficacy, interpersonal control, and sociopolitical control. (Download Copy)
Survey of Anomalous Experiences (SAE): Developed by Irwin, Dagnall & Drinkwater (2013), the SAE is a 20-item survey addressing anomalous or uncanny experiences. The survey has 2 scores for each participant. The first score indexes a proneness to anomalous experiences (PAE) and the second score indexes a proneness to paranormal attribution (PPA) (i.e. when individuals attribute their anomalous experiences to paranormal processes). The questionnaire asks whether the individual has had certain types of anomalous experiences and what the individual thinks about these experiences (i.e. whether they attribute the experience to normal or paranormal processes). (Download Copy)
Survey of Recent Life Experiences (SRLE): Developed by Koln & MacDonald (1992), is a 41-item self-report, short form measure of “hassles” asking the individual how often in the past month have such experience been a part of their life. (Download Copy)
Survey of Scientifically Unaccepted Beliefs (SSUB): Developed by Irwin & Marks, (2013), this 20-item questionnaire measure of scientifically unaccepted beliefs comprises of 2 scales (1) New Age Beliefs (NAB), and (2) Traditional Religious Beliefs (TRB) The NAB includes questions pertaining to belief in spontaneous psi phenomena, divinatory arts, esoteric systems of magic, New Age therapies, spiritism, extraterrestrial aliens, traditional folkloric notions, and paranormal fads. The TRB includes questions pertaining to the fundamental concepts of Judeo-Christian-Muslim religions (e.g. God, the Creator, the Devil, hell, and the power of prayer). (Download Copy)
Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS): Developed by Tellegen & Atkinson (1974), a scale of Tellegen’s Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire, is a 34-item true-false scale that correlates with numerous variables (e.g. measuring hypnotic susceptibility and imagery). The TAS was revised in 1982. For information, contact Bev Kaemmer, Manager of the Test Division of the University of Minnesota Press.
Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT): Developed by Torrance (1966), is a measure of creativity and “divergent thinking” with four subscales including: fluency, originality, abstractness of titles, resistance to premature closing, and elaboration for children, adolescents and adults. Creative strengths that can be reviews include: emotional expressiveness, storytelling articulateness, movement or action, expressiveness of titles, synthesis of incomplete figures, synthesis of lines, unusual visualization, internal visualization, extending or breaking boundaries, humor, richness of imagery, and colorfulness of imagery.
Citation: Kelly, T.M. (2015). Clinical Parapsychology: Extrasensory Exceptional Experiences (Textbook). University of Alternative Studies. Purchase.
Copyright © 2014 Theresa M. Kelly, MsD. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.