Audiences Fascinated by Paranormal Themes.

• Position: Brief Article

Television shows like "The X-Files" and "Unsolved Mysteries" may impact the beliefs people hold about phenomena such as extrasensory perception, alien abductions, and the ability to communicate with the dead. Glenn Sparks, professor of communication, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., and cultural analyst Will Miller surveyed 200 randomly selected respondents on their TV viewing habits and the extent to which they endorsed various beliefs as part of a long-term research program on the impact of media messages on paranormal beliefs.

"Despite regular news reports of new medical breakthroughs and other triumphs of science, there is still widespread belief in the paranormal," Sparks points out. "More than 40% of the people we surveyed expressed belief in haunted houses, psychic mediums, ghosts, and prophetic dreaming."

Among their key findings were that individuals with lower levels of education were more likely to express belief in the paranormal and that such belief was not related to the tendency to express strong religious convictions. Even after taking into account demographic variables like sex, income, and education, the strongest predictor of belief in the paranormal was...