Preliminary study of tolerance of ambiguity of individuals reporting paranormal experiences

This research tested the notion that poltergeist-like experiences reflect the need to explain anomalous personal experiences. Thus, it was hypothesized that percipients of poltergeists would score lower on tolerance of ambiguity than controls. Further, it was hypothesized that tolerance of ambiguity would negatively correlate with the number of different categories of poltergeist experience. 30 self-identified percipients of poltergeist-like phenomena and 30 self-identified nonpercipients of the paranormal were administered the Rydell-Rosen Ambiguity Tolerance Scale and Houran and Lange's Poltergeist Experiences Checklist. Results partially supported predictions. Percipients of the paranormal scored significantly lower on tolerance of ambiguity than nonpercipients, but scores on the experiences checklist did not significantly correlate with scores on tolerance of ambiguity. The results supported the main hypothesis but more detailed research is needed to clarify the roles of age and tolerance of ambiguity in the perception of anomalous phenomena.