Normal people believe in the strangest things. About half of US adults endorse at least one conspiracy theory. Belief in paranormal or supernatural phenomena is widespread, and superstition and magical thinking are nearly universal.
Surprisingly large numbers of people also hold beliefs that a psychiatrist would class as delusional. In 2011, psychologist Peter Halligan at Cardiff University assessed how common such beliefs were in the UK (see below for the top 10 delusions).
He found that more than 90 per cent of people held at least one, to some extent. They included the belief that a celebrity is secretly in love with you, that you are not in control of some of your actions, and that people say or do things that contain special messages for you (). None of Halligan鈥檚 subjects were troubled by their strange beliefs. Nonetheless, the fact that they are so common suggests that the 鈥渇eeling of rightness鈥� that accompanies belief is not always a reliable guide to reality.
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Top 10 delusions
1 Your body, or part of your body, is misshapen or ugly 46.4%
2 You are not in control of some of your actions 44.3%
3 You are an exceptionally gifted person that others do not recognise 40.5%
4 Certain places are duplicated, i.e. are in two different locations at the same time 38.7%
5 People say or do things that contain special messages for you 38.5%
6 Certain people are out to harm or discredit you 33.8%
7 Your thoughts are not fully under your control 33.6%
8 There is another person who looks and acts like you 32.7%
9 Some people are duplicated, i.e. are in two places at the same time 26.2%
10 People you know disguise themselves as others to manipulate or influence you 24.9%
Your core beliefs
One of the most interesting things about belief is that it varies enormously from person to person, especially on issues that really matter such as politics and religion. According to research by Gerard Saucier of the University of Oregon, these myriad differences can be boiled down to five basic 鈥渄imensions鈥� (). At their core, he says, these concern what we consider to be worthy sources of value and goodness in life, whether it be a concept, an object, a supernatural being or a historical person. Your belief system is the aggregate of your position on each of these five dimensions, which are independent of each other.
1 Traditional religiousness: level of belief in mainstream theological systems such as Christianity and Islam
2 Subjective spirituality: level of belief in non-material phenomena such as spirits, astrology and the paranormal
3 Unmitigated self-interest: belief in the idea that hedonism is a source of value and goodness in life
4 Communal rationalism: belief in the importance of common institutions and the exercise of reason
5 Inequality aversion: level of tolerance of inequality in society, a proxy of the traditional left-right political split
Discover more about your beliefs in 鈥�I believe: Your personal guidebook to reality鈥�
