FACULTY OF MECHANICAL

ENGINEERING
UHB 2422
ADVANCED ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC COMMUNICATION

RESEARCH IN LEVEL OF BELIEF IN PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

AND REASON BEHIND THEIR BELIEF AMONG UTM STUDENTS

IN TR O D U C TIO N
Stories relating to paranormal phenomena are found in popular
culture and folklore, but the scientific community, contends
that scientific evidence does not support paranormal beliefs.
Paranormal phenomena are those, which, if genuine, would
violate basic limiting principles of
science and paranormal belief is belief in paranormal
phenomena.
According to parapsychologists, the term paranormal describes,
any phenomenon that in one or more respects exceeds
the limits of what is deemed physically possible according
to current scientific assumptions. This includes extrasensory perception, psycho kinesis, and survival of
consciousness after death. Parapsychologists are also
involving qualitative and quantitative methodologies to prove
their presence. However, by conventional theory of science
paranormal phenomenon is still beyond and unexplained.

IN TR O D U C TIO N
1. Deans
List
Certificati
on

4.
Learning
Technique
s and
Behaviou
r

Backgroun
d
Informatio
n

3.
Suitable
Job

2.
Students
are
Motivate
d

STATEM EN T O F
Approaching the paranormal
from
a LEM
research perspective is often
P
R
O
B
difficult because of the lack of acceptance of the physical reality of
most of the supposed phenomena. By definition, the paranormal
does not conform to conventional expectations of the natural.
Before this, there is no certain research for us to refer regarding
the belief in paranormal activity among university students. This
is maybe due to the notion that paranormal activity is not an
important matter to research. Comparing the accepted wisdom
with the western world, which prioritizes in matters as such, we
should be more focusing on matters that involve high level of
thoughts and cognitive thinking.
It is scientifically proven that a person who believes in such
matter think differently than others who doesnt. Therefore, our
research intends to find the level of beliefs in the paranormal
activity and the reason behind it among UTM students
regardless of whether the phenomena are considered to
objectively exist.

Last
Minute
Works

Improper
Attitudes
Toward
Learning

Improper
Time
Manageme
nt

Causes that
Affects Students
Result

Purpose
of Study

To obtain some information about the

studying techniques that is applied by
some students in order to
accomplished Deans List.
We are keen conducting the research in order to find out the main
reason on how a person is exposed to this matter and how depth
this subject is affecting his or her mind. Thus, we hope that this
research will be a benchmark for other researchers who will
conduct more research regarding this matter among university
students.

O BJECTIVE O F STU DY
To determine the learning techniques adopted
by Deans List students.

To identify the right learning attitude among

FPPSM students.

To find appropriate solution and

recommendation for students who obtained
CGPA below than 3.5 to improve their grades.

RESEARCH Q U ESTIO N S

Significance of
Study Students

Maximize
the number
of students
who get
Deans List

Good
reputation
for UTM

from other
faculties
could
obtain the
benefits of
this study

SCO PE O F TH E RESEARCH
We decided to conduct this research on respondents
among UTM students. It involved the participation of 30
students in our research on students perception on
paranormal activity.

LITER ATU R E
R EV IEW
Salman

LITER ATU R E
R EV IEW

This chapter is a review of the existing literature relevant to the

topic

Level of belief

Reasons to believe

in Paranormal
Activity

LITERATU RE REVIEW
LEVEL O F BELIEF
As can be seen there are various forms of paranormal belief.
Here the individual is heavily influenced by cultural factors, such
as family, peer group processes, dissemination of paranormal
concepts in the media and formal persuasion by social
institutions, e.g.

Irwin, H. J. (1990) stated in his book Fantasy Proneness

and Paranormal Beliefs that the minds of human being is
conquered by the occurrence of the notion that is thought
repetitively.
Eysenck, M. W. (1998) stated in his book Mental Health,
Religion and Culture that an individuals pattern of thinking
varies with the degree of his faith in religion. They often
perceive somewhat differently from others.

 Gallup, G. Jr., (1997),Public Opinion 1996 stated that

peoples belief in fortune and miracle is influenced by their
characteristics.
There are definite difference in the way the intellectual
thinks and converse. They tend to imagine further than the
logical solution, and they find solace in it.
Francis, L. J. (1993). Personality and religion among
college students in the U.K. Personality and Individual
Differences, 14, 619-622.

LITERATU RE REVIEW

REASO N TO BELIEVE

There are other reasonable reasons to believe in paranormal activity

and the top answer is converging to media.

Goode, E. (2006) said that students tend to believe in

everything they see in movies and they are prejudiced by
the repetition of action and love from the movies
TALLIS,F.(2002), Hidden minds : A history of the
unconscious
Its a simple equation, If god exists, then also the demons
You dont actually need to see and feel a ghost to
believe in it. You just need to be scared enough.
SMITH,M.D(2003). Journal of parapsychology

We are taught about angels, witches, devils, spirits,

monsters, gods, etc. virtually in the cradle. Since small,
children seems to grow up with fantasies and imaginary. As
they begin to mature, their fantasies seems to be another
lie.
We learn about God and Santa Claus simultaneously;
only later are we told that Santa Claus is just a fairy tale
and God is real.
Wulff, D. M. (1997). Psychology of religion:
classic and contemporary views. New York:
Wiley.

R ESEA R C H
M ETH O D O LO G Y
Aizuddin

M ETH O D O LO G Y
Scope and
Responde
nts

Research
Instrumen
ts

Research
Procedure

Data
Analysis
Methodolo
gy

Primary
Data

Research
Instrume
nts
Seconda
ry Data

1)
Quantitativ
e
Method

4) Five
Sections in
Questionnai
re

Questionnai
re

3) Five
Types of
Question

2) 25
Questions

1) Location

4)
Randomly
Method

Scope and
Responde
nts

3) Four
Courses

2) 50
Responden
ts

Research Procedure

Research
Objectives

Secondary
Data

Construct
Questionnai
re

Approval
from
Lecturer

Pilot Test

Distribute
Questionnai
re

D ata Analysis

SPSS
Software

Microsoft
Excel

FIN D IN G S
Puven

Is gender related to belief in paranorm al

activity?

Gender of Respondents
Male
8

12

Female
Male

Dont
believe in
ghost
Believe in
ghost

25

Female

Figure
4

7 2

5 10 15 20 25

Figure
5

 Figure 4 and 5 explains about the relationship

between genders and their belief in
paranormal activity.
The reason behind this would be because
girls are known to be more sensitive than
male. Besides, male are seen as logical and
rational. They would rather believe in what is
proven than just intuition.
It can be seen that, about half the male
believe in paranormal activity while another
half do not but when referred to that of
female, only a small percentage do not
believe in paranormal activity. Majority
believe in paranormal activity. This shows
that level of belief is higher among female
than male.
Una Stannard, 1987 said that Men are

Are you a divine person and do you believe some

matters in the world that only can be solved by
miracles?

30

30

25

25

20

20

15

15
5

5
0

15

10

10

Yes

Moderately

No

Are you a divine person

Figure 6

21

10
5
0

Yes

No

Do you believe some matters in the world that only can be solved by miracles

Figure 7

 Figure 6 shows how many students really believe that god

exists and interested in religions. The chart is divided into

three categories which are divine, moderately divine and not
divine.
Eysenck, M. W. (1998) stated in his book Mental Health,
Religion and Culture that an individuals pattern of thinking
varies with the degree of his faith in religion. They often
perceive somewhat differently from others.
Figure 7 on the other hand shows that 21 students believe
that some matters in this world can be solved by miracle and
9 students believe it cant be solved. This question is created
to analyze if the students who believe in religion and god do
believe something that they cant see nor observe like
miracle.
According to Gallup, G. Jr., (1997), Public Opinion 1996 who
stated that peoples belief in fortune and miracle is
influenced by their characteristics.

The analysis on students belief in

paranormal activity
The analysis on students belief in paranormal activity

4%

23%
73%

High
Moderate
Low

FINDIN
What influenceGS
your belief?
Reasons to believe
12

12

4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

10
8
6

Reasons not to believe

4
2
0

4
3

2
0

Figure 8

Figure 9

 From the figure 8 and figure 9 we can see that there are reasons

for the students to believe and not to believe. Although it is

obvious that there are no scientific explanation for the students
to believe but they still believe to paranormal activity due to
certain situations.
According to SMITH,M.D(2003).From the Journal of
parapsychology You dont actually need to see and feel a ghost
to believe in it. You just need to be scared enough . From the
figure 8 we can see that there are 4 reasons why students
believe in paranormal activity. The reasons are based on the
information that they find from movies and stories that they read.
Certain family also inherits certain stories about this paranormal
activity. Finally there are also students who had dreams on ghost
which eventually lead them to believe on ghost.
On the other hand some students have their own reason why
they dont believe in ghost. Most of them dont agree about the
fact the paranormal activity exist because they found it very hard
to be explained in any condition. Besides that no proper
scientifically approved evidence also lead them to disagree with
the fact the ghost exist.

How religion of the respondents related to their believe that

religion and paranormal activity co- relates?

Religion of the repondents

14

Does religion and

paranormal activity related

14

30

12

25

10

20

15

10

2
0

5
0

Yes
Muslim

Hindu

Buddhist Christian

Figure 10

Figure 11

It shown from the figures 10 and 11 above that all

students who have religion believe that religion and
paranormal activity are related. Of the 30 respondents,
none of them are free thinkers i.e. all of them do belong
to a religion. All 30 of them too believe that religion
and paranormal activity are related to one another.

Some religion as in Islam believe in alam

barzakh. Buddhism and Hinduism believe in life after
death and reincarnation. A persons religious view and
how pious they are will definitely affect their level of
belief in paranormal activities.
TALLIS,F.(2002), Hidden minds : A history of the
unconscious
Its a simple equation, If god exists, so does demons

The overall analysis on the reason why

students believe in paranormal activity

33%

43%

7%
17%

Religion
Own
experience
Culture
Others

CONCLUSION
&
RECOMMENDATIO
N
Alex

CONCLUSION
Overview - This research investigated the level of belief in
paranormal activities among the UTM students. Primary data
were collected by randomly distributing questionnaires to 30
students.

The following conclusions can be drawn based on the findings of the

study:

1. Most of the students in UTM believe in the paranormal

phenomena.
2. Most of them who believes in paranormal activity is because of
exposure from the movies
3. Religion and paranormal activity co-relates
.And the fact cause students paranormal belief is the religion belief

and the information obtained from the media. However, these

findings are only true for UTM students and cannot be generalized to
other university students. The same study needs to be conducted
with students from other universities to see if there are any
similarities with the factors that will influence the paranormal belief
among students.

CONCLUSION
From the research we found that
1. Most of the students in UTM believe in the

paranormal phenomena.
2. Most of them who believes in paranormal activity is

because of exposure from the movies

3.

Religion and paranormal activity co-relates

. Limitations of study.
Lack of research instruments.
Lack of respondents.

RECOMMENDATIONS
STUDENTS
Based on the findings and conclusions of the study, here are
several recommendations to be considered:
Individual who strongly belief in the paranormal activity need to

build their confidence up in them. Joining some activity that require

them to deal with fear such as night walk which is included in
motivational camping is a good idea to overcome fear.
More exposure to documentaries and non-fiction movies should be
considered against some horror movies to enlarge the thinking cap
of the person and allow cognitive mind to actively reflect.
Parents playing an important role in a children learning age as their
words will be followed by the children when they grow up. They
should be more responsible in teaching the kids about paranormal
activities to avoid the children curiosity to grow and ending up in
fear.
More social activities should be participated by students who think
their life is muffled by effects from paranormal activity.

FUTURE RESEARCH

Since this study had only focused on UTM students, it is

recommended that future studies be carried out on student

for other universities to see whether there are similarities
in the findings. Furthermore, future research could explore
the other cause of the reason this paranormal activities
and the factor that make the student thought about it.
Meanwhile, the future research also can involved on other

universities about the level of belief among the student

and the reason behind the result of it. Also, the research
need to find how to prevent the growing of belief in
paranormal activities.
Lastly, the paranormal belief should be decrease as it not

given any benefit to just belief in it.

Thank You