Gender differences in belief in scientifically unsubstantiated phenomena.

Abstract
Gender differences in belief in scientifically unsubstantiated phenomena are reported for undergraduate and graduate students in science, psychology, and non-science programmes. The data, compiled from a number of different studies concerned with belief in unsubstantiated phenomena, show that females are more likely than males to endorse belief in various scientifically unsubstantiated phenomena. Males, however, are more willing to endorse belief in UFOs. An important finding is that these gender differences are not found in the samples of non-science undergraduate students. Non-science males show the same high levels of belief as the females. Merely being male does not entail more scepticism toward the phenomena. The gender differences are also absent in the science programme graduate students where females have the same low levels of belief as the males. The data presented account for some of the inconsistencies in earlier claims about gender differences in belief. The present differences are discussed in terms of differential interest in and exposure to formal and extracurricular science studies.

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