Belief in the supernatural among Harvard and West African university students.

Abstract

JAHODA1 has assessed the effect of university education on traditional supernatural beliefs held by many students at the University of Ghana, and concluded that there was no evidence that education, “including scientific training, had any discernible impact on the magico-mythical beliefs”. He therefore suggests that if such beliefs impede the growth of science in developing countries, methods other than general education must be used to diminish them. The growth of a superstitious sub-culture now apparent in the United States, including increased popular interest in horoscopes, and our desire to understand better the African studies, led us to attempt a similar investigation on undergraduates at Harvard University.