Revising the core knowledge confusions scale: a measure of logical error associated with cognitive and personality traits

Abstract

AbstractThe Core Knowledge Confusions scale (CKC) was designed to predict paranormal and spiritual beliefs, alternative health beliefs and the degree to which people assign meaning to events. It measures the likelihood of individuals' tendency to accept ontologically confused content as literally true and has been used to investigate beliefs such as the paranormal. However, the psychometric properties of the CKC have not been tested, limiting the scale’s practical utility. The CKC was revised and tested, internal consistency was checked, and associations to paranormal belief were assessed using a panel survey of 1010 Australian residents (Mage = 52, SD = 17.69, Female = 56%). Using structural equation modelling and regression, the revised scale (CKC-R) content deviated from previous findings. However, it demonstrated acceptable internal, construct, and divergent validity. External correlates of the CKC-R were aligned with expectations: associating with high verbal knowledge, an intuitive cognitive style, and the absorption personality trait (i.e., a tendency to experience altered states of consciousness). The CKC-R provides researchers with a validated measure predicting paranormal belief that is associated with both cognitive and personality-based traits. Interpretation of the CKC-R as a measure of ontological error is less clear and requires further investigation.