investigating the role of brain lateralization and gender in paranormal beliefs

Introduction: brain lateralization is associated with human behavior. therefore, this study aimed at investigating the effects of brain lateralization on the scores of paranormal beliefs. methods: the study population included 180 students of sanandaj universities, sanandaj city, iran who were selected with convenience sampling method (100 left-brained males, 6 left-brained females, 56 both left- and right-brained males and 22 both left- and right-brained females). the research tools were the paranormal belief scale developed by blackmore (1994), as well as the brain lateralization questionnaire (1985). results: the obtained findings suggested a significant difference between the left-brain and right-brained people in terms of paranormal beliefs. a significant difference was also found between the left-brained males and both left- and right-brained females in terms of paranormal beliefs. conclusion: the paranormal beliefs of the left-brained cases were different from both left- and right-brained subjects, which can be seen between the left-brained males and both left- and right-brained females.