Abstract

Reports the incidence and sociological relevance of psychic experiences in the daily lives of 181 Brazilian university students (aged 18-47 yrs). The present study comprises the analysis of data obtained from the administration of a 72-item questionnaire, in part translated from J. Palmer\'s (l979) 46-item questionnaire, with some adaptations for Brazilian culture. The remainder of the questionnaire is comprised of 27 questions from the Dissociative Experience Scale developed by E. M. Bernstein and F. W. Putnam (1986). These questions were also translated and included in the questionnaire to provide data for an analysis to be conducted at a later date. 89.5% of the respondents claimed to have experienced at least 1 psychic experience. This result is attributed to the religious characteristics of Brazilian people who frequently have 2 religions: the official one which is usually Catholic and another one which is generally spiritualist in nature. Descriptive details of th!e questionnaire results are presented.