The Australian Sheep-Goat Scale (ASGS) is a questionnaire conceived by

Michael Thalbourne Michael Anthony Thalbourne (24 March 1955 – 4 May 2010, Adelaide, South Australia) was an Australian psychologist who worked in the field of parapsychology. He was educated at the University of Adelaide and the University of Edinburgh. His ...

to determine the extent to which the respondent believes in the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...

. The description "Australian" is given because the test was devised in Adelaide, South Australia, and to distinguish it from other nations' instruments (such as the Icelandic Sheep-Goat Scale). A person who believes in some aspect of the paranormal is termed a "sheep", and a disbeliever a "goat" (after the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

simile about Christ separating the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (). The version of the scale most commonly used in research (Thalbourne, 1995) has 18 items, such as "I believe in the existence of

ESP ESP most commonly refers to: * Extrasensory perception, a paranormal ability ESP may also refer to: Arts, entertainment Music * ESP Guitars, a manufacturer of electric guitars * E.S. Posthumus, an independent music group formed in 2000, ...

", "I have had at least one dream that came true and which (I believe) was not just a coincidence", "I believe in

life after death The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...

" and "I believe in the existence of

psychokinesis Psychokinesis (from grc, ψυχή, , soul and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), or telekinesis (from grc, τηλε, , far off and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person ...

(or PK)—that is, the direct influence of mind on a physical system, without the mediation of any known physical energy". The possible answers are "true", "uncertain" and "false", which score two points, one point and zero points, respectively. The sum of the points given to the 18 items is the total ASGS score, which ranges from 0 through 36. The criterion for item selection is whether the topic contravenes philosopher

C. D. Broad Charlie Dunbar Broad (30 December 1887 – 11 March 1971), usually cited as C. D. Broad, was an English people, English epistemology, epistemologist, history of philosophy, historian of philosophy, philosophy of science, philosopher of sc ...

's "

Basic Limiting Principle A Basic Limiting Principle (B.L.P.) is a general principle that limits our explanations metaphysically or epistemologically, and which normally goes unquestioned or even unnoticed in our everyday or scientific thinking. The term was introduced by t ...

s", which set limits on the existence and operation of mind in a mathematically describable universe; the scale does not include items on

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...

, cryptozoological creatures, or

extraterrestrial intelligence Extraterrestrial intelligence (often abbreviated ETI) refers to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrial life. The question of whether other inhabited worlds might exist has been debated since ancient times. The modern form of the concept emerged ...

, to name a few anomalies. While the above-described version of the scale—the Forced Choice version—is the most popular, there are alternative versions; the most-frequently found are the

visual analogue scale The visual analogue scale (VAS) is a psychometric response scale that can be used in questionnaires. It is a measurement instrument for subjective characteristics or attitudes that cannot be directly measured. When responding to a VAS item, respond ...

version and the Rasch scaled version. There is some evidence that these three versions yield approximately the same answers to research questions. A background paper concerning scale construction and empirical findings with the ASGS has been published. A relationship between narcissistic personality and paranormal belief was discovered in a study involving the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale. A 2011 study into the relationship between

coincidence A coincidence is a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances that have no apparent causal connection with one another. The perception of remarkable coincidences may lead to supernatural, occult, or paranormal claims, or it may lead t ...

and paranormal belief using the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale revealed "significant interaction effect between Sheep-Goat score and type of coincidence, suggesting that people with lower thresholds of surprise, when experiencing coincidences, harbor higher paranormal belief than those with a higher threshold."Hadlaczky, G., & Westerlund, J. (2011). ''Sensitivity to coincidences and paranormal belief''. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 113, 894-908.

References

Further reading