Investigations of the I Ching: I. Relationships between Psi and time perspective, paranormal belief and meaningfulness

Abstract

The I Ching is an ancient Chinese system of divination. The user throws three coins, six times, to generate one of 64 possible six-line symbols or hexagrams, and then consults the associated divinatory reading. It is conjectured that the I Ching process is underscored by a paranormal process the cause of which is likely to be the individual user. Past research has produced mixed results - in five studies, effects have ranged from chance, to significantly above chance, but no effect significantly below chance has been found. In a study by L. Storm (2006) it was theorised that hexagram targeting may accord with the participant's time perspective - a present time perspective (PTP) refers to immediate events; a future time perspective (FTP) refers to what fate has in store. PTP and FTP types are determined from scores on the Time Perspective Inventory (Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999). In Storm's (2006) study and the present study it was hypothesised that PTP types prefer first-hexagrams, and FTP types prefer second hexagrams. Storm (2006) produced results that were in the directions hypothesized. In this replication study (N = 150), hit rates for PTP types on first-hexagram hitting (30%) did exceed hit rates for FTP types (25%) as hypothesised, although the difference was not significant. The hit rate for FTP types on second-hexagram hitting (22%) did not exceed the hit rate for PTP types (27%). Hit rates were above chance on first-hexagram hitting (25.3%), but below chance on second-hexagram hitting (24.6%). Neither effect was significant. First-hexagram hitters rated their readings significantly higher on meaningfulness than first-hexagram missers. This effect was interpreted as fulfilling a theoretical condition that defines "meaningful coincidence" or synchronicity (Jung, 1960). Correlations between pro attitude and hexagram hit rates were not significant, but a significant sheep-goat effect was found. A just-significant aggregated hexagram hit rate across the six studies was found: 27% (p = .057).