Personality Constructs and Perceived Presence of Deceased Loved Ones

For a study of personality constructs associated with the experience of perceiving the presence of deceased loved ones, 20 male and 67 female bereaved participants completed Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire, Rotter's Locus of Control Scale, and a questionnaire related to the personal sensing experience. As hypothesized, perceivers exhibited higher scores on neuroticism and externalized control; contrary to expectations, perceivers demonstrated more extraversive than introversive tendencies. Perceived presence was not mediated by the quality of support available to the perceiver, was not generally correlated with specific demographic factors, and was most often characterized as comforting. Results are discussed in relation to current theories of grieving.