Abstract

MORAL DE LA RUBIA, José  and  TOVAR PECINA, César Arnoldo. Belief in the prophecies of the end of the world in 2012, mood and magical thinking. Psicol. caribe [online]. 2012, vol.29, n.2, pp.330-359. ISSN 0123-417X.

The aims of the present investigation were to describe the support of the apocalyptic beliefs for the year 2012, the arguments given to believe them or not and the conviction to support such predictions . Questions on socio-demographic data and belief in prophecy, Magical Thinking Scale (EPM-24; Moral, 2009), Perceived Stress Scale ( PSS-14, Cohen, Kamarck & Mermelstein, 1983) subscales of trait anxiety ( STAI-T, Spielberger & Diaz-Guerrero, 1975) and Beck Depression Inventory Revised ( BDI-II , Beck, Steer & Brown, 1996) were applied to a gender quota sample of 424 participants. The people not believing in the prophecies of 2012 dominated in percentage; they also reported more conviction in their position than the believers. The effect of magical thinking and negative affect on the belief in world end in 2012 was confirmed.

Keywords : Apocalyptic beliefs; magical thinking; stress; depression; neuroticism.

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