Reading a Newspaper is Good For You

The Saskatoon Star Phoenix has an article suggesting that, in order to be better educated, one should read the newspaper. They write:

In fact, newspaper readers are one of just two groups in society likely to reject belief in the paranormal, says Lou Manza, chair of the psychology department at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania. The other group is people who think everything has a scientific explanation.

Manza surveyed college students on about 20 different paranormal beliefs such as near-death experiences and psychics.

What is also interesting is how much of a cross-cut of society is involved. When controlling for income, ethnicity and other factors, the team found that:

Almost none of it seemed to matter. Religious and non-religious people were about equally likely to believe in ghosts, astrology, and the rest. So were rich and poor, all political parties, ethnic groups, believers in "alternative spiritualism" -- even, stunningly, those with and without science courses in high school and in college.

Yup. Keep reading the newspaper.