ABSTRACT
Why are certain societies more tolerant of paranormal claims than others, and how do such beliefs and experiences gain acceptance when cultures do not accept them? This chapter explores these questions by analyzing several case studies from Brazil, a country recognized internationally by scholars as being especially tolerant to extraordinary experiences. This chapter suggests that the paranormal gains legitimacy to the extent that it helps galvanize social identity; in the Brazilian context, we find a rich diversity of beliefs and experiences in which paranormal claims have melded with extant cultural and/or religious worldviews. In cases in which beliefs and/or experiences are extreme even by Brazilian standards, a sociopsychological process the author has termed the “upward spiral of complexity” further facilitates individuals’ acceptance of the paranormal by accounting for their unique cognitive biases. Finally, this chapter submits that an engagement with the paranormal is a longstanding feature of the human experience, one that the advance of science and rationalism cannot completely eradicate.
