Watching of Occult Film and its Influence on African’s Supernatural Belief System; Specifically Ghana

Abstract

Occult practices or issues surrounding occultism have been on the increase in Ghana, especially among the youth. It is believed that our belief system help nurture these practices when experienced through the propagating mediums. These propagating mediums are quite unclear however, suspected ones included access to the internet, occult materials and ‘perhaps’ movies.

Hence, this study examined the influence of watching occult film on African’s supernatural belief system; specifically Ghana. The objective of this study was to examine whether occult film increases one’s supernatural belief system as compared to non-occult film; age, sex, and educational level differences exist in supernatural belief system.   Sixty-six subjects were sampled using stratified random sampling technique. Subjects were randomly assigned into either control or experimental group equally. Both control and experimental group subjects responded to a questionnaire (pre-test) and later watched a non-occult film and occult film respectively. They then answered the questionnaire again (post-test). The hypotheses were analysed using Correlated t test, Independent t test and One-Way ANOVA. The findings revealed that occult film significantly increases ones’ supernatural belief system as compared to non-occult film. However, there was no significant difference between ages, sexes, and educational levels on supernatural belief system. This implies that what we watch can influence our behaviour.

Keywords: Occultism, Supernatural Belief System, Occult Film, Non-Occult Film