Belief in Evil Eye Scale (BEES)

Abstract

The Belief in Evil Eye Scale (BEES), developed by Naz and Aslam in 2023, is an 18-item psychological instrument specifically designed to measure beliefs associated with the “evil eye” phenomenon within the socio-cultural context of Pakistan. Its creation aimed to fill a significant gap in existing measures of paranormal belief that often overlooked this pervasive cultural construct. The scale development was rigorous, starting with an initial pool of items derived from in-depth interviews, followed by expert refinement, resulting in a 28-item preliminary version. After administration to a sample of adults in Pakistan, the data underwent extensive psychometric evaluation, including both exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), which confirmed a robust and stable five-factor structure, leading to the final 18-item measure.

Keywords

Casters of Evil Eye, Evil Eye Beliefs, Evil Eye Effects, Evil Eye Indicators, Pakistani Culture, Preventive Beliefs, Warding Off Evil Eye, Attitude Measures, Parapsychological Phenomena, Religious Beliefs, South Asian Cultural Groups, Spirituality, Religion and Spirituality Measures

Authors

Naz, Nida Falak, Aslam, Naeem

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Purpose

The primary objective of the Belief in Evil Eye Scale (BEES) is to provide a comprehensive and standardized tool for evaluating various facets of beliefs concerning the “evil eye.” This instrument is specifically validated and contextualized within the Pakistani cultural framework, ensuring its relevance and sensitivity to local belief systems.

The scale is intended for use by researchers and practitioners seeking a reliable measure to understand how these specific beliefs manifest, their psychological correlates, and their impact on individuals within a South Asian context where such phenomena are widely accepted as real and influential.

Construct

The BEES measures the psychological construct of culturally specific paranormal belief focused explicitly on the evil eye phenomenon. This construct is multidimensional, encompassing an individual’s conviction in the existence of the evil eye, its perceived mechanisms of action, and the associated behaviors employed for protection or mitigation.

The final 18-item scale is structured around five distinct sub-constructs, or factors, which capture the complexity of these beliefs: Evil Eye Effects, Evil Eye Indicators, Warding off Evil Eye, Preventive Beliefs, and Casters of Evil Eye. These factors allow for a detailed analysis of an individual’s belief system beyond a simple binary measure.

Validity

The BEES demonstrated strong evidence of both convergent and discriminant validity during its development, supporting its ability to measure the intended construct accurately while remaining distinct from unrelated psychological traits.

Convergent Validity: The BEES showed positive and statistically significant correlations with established measures of supernatural beliefs, including the Paranormal and Supernatural Belief Scale (PSBS; Dean et al., 2021) and the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (RPBS; Tobacyk, 2004). This demonstrates strong Convergent Validity, confirming that the BEES measures concepts theoretically aligned with general paranormal belief systems.

Discriminant Validity: The scale exhibited robust Discriminant Validity by showing clear differentiation from unrelated constructs. Specifically, the BEES and its subscales showed low or non-significant correlations with the Moral Identity Measure (MIM; Aquino & Reed, 2002) and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-16 (NPI-16; Ames et al., 2006). This finding ensures that the BEES is assessing unique aspects of evil eye beliefs rather than general moral or personality characteristics.

Reliability

The reliability analysis confirmed that the BEES is an internally consistent and stable measure of the construct. The internal consistency of the overall scale and its various subscales was determined to be at moderate to high levels.

Key reliability statistics included Cronbach’s alpha values, which ranged from .63 to .86 across the scale and its subscales. Furthermore, McDonald’s omega values, an alternative measure of reliability, were reported between .63 and .87. These consistent values across different statistical measures suggest that the items within the BEES consistently cohere and measure the same underlying belief structure.

Factor Analysis

The structural integrity of the BEES was confirmed through a rigorous two-step process involving both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Factor Analysis (CFA).

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA): Initial EFA suggested a six-factor solution. However, a detailed qualitative review determined that the sixth factor lacked conceptual coherence and did not meaningfully contribute to the scale’s structure. A systematic item refinement and deletion process followed, targeting items that did not load cleanly (e.g., items 1, 2, 15, and 16), exhibited negative cross-loadings (items 27 and 28), or failed to load on their expected factors (items 6, 12, 17, and 14). This meticulous refinement resulted in the final, robust 18-item scale with a clear five-factor structure.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): Subsequent CFA was employed to test the fit of the proposed five-factor model against the observed data. The analysis yielded strong model fitting indices, indicating an excellent fit. Key indices included: χ²(df)= 411.09 (129), χ²/df= 3.18, IFI= .92, TLI= .90, CFI= .92, RMSEA= .07, and SRMR= .07. These statistics collectively validate the hypothesized five-factor structure, confirming its robustness and theoretical grounding.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, with responses ranging from “strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (5).

Language Available: Urdu

Population Group: Human (Male and Female)

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years & older), including Young Adulthood (18-29 years), Thirties (30-39 years), Middle Age (40-64 years), and Aged (65 years & older).

Population Details: The study participants were adults from Pakistan, with an age range spanning from 18 to 68 years.

Test Methodology: The development and validation of the BEES involved a comprehensive methodological approach including Test Validity, Convergent Validity, Discriminant Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Exploratory Factor Analysis.

Keywords

Attitude Measures, Evil, Parapsychological Phenomena, Religious Beliefs, South Asian Cultural Groups, Spirituality, Reliability, Validity, Psychometrics, Cultural Psychology

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Authors

Naz, Nida Falak

• Author ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

• Affiliation: Govt. Girls Postgraduate College Abbottabad

• Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

• Correspondence Address: [email protected]

Aslam, Naeem

• Author ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

• Affiliation: Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad

• Affiliation Email addresses: No data is Available

• Correspondence Address: No data is Available

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Contact Corresponding Author

Fee: No

Test Year: 2023

Reference’s

Naz, N. F., & Aslam, N. (2023). Development and validation of belief in Evil Eye Scale. Pakistan Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 21(2), 18–27.

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Items of the Belief in Evil Eye Scale (BEES)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The Belief in Evil Eye Scale (BEES) consists of 18 items. While the specific items are not provided, the scale is structured around five distinct factors, which serve as subscales:

• Evil Eye Effects (EEE): This factor likely encompasses beliefs related to the negative consequences or impacts attributed to the evil eye.

• Evil Eye Indicators (EEI): This factor probably includes beliefs about signs, symptoms, or circumstances that indicate the presence or influence of the evil eye.

• Warding off Evil Eye (WEE): This factor focuses on beliefs about methods, practices, or rituals used to protect oneself from or counteract the effects of the evil eye.

• Preventive Beliefs (PB): This factor addresses beliefs concerning precautions or measures taken to prevent the occurrence or impact of the evil eye.

• Casters of Evil Eye (CEE): This factor pertains to beliefs about individuals or entities who are thought to possess the ability to cast the evil eye.

The 18 items within the BEES are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from “strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (5).