The Australian Sheep-Goat Scale (ASGS) is a questionnaire conceived by Michael Thalbourne to determine the extent to which the respondent believes in the paranormal.
The description "Australian" is given because the test was devised in Adelaide, South Australia, and to distinguish it from other nations' instruments (such as the Icelandic Sheep-Goat Scale).
The criterion for item selection is whether the topic contravenes philosopher C. D. Broad's "Basic Limiting Principles", which set limits on the existence and operation of mind in a mathematically describable universe; the scale does not include items on astrology, cryptozoological creatures, or extraterrestrial intelligence, to name a few anomalies.
A background paper concerning scale construction and empirical findings with the ASGS has been published.
[3][4] A relationship between narcissistic personality and paranormal belief was discovered in a study involving the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale.