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). A person who believes in some aspect of the paranormal is termed a "sheep", and a disbeliever a "goat" (after the New Testament simile about Christ separating the [nations (error)] /people (correction)/ as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats Matthew 25:31–33).