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Black Cats,Broken Mirrors, Are you Superstitious?
Are you superstitious? If you break a mirror, will it bring you seven years of bad luck? Do you rub a gold wedding band to cure a stye?
We are always thinking that we have absolute control over the physical world. Most times, we try to make sense of what happens around us and attempt to predict it. For example, have you ever felt like something bad is going to happen and it does? When events happen in our lives, we tend to find a causation or correlation based on what events preluded to the event. Athletes engage in the process of following a similar routine in order to have a good performance.
These routines become superstitions because it is believed those preceding events have a direct influence with the results. In clinical terms, magical thinking is the ideas, like the ones described above, of finding casual correlations, causations or granting power to symbols (see Law of Contagion).
In an attempt to control the physical world, we try to pair meaningless events together. Carl Jung coined the term synchronitity to the attribution of meaning to two or more events which occur at the same time. That is how superstition was born and sustained in folklore. The human mind has a tendency to search for information in a way that confirms one’s perception while ignoring contradicting information. In psychology, we call it “Confirmation Bias“.
It seems the greater the stress or the worse the situation on the individual, the more magical thinking tends to occur. What’s interesting is that we still inherit superstitious beliefs without a rational assessment. From generations to generations, superstitions are passed on. Superstitions are held by cultures as well as single individuals. The reality is that without developing ideas that match our world-view (magical thinking), the alternative explanation may be more troublesome to us.
As a treat for you below is a list of common superstitions:
* A rabbit’s foot brings good luck.
* To open an umbrella in the house is to bring bad luck.
* You must get out of bed on the same side you got in on or you will have bad luck.
* If a black cat crosses your path you will have bad luck.
* Walking underneath a ladder is bad luck.
* Spilling salt is bad luck, throw a pinch over your shoulder to undo the bad luck.
* The number 13 is bad.
* A hat on a bed will bring bad luck.
* Knocking on wood to avoid bad events.
I want to hear from you: What are your thoughts on superstition? What are some superstitions you have heard or believe in?
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About Me
Hi! My name is Roberto Montanez. I have always been curious about the way we do things and how we react to different situations. Even the most mundane things in our lives, I find interesting.
I have a M.S. in Psychology and have worked for a few years in the field of psychology and education. Working with people in the clinical setting and in the classroom has helped me gain a unique view about our world. More >>
Hello Roberto,
I appreciate the way you take a subject and logically, cohesively, and succintly share the important points or ways to reason on it. Though I am not superstitious my mother was taught them as a child so I grew up hearing “whoppers” as well.
After doing research she decided to “let go” of them but it took a lot of effort … if she did something that had an underlying superstition she would always bring it up – so, even though they no longer controlled her life, they still had a “grip” on her thoughts.
She was German … did you find, in research, any link to high percentages of superstitions and culture? Looking back, it seems all our german family and friends altered certain actions due to a superstition.
Roberto, your articles are educational, helpful, insightful … do you write several articles each day? Week? I’m impressed with the way you offer quality content, consistently and regularly, each week! I need to take a lesson from your example.
Thanks!
Peppy
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