To Believe or Not to Believe?

Superstition can be defined as the attitude to make connections between unrelated events. It is the belief in supernatural causality—the belief that certain actions, objects, or rituals are believed to bring about specific outcomes, whether good or bad. Superstitions often vary from culture to culture and are passed down through generations. It relates to a phenomenon called magical thinking, or the need to believe that one’s hopes and desires can affect outcomes. 

This thinking can manifest in many forms of rituals—lucky numbers, coincidences, synchronicities etc. For instance, in a lot of cultures, to ward off curses made through malicious glare, people hang blue-coloured amulets in the shape of any eye, knock on wood or cross fingers. Certain numbers are considered lucky as they are believed to bring good health and success. To give an example, the number 8 or bah in China, is usually pronounced as fah, meaning wealth; in the U.S., the number 9 represents love and faith. Apart from lucky numbers, we may often attach the favourableness of our outcome to objects. For example, a corporate professional may wear their “lucky” suit to an important meeting, or cricket players may perform the same action before every pitch—Sachin Tendulkar believes wearing his left pad before his right one brings him luck. And why would they not, if every time they did so brought them prosperity? But that’s not it! 

In the paper titled Superstitions in Pigeons by B.F. Skinner (1948), explains how superstitious rituals in animals can be explained by operant conditioning principles, where a chance occurrence is linked with a positive outcome, which then increases the likelihood of repeating the behaviour. A similar approach can be applied to humans: coincidental reinforcement leads to a random behaviour becoming a fixed response. Our tendencies to commit cognitive fallacies such as confirmation bias, where we tend to interpret outcomes in line with our pre-existing beliefs, make us more vulnerable to developing superstitions. Our cognitive biases make us perceive patterns and causal connections as a useful heuristic in discovering actual connections in the real world. The potential cost of errors is presumably outweighed by the benefits of discovery. Besides, rituals are psychologically reassuring in the face of the uncertain. It makes us think that we have manipulated the outcomes in our favour, even if momentarily. This eases the anxiety, hence serving as a coping mechanism and a comforting response to alleviate the worry, especially for individuals who are in high-pressure professions and expected to deliver peak performances such as athletes. Research states that believing in good-luck-related superstitions has a positive impact on performance which in turn is a result of changes in perceived self-efficacy and the individual’s confidence. 

Although superstitions are often dismissed as irrational, they persist in the face of contradictory evidence. People tend to make connections between animistic thinking and real-life events. Deeply ingrained superstitions become a part of our collective human experiences and psyche. Superstitions can be transmitted through social learning, fostering a sense of shared meaning and tradition. For instance, consider the widely shared belief of avoiding black cats, a belief with historical roots that transcends continents and cultures. The outcome of such rituals was indeed adaptive in the ancestral environment, but today, we might deem it to be maladaptive. Yet, we continue engaging in such beliefs. Why? 

This can be better explained with the Five Monkeys experiment. The experiment follows five monkeys placed in a cage with a ladder kept in the middle of the setup, and bananas attached on the top. Every time a monkey tried to climb up the ladder, they were all sprayed with icy water, discouraging the monkeys from climbing the ladder anymore. Any monkey who would try would be beaten up by the rest of the lot. Hence, the monkeys were conditioned to avoid climbing (negative reinforcement). The experimenter then substituted one of the monkeys in the cage with a new monkey who did not know about the ice spray. The first thing the new monkey did was try to climb the ladder to reach the bananas, only to be prevented by the others even though there was no cold spray anymore. Soon, the new monkey learned the social norm. He never knew “why” but he quickly learned that this behaviour would not be tolerated by the other monkeys. gradually, each of the original monkeys in the cage was substituted until no monkey in the cage had experienced the spray but they continued to prevent any monkey from climbing the ladder. the behaviour exists without any understanding of the original reason behind it. 

The findings of this experiment illustrate how superstitions and irrational beliefs can arise. Though the rationale behind doing a certain thing was justified once, we continue doing it without questioning or revisiting the reason because “that’s how it’s always been done”. Similarly,  people might continue engaging in superstitious behaviour out of fear of a potentially negative outcome. 

In the Indian context, many superstitions that originated as survival practices or cultural beliefs that were once practical continue to be observed and have evolved into superstitions. Some of these include—not cutting nails or hair after sunset, which made sense in ancient times since homes were dimly lit after sunset and hence cutting nails or hair could result in injury or make it harder to clean up; not sweeping the floor after sunset, since sweeping without electricity could lead to accidentally sweeping away valuable items or missing small pests that were easier to see in daylight, but people began associating sweeping after dark with sweeping away wealth; women not entering kitchens or temples during menstruation which stems from a time when menstruation was less understood, and rest during this period was encouraged for health and hygiene reasons, but over time became a strict superstition around purity.

In conclusion, the human brain looks for patterns to pick up on because making such connections is what helped our ancestors survive what they did not fully understand. Over the years, they became enduring rituals. Therefore, the illusion of control that superstitions offer in moments when we feel powerless and vulnerable, has led them to become symbolic safeguards against bad luck and hence, enduring traditions. 

References 

Foster, K. R., & Kokko, H. (2008). The evolution of superstitious and superstition-like behaviour. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, 276(1654), 31–37. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0981

Magical thinking. (2024, January 4). Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/magical-thinking

Mills, C. (2011, June 8). Superstitions have evolutionary basis. livescience.com. https://www.livescience.com/14504-superstitions-evolutionary-basis-lucky-charms.html

Navarro, H. (2023, March 15). The truth of the monkey ladder experiment — Facts-Chology. Facts-Chology. https://factschology.com/factschology-articles-podcast/monkey-ladder-experiment-truth

Travers, M., PhD. (2023, November 19). Superstitions are more than simple rituals; they’re a valuable coping method. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/social-instincts/202311/3-reasons-why-superstitions-work

About The Author

Sehej Kaur

Member, PsyCreative Column, Psychology Committee NMIMS

Sehej Kaur is a second year student, currently pursuing B.Sc. Applied Psychology from NMIMS, Mumbai. All that’s needed to impress her is having a similar music taste as hers and a collection of serene sky and moon pictures. She loves capturing the subtleness of everyday moments. She likes to pen down her thoughts as it helps her gain mental clarity. Being meticulous in her work is of utmost importance to her. She believes that we’re all a work in progress.