EXPLANATIONS FOR SUPERSTITIOUS BEHAVIOUR AND MAGICAL THINKING
Both are examples of irrational thinking. (not easy to distinguish between the two as
magical thinking may underlie superstition)
SUPERSTITIOUS BEHAVIOUR
AO1
Subjective belief that a behavior will have an effect on another area (positive or
negative) give e.g.’s
Tom Daley – has a toy monkey in sight
Breaking a mirror – bad luck
Lucky charms
It has an element of self conceit. It can decrease anxiety and increase self confidence.
Behaviourists – Skinner – it develops through operant conditioning(accidental
stimulus-response learned. Skinner placed very hungry pigeons in a cage for a few
mins each day, a mechanism delivered food pellets at regular intervals, their behavior
had no effect on delivery but certain random behaviours immediately preceded food
and these seen to persist as ritualistic behavior. E.g. one bird repeatedly turned anticlockwise, another a regular nodding movement. Explanation – the behaviours were
reinforced by the food. It didn’t cause the food but appeared to thus acting as a
reinforce.
Evolutionary – causal thinking evolved as it allows people to understand and control
their environments. Can lead to type 1 errors- believe something it true which really
isn’t. Foster and Kokko argue it’s adaptive advantage will persist as long as the
occasional correct response has a large adaptive advantage – type 1 errors tolerated
to avoid type 2 errors. People may be superstitious in some areas but not in others.
Superstitions develop in situations where people feel a lack of control e.g. sitting
exams, and superstitious rituals are used to bring good luck. In a study people who
were asked to recall instances where they felt they lacked control, more likely to
believe superstitious behaviour affected outcome in given stories.
AO2
Skinners explanation of accidental learning has been challenged – Staddon and
Simmelhag repeated pigeon study and realised the behaviours were unrelated to food
I.e. just as likely to occur at other times- before and after reinforcement.
Matute exposed participants to uncontrollable noise, they pressed various buttons to
try and stop the noise, which did eventually stop but not because of participants
activity. When noise restarted, pressed button they were pressing when noise first
stopped. Assumed cause where there was none.
There are also culturally transmitted superstitions (not just personal ones) e.g number
7 considered lucky in UK. 9 in Thailand and 8 in China –Olympic Games in Beijing
started at 8 mins past 8 on 8th Aug (8th month) in 2008. People may adopt cultural
superstitions because they provide sense of control.
Whitson and Galinsky – people who were given a reduced sense of control were more
likely to develop superstitions.
Damisch – value of belief. Found that activation of good luck superstitions led to
enhanced performance on a variety of tasks. Suggesting superstitions increase self –
efficacy.
EXPLANATIONS FOR MAGICAL THINKING
Meaning is attached to objects or actions so they gain special (magical) properties e.g.
bones of dead saints retaining special power, blowing on dice before throwing means
you are more likely to get what you want. It includes the belief that all things are
connected through paranormal forces.
1. Psychodynamic explanation
Freud – a form of childlike thought where they project their inner feelings onto
outer world, e.g. if think badly about a person it will cause their death. In adults
this is a form of defence mechanism, regress to childhood state as means of coping
with anxiety. Lawrence found positive correlation between childhood trauma and
magical thinking. i.e. it acts as a coping mechanism.
2. Dual processing theory
Based on child’s mode of thought which is intuitive – lacking internal logic.
3. Animism
Piaget – in pre-operational stage children ascribe feelings to physical objects,
magical thinking similar e.g. feng shui, which assumes positive feelings come from
arrangement of furniture.
4. Nominal realism
Children also have difficulty separating the names of things from the things
themselves. This carries on into adulthood. Rozin poured sugar into 2 containers,
one labeled sugar and the other cyanide. Participants who had seen the pouring
reluctant to drink from one labeled poison.
5. Law of contagion
Things that have been in contact continue to act on each other even after physical
contact ceases. E.g. wearing something from someone special confers special
powers. May relate to evolved fear of germs. Adaptive to avoid touching
something that has been in contact with diseased person. Leads to intuition that
psychological and physical properties can pass between people.
AO2
1. Benefits of magical thinking
May lead to people dealing more confidently with their environment as they
expect good things to happen. Self efficacy and the placebo effect could explain
this. Rosenthal and Jacobsen showed children’s IQ scores increased over a year
just because teachers were led to expect them to do better – self- fulfilling
prophesy.
2. Costs of magical thinking
Can be linked to a number of mental disorders, linked to schizotypal personal
disorder and schizophrenia. Yorulmaz found magical thinking a critical factor in
OCD – checking symptoms etc.
Bernstein – many patients and therapists may think ‘alternative’ medicines and
therapies have produced a cure even when taking traditional medicine at the same
time, when there is no proof of this. This can lead to seriously ill people refusing
traditional treatment that are known to be effective in favour of ones based on
magical thinking.
3. Lack of magical thinking
May also have negative effects. Depressed people generally show less magical
thinking – depression realism. Suggesting a fully accurate assessment of one’s own
abilities may not be good for you. Also linked to low levels of dopamine.
Real world application
Lives can be saved through organ transplants, however donation rates remain low. May be
due to magical thinking. Vamos – reasons are usually irrational and may be based on law of
contagion. Linking act of donation to image of dead body – negative emotions. Argues need
to focus on donation process and its benefits rather than association with death.