Are you superstitious? Most people would say no, but in fact, many of us live our lives making off the wall choices. In the US, Friday the 13th is thought to be so unlucky that 10,000 fewer people choose to fly on this day. And businesses also suffer on that day because fewer people are traveling. The effects of the inauspicious number aren’t just limited to travel. Some elevators in the US even forgo the 13th floor, moving from the 12th floor to the 14th floor. Similarly, in Japan and China, people are superstitious about the number 4, so buildings sometimes lack a 4th floor.
Famous athletes are often known for superstitious rituals and beliefs. Michael Jordan wore the same lucky blue underwear during every professional game of his life. Tiger Woods always wears a red shirt on tournament Sundays. And professional tennis player, Serena Williams, is known to repeatedly wear the same socks during a winning tournament.
We expect scientists to be above superstition, but even they have been known to dabble with superstitious beliefs. Astronauts from Russia, China, and the United States all have their unique rituals. For example, before every NASA space launch, the flight commander must play a game of cards with the technical crew and continue playing into the wee hours of the morning until the commander can successfully lose.
So why do we believe that some things bring us good luck and other things bring us bad luck? Well, humans are pattern-seeking creatures. We have an amazing day where good things happen, and we notice that we were wearing our favorite shirt, so that becomes our lucky shirt. Conversely, if we get into a car accident on Friday the 13th, we might think that our bad luck must be due to the day. Many times superstitions take root because people misinterpret coincidences as meaningful patterns.
Of course, most of us know that superstitions are irrational, but many of us still follow at least one or two of them. According to research, irrational superstitions might not be such a bad thing. In one psychology experiment, people were tested on their golfing skills. Half of the people were randomly selected and told that their balls were lucky. The other half were told that they were getting normal balls. Those that received the “lucky” balls scored 35% better than those given “normal” balls. Of course, both balls were exactly the same, but the researchers believe that using a lucky ball made people feel more confident, which led to better performance. Superstitions seem silly, but sometimes they do the trick.
References:
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/1137/1
https://www.spring.org.uk/2010/06/how-superstitions-improve-performance.php
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303559504579197920998454920
Are you superstitious? Most people would say no, but many of us live our lives making off the wall choices. In the US, Friday the 13th is so unlucky that 10,000 fewer people fly on this day. And businesses make less money because fewer people are traveling. Also, some buildings in the US skip the 13th floor. In Japan and China, number 4 is unlucky, so buildings sometimes skip the 4th floor.
Famous athletes are often known for superstitions. Michael Jordan wore the same lucky blue underwear during every game of his life. Tiger Woods always wears a red shirt while playing. And tennis player Serena Williams wears the same socks during a winning tournament.
We think scientists should be above superstition, but that’s not always true. Before every NASA space flight, the commander plays a game of cards with the crew. And the commander must lose even if he or she must play into the wee hours of the morning.
So why do we believe that some things bring us good luck and other things bring us bad luck? Well, humans are pattern-seeking creatures. We have a great day, and we see that we were wearing our favorite shirt, so that becomes our lucky shirt. If we have a car accident on Friday the 13th, we might think that our bad luck is because of the day. Many times superstitions take root because people see patterns where there are none.
Of course, most of us know that superstitions are not true, but we still follow one or two. According to research, superstitions might not be such a bad thing. In one experiment, people were tested on their golfing skills. Half of the people were randomly selected and told that their balls were lucky. The other half got normal balls. Those that received the “lucky” balls scored 35% better than those given “normal” balls. Of course, all the balls were normal balls. The researchers believe that the lucky balls made people feel more confident. And this confidence led to better performance. Superstitions seem silly, but sometimes they do the trick.
References:
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/1137/1
https://www.spring.org.uk/2010/06/how-superstitions-improve-performance.php
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303559504579197920998454920
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