Positive superstitions make sense

by Lionel Wijesiri

After all this modernisation that has taken place, superstitious beliefs still persists in all societies. Sri Lanka is no exception. There is no culture that is totally free from superstitious beliefs and practices.

It is interesting to consider why people’s belief in superstitions persists in the world in spite of the most amazing discoveries and inventions of modern science and technology. Obviously, ignorance and fear play a significant role in generating and propagating superstitions.

If we were to study superstitions we can find an answer to this question. New studies have revealed that stress makes people not only believe in rituals and as a result, they are more likely to “see” things that actually do not exist. A feeling of lack of control over the life fuels many people’s desire to impose order and structure on the world.

Feelings of control are so essential to people that a lack of control is menacing. While some misconceptions can be bad or lead one astray, they are awfully common and most likely satisfy a deep and enduring psychological need. People who constantly worry about their lives or have a strong need of control are more vulnerable for being superstitious.

Dr Cecilia D. Felice, a clinical psychologist and author of the best-seller Dare to be you says: “We are becoming more anxious because life is getting more stressful. Our expectations of ourselves are higher, and the pace of life is now so fast and fragmented.

When you’re running on empty, you’re more likely to develop control issues and look for ways to alleviate fear, which is what leads to “magical thinking” - the idea that we can somehow ensure a good outcome by performing certain rituals.”

Role of superstitions

Superstitions have come a long way in history and have been evolved in this process. Every known civilisation that ever existed on the planet had something common in them; these were the myths and superstitions that were a crucial part of their cultures. Modern sociologists believe there is no harm in adhering to some of the superstitions and rituals.

The role of ritual is needed by everyone as a form of reassurance, helping to express feelings of doubt and relieve anxiety. In this sense, superstitions are one of life’s better props. In fact, many profess to see a great similarity between the beliefs and rituals of superstitions and those of traditional religious institutions.

Classification

However, social scientists define superstition as a belief, half-belief, or practice for which there appears to be no rational substance. Those who use the term may imply that they have certain knowledge or superior evidence for their own scientific, philosophical, or religious convictions. Social scientists maintain that it an ambiguous word, and it cannot be used except subjectively.

With this qualification in mind, superstitions may be classified roughly as religious, cultural, and personal.

Every religious system tends to accumulate superstitions as peripheral beliefs - a Christian, for example, may believe that in time of trouble he will be guided by the Bible if he opens it at random and reads the text that first strikes his eye.

Often one person’s religion is another one’s superstition: Constantine, the Emperor of Rome, called paganism, a superstition; a Tacitus, the Roman historian, called Christianity a deadly superstition; Roman Catholic veneration of relics, images, and the saints is dismissed as superstitious by many Protestants; Christians regard many Hindu practices as superstitious; the followers of Buddhism and Hinduism, might believe that certain rituals in Abrahamic religions are superstitions.

Finally, all religious beliefs and practices may seem superstitious to the person without religion.

Superstitions that belong to the cultural tradition (in some cases inseparable from religious superstition) are enormous in their variety. Many persons, in nearly all times, have held, seriously or half-seriously, irrational beliefs concerning methods of warding off ill or bringing good, foretelling the future, and healing or preventing sickness or accident.

A few specific folk traditions, such as belief in the evil eye or in the efficacy of amulets, have been found in most periods of history and in most parts of the world. Others may be limited to one country, region, or village, to one family, or to one social or vocational group.

Finally, people develop personal superstitions: a schoolboy writes a good examination paper with a certain pen, and from then on that pen is lucky; a horse player may be convinced that grey horses run well for him.

Research

A large body of research has attempted to develop theories about the function and origin of superstitious beliefs on the basis of the psychological correlates of such beliefs. Most of this work has measured superstitious belief using the Paranormal Belief Scale (PBS), and has tended to find that superstitious belief is associated with poor psychological adjustment.

For example, let us take three items of the superstition sub-scale of the PBS: Howling of dogs at midnight will bring bad luck, if you break a mirror, you will have bad luck, and, the number 13 is unlucky.

All these items refer to beliefs that can be classified as negative superstitions, that is, they all reflect the notion that certain behaviour (e.g., breaking a mirror) or omens (e.g., seeing a black cat) are magically associated with unlucky and potentially harmful consequences.

Given that this is the case, it is perhaps not surprising that, such beliefs are associated with poor psychological adjustment as self-efficacy and high anxiety. However, not all superstitious beliefs fall into this category. Some, such as carrying a charm to bring good luck, reflect a desire to bring about beneficial consequences by actively courting good luck or at least avoiding bad luck.

Such positive superstitions may serve different psychological functions to negative superstitions. Indeed, as is the case with other forms of so-called ’positive illusions’ beliefs in these types of superstitions may actually be psychologically adaptive rather than maladaptive.

Michael Shermer, the publisher of Sceptic Magazine, holds that the superstitious way of thinking will never leave us because it will not be a threat to our biological survival.

In fact, our tendency to link cause and effect can be beneficial rather than harmful from a survival point of view: a prehistoric man would hide on hearing rustling of grass taking it as a sign that a predator was approaching. Even if his connecting the rustling noise with the presence of a predator later turned out to be wrong this error would not harm him.

The sharing of such wrong cause-effect connections (i.e. superstitions) may give a sense of social cohesion to a community. They bind the members together by making them toe the line.