5 Reasons Humans Are Superstitious

2. Coping Mechanisms

A lot of people turn to superstition as a reason to shift blame and cope with reality. These people usually have an external locus of control which means that they often believe that fate, luck, or other external facts control what happens to them.

This piece of psychology behind superstitions is one that is likely to be a big reason for the continuation of superstitious behaviour in modern day society, especially behaviours that are designed to avoid the negative effects of ‘unlucky’ actions such as knocking over salt. This is because it is a timeless instinct to avoid bad outcomes and produce desirable ones, therefore the ritualistic beliefs behind superstitions allow for people in modern day to cope with this instinct. Although superstitions have been shown to be largely cultural, the psychology behind them has been shown to be very similar and usually linked to coping in some way.

 

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Sources: Newswise, Science Daily, Rotter, 1966, Psych Central, Reversing one’s fortune by pushing away bad luck. Zhang Y, et al. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2014

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