Studies show lack of control leads to superstition

Superstitious behavior, like carrying luck charms or doing rituals before an event in order to attract good luck, is common in society. According to research, superstitious practices may derive from feelings of lacking control, and they can affect people’s ways of handling situations.

According to research conducted by Jennifer Whitson, assistant professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, and Adam Galinsky, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, people who lack control in a situation tend to rely on superstitious behavior to find order and make sense of the situation.

Whitson said that control is really fundamental, and when we lack control, we try to understand what is happening and we end up connecting unrelated events, which leads us to superstitious belief.

“When we feel lack of control, we feel uncomfortable and threatened,” Whitson said.

In one of the experiments Whitson and Galinsky conducted, a group of people had to write about life experiences. Half the people wrote about situations in which they had control and the other half wrote about situations in which they lacked control. Then the participants read a story that had an important outcome, with an unrelated event preceding that outcome. The people who lacked control in the experiences they wrote about believed that the preceding event was related to the outcome.

Whitson said that superstitious behavior derives from situations, but personality and other people could be factors. She also said that superstition could be useful for helping people focus.

“If it [superstitions]  helps you, don’t get rid of it, but if it hurts you, step back from it.” Whitson said.

Superstitious beliefs are more common among people who believe in fate and chances, according to Scott Fluke, a Kansas State University graduate student in psychology, and Donald Saucier, Kansas State associate professor of psychology.

In their research project, “Re-Examining the Form and Function of Superstition,” they discovered three things about superstitious behavior. According to their research, people use superstitious behavior to gain control, to stop feelings of helplessness and because its easier than coping with strategy.

“I think that superstitions are, in essence, attempts to exert influence onto events that people believe are outside their control.  That means, that belief in those outside forces, like fate, will likely lead people to believe in superstitions,” Saucier said.

Fluke and Saucier also discovered that people’s belief in superstitions diminish when people think about death. Saucier said that the lack of control people feel in this situation is so great that they do not rely on superstition to regain control.

“Death is final and non-negotiable.  We think the hopelessness of the situation is extreme enough the people know superstitions won’t be very helpful in that case,” he said.

In their research, they also state that proactive people are less superstitious and passive people are more superstitious.

“Proactive people take more responsibility for outcomes onto themselves, and don’t see the need to rely on superstitions,” Saucier said.

Saucier said that bad luck could be used to explain failure and this could help an individual’s self esteem and provide psychological comfort. However, if a person constantly does this it may cause them to not learn and fix their mistake and cause future failure.

“I think taking a realistic view of what you can do to proactively promote your own successes is the more worthwhile course of action.”