Why Do People Believe in Superstitions?

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Have you ever said something foreboding and immediately knocked on a piece of wood? Or picked up a penny from the street because it brings you good luck? We all do something like this— a personal tradition, or a habit. Millions of people wish on stars, cross their fingers for luck, and believe that bad news comes in threes. Despite being a rather intelligent species with well-developed brains, we can’t seem to stop believing in superstitions, fearfully obeying them, and feeling relieved when a good signal appears. Even so, superstitions are highly prevalent in different forms across all cultures. They are a natural way of thinking about everything around us. What makes us believe in superstitions, even though they’re irrational? Here are some reasons.

The obvious reason that comes to mind while thinking of why we are superstitious is fear. Many of our superstitions stem from the fear of the unknown and can be seen as our attempt to cope with the stress associated with it. Next, Dealing with uncertainty. Superstitions can thus be seen as a mechanism for us to feel like we can understand, predict, and partly control the uncertain environment that surrounds our existence. Therefore, people who are exposed to more uncertainty, stress, and anxiety have a higher chance of being superstitious than others. Similarity. The human mind is biased towards similarity in its understanding of cause and effect. Many tribes refrained from consuming the meat of slow animals because they believed that such a diet would make them slow too. Some people believe that consuming plants with long lives allows them to also live longer. Tempting Fate. People believe that anything they do or say might increase the likelihood of the opposite happening. For example, leaving your umbrella at home, and thinking “It will not rain today”, will increase the probability of getting stuck in the rain later that afternoon. Lastly, Jumping to conclusions. What is most comforting (and almost captivating) about superstitions is that they can explain everything. We readily jump to the conclusion that the action caused the outcome, which may not always be true.