What is Superstition

8/2/2019 What is Superstition

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What is this thing calledsuperstition?

Konrad Talmont-Kaminski

KLI & UMCS



A sample of superstitions

• What do these have in

common? -

Tarot card reading

Triskaidekaphobia

Whistling for wind

Bad luck from

breaking a mirror First footing

Water dowsing

• That these possibly do

not? -

Believing in fairies or

UFOs

Using Vitamin C

against colds

Saying Mass

Wishing people „good

luck‟

Newtonian physics



Jahoda definition

• Gustav Jahoda, 1956

“the kind of belief and action a

reasonable man in present-day

Western society would regardas being „superstitious‟”

• A „subterfuge‟

• A place-holder

• Relying on intuitions

• Awaiting a proper definition



Definition and explanation

• Phenomenological definition

Seemingly easier to obtain

May be misleading

• Definition in terms of underlying processes

Requires that superstition be understood

More valuable

• Neither has been agreed upon

• But numerous suggestions



Uncertainty

• Superstitions form under

conditions of uncertainty

Malinowski (1925)

on Trobriand islanders

Empirical support

• Vyse (1991) matrix-task study

• Keinan (1994) on Israelis

under SCUD attacks

• Padgett, Jorgenson (1982) on economic threat in Germany

• Reason for the link is not well understood



Anthropological explanations

• Motivational - Anxiety reduction(Malinowski 1925)

Main thesis in anthropology

• Alternative explanations

Cognitive - Primitive attemptsto understand the world

(Frazer 1922) Social - Communicating

willingness to cooperate(Palmer 1989)



Psychological explanations

• Originate withSkinner‟s 1948 pigeon study(Skinner 1948)

• “Operantconditioning is not

just for rats and pigeons” (Vyse1997)



Pattern seeking

• Psychologists focus on patternseeking

• Pattern seeking explanations:

Emotional need to find a pattern -Vyse (1997) seems to accept this attimes

„Finding‟ non-existent patterns

sometimes less costly - Killeen(1997, 1981) on „just in case‟ justifications

Evolutionary biasing - McKay(2007) applying Haselton‟s error

management theory



Naïve inductivism

• Danger of a naïve inductivist view of patternseeking

Beck, Forstmeier (2005) on adaptive learning strategies

• Position is philosophically unacceptable Hume (1748)

Goodman (1955)

• Selective associations are the norm

Cook, Mineka (1990) on monkeys learning to fear snakes

• General idea of relating superstition to patternseeking not reliant on naïve views of learning



Superstition as false belief

• Superstition as:

“a wrong idea about externalreality”! (Beck, Forstmeier

2005) “ascription of false causal

connection” (Maller, Lundeen1933)

• Problem What about non-superstitious

false beliefs?

A profound difference



Supernatural beliefs

• Superstitions as involving supernatural beliefs

Seemingly attractive approach

But highly problematic

• Problem 1 - distinguishing supernatural beliefs

Vague concept

Not used by certain societies which

distinguish superstition (Martin 2004)or magic (Durkheim 1921)



Religion

• Problem 2 - difference between religion and

superstition

Superstition as false religion (Aquinas 1265)

Religion as true superstition?

Institutionalisation/function of

beliefs/practices

(Durkheim 1912, Wilson 2002)

Difference in espoused aims?



Pseudoscience

• Problem 3 - Pseudoscientificsuperstitions

Saher, Lindeman (2005) on

alternative medicine andsupernatural beliefs

Other evidence for post hocexplanations

People may opt for supernatural/pseudoscientificexplanations of patterns due tounavailability of naturalexplanations



Thus far…

• Superstition linked to uncertainty

• May be due to „just in case‟ pattern seeking

• Not to be identified with false beliefs

• May not necessarily involve supernatural

claims

• Need to consider the cognitive processeswhich lead to superstition



Cognitive processes

• Cognitive explanations

Logical versus pre-logical thinking (Durkheim 1912,

Lévy-Bruhl 1910)

Childhood versus adult modes of thought (Piaget 1929)

• Reify superstitious/rational distinction in terms of

different modes of thought

• Problem - Not all pre-logical or childhoodthinking results in superstitious beliefs

Identification of superstition still problematic



Recent cognitive approaches

• Dual-aspect reasoning

(Epstein, Pacini, Denes Raj, Heier

1996) on intuitive versusanalytical thinking

• Developmental psychology

(Hood, Bloom 2007, Lindeman,

Aarnio 2006) on essentialist

accounts of childhood intuitive

reasoning



Weaknesses

• Can not identify superstition with a mode of

reasoning

But provide a richer picture of limited humanabilities

• The modes of reasoning not competing but

mutually supportive Modes of reasoning not superseded

Later modes reliant upon earlier modes



Ecological rationality

• Reasoning needs to fit the specific problems

it is applied to (Simon 1956)

• Superstitions may be the result of amismatch between

the reasoning and

the situation it isapplied to



Thank you

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http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com

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What is Superstition