Magicial Thinking...Works?

Magical 'thinking' is a form of supersitious behavior, which is a behavior that is learned and sporadically reinforced...and even that contingency relation is questionable. Yet magical thinking is a strong force in our culture. When a football player wears the same pair of socks during every game, because last season he wore them when the team one an important game, he is engaging in magical thinking. A child blowing out birthday cake candles and making a wish, and his father carrying a rabbit's foot in his pocket for luck are also behaving in a similar manner: they made the connectiong between a reinforcer and the behavior. Hence, the supersition is born.

In a recent study published by the University of Cologne researchers wanted to examine the consequences and potential benefits of superstitious behavior. The study looked to demonstrate performance benefits of superstitions, in addition to attempting to identify the psychological mechanisms underlying the superstitions of the subjects.

The study showed that good-luck superstitions, activated with a common saying or action (such as 'break a leg') improved performance in a variety of tasks, including motor dexterity and memory. They also reported that these benefits were produced by changes in self-efficacy, or how the subjects percieved themselves, their goals and their abilities. It also found "increased task persistence consitutes one means by which self-efficacy, enhanced by superstition, improves performance."

So what does this even mean? The latest online issue of Scientific American MIND says not much:

"The influence of the charm depends crucially on your belief in its inherent powers. Once you acknowledge that performance is a functions of what goes on in your brain rather than a product of any mystical properties of the object itself, it becomes useless. That feeling of "I can do this" will wither away as soon as you realize that nothing external, nothing mystical, will influence how you perform--it's just you and your abilities."

Is this going to stop even the logical from participating in these behaviors? I doubt it. I myself carry out specific rituals based on superstition. When I drive through a yellow light, I kiss my fingertips and touch them to the roof of my car. Why? It's a habit, I know I'm not thanking a non-existent angel for guiding me safetly through the yellow light. But I continue to do so. So perhaps the 'underlying motivation' of superstitious behavior is more complex than simply believing in the object or the action.

Sources:
Scientific American MIND article
Abstract for Study