People's behavior and intelligence can be affected by superstition. Technology for healthcare is affected too because people consider superstitions first rather than the medicine. The intent to go to an herbalist and do some rituals rather than doing the first aid.
For you to better understand what superstitions and how it affects the behavior of a person, we are here to guide you. Below are the details that will help you learn more about it and how you can cope with being too dependent on such beliefs.
What is Superstition?
Superstition is a belief founded upon one's conviction in luck or other unreasonable, mystic, or unscientific forces. Superstitions are conveyed by the ancestor, the same as the native language, values, and standards passed on them.
The word superstition is often used to refer to a religion that is not practiced by most of a given society regardless of the existing religion containing alleged superstition.
You learn superstition from people; you are not born believing Friday the 13th, or if you step on the crack, you will break your mother's back. According to the Oxford Dictionary, superstition is a widely held but irrational belief in supernatural influence, mainly as primary to good or bad luck, or a practice based on such a belief.
Are you Superstitious?
Do you habitually knock on wood after saying your good fortune or toss salt over your left shoulder after spilling it to cast off bad luck? Do you cancel your appointments on Friday the 13th? Are you being horrified when black cats cross your path or have to walk under the ladder? Do you consider the rituals first rather than the technology for healthcare?
If yes, you're among the crowd of superstitious people.
Behavioral Effects
Superstition can affect a person's behavior and way of thinking. It influences everything from their preparation for a test to a job interview. Say that a student wears a green bracelet for a student aced test. The student may believe in the strength of such a bracelet. But the student may also notice all the time that wearing a bracelet and nothing significant happened.
Often, it stems from ignorance, a scientific or causal misunderstanding, a belief in fate or magic, or a fear of the unknown. It is generally applied to the beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy, and particular spirit creatures. Especially the hope that future events can be predicted by certain (seemingly) irrelevant prior circumstances.
Usually, superstitions fall into two categories: those who believe in good fortune (such as having a lucky charm or pre-game ritual) and those who can help you avoid bad luck (such as piloting a black one street cat).
People want to have an idea that they can make sense of the world and predict what will happen to them. Superstitions serve as external explanations for seemingly causal causes or as a possible way to reduce the odds that something terrible is going to happen.
A series of studies issue of the Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, researchers found that performance goals are more likely to provide familiar superstition - especially a penchant for lucky one's item - rather than learning objectives. As associates' hesitation in achieving their goals increased.
Their superstition also became more significant than before; in contrast, when they were settled to use a lucky item. The sureness of reaching the performance-related goals increased suggestively.
When people feel that people are out of their control, they are looking for external sources of power - superstitions are a reaction to feeling out of control. People want to put some control around chaos or uncertainty.
Superstitions Taken Too Far
It is possible to take superstitions extremely. At the far end of the range, the superstition of actions may be a feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD. In which superstition of beliefs and rituals is affirmed that they interfere with one's life.
To say if you've got your own superstitions, it recommends asking yourself: Do my superstitions or superstitions interfere with my relationships, the way I work in my life, or in activities that I usually do? Most people don't take it seriously, but it could happen.
If you find that you are making important decisions based on erroneous beliefs such as superstitions, you can make wrong decisions. If you need to have emergency surgery, and you ask to delay it because it's the 13th day of the month, that's an example of letting a superstitious belief affect your decision-making.
In the same way, if you decide not to have a safe relationship with a new partner or you engage in gambling because you are wearing your lucky shirt, these are also bad ideas. Research from Australia has found the problem among gamblers, and there is a significant connection between their superstition in beliefs and gambling intensity.
Regardless of the setting, superstitions become problematic when they make you do things that aren't useful to you, or you don't make things happen. In which case, it's time to dial down your superstitions with a heavy dose of rational thought.
Bottom Line
Believing in old practices is not bad. But depending on your entire actions and decisions to a superstitious belief may lead you to be an unreliable person.
What do you think about the effect of superstitions? Share your experience and thoughts with us by leaving a comment below.
