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What is this thing called superstition?

What is this thing called superstition?. Konrad Talmont-Kaminski KLI & UMCS. 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

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What is this thing called superstition?

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  1. What is this thing called superstition? Konrad Talmont-Kaminski KLI & UMCS

  2. 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 A sample of superstitions

  3. Gustav Jahoda, 1956 “the kind of belief and action a reasonable man in present-day Western society would regard as being ‘superstitious’” A ‘subterfuge’ A place-holder Relying on intuitions Awaiting a proper definition Jahoda definition

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. Anthropological explanations • Motivational - Anxiety reduction (Malinowski 1925) • Main thesis in anthropology • Alternative explanations • Cognitive - Primitive attempts to understand the world (Frazer 1922) • Social - Communicating willingness to cooperate (Palmer 1989)

  7. Psychological explanations • Originate with Skinner’s 1948 pigeon study (Skinner 1948) • “Operant conditioning is not just for rats and pigeons” (Vyse 1997)

  8. Pattern seeking • Psychologists focus on pattern seeking • Pattern seeking explanations: • Emotional need to find a pattern - Vyse (1997) seems to accept this at times • ‘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

  9. Naïve inductivism • Danger of a naïve inductivist view of pattern seeking • 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 pattern seeking not reliant on naïve views of learning

  10. Superstition as false belief • Superstition as: • “a wrong idea about external reality”! (Beck, Forstmeier 2005) • “ascription of false causal connection” (Maller, Lundeen 1933) • Problem • What about non-superstitious false beliefs? • A profound difference

  11. 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)

  12. 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?

  13. Pseudoscience • Problem 3 - Pseudoscientific superstitions • Saher, Lindeman (2005) on alternative medicine and supernatural beliefs • Other evidence for post hoc explanations • People may opt for supernatural/pseudoscientific explanations of patterns due to unavailability of natural explanations

  14. 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 processes which lead to superstition

  15. 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 childhood thinking results in superstitious beliefs • Identification of superstition still problematic

  16. Recent cognitive approaches • Dual-aspect reasoning • (Epstein, Pacini, Denes Raj, Heier 1996) on intuitive versus analytical thinking • Developmental psychology • (Hood, Bloom 2007, Lindeman, Aarnio 2006) on essentialist accounts of childhood intuitive reasoning

  17. Weaknesses • Can not identify superstition with a mode of reasoning • But provide a richer picture of limited human abilities • The modes of reasoning not competing but mutually supportive • Modes of reasoning not superseded • Later modes reliant upon earlier modes

  18. Ecological rationality • Reasoning needs to fit the specific problems it is applied to (Simon 1956) • Superstitions may be the result of a mismatch between the reasoning and the situation it is applied to

  19. Thank you konrad@talmont.com http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com

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