What is Superstition
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Transcript of What is Superstition
8/2/2019 What is Superstition
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/what-is-superstition 1/19
What is this thing calledsuperstition?
Konrad Talmont-Kaminski
KLI & UMCS
8/2/2019 What is Superstition
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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Psychological explanations
• Originate withSkinner‟s 1948 pigeon study(Skinner 1948)
• “Operantconditioning is not
just for rats and pigeons” (Vyse1997)
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Thank you
http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com