Comments on: Superstitious? Why Even Rational People Hate to Tempt Fate

By: Susannie

Susannie — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:44:00 +0000

Superstitious? If I were Jon I wouldn't wear the Stanford t-shirt in case I didn't get accepted. Nothing to do with superstitious beliefs, I would want to avoid an embarressing event which would hurt my self esteem. Don't sell the skin before you caught the bear!

By: Lee J Haywood

Lee J Haywood — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:15:00 +0000

Most superstitions crumble when you ask what the mechanism is for their effect. If you open an umbrella indoors (bearing in mind that the umbrella is a relatively recent invention), do people really think that some supreme being takes notice and subtly changes the weather to annoy them? Or that breaking a mirror starts some sort of clock and a fairy follows them around casting 'bad luck'?

Alternatively, things like lottery tickets require a good understanding and working through of the statistics involved. Intuitively a ticket with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 is less likely to win than a 'random' one, but in reality they're both equal. Of course, picking a ticket with such an obvious pattern means that if you do win you're likely to share the prize with a lot of others... (Although for the UK lottery, you need an average of 1,000 lifetimes to win the jackpot).

By: tyler

tyler — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:41:00 +0000

ok, i believe myself to be of at least moderate intelligence however, my belief is that believe that these are true because they are, or rather, we make them to be. no one remembers leaving their umbrella home when it is sunny, however the one day they don't have it with them, it rains. this is not tempting fate this is patterns. the pattern is "it hasn't rained therefor i don't need my umbrella." however science proves that due to natures cyclic nature it WILL eventually rain, and therefor the longer we go without it the more likely it is which coincides with the idea of the longer it goes without rain the more likely we are to leave the umbrella. we trick ourselves into believing that it is caused because of the action even though it causes the action. however after a long time of working in the fast food industry i still believe in jinxing oneself and knocking on wood, even though i know they're false, I've never found it hurts.

By: vineetgupta

vineetgupta — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:59:00 +0000

One way to "fool yourself" is to convince yourself that supposedly "unlucky" things are lucky for you for a certain period of time, say a year. During this time rejoice in breaking mirrors, celebrate when cats cross your path, walk under ladders again and again and so forth. The end result of this transaction is that the number of "unlucky" things for you keep decreasing. I've followed this protocol and I swear, nothing is unlucky for me anymore.

By: Red

Red — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 05:58:00 +0000

I don't actually own a working umbrella. There is a dead one which won't open in the back of the car thats been there for about 5 years.. (I did borrow one for my last job interview when it was raining)

I prefer to remain optimistic that a convenient break in the clouds will occur and its suprising how many times it does. And if not most people will be too busy scurrying round under their umbrellas to see me jumping in the puddles (or often they actually offer to share and you get to meet people)

I think its a little more complex in real life than the situations above suggest. For example if you have minimal car insurance this could influence your behaviour driving to become more risk averse quite rationally (or alternatively if you forgot to renew and are on your way to get new insurance you may be more paranoid and create and accident or both)

And reminding an athlete of their record could influence their behaviour either positively (I'm on a roll) or negatively (now I am jinxed) - both superstitions really

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:38:00 +0000

Funny how it's our need for reason (to partition the world into understandable boxes) that leads to unreason and superstition.

By: Kazel

Kazel — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:45:00 +0000

The test looking at people's response times to whether or not the ending made sense when a positive outcome came after "tempting fate" seems like it tests their literary prowess as much as their belief in fate. Its a common saying that if there is a gun on the wall in act 1, it will be shot in act 3. If a story mentions a character thinking about taking an umbrella and deciding not to, then it doesn't rain, the scene of deciding doesn't make sense because it serves no purpose.

By: Julie Lu

Julie Lu — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:05:00 +0000

@teajay
After taking a statistics course, I'll never buy an extended warranty again.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:41:00 +0000

I think Its much more about control, or indeed lack of it!
Many people just cannot face the idea of a world that relies in the main, on luck, chance, probability etc. and try to put some form of control in place, and then reason with themselves about why they did it i.e. If I dont take this umbrella, it is sure to rain, I dont want it to rain so I'll take the umbrella, but even if it does now rain, I have the umbrella!!
Maybe people should be encouraged to embrace the concept of absolute uncertainty and see the great joy (and freedom) that lies within that idea.
Steve.

By: z

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:07:00 +0000

I tempt fate all the time much to the horror of those around me. Making positive commments about a team near the end of a sporting event. Opening an umbrella indoors. Walking under ladders. And so on.

It seems to me that almost everyone I know has some kind of irrational beliefs along these lines.