Beliefs are not based on reason or knowledge e.g. believing the number 7 is lucky
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Superstitious Behaviour- Explanations
Type 1/Type 2 Errors;
Arise from making unjustified casual links
Better to assume casuality between unrelated events that co-occur (Type 1) THAN.... miss a genuine one by not believing a casual link when there was one (Type 2)
Type 1 is preffered to Type 2
Behaviourist Explanation;
Operant conditioning where an accidental S-R bond is learned
1st--> supersition acquired through operant conditioning
2nd--> maintained through negative reinforcement everytime you repeat the supersitions behaviour anxiety is reduced and behaviour reinforced
Illustion of Control;
Supersitions develop in situations where people feel a lack of control e.g. sitting in exams, when playing football
In order to bring a sense of control, superitious rituals are used to bring good luck
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Evidence- Illusion of Control
Whitson and Galinsky (2000);
Participants were asked to recall situations in their lives;
1 group situation was when they were in control
1 group situation was with a lack of control
All participants then given stories involving superstitous behaviour and asked to judge how much this affected the eventual outcome (stamping foot 3 times before entering meeting room)
Participants who had been made to feel less in control were more likely to believe that the supersitious behaviour was affected by the eventual outcome
Damisch et al (2010);
Value of self belief
Found that activation of good luck related supersitions led to enhanced performance on a variety of tasks (memory and motor dexerity)
Supersition improves one's self efficacy
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Evidence- Behaviourist Explanation Support
Skinner (1947);
Food pellets apeared at regular intervals- bird behaviour had no affect on food delievery
Certain random behaviours preceeded food
These behaviours then persisted as 'ritualistic behaviour'
Random behaviours reinforced by food as the birds believed it caused food
The fact that food continued occasionally maintained supersition
Matute (1996);
exposed participants to uncontrollable noises being emitted from a computer in a library
Participants pressed various buttons to stop noise- when it stops it wasent because of the buttons
When the noise started again the participants tried to press the key they had been pressing when it stopped first time ---> assumed cause when there was none
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Evidence- Behaviourist Explanation Criticism
Staddon and Simmelborg (1971);
Repeated Skinner's study
Observed similar behaviour but unrelated to food- all same way at the start
Rituals occured at other times and were unrelated to reinforcement
Schnur (2008);
Pigeons behaviour was not the result of accidental or adventitons reinforcement
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Personal Vs Cultural Superisitons
Culturally transmitted supersitions
e.g. UK= Lucky No.7, Thailand= Lucky No.9
People sometimes adopt supersitions through indirect learning perhaps as a means of gaining a sense of control
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