The identification of specific characteristics that are associated with superstition may help to avoid the many risks (e.g. health anxiety, irrational behavior, emotional maladjustment) involved with extreme superstitious belief. This study examines two possible correlates of superstition: religiosity and locus of control. ANOVA suggest that levels of religiosity do not have a significant relat...

People often resort to superstitious behavior to facilitate goal achievement. We examined whether the specific type of achievement goal pursued influences the propensity to engage in superstitious behavior. Across six studies, we found that performance goals were more likely than learning goals to elicit superstitious behavior. Participants were more likely to engage in superstitious behavior a...

It has been speculated that superstitiousness and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exist along a continuum. The distinction between superstitious behavior and superstitious belief, however, is crucial for any theoretical account of claimed associations between superstitiousness and OCD. By demonstrating that there is a dichotomy between behavior and belief, which is experimentally testable, ...

Despite the large impact that superstitious beliefs have on the marketplace, we currently know very little about their implications for consumer judgment and decision making. We document the existence of the influence of superstitious beliefs on consumer behavior and specify their conscious and nonconscious underlying properties. In particular, we show that superstitious beliefs have a robust i...

Everyone has seen a human face in a cloud, a pebble, or blots on a wall. Evidence of superstitious perceptions has been documented since classical antiquity, but has received little scientific attention. In the study reported here, we used superstitious perceptions in a new principled method to reveal the properties of unobservable object representations in memory. We stimulated the visual syst...

We examined the use of superstitious behavior by major league baseball players in the United States and Japan. The majority of professional players in both countries reported using superstitiousbehaviorsbut expressed little confidence that thebehavioractuallyaffectedoutcomes.Consistent with the uncertainty hypothesis, the more players believed luck affected outcomes during the game, the more th...

Psychological research documents that individuals are more likely to resort to superstitious practices when operating in environments dominated by uncertainty, high stakes, and perceived lack of control over the outcomes. Based on these findings, we suggest that the stock market represents an ideal breeding ground for superstition and then test whether superstition-induced behavior affects inve...