Blogpost # 8 Psychostition! (bonus blog)

You mind beh Trixeh

               This article is a bonus out of request, today we will delve into the Psychology of Superstition. Why do have these beliefs? how do they keep popping up? In what way to they affect us in the long run? And most importantly, why are they so damn important to us Filipinos?! I have clearly stated in one of my blogs about how Superstitious Filipinos are and how these superstitions regardless of what age we're in will continue to evolve. So now we take a look into it's role and effects in our minds.

I find it funny how I stumbled upon the familiar word "Placebo" when researching about this. One of the articles I researched on named "The psychology of superstition" written by Sarah Albert on the website www.WebMD.com claims that the core idea of a superstitious belief is to want more control, or more certainty on something. This could be why some people wear lucky shirts, shoes, charms etc. To work for a better day. Ms.Albert says that we certainly do gain a better sense of confidence and security from this way of thinking. A passage on her article says:

"there is a positive placebo effect -- if you think something will help you, it may do just that. "There is a tremendous amount of power in belief," he says. If the outcome is a matter of pure luck, beliefs don't really have any impact, however, when your performance is a key factor in an outcome, superstitious thinking might give you an extra boost."

There, we see it again. The "P" word, I have stated countless times that the power of human belief is the most powerful of all human abilities. Often times, we use positive superstition to give us an intangible and irrational edge when it comes to achieving something far beyond what we perceive achievable. Like say: Using the faces of our crushes as wallpapers to increase the chance of developing a relationship with them. 

                 While reading further I stumbled on another article that this time, shed some light unto the possible origin of a superstition. The articles name is "Psychology Professor Says Superstitions All About Trying to Control Fate" Written by students from "Kansas state university" (perhaps they chose to remain anonymous) and readable on the website www.newswise.com. 

The article is most probably an interview with between students and a psychology professor named Don Saucier (what a saucy name). Like in the previous article, he says that Superstitious beliefs are used by people in an attempt to control their future. He says that "People believe in superstitions to try to restore some prediction and control to their world" because being unsure about the future can cause discomfort among individuals. According to Don Saucier regarding the possible origin of Superstitions,

"any behavior could be a superstition if a person associates that behavior incorrectly with a positive or negative event that follows."

For example, Lets assume your a good DoTA player. You picked a character to start of the match and your team is confident. However you lose..very badly. The team is in low spirits after the loss, then you decide to play again using the same character and you lose again. Without any thought to whether the teams tactics were wrong or not. It's common for some people to assume that every time they play a certain character, it brings bad luck to the team. This of course could work the other way around if you win while always using one specific list of characters.

This could be a reason for why some athletes wear the same shirt to a game without washing it. They came from a winning game and they believe that the T-shirt still contains its luck from the previous game. 

To conclude, we Filipinos have a tendency to have rather assuming characters. Many of my relatives read horoscopes and often believe them because they coincidentally do happen. And after one good prediction, they tend to cling to it with the belief it will happen again. Having Superstitious beliefs is not a bad thing, if it works for you it works, just don't panic the next time you read a horoscope that says "You will experience excruciating pain like never before"