Study of Stress Level Contributing To the Superstitious Behavior

In this research, researcher studied the relation between stress and superstitious behavior. This study carried out in UP. To assess the level of stress, stress scale of M.Singh (2002) has been used and to assess superstitious behaviour self-constructed scale has been used. Chi square technique has been used for data analysis. The relation between stress level and superstitious behaviour is significant at 0.01 level of confidence. Hence, it has been concluded that high stress lead to high superstitious behaviour.

Jinx, Control, and the Necessity of Adjustment: Superstitions Among Football Fans

Superstitions are behaviors human beings use to gain a sense of control over certain events in their lives. Thus, sport and its inherent uncertainty provide fertile ground for superstitious behavior. Research on this subject has focused mainly on athletes while examining the behavioral expressions, motivations, and characteristics of fans’ superstitions that have remained marginal; therefore, the present paper aims to address this lacuna by analyzing these behaviors as part of sports fandom and fans’ daily routines. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 24 Israeli football fans of local teams. Key findings illustrate two themes: time dependent acts of superstition; and place. It is argued that superstitious behavior serves fans in two ways. First, making them feel their actions influence the match outcomes and helping their favorite team beyond simply cheering in the stands. Second, reducing the level of uncertainty and subsequent stress level characteristic of being a sports fan. Furthermore, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic when fans’ access to stadiums was restricted, the results show that the fans’ absence from the stadiums led to a reduction in the quantity and frequency of their superstitious behaviors, pointing to the significance of sporting venues in fan behavior.

Women’s Softball and the Collaborative Spirit of Magic

All major US sports are high in superstitions because motivation to win is high and the game outcome is uncertain; athletes purportedly engage in superstitious behavior to reduce anxiety, build individual confidence and cope with uncertainty. Sports is also a male domain, where men traditionally display individual, masculine achievement. We observe magic rituals practiced in a women’s college softball team not as a means to overcome anxiety or display individual prowess, but as a way to blend creative individuality into the unity of the social whole, which manifests as a social narrative of the team. We analyze individual and team magic in two forms –institutionalized magic and individual superstitions – which build idiosyncratic behavior into a collective team dynamic. As such, this essay shows how women use magical power collaboratively. Women on a college softball team partake in practical work and magic, such that participating in magic through empathy and sensing one another creates team identity, allowing the reimagination of forms and outcomes.

What’s hidden in my filedrawer and what’s in yours? Disclosing Non-published Findings in the Cognitive Science of Religion

In this short report I present an overview of different unpublished studies that we conducted in my lab over the past years. Across the different studies we observed consistent effects of our experimental manipulations or variables of interest on self-report measures, but less so on behavioral and neurocognitive measures. For instance, religious people said they were more prosocial but did not donate more money (Study 1 & 2); participants experienced awe but this did not affect their body and self perception (Study 6 & 7); participants had mystical-like experiences but this did not affect the perception of their peripersonal space (Study 8 & 9); and self-reported magical thinking was unrelated to superstitious behavior (Study 11). In other studies, the hypothesized effects did not bear out as expected or were even in an unexpected direction. Participants perceived more agency in threatening pictures and scenarios, but this was not related to their supernatural beliefs (Study 3-5) and a death priming manipulation reduced rather than increased participants’ religiosity (Study 10). Opening the filedrawer through the publication of short reports like this one, will hopefully further increase transparency and will help other researchers to learn from our own trials and errors.