{"id":12078,"date":"2022-08-17T20:41:40","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T10:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/?p=12078"},"modified":"2022-08-18T02:00:29","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T16:00:29","slug":"uncertainty-and-the-pull-of-magical-beliefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/17\/uncertainty-and-the-pull-of-magical-beliefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncertainty and the pull of magical beliefs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Magic has a seemingly universal allure. It\u2019s interwoven in some of the most popular narratives for children and adults, from the <\/span>Harry Potter<\/span><\/i> books to the TV series <\/span>Supernatural<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the influence of magic can go beyond the page or the screen to influence people\u2019s lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fortune tellers in caravans, tarot card readers, and astrology apps make a living from people\u2019s belief in something supernatural, transcendent and other worldly \u2013 or at least the possibility of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Magical beliefs can influence major life decisions like who to marry and how to invest money.<\/span><\/p>\n

And magic is a part in our everyday lives, with people regularly wishing others good luck and sending good vibes, with the hope that they can telepathically pass on positive \u2018energy.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, some people are more drawn to magic than others. Not everyone is reading their horoscope or setting aside a pair of lucky underpants on important days (or at least not admitting to it).<\/span><\/p>\n

Studies have shown<\/span><\/a> that people vary widely in their belief in magic \u2013 something that many of us have experienced if a topic like horoscopes comes up at the dinner table.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, we know individuals can have a range of magical beliefs for various reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we look at the big picture, cultures can also vary in the level to which they embrace magical beliefs. It may be that, in some cultures, magical beliefs are interwoven in people\u2019s everyday lives and collective belief systems.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our research<\/span><\/a> aimed to test what role culture plays in shaping people\u2019s magical beliefs in two studies with people from 35 countries including Australia, Portugal, Latvia, South Africa and India.<\/span><\/p>\n

We focused on belief in luck<\/span><\/a> \u2013 the idea that our good and bad fortune can be shaped by certain objects, thoughts and behaviours. <\/span>We also explored precognition<\/span><\/a> \u2013 the belief that people or powers can predict the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our study found that belief in luck and precognition was common around the world \u2013 and there are a lot of people reading their horoscopes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Belief in luck and precognition varied across cultures. Magical beliefs were less common in cultures across Western European and other English-speaking countries. Belief in luck and precognition was highest in some countries in Eastern Europe and South Asia, including Latvia, Russia, Indonesia, and Singapore.<\/span><\/p>\n

This tells us that where we live can meaningfully shape our beliefs in magic and some cultures are more open to magical beliefs than others.<\/span><\/p>\n

Magical beliefs were less common in cultures across Western European and other English-speaking countries. <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Our work also explored why magical beliefs might be more common in some cultural groups than others. <\/span>Previous research<\/span><\/a> suggests that magic might be popular because it fulfills a <\/span>need for certainty, predictability and order<\/span><\/a> for some people.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we feel nervous about our exam, and we\u2019re not sure how we\u2019ll do, wearing our lucky underpants might help us to feel just a little bit calmer. If we extrapolate from this idea, people in countries with a high degree of uncertainty, for example, where people are unsure if they\u2019ll keep their job or get laid off, might turn to magical beliefs to restore a sense of calm and stability.<\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly, we found that a \u2018need for certainty\u2019 didn\u2019t explain cultural differences in magical beliefs. Across both studies, a country\u2019s score on a \u2018need for certainty\u2019 index wasn\u2019t associated with magical beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, we did find that a country\u2019s score on the <\/span>Human Development Index<\/span><\/a> \u2013 which measures the wealth of a country \u2013 is associated with magical beliefs. People in less wealthy countries were found to be more likely to believe in magic.<\/span><\/p>\n

This could tell us a few things. It may be that people in countries with a lower development score feel less certain about issues like employment, healthcare, and education for themselves or their families.<\/span><\/p>\n

These sources of uncertainty might contribute to a stronger pull towards magical beliefs. This effect <\/span>dovetails with research<\/span><\/a> which shows that during periods of national uncertainty \u2013 like elections or natural disasters \u2013 people are more likely to believe in a higher power.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another possibility is that in countries that score high on development, their models of formal and informal education emphasise science and technology \u2013 highlighting the rational over the magical.<\/span><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t have clear answers for many of these questions, but by looking more deeply at how beliefs differ across cultures we may be able to go somewhere toward understanding the drivers that shape people\u2019s openness to magical beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\n

This article was first published on Pursuit<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Photo by Rhett Wesley<\/a> on Unsplash.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Magic has a seemingly universal allure. It\u2019s interwoven in some of the most popular narratives for children and adults, from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":12079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[439,440],"coauthors":[438],"class_list":["post-12078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy","tag-supernatural","tag-superstition"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12078"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12082,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12078\/revisions\/12082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12078"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}