What is thing called superstition Konrad TalmontKaminski KLI

What is thing called superstition? Konrad Talmont-Kaminski KLI & UMCS

A sample of superstitions • What do these have in common? § § Tarot card reading Triskaidekaphobia Whistling for wind Bad luck from breaking a mirror § First footing § Water dowsing • That these possibly do not? § Believing in fairies or UFOs § Using Vitamin C against colds § Saying Mass § Wishing people ‘good luck’ § Newtonian physics

Jahoda definition • Gustav Jahoda, 1956 § “the kind of belief and action a reasonable man in present-day Western society would regard as being ‘superstitious’” • • A ‘subterfuge’ A place-holder Relying on intuitions Awaiting a proper definition

Definition and explanation • Phenomenological definition § Seemingly easier to obtain § May be misleading • Definition in terms of underlying processes § Requires that superstition be understood § More valuable • Neither has been agreed upon • But numerous suggestions

Uncertainty • Superstitions form under conditions of uncertainty § Malinowski (1925) on Trobriand islanders § Empirical support • Vyse (1991) matrix-task study • Keinan (1994) on Israelis under SCUD attacks • Padgett, Jorgenson (1982) on economic threat in Germany • Reason for the link is not well understood

Anthropological explanations • Motivational - Anxiety reduction (Malinowski 1925) § Main thesis in anthropology • Alternative explanations § Cognitive - Primitive attempts to understand the world (Frazer 1922) § Social - Communicating willingness to cooperate (Palmer 1989)

Psychological explanations • Originate with Skinner’s 1948 pigeon study (Skinner 1948) • “Operant conditioning is not just for rats and pigeons” (Vyse 1997)

Pattern seeking • Psychologists focus on pattern seeking • Pattern seeking explanations: § Emotional need to find a pattern Vyse (1997) seems to accept this at times § ‘Finding’ non-existent patterns sometimes less costly - Killeen (1997, 1981) on ‘just in case’ justifications § Evolutionary biasing - Mc. Kay (2007) applying Haselton’s error management theory

Naïve inductivism • Danger of a naïve inductivist view of pattern seeking § Beck, Forstmeier (2005) on adaptive learning strategies • Position is philosophically unacceptable § Hume (1748) § Goodman (1955) • Selective associations are the norm § Cook, Mineka (1990) on monkeys learning to fear snakes • General idea of relating superstition to pattern seeking not reliant on naïve views of learning

Superstition as false belief • Superstition as: § “a wrong idea about external reality”! (Beck, Forstmeier 2005) § “ascription of false causal connection” (Maller, Lundeen 1933) • Problem § What about non-superstitious false beliefs? § A profound difference

Supernatural beliefs • Superstitions as involving supernatural beliefs § Seemingly attractive approach § But highly problematic • Problem 1 - distinguishing supernatural beliefs § Vague concept § Not used by certain societies which distinguish superstition (Martin 2004) or magic (Durkheim 1921)

Religion • Problem 2 - difference between religion and superstition § Superstition as false religion (Aquinas 1265) § Religion as true superstition? § Institutionalisation/function of beliefs/practices (Durkheim 1912, Wilson 2002) § Difference in espoused aims?

Pseudoscience • Problem 3 - Pseudoscientific superstitions § Saher, Lindeman (2005) on alternative medicine and supernatural beliefs § Other evidence for post hoc explanations § People may opt for supernatural/pseudoscientific explanations of patterns due to unavailability of natural explanations

Thus far… • • Superstition linked to uncertainty May be due to ‘just in case’ pattern seeking Not to be identified with false beliefs May not necessarily involve supernatural claims • Need to consider the cognitive processes which lead to superstition

Cognitive processes • Cognitive explanations § Logical versus pre-logical thinking (Durkheim 1912, Lévy-Bruhl 1910) § Childhood versus adult modes of thought (Piaget 1929) • Reify superstitious/rational distinction in terms of different modes of thought • Problem - Not all pre-logical or childhood thinking results in superstitious beliefs § Identification of superstition still problematic

Recent cognitive approaches • Dual-aspect reasoning § (Epstein, Pacini, Denes Raj, Heier 1996) on intuitive versus analytical thinking • Developmental psychology § (Hood, Bloom 2007, Lindeman, Aarnio 2006) on essentialist accounts of childhood intuitive reasoning

Weaknesses • Can not identify superstition with a mode of reasoning § But provide a richer picture of limited human abilities • The modes of reasoning not competing but mutually supportive § Modes of reasoning not superseded § Later modes reliant upon earlier modes

Ecological rationality • Reasoning needs to fit the specific problems it is applied to (Simon 1956) • Superstitions may be the result of a mismatch between the reasoning and the situation it is applied to

Thank you konrad@talmont. com http: //deisidaimon. wordpress. com