When we, humans perceive a relationship of two variables is called an illusory correlation. Our minds make connections that actually don’t exist. We think we see a correlation but in fact it is not there. On popular type of illusory correlation are superstitions. We, humans make connections and interpret things to form understandings of life; this is what we called superstitions. There are superstitions about a lot of things like health and luck. For example, they say if you find a four-leaf clover, you will have luck on your side. But this is not necessarily true. Finding a four-leaf clover has no relationship to luck.
Since I am born of an Asian family was traditional and has lots of superstitions. I grew up hearing this will cause this and what not. But in fact, the two variables have either extremely minor or no relationship at all. “If you don’t finish all your rice off your bowl, you will marry someone one who is ugly and face filled with freckles and pimples” is something my parents would say to me when I was young. As a young girl, I had no idea so I did what I was told. I will never leave one peck of rice on my bowl. No matter how full I was, I stuffed my face with the rice. But growing older, I realize that not finishing one’s rice has nothing to do with one’s marriage.
Not only that, I have always been associated with the number eight. Why you might ask? Of course, it has to do with Chinese people’s superstitions. It is very popular among Chinese people to have the number eight in everything like phone numbers, house numbers, car plates and more. Eight is believed to be a lucky number since the pronunciation of eight in Chinese sounds like prosperity. This is why many Chinese people are willing to spend money to change their digits and other stuff since it is lucky. For example, people who gamble by playing the lottery would try to buy numbers dealing with the number eight. When they do win, they believe it is because of the number eight. But, when they lose with the presence of the number eight, they don’t even account it and continue believing that the number eight is lucky.
These superstitions in my life are examples that show illusory correlation. We humans try to find a relationship to prove our own understandings. Just like in Professor Wede’s class, the example of how the increase of ice cream sales correlate to the increase of murders. Two completely unrelated things are combined to form a theory. As he said, Correlation has nothing to do with causation. The increase of both ice cream sales and murders are only a pattern we perceived in our environment. We just make up our own relationships through our minds which in psychology is called illusory correlation.
Superstitions have always intrigued me. You would think that humans as a whole would have the same superstitions, but it depends more on culture. So, your culture, for example, seems to have the “finish the rice in your bowl” superstition, but I wouldn’t have ever thought twice about something bad happening to me from not finishing my rice.
What I have always wondered, though, is why superstitions begin in the first place. There has to be a reason behind it. Some may argue that it’s because when people did the superstitious action, unfortunate things started happening to them. While that makes sense, I wonder if superstitions begin because we want a particular action not to happen. For example, parents may want their children to finish their food, so they use the rice superstition like you mentioned. Other things, like in American culture, are parents trying to get their kids to stay away from broken glass (if a mirror breaks you’ll have bad luck) or workers wanting people not to walk under their ladders and bump them (walk under a ladder and you’ll have bad luck). And, obviously some superstitions have carried over from previous centuries (if a black cat walks past you it brings bad luck, if someone has a wart on his/her nose s/he is a witch, etc.). I think we as humans use these illusory correlations to our benefit. I think that sometimes we create them in order to manipulate society to act a certain way. What’s incredible is how the psychological effects of these illusory correlations can transcend generations (as we see with the black cat superstition).
Both of your superstitions sound interesting. I have a similar superstition with the pencils I use. I always have the same two pencils in my book bag; one is for taking notes and one is for exams. I only use my purple pencil on exams and nothing else. I started using the purple pencil last semester. Right before the exam began, I became nervous because I felt that everything was thrown off since I had a different pencil. The whole time I was taking the test, I was convinced that this new, purple pencil would cause me to fail the test. However, I found out a few days later that I had received a score of 100% on the exam. From then on, I thought the pencil was special and I only used it for exams. I know that the pencil had nothing to do with the score, and that it was due to the amount of hours I had spent studying and preparing for the exam. I still use the purple pencil for exams. Even though I know it is not special or has anything to do with my scores, I use it because it helps me feel more confident when I take exams.
I have a similar superstition with the number 13. While a lot of people think this number is unlucky, I find that the opposite is true. I’m not quite sure where it started, but I now associate good things happening with 13 being involved somehow. It can be a 13, a 31, a 131, etc. but I find a way for it to be there. I also prefer odd numbers to even, for example on television sets; I get sort of uncomfortable when the volume is at 24 so I’ll change it to 23 or 25. I’m not sure what I think may happen if I leave the volume at 24, in fact you can’t really hear a difference between 23 and 24, but I think that I’ve created some illusory correlation in my mind. I’m unable to watch scary movies, so maybe I think that if the volume is at 24, a commercial for another “Paranormal Activity” installment will come on. I think creating these illusory correlations in our mind brings comfort for us on some level, like there’s something you can count on to show you that it’s going to be a good day.