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Even seemingly irrational beliefs can become ensconced in the social norms of a society. Research by biologists in the School of Arts and Sciences shows how.
Ancient Roman leaders once made decisions about important events, such as when to hold elections or where to build new cities, based on the presence or flight patterns of birds. Builders often omit the thirteenth floor from their floor plans, and many pedestrians go well out of their way to avoid walking under a ladder.
While it's widely recognized that superstitions like these are not rational, many persist, guiding the behavior of large groups of people even today.
In a new analysis driven by game theory, two theoretical biologists devised a model that shows how superstitious beliefs can become established in a society's social norms. Their work, which appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrates how groups of individuals, each starting with distinct belief systems, can evolve a coordinated set of behaviors that are enforced by a set of consistent social norms.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 19 2019, @01:46PM (1 child)
Yeah, the ladder one at least has some basis in rational reality.
Question: Where, when ladders are involved, is the highest risk location for having something drop upon your head?
Answer: Directly underneath the ladder.
Question: What is the best way to mitigate that risk of having an object drop on your head?
Answer: Don't walk under a ladder.
Yes, the whole BS around "bad-luck" and other "superstitious" crapola is crazy. But the reality is that not walking under a ladder is a risk of injury mitigation technique. I suspect the whole surrounding superstitions grew up as folks tried to find various ways to convince children (who generally have underdeveloped logical reasoning systems) to not walk under ladders. They probably grew from there because of the 80% of adults who also possess seriously underdeveloped logical reasoning systems and so a superstition worked better than factual logical reasoning.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday April 19 2019, @04:53PM
Well, most superstitions start as post hoc ergo propter hoc reasoning, but not all. There's evidence (suggestive, not convincing) that the unluckiness of 13 had something to do with the solar hero myths. OTOH, in Japan I was told that 13 was a lucky number. (Of course, they have a lot of historic connection to the moon goddess.)
FWIW, 27.5 * 13 = 357.5, IOW there are usually 13 full moons per year. This may relate. And not evenly matching the length of the year could be interpreted as making it unlucky. So perhaps superstition often starts as over-generalization?
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