Rome Braves by The Suss-Man (Mike)
by 105 student
To the detached observer, athletes may seem like a strange group of people, performing irrational routines in preparation for an event. Perhaps you have heard that Michael Jordan wore blue University of North Carolina shorts under his Bull’s uniform for good luck or that National Hockey League goaltender, Patrick Roy, was said to have talked to the goalposts throughout games, or noticed that Tiger Woods always wears red on Sundays. If you have ever played a sport, you or your team may have had certain rituals such as wearing purple socks on game days or eating waffles at the previous meal.
Superstition is generally first developed in hindsight, for example: an athlete reviews a performance and then establishes cause and effect between certain circumstances such as wearing green socks and playing well. In 1948, B.F. Skinner studied superstitious behavior in pigeons. After a pigeon was reduced to 75 percent of its weight (when well fed), a food hopper was presented at regular intervals into the pigeon’s cage. In the majority of cases, the birds started to perform distinct behaviors such as turning counter clockwise or swinging the head and body in a pendulum motion close to the time the food was presented. Even though there was no actual causal relationship, the birds continued to perform certain behaviors presumably because of an initial coincidence. By definition, superstitious actions do not have any inherent value yet many athletes still refuse to change their behavior. Are they wrong or simply stubborn by acting this way? Many studies indicate the opposite, superstitious behavior does serve a purpose.
Chance plays a part in the outcome of virtually all sports, creating a relatively uncertain environment. Optimal athletic performance demands a heightened mental state known as the flow state or being in the zone,essentially a good match between the demands of the sport and the abilities of the athlete (Marr, 2001). A survey of male and female athletes at the University of Western Ontario indicated that athletes use superstitions to regulate their emotions in stressful situations such as sporting events. Though superstitious behavior may have no rational foundation, athletes believe they have a greater sense of control over the outcome of the situation, helping them to reach an optimal mental state (Burke, 2006).
Regardless of an athlete’s specific rituals, superstitions may serve an important role in athletic performance. Remember this the next time you hear about an athlete’s strange pregame routine.
References
Burke, Kevin L. (2006). An Exploratory Investigation of Superstition, Personal Control, Optimism and Pessimism in NCAA Division I Intercollegiate Student-Athletes. Athletic Insight, 8(2). Retrieved April 21, 2010 from http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol8Iss2/Superstition.htm
Gregory, Jane C. and Brain M. Petrie. (1972). Superstition in Sport. University of Waterloo. Presented at the Fourth Canadian Psychomotor Learning and Sports Psychology Symposium. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov:80/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/34/0f/45.pdf
Marr, Arthur J. (2001). In the Zone: A Biobehavioral Theory of the Flow Experience. Athletic Insight, 3(1). Retrieved from http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol3Iss1/Commentary.htm
Skinner, B.F. (1947). Superstition in the Pigeon. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38, pgs. 168-172. Retrieved March 5, 2010 from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/
Hey, well done. You make B.F. Skinner’s research actually seem interesting. I’d say a lot of people use superstitions to regulate their fears. I’ve got a quiz for my intro psych class on Tuesday and I’ll probably be wearing my lucky socks (don’t ask me to show you).
CSY
Comment by Chelsea S.Y. — March 25, 2012 @ 11:31 pm
The results from the athletes polled at the University of Western Ontario bring up a valid view on the influence of superstition. Superstitious events do not provide the lucky touch needed to score the game-winning goal, but rather provide the mindset necessary to. It is often assumed that athletics are a purely physical endeavor, yet much more comes into play when mental state is accounted for. Think about college basketball. When a player is on the free throw line those two shots seem to be the most important in the entire game; they are completely uncontested, free in a sense. Yet, the best foul shot shooters have percentages just a hint over 50% because as they line up to shoot, the crowds chant, wave, taunt and scream. It seems the only way to avoid the crowd is to block them out with a set of actions or movements, a superstition if you will. Superstitions provide a mindset for success, and you can be sure that more than just athletes rely on their mind-altering powers. It would be interesting to explore how other individuals in the public spotlight harness the power of superstition such as news anchors, actors, or surgeons. Perhaps there is a correlation between stress levels and a belief in superstition…maybe we’ll just have to break a mirror, step on a crack, and walk under a ladder to figure out!
Comment by Stephanie Stone — March 26, 2012 @ 11:43 pm
I’m thinking that the notion of superstition helping athletes to reach an optimum mental state might have something to do with an evolutionary mechanism of some sort. Since the pidgeons in Skinner’s experiment displayed superstition, as do many other animals, it seems plausible that superstition in humans might not be very different–the only difference being that humans are smarter, obviously, and have more complex rituals. What I’m trying to get at here is that a ritual behavior might be satisfying a fundamental biological/psychological requirement that directly helps an athlete get into the flow state. Essentially, superstition might be a behavior that has evolved for the purpose of improving performance (among other purposes). So even if the ritual might not seem to make sense logically, it might be harder to get into a flow state if the ritual isn’t done.
I can’t find evidence for this so far, but it was an interesting thought that came to me reading this article. A simple personal scenario I can think of is that when I’m performing at a gig and I’m not using a specific guitar pick that I caught at a concert (I’ve been using the same one since), I feel very slightly uncomfortable even though I know that it doesn’t matter rationally–and this usually affects my playing.
Comment by Ben Chin — March 28, 2012 @ 2:12 pm
Athletes use of superstitions to regulate their emotions in stressful situations made me consider the possible use of superstitions to control emotions in other high-pressure situations such as test-taking. Many students, of all ages, experience test anxiety (particularly during standardized testing). Could the development of superstitions help alleviate this issue? Though it certainly would not be an end all, as proper study habits and test-taking strategies are of primary importance, it could help. It would be interesting to consider the use of superstition as a coping mechanism, a way to lower feelings of anxiety and make students feel more comfortable. Who knows, maybe developing one simple superstition, could help all high-school students tackling the SATs feel slightly more in control?
Comment by Hadley Keohane — March 28, 2012 @ 7:49 pm
I really agree with this post. I believe that superstitions are useful. I think they make people more positive and more confident in whatever obstacle they are about to face. In this case it is a sporting event but superstitions are handy before sitting a quiz, a midterm, writing a paper or even before approaching a guy or girl at a party. Personally, I find myself knocking on wood 3 to 4 times a day in an effort to avoid bad things from happening. There are even superstitions about superstitions. For example, with knocking on wood it has to be 3 knocks, no more no less. I know people who believe that crossing your fingers might actually jinx your outcome, the opposite of what a superstition is suppose to do. Ultimately, I think superstition is just another example of the universal fear of failure and loss.
Comment by Sascha Magnus — April 3, 2012 @ 10:41 pm
I am curious about how athletes train for their sport(s) can influence the development for superstitious beliefs or behaviors. Today, athletes develop and perfect their skills through repetition in practice; do countless hours spent in the batting cage or practicing a serve make athletes more likely to develop rituals (For that matter, would any individual who routinely practices a skill be more likely to develop superstitions related to their repeated actions?) One well-known example: former MLB shortstop Nomar Garciaparra would adjust his batting gloves between every pitch. Could Garciaparra’s hours spent identifying the spin and velocity of a ball coming out of a pitcher’s hand have helped give rise to his idiosyncratic behavior?
Comment by Matt Allan — April 5, 2012 @ 8:40 pm
I can relate to this article because I have my own superstitions. Just like the athletes in the article, I have superstitions in my sport of tennis. I use the same dampener on my tennis racket for each match as well as always drink blue Gatorade. Like the article said, I develop these superstitions because I previously did well with these factors. Although the dampener on my racket or the blue Gatorade may not be the reason I play better, these little things give me comfort and leads me to believe they have an effect.
Comment by Ava — April 11, 2012 @ 12:46 pm
I found this blog to be extremely relevant to my life because of my superstitious habits before lacrosse games. I must be wearing a certain type and color sock or else my game feels off, as well as a braid in my hair no matter what. I think coaches should actually encourage athletes to develop rituals before a game. It can take away an athlete’s anxiety and allows them too feel a sense of security and confidence. This I believe to be the best emotional benefit from superstitious behavior or thinking.
Superstitions remind me of placebo effects in experiments. If you think something is going to help you, it may do that. The outcome of athletic contests is never just pure luck, which beliefs would then not have an impact. Performance on the other hand is a key factor in how well you play in a game and superstitious thinking might give you an extra boost of confidence.
My one question is about the negative effects a superstition might have. Can one be too over the top in their rituals, or what happens when one’s lucky hair band becomes lost?
Comment by Leigh Anne Baldwin — April 19, 2012 @ 8:27 pm
The unpredictability of athletic events is a source of arousal (excitement and/or nervousness) for athletes. While this thrill is a large part of why many athletes enjoy their sports, too much arousal impairs performance. Therefore, an athlete’s tendency to use a ritual to create the illusion that he or she is in control makes sense.
The relationship between arousal and performance is well illustrated by the Yerkes-Dodson Law*, which states that a person performs best when they are moderately excited. Too low arousal results in less vigorous performance. Too high arousal also causes worse performance, indicating that high levels of anxiety interfere with a person’s ability to perform.
*http://changingminds.org/explanations/motivation/yerkes-dodson.htm
Comment by Sarah Yanuck — April 20, 2012 @ 9:36 pm
As an athlete, superstition gives me a boost of confidence. It automatically causes my mental state to be more optimistic about my performance in the game. I believe that sitting in a hot water bath for ten minutes before a big game will improve my performance, and it usually does. I cannot control the outcome of the game, but my superstition allows me to have a sense of control before the game starts. I am able to relax when I am able to control the pregame environment. Keeping a similar environment provides comfort and focus.
This superstitious ritual is sometimes used for scholars as well. For example, many test-taking experts suggest that students prepare for an exam in a similar environment to their actual testing setting. When students keep the studying and testing environment consistent it puts more ease on the test-taker. This allows them to reduce their anxiety and become more focused and comfort with a familiarized setting.
Comment by Jacqueline Palma — April 27, 2012 @ 8:17 am
In sports superstition does in fact play a role in reducing stress thus improving an athlete’s performance, but what about superstitions that have to do with negative outcomes (bad luck) in everyday life? Superstitions that are said to cause bad luck include ‘If you break a mirror, it will bring you seven years of bad luck’ or ‘if you walk under a ladder, you will have bad luck’. When people fall prey to any one of these superstitions the outcome is likely to be negative. They believe they are then subject to certain consequences of the action or event. This leads to high stress levels, anxiety and fear. This is not healthy behavior and could possibly lead to more severe problems. Given that superstitions are unjustified beliefs, they really hold no truth. They have no control over our lives. The superstitious person thinks it does however and this is how unhealthy behavior comes into play.
References
Atakos. “Good Luck and Bad Luck Superstitions.” Good Luck Superstitions and Bad Luck Superstitions. 21 June 2008. Web. 27 Apr. 2012. .
“Superstition.” – Wiktionary. Web. 27 Apr. 2012. .
Comment by Shanique — April 27, 2012 @ 10:33 pm
I definitely agree that despite being outwardly irrational, pre-game rituals can do a lot for nervous athletes. I did track in high school, and I would have done just about anything to kill my pre-race butterflies. I think a routine can really increase focus, and this study by East Tennessee University researchers seems to lend some positive evidence. Basketball players were asked to make a series of free throws, once with a predetermined routine and once without. The players that used the routines scored a higher percentage of shots and had a higher percentage of successful second and third shots, while the players that did not use the routine scored less and had their scores decline slightly over time. Though this experiment isn’t exactly the end-all of the effect of routines, it was theorized that going through the routine helped to reduce distractions and focus attention. Sports psychology seems to be an area that a lot of people like to talk about but psychologists haven’t quite explored a lot, and I would be interested to see further research done into how flow states are achieved.
Czech, D.R., Ploszay, A.R., & Burke, K.L. (2004). An examination of the maintenance of pre-shot routines in basketball free throw shooting. Journal of Sport Behavior, 27(4).
Comment by Alex Lee — April 30, 2012 @ 8:53 pm
So the superstitious connects their superstition with a particular outcome generated previously, and decides that their superstitious behavior is the cause for the positive effect. The interesting part about this is that their belief will prompt a positive mental state: leading to the possibility of improved performance. While this makes sense, I find it hard to find significance in this finding.
I’m going to assume that a mental state caused by superstition is that the superstitious specimen believes he has an advantage (caused by the superstitious act) over his opponent. A feeling of superiority can lead to confidence/esteem/positive thinking. Under this extrapolation it’s safe to say that any egotistical participant would find himself with a healthy advantage over his opponents (in terms of mental states). Perhaps something interesting revealed from this story is the solidification of the connection between athletes and their love for themselves.
Comment by CJ Logan — May 1, 2012 @ 4:01 am
This makes sense, as I think you can use this idea for the majority of superstitions, not merely superstitions pertaining to athletes. Why do some people “knock on wood”? For people that *truly* believe in a particular superstition, it helps them regulate their emotions. For example, if you say “I think I’ll get an A on the test today,” and then you knock on wood, you feel better and your mind is more at ease. If you don’t knock on wood, you will worry that not doing so will somehow cause you not to get an A. Another example is the superstition pertaining to black cats — the idea that avoid bad luck, you should never cross a black cat. For many, crossing a black cat leads to the worry that they will somehow come upon unfortunate circumstances or bad luck. The fear one may have after passing a black cat may not be debilitating, but by not passing the cat, their mind is still more at ease and they are more relaxed/calm than it would have been had they crossed it.
Comment by Jasdeep Achreja — May 1, 2012 @ 5:11 am
I find it interesting that superstition can regulate the emotions of athletes. It seems weird that having a lucky pair of socks or something can actually keep an athlete calmer than normal, but I guess that is how you know the item is superstitious or not. It’s also weird that superstition is something we develop as we get older because I find myself superstitious about a lot of the same things my parents are, but probably because they instilled that in me–not because I was born feeling this way about them.
superstition is a funny thing to me, because it’s more than just feeling like an object is lucky, it’s like feeling that without that object, you will fail.
Comment by Maddy Vogel — May 1, 2012 @ 3:31 pm
What if an athlete’s superstitious ritual utterly fails and seemingly backfires in a game? For instance, after doing the ritual, the athlete performs the next play horribly. And this happens on many multiple occasions afterwards in later games. Is the athlete likely to doubt his ritual’s effect? Or will he keep doing what he did before? Or will he develop more rituals on top of the previous one?
Comment by Jonathan Lee — May 8, 2012 @ 6:24 pm
As an athlete and a intro to psych student, I find this article very appealing. Superstitions have no adaptive value or selective value from a physical standpoint, but mentally it has its advantages. Performing your superstition puts your mind at ease before the game, preventing the athlete from getting too aroused or too distracted which could alter performance. I personally do have superstitions and I have kept with it my whole life. It gives you the mental edge and reassurance needed before a big game. Such confidence will go a long way in your performance in the upcoming game.
Comment by Andrew Nicol — May 14, 2012 @ 6:47 pm
As an athlete, I find this post very interesting. It’s definitely true that many athletes use superstition as a mental block to help them perform better. If a baseball player is struggling, it’s not uncommon to see them shake things up in order to perform better. A great/scary example of this is Jason Giambi, who is noted to wear a thong under his baseball uniform if he is in a hitting slump. Similarly, an athlete might attribute his recent success to a lucky stick or eating a certain food before games.
Great post!
Comment by Colin White-Dzuro — September 7, 2012 @ 10:20 am
As an athlete I definitely agree that superstition can give you the “feeling” that you have more control over a situation. Mentally reaching the place you were before your optimal performance is proven to help you reach that place more easily again. I would assume that superstition is similar to visualization in that both are techniques used to prepare yourself mentally for the game or situation that is to come. Visualization walks you through the visuals of the performance and the aspects leading up to that performance; superstition walks you through the feelings before the performance. I would have to agree with the findings and definitely Burke’s study of reaching an optimal mental state.
Comment by Haley Dusek — September 16, 2012 @ 10:48 pm
Hayley, I think your comment makes a lot of sense. It offers a very rational explanation of why superstitions might be useful to athletes (aside from giving them a sense of control). However, I wonder if superstitions ever cause more harm than good. Many superstitious acts, for example, may resemble symptoms of OCD. How are the two phenomena different? They must be different somehow; being superstitious is rarely debilitating, and OCD is a very serious psychological disorder. Even so, I can imagine several ways that superstitions could negatively affect athletes. For example, if an athlete convinced herself that her abilities were dependent upon a particular superstitious ritual, her forgetting to perform the ritual could cause her to perform poorly simply because she thought that she would.
Comment by Samantha Basch — September 26, 2012 @ 9:44 pm
Although I’m not an athlete, I can say that in my experience superstitions have very similar effects for actors before an audition or a performance. Some common superstitions are that you can’t say “Macbeth” in a theater, and if you do you must perform an elaborate ritual in order to not curse the theater, and that it’s bad luck to say “good luck.” Just like in sports, being in the right mindset is a crucial aspect of an actors performance. A rumor going around backstage that someone said “Macbeth” can throw everyone off focus, and going through the same warm-up routines before every show calms nerves and puts everyone in the right state of mind.
Comment by Hannah C. — September 27, 2012 @ 10:41 pm
Upon reading this article, I wonder what counts as superstition. Does a child cuddling a teddy bear every night to fall asleep count? What about my dog’s behavior? The study of the pigeons reminds me of how my dog walks in a circle over the place he is preparing to lay down. He only ever does it before he naps. Perhaps this is his little way of conditioning his mind for trying to fall asleep. I see superstitions as serving this basic purpose. They work to adjust a person (or animal’s) mindset, so they feel they have more control over a situation. My dog will fall asleep quickly, and athletes will have a good game and manage their stress.
Comment by Michaela — October 4, 2012 @ 4:24 pm
When athletes refer to having something like ‘lucky’ socks they wear or some kind of ritual they perform before each game, it comes off as a little absurd, as if there’s no way they could be related. And even though the way a certain superstition comes about is usually random, the mentality that it gives the athlete, I now see, could be beneficial to their performance. It’s a sort of reassurance, or way to remember that they’ve been successful before under these conditions, which explains why they would be in an “optimal mental state” as Burke said. Enlightening post.
Comment by Destin McMurry — October 9, 2012 @ 3:11 pm
Behaviorists approach superstitions from one direction; they see it as a response to a stimulus that yielded positive results in a certain context. They don’t worry too much about thoughts and feelings. Therefore, an explanation given by a behaviorist will be a little different from common explanation. In the eyes of a behaviorist, the player noticed that when the unconditioned stimulus, whether it is a soccer game or a baseball game, is coupled with a neutral stimulus, e.g. red hat, pink socks, blue shirt; the performance is favorable. As a result, they associate the neutral stimuli with good performance in a game and it becomes a superstition. This however, does not imply that a superstition is completely bogus. It just reveals a superstition as an action associated with a certain result.
The expectation associated with a superstition is enough to unconsciously improve the performance of the player in the game. Since that superstition has yielded, by chance, positive results in the past, why not try it again? Players should be appreciated for different practices they elect to help them survive each game. Whatever gives them confidence to play at their best, they should just be left alone to do it. Besides, isn’t it all in the name of the game?
Comment by Solomon Ajasin — October 11, 2012 @ 3:07 pm
I was very interested by this blog post because I have various superstitious routines that I complete before certain activities, although they may not be sports games. I’m wondering though, whether the results seen in Skinner’s study of pigeons can actually be linked to superstition and human behavior. Have other studies been done with other animals or with humans to reinforce the claims made by Skinner? Additionally, something I find very interesting is defining the difference between behaviors done for superstitious purposes and actions performed due to OCD. For instance, routines may not have any superstitious background, but may in fact be necessary because of an underlying psychological disorder such as OCD. How can we distinguish between these two types of behaviors or are they not actually different? Overall this blog really made me think about classification of behaviors and the fact that current research is establishing that things previously considered not scientific may actually have a scientific foundation.
Comment by Amanda Ballard — October 12, 2012 @ 3:23 pm
When we learned about Skinner and the pigeons in class I never related it to the ritual athletes preform before game time. Now that you’ve mentioned it though, it makes perfect sense. I myself never had any superstitions. I think it does get athletes into a calmer zone for a stressful game, but they shouldn’t rely on it. If something were to happen to their pregame routine, their mental state would be completely messed up. I’ve seen it happen to my peers and as a result they were off their usual game – not because they didn’t have the skills but because of some silly ritual didn’t happen. Overall, it’s okay for people to have their superstitions for a game or a test, but it’s nothing a little extra practicing or studying can’t solve.
Comment by psych 105 student — November 1, 2012 @ 8:16 pm
The most fascinating thing about superstitions, at least for me, is the various forms in which they manifest themselves. For example, when I watch European soccer, I often see substitutes say a quick prayer or make the sign of the cross before entering the game. Regardless of the circumstance, the routine is always the same. Make the sign of the cross and then enter the game, hoping that this will somehow bless your performance. Of course, I see some basketball players do it too, for instance, but it really sticks out in soccer for some reason. Even before shooting a penalty kick, a soccer player will often make the sign of the cross before stepping up. When religion is used as a form of superstition, it’s almost comical because a player expects God to have some positive impact on his play, while consequentially having a negative impact on the opponent’s play. Does this cross a player’s mind? Why does a substitute expect God to help him when another substitute already did the same thing twenty minutes ago? These questions are especially relevant when looking at Tim Tebow and his performances as a Denver Bronco last season. There was always talk, serious or not, about some kind of divine intervention, which Tebow always brushed off, but the thing that I always wonder is why an athlete expects God to choose him over the next guy. He doesn’t play favorites in sports, even though a lot of people (including athletes, considering their redundant routines) seem to think so.
Comment by Luka Ladan — November 11, 2012 @ 10:11 pm
This post does an excellent job of addressing a very under-rated part of athletics: mental preparation. Everyone who has played a sport at a high level, or for a longer period of time, understands that every athlete has good days and bad days. I have found, in my athletic experiences, that the days I usually perform the worst are when I am mentally unfocused. It seems that superstitious rituals allow athletes to gain this mental focus in a state of comfortability within their minds. Confidence is everything in athletics and it appears evident that these strange rituals, whatever there connection with the outcome of the game or personal performance, allow athletes to gain an advantage mentally. When I play lacrosse I always tape my stick the same way and treat it as if its its a child. In doing this, I feel that it is more likely that I will perform well in the proceeding event. There is absolutely more to rituals than the acts themselves, as no supernatural power exists to help you perform better if the ritual is done, but the personal confidence established by performing these actions creates a mental environment that allows athletes to play at their highest level.
Comment by Noah Parson — December 2, 2012 @ 8:45 pm
When I was on my high school wrestling team, I struggled hard with overcoming the anxiety that I faced. I was a nervous wreck a day before a match or a tournament. Throughout the three years that I was on the team, it never seemed to get better. Moments before a match I was always on edge, muscles tensed up, somewhere in between ready to spring and ready to snap. But having something familiar around me definitely calmed me down. As I became a more experienced wrestler, I relied on this tactic more and more. I always wore the same shoes, the same kneepads, the same singlet and the same brand of underwear for a game. It was pretty superstitious, but I was also worried that I wouldn’t be a comfortable wrestling with other gear. What if my shoes are loose? What if my kneepads are too tight? What if my underwear bunches up in my singlet and I have an uncomfortable crotch bulge all match? That definitely won’t be an ideal situation for me to wrestle in.
Comment by Kenta Hasui — December 2, 2012 @ 9:05 pm
Interesting! My younger brother’s baseball team’s tradition is that, whenever my grandmother is visiting, she has to come to all of their games she can make during her stay, because my brother always hits really well when she’s there. I can’t help but wonder, though, if it’s a mixture of the stress relief gained from psychological effects of superstition as well as a bit of social facilitation? I know of other little league teams with similar rituals involving certain people being present. But, as Yerkes-Dodson states, at a certain point, emotional arousal can be a bad thing and inhibit performance; technically, this means the presence of certain observers the boys want to impress can also have a negative effect on the boys’ game. I wonder if a person’s presence becoming ritual, and thus inducing the stress relief effects, can counteract the emotional arousal and keep certain observers from being inhibitors to performance?
Comment by 105 student — December 11, 2012 @ 6:56 pm
Very interesting article! In high school especially, superstitions are of the greatest popularity. On my high school baseball team we would not wash our jerseys if we were in the middle of winning streak because it was seen as washing away the good luck. Another superstition we had was that before a game we were not allowed to run onto the infield. The prominence of superstitions in high school makes playing sports a lot more fun. They put you in a mindset where you feel mentally comfortable when playing a game. This mental comfort allows you to play at the best possible level that you can, even if it is totally unrelated to the superstition. In addition, I think that superstitions just makes playing the game more fun, regardless of whether it puts you in a comfort level or not.
Comment by Jose Erazo — December 18, 2012 @ 10:28 pm
This article really surprised me. I often find myself questioning superstitions because they don’t seem to have a purpose. Although not an athlete, as a student I find myself falling into habits that don’t appear to improve my performance in classes. I may purchase a binder in the specific color that I feel is associated with a class or I will decide to sit in a seat that seems to have a good place in the room (for no reason that I can discern). Yet, this post helped me understand that the strange and superstitious habits I, and others, fall into could help. The activity of being a student may require me to enter into the same “flow state,” described above. In addition to providing the familiarity of an unusual routine, this post suggests that superstition helps to control emotions and the outcome of situations. This is a very informative exploration of the topic. Thank you!
Comment by Lena Josephs — February 13, 2013 @ 12:25 am
Based on this article, I would argue that superstition is a product of our mental biology. B.F. Skinner’s research shows evidence of pigeons superstitiously making certain movements around the time their feed was supposed to be given to them, persumably after an initial chance happening. After they moved in a certain way before a meal was given, they unconsciously felt that their movements had caused the food to appear, thereby linking their reward pathway to the neural pathway that had created the certain movement. This would support the hypothesis that superstition is born from biological tendency.
It was useful for the author to have applied Skinner’s pigeon study to studies done on sport superstitions in humans. I would even extend the knowledge of these studies to explain the root causes of the formation of religious or cultural superstitions in humans.
Comment by Julia Simcoe — February 16, 2013 @ 11:57 am
I found this post to be encouraging. Being superstitious sometimes has a negative connotation so it’s nice for people to see that it can prove to be helpful. I practice a number of superstitious routines from wearing my lucky shirt on game day to not walking under ladders and though sometimes it feels a little ridiculous, it does end up giving me peace of mind. Superstitions help to control emotions and I know in my case, calm anxiety. Because of this, I’m curious as to what the negative sides of believing in superstitions are. Besides some superstitions being rather silly, I don’t see the harm in putting your faith in something like a pair of socks.
Comment by Psych 105 Student — March 8, 2013 @ 1:56 am
It’s very interesting to analyze the psychological reasoning behind behaviors that seem unexplainable, such as superstition. The role of superstition acting as a comfort seems to be analogous to the way in which ritual is used. Both of these behaviors seem to have participants that have an understanding that the act itself will not bring direct or immediate change, but they still participate because of the comfort and emotional stability the activities bring. It makes sense that superstition would be used in performance based actives such as sports or stage performance because the feeling of emotional stability can in a way eliminate a factor of the performance, the unnecessary (albeit many times difficult to remove) worrying of performing poorly.
Comment by Psych Student — April 5, 2013 @ 2:32 pm
This was a very interesting article. It would also be interesting to see how much more valuable some players see their superstitious rituals over, say, a practical preparation tool such as practicing an additional hour. In some ways though, I think the superstition is a different kind of preparation than physically practicing because it is much more about preparing the mind over the body. Many players also practice visualization before competitions, which is also a way to prepare the mind but is much more rooted in the actual sport. I wonder if you could quantitatively study the effectiveness of each one of these preparation techniques.
Comment by 105 student — April 11, 2013 @ 5:14 pm
I find this interesting because traditionally, the benefits of superstition have been that once you associate an action with a desired outcome, often the action itself is helpful in achieving the goal, despite the irrelevant nature of some of the actions that Skinner’s tests have produced. The basic idea is to duplicate something that one associates with survival/favorable end result, with the assumption that it will produce that result. It is therefore fascinating to think that there is yet another level to that where, helpful in this manner or not, the action can serve the sole purpose of making you think that it is helping and therefore actually help, for mental state is an important component to actually achieving a goal.
Comment by Anonymous — April 14, 2013 @ 8:49 pm
I am all for superstitions. I have played sports throughout my entire life and have always found that superstitions have helped me focus in competition and puts me in the right mindset to compete. I look at it as a sort of routine that I have to go through in order to do my best, and if I do not, then I have something to blame!
Comment by Connor Cucalon — April 18, 2013 @ 11:23 pm
I have played sports all my life. I’ve had teammates who would sleep with their lacrosse sticks the night before a game or who would only wear their hair a certain way for games. For a while, the only pre-game snack I would eat was Fruit Loops. Not only do rituals like that help you get into the playing mindset, but they can also act as a scapegoat if you do poorly. Didn’t have a good game? The magic from your lucky socks must have worn off, it’s not your fault.
Comment by Mallory Tyler — April 23, 2013 @ 10:46 pm
This post does a great job of explaining a difficult part of athletics, mental toughness. Mental toughness involves a number of factors, many of which take a long time to develop and control. One of the factors are superstitions. As an athlete, I know the importance of maintaining a routine before, during, and after a match. Whenever I am getting ready for a tennis match, I say a little prayer and put on my ‘lucky’ necklace. I have to go through that routine before any match, otherwise I just don’t feel prepared. Saying the prayer and wearing my necklaces give me the comfort I need in order to believe in myself. During the match, if I win a point, I must use the same ball that I used to win that point. I know that ball doesn’t have some special luck to it, but using the same ball makes me feel like I have a greater chance of winning the next point. Before I serve, I must bounce the ball three times. Bouncing the ball doesn’t help me in anyway, but it is just something I have to do in order to believe my serve will go in. These are just a few of the examples of superstitions that I do before and during any tennis match. Going through these routines gives me a calming feeling. Superstitions help athletes feel more confident and ready to win. I believe that superstitions are like a comfort blanket for athletes; they allow athletes to get into a state of mental toughness and control their emotions, both of which are essential for good performance in a sport. These rituals seems irrational and strange to a non-athlete, but they can provide the extra push an athlete needs to win. Therefore, even though superstitions provide no super-power in performance, they give the confidence needed to create mental toughness, which in turn allows an athlete to perform optimally. I think this article does a great job of explaining the relationship between superstitions and athletics for those who are not athletes and find these rituals ridiculous. Good job! I really enjoyed reading this post!
Comment by Psych Student 105 — April 24, 2013 @ 11:06 pm
An earlier post by Jonathan Lee asked, “What if an athlete’s superstitious ritual utterly fails and seemingly backfires in a game? For instance, after doing the ritual, the athlete performs the next play horribly. And this happens on many multiple occasions afterwards in later games. Is the athlete likely to doubt his ritual’s effect? Or will he keep doing what he did before? Or will he develop more rituals on top of the previous one?”
I think this varies from person to person and within sports. As a competitive golfer, I have had the same, or very similar, routines and superstitions for several years. But golf is a sport in which your ability changes each day (if not each hour, or each shot). Because it is so volatile, on days that I play poorly I sometimes change my routine mid round with something small, just to change it up. It could be touching my hat before I putt, or taking my glove off between shots. Unless I played the round of my life and want to keep the superstition going, the next day I revert back to my old habits. Golf may be different from other sports, but I think most sports and individual athletes have personal preferences for changing up superstitions and rituals.
Comment by Aimee Dubois — May 2, 2013 @ 3:33 pm
This is a really interesting article. I remember when I used to play sports I would do certain things. When I played softball I wouldn’t let anyone else use my bad because I thought they might rub bad luck onto it. Now when I see other athletes doing things during the game, like bouncing the ball before taking a free throw, I always think it is weird. However the B.F. Skinner study really does help to explain this behavior.
Comment by anonymous — May 5, 2013 @ 3:55 pm
This blog makes a good argument for the value of superstition for athletes during their games. But I wonder if the argument has any implications for everyday circumstances, and what those implications might be.
It makes sense that athletes’ superstitious rituals give them the confidence to excel in their sport. Such rituals would also reduce the performance anxiety these athletes experienced, preventing them from becoming over-aroused and performing worse. But how does this apply to me? I guess an optimistic person might likely excel at any given task for the same reasons.
The benefits of irrationally positive expectations in both of these two instances make me wonder if there is any way to achieve the same benefits without (for lack of a nicer word) self-delusion. After all, I’m not a superstitious person, and I don’t really want to become one in order to calm my nerves and have confidence in my endeavors. While I don’t have an answer for this, it’s definitely something I want to look into further.
Comment by Andrew — May 7, 2013 @ 10:13 pm
I found the article especially relatable not only from the athlete’s perspective but the fan’s too. While watching sporting events, I find myself thinking back to my actions when something good happens in the game. Later I do these things to make good things happen again. This works with the explanation of getting a sense of control.
Depending on what the superstition applies to though, the phenomenon might be maladaptive. Procrastination, for instance. I have produced essays in the last few hours before a deadline more times than I care to count. They have generally been well received by teachers and professors. Add this to the few times I’ve tried to start early and not been able to or ended up with worse feedback and I’ve built the belief that I can only write well in the 24 hours before something is due. This has had complications already and is sure to get me in real trouble eventually but because of the strength of the conditioning it isn’t likely to change.
Comment by Treigh Manhertz — May 14, 2013 @ 2:16 pm