Comments on: Superstition may be good for you

By: Treigh Manhertz

Treigh Manhertz — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:16:44 +0000

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.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 08 May 2013 03:13:43 +0000

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.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Sun, 05 May 2013 20:55:57 +0000

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.

By: Aimee Dubois

Aimee Dubois — Thu, 02 May 2013 20:33:02 +0000

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.

By: Psych Student 105

Psych Student 105 — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 04:06:43 +0000

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!

By: Mallory Tyler

Mallory Tyler — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 03:46:21 +0000

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.

By: Connor Cucalon

Connor Cucalon — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 04:23:33 +0000

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!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 01:49:19 +0000

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.

By: 105 student

105 student — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:14:08 +0000

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.

By: Psych Student

Psych Student — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:32:18 +0000

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.